imprimisFiled under: Colorado, Family & Friends, Fun together, Just blogging, My simple life, My travels, Pictures, Rocks and fossils, State Parks | Tags: Personal, My world, Blogging, Family & Friends, My travels, updates, Adventures, Priceless pictures, Colorado
Friday September 11, 2009
I awoke at 5:25 when my alarm sang its song to open my sleepy eyes. Shortly thereafter I dressed, and ate breakfast with the others. The we said goodbye to cousin Janice and Aunt Mary before leaving on our journey. We were on the road by 6:30 am, a record for me!
The skies above New Mexico
We made great time, reaching Wichita Falls by 9:30 – our first stop of the day. We stopped about every 2 hours to stretch our legs and use the toilet, or see interesting sights along our route.
Interesting rock formation in New Mexico
One interesting place we stopped at was outside of Clayton, NM by 30 minutes or so. At the Dino-track site there, you can view the fossilized tracks of 9 kinds of dinos. Pretty neat! A large lake and dam added to the scenery, especially since you have to cross over the top of the dam to reach the dino tracks. I had great fun hiking up to the site, and enjoyed taking pictures of various things along the way. I even saw a flamboyant grass-hopper, it was black but when it took off flying, its wings revealed a reddish hue.
The state park with the dinosaur tracks
Your “average” tourist 
A cute little lizard which we saw near the trail
Information about the dino tracks
A relic of a by-gone era
The assorted tracks ~ quite interesting really
We stopped for the night in Raton, NM, a quaint little spot perched on the mountainside. We took an early meal (5:30) at the Ice House, a famous restaurant near downtown. I order the following: Cod fillets (2), fried Okra, salad, rolls and sweet potato fries. Delicious!!!
Eating at the Ice House ~ What a meal!
Yours truly waiting for the “main course”
What a beautiful meal! And it was SOOOOOO delicious
Amazingly, we got to bed by 8:20 local time (9:30 central time). Glorious. I slept soundly and awoke refreshed.
The one and only movie theater in town, cute!
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Homemaking, personal, My simple life, My travels, a lovely home, daily blessings, shopping | Tags: My world, Family & Friends, a lovely home, My travels, updates, Babies, Special occasions, Everyday
This morning has been a bustling, “normal” morning. The only thing that is different is that us girls are getting ready to leave for the weekend.
Joel’s car is currently not functioning, which is not really that good of a deal. Although, it does keep the rest of us from running all over creation. 
Hopefully though, he will have it up and running again by early next week once his part comes in from Washington State.
Dad is not feeling 100% due to aninfection he is battling; it is strange because he is rarely sick! I am thinking that maybe next week when Mom goes to the doctor, that he can go and get this checked out. Just keep him in your prayers because he is in some pain and discomfort.
Summer is almost gone – well, not really, but the “no school” part of summer is speeding by very fast! Last night I went into Target® to purchase a gift for my aunt’s baby-shower this weekend, and everything is “back to school” or big sales for the “end of the season/beginning of the season” clothing. Dots® is just down the sidewalk, and since I’d never been in there before I decided I would take a quick peek. Pretty much all they carry is the trendy, bling-bling, gaudy, shiny and flirty clothing that is hugely popular today. I did find a couple of reasonably priced skirts, and they did have some modest and cute tops I might be interested in their Americana section (plaid clothing). I may go back during the tax-free holiday later this month… we’ll see.
I need to clean the house, get all the laundry done and make sure there is food in the fridge before I pack for this weekend’s adventure in Tyler. I am really looking forward to spending time with family from out-of-town and those loved ones we don’t see very often. Mom is excited because she missed Jen’s wedding, and so she gets to come to her baby-shower which is neat! :)
Dad is calling for family worship. I will try to post photos this weekend.
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Gardening, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, My dearest family, My simple life, Pictures, a lovely home | Tags: a lovely home, Current Events, daughterhood, Everyday, Family & Friends, My family, Pictures, updates
It seems like the last few weeks have been so very busy, with lots of guests and visits from friends and acquaintances. People drop by, or call and then come over. Unexpected and expected visitors to chat with and enjoy their company.
That is one thing that I admire in my parents. They have always been hospitable, to everyone. We’ve had complete strangers over for meals, to stay with us for a night or just given them a glass of cold water as they were trying to sell us a product. That is the way every Christian home should be, a revolving door of company. It is certainly a high motivation to keep the house clean.
Yesterday was no exception. In the morning Joel, Caleb and I went to the other garden to weed, and pick veggies (the Mom is out of town for a little bit and asked us to do some extra work while she’s away). After the hot work was complete, we came home and ate breakfast. It wasn’t long before the W.’s arrived. Caleb and Nathaniel have been working together to get all of Caleb’s lawnmowers up and running and so they were delivering one of the fixed ones here. It was a wonderful visit, though short. 
Later in the afternoon, we got a call from our friend Neal that he was selling the Jeep (Joel’s old car) to a man and needed to come by to pick up some paperwork. He was here for a couple of hours after the transaction talking with Dad about theology and other things. Mom was out in the front speaking with our neighbor Jana about life and whatnot, while Caleb worked across the street at one of his customer’s making a patio. Phoebe, Jaden, Johanna and I played with Dillon (Jana’s son) in the front.
At dinner, Joel told us that Uncle Greg was going to come over for a few minutes so he could pick up something Joel had purchased on his behalf. So, a few minutes later, he arrived and it was wonderful to see him again! He stayed for 25 minutes and we chatted about everyday things. 
Mom was talking with Aunt Jill (her sister) on the phone, and they are coming over on Friday. I can’t wait to see them!
After Uncle Greg departed, and dinner was done, we kids surprised Dad with a late Father’s Day present. A 2 volume Dictionary of Evangelical Biographies. 
After dinner, I read to Jaden from Kirk Cameron’s autobiography Still Growing. What a fun read! And Jaden was listening and asked if I could read anotherchapter. Too bad it was 10:00. Then at bedtime (a few minutes after reading to Jaden) I read some more from The Princess Adelinato Johanna. We are enjoying reading this wonderful historical narrative together. It is a bit difficult to understand, since it is from 700 A.D. but what a wonderful story it presents! 
Tomorrow is going to be another BUSY day – Some of us will go up to the garden to work in it for a while, Mom has her Dr’s appointment, then we are going to have lunch with the M.’s in Rockwall, and then who knows what else we’ll do for the rest of the day. One never knows at the Kautt house. 
Filed under: America, Constitutional Rights, Fun together, Historical, Links, My simple life, My travels, Pictures, patriotism | Tags: American Government, Blogging, Everyday, Family & Friends, Founding Fathers, Freedom's cause, My family, My world, patriotism, updates
A few days back, a friend emailed me inviting me to come to their church to hear Garrett Lear also know as the “Patriot Pastor” give a talk about America’s founding. Since I am a great lover of history and love to learn new things about this amazing country, I promptly asked Dad and Mom’s permission to attend. Which they granted along with allowing my other siblings the opportunity to hear him as well.
The event was to begin at 7 on Friday evening. I had dinner ready, and on the table by 6 to insure our early departure. The sky was beginning to look grey and threatening and tornado watches were up for counties to our South and West. Providentially, the storm took a 90 degree turn and completely skipped our area. :)
When we arrived at the church in Melissa, there were scarce 5 cars there. Hardly anyway got there on time and only about 20 people showed all together… quite disappointing indeed. But the presentation was top-notch!
You can find out more about this amazing American and his ministry at - www.thepatriotpastor.org
At 6′7 he towers over Caleb – who we consider “tall.”
Bringing his message about the Christian founding of this nation to an audiance of eager listeners. He has such a wealth of information to speak on.
Filed under: America, Family & Friends, Fun together, Happenings, Park, Pictures, food preparation, patriotism | Tags: America, Blogging, Family & Friends, Holidays, Liberty, My family, My world, Pictures, updates
Don’t you just hate that word? So, I won’t use it in this post (beyond the title). Lately I have been encumbered by many and varied tasks. As a matter of fact, this past week I have had some event or project to plan or do. Here’s a run down of what I did (along with my WONDERful family).
- Sunday – Our whole entire family attended church together for the second week in a row! Praise the Lord that Mom is able to attend once again. Hopefully, all 8 of us will go to worship tomorrow. A friend of my father’s came to church. Dad makes friends everywhere he goes, he met this man at Office Depot® and had invited him to attend our church. Since Mr. H usually has to work on Sundays, he had been unable to come until last week. His wife is currently overseas staying with one of their two sons family’s while that son in is Iraq. Both of their sons are in the Army serving overseas. Then we came home, prepared lunch, ate lunch and cleaned up. We were expecting some of our friends to show up to tour our gardens around 3, but they didn’t come until closer to 5. While we waited, we kids decided to play a game of basketball (including Joel). It was really fun because we are all pretty lousey at the game, but who cares we were having fun being together! It started to rain and about that time the M’s showed up and we exchanged salutations and then proceeded to the back yard to show them our garden. They stayed around for 30-45 minutes, until we had to leave for evening
service. Since I didn’t attend evening service, I worked on preparing food and drinks for our Memorial day bash. We all got to be rather late. Excitement ran high that night as we anticipated the next day’s events.
Joel, Phoebe and I in the kitchen getting things ready for Monday.
- Monday – I got up around 6 and began work almost immediately on food prep for that afternoon. There was a lot to accomplish and the event began at noon. Phoebe, Jo and Dad assisted me in the many dishes we had to prepare, as the saying goes many hands make light work. Most of the work was done by 10:30 and so Phoebe and I rode our bikes up to the park to see if the pavilion was open for our use. Thankfully, it was the entire time we were up there. Hardly anyone was at the park besides the 35-40 people from our group. About 11 o’clock our friends the D family arrived. They went straight to the park and so Phoebe and Jo went with Dad and Jaden to take our first load of stuff up there. They were up there the entire time (11-5). We all got really bad sunburns and now my face is beginning to peel. :P
At the pavilion – Mrs. D, Daniel, Jaden, Phoebe, Andrew & Joel talking and grilling. Corn on the cob & hot-dogs!
Mrs. P and Jordan at the playground Playing Ultimate Frisbee on the field – what a hot game.
- Tuesday – After all the excitement of the day before (what could top that?) we had to get up early in order to make it over to our friends (the H. family) house to help weed in our co-garden. Even though the sky was cloudy and threatening rain we headed out anyway. Inconveniently it began raining after we had been working for 30 minutes and so we were not able to do much work. We were however able to discuss with Mrs. H our hopes for our Fall garden (to be planted in July-Aug.) and look at seeds and seed catalogues. We bid them farewell and headed home to do chores, school and everyday things. We actually got about an inch of rain, so it was pouring down for a while.
- Wednesday – A pretty normal day. We got a lot of school work accomplished and chores as well. We have BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) on Wednesday nights so we prepared to go to that in the late afternoon. It was a productive day all in all. I got some more cleaning and laundry done which was great.
- Thursday – Since we had not been able to get much done at the H’s on Tuesday we had planned on going back up on Thursday morning before it got toohot. So, around 8 we began loading up and headed out for their house. Jaden was not going to accompany us originally, but he woke up just minutes before we left and so he did come with us. He is quite a little man. We were able to get a lot of weeding and composting done and were quite hot and tired after over 2 hours of hot stinky labor! The garden is looking better – Thank you H’s for allowing us to co-garden with you, what a gracious gesture! We greatly appreciate the opportunity. After working up there for a while, we cleaned up and loaded up. Jaden was tired (not used to getting up so early) and wanted us to drop him off at the house. The rest of us were going shopping for food items for Friday night when our uncle was to come over for dinner. Dad asked us if we could assist some friends of ours in moving several pieces of furniture from one apartment to another. Since we still had the trailer on Joel’s truck, we agreed and headed off. We completed the moving project in about an hour and then went to Kroger® to purchase items for tostadas. Then once we had purchased the necessary items, we traveled back to our house and unloaded things and made lunch. The rest of the day we did various projects around the house both inside and out. The guys worked in the yard and garden. While in the house, we girls cleaned, did laundry and did food preparation for the morrow. I was so exhausted by the end of the day. We also called our dear friend and uncle A. I really miss having him right next door to see all the time, as do the others. :0
- Friday – I was up early (again!) and helped around the house by vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, doing laundry, straightening and cleaning mirrors and windows. Then we had breakfast, family worship, Phoebe and I mowed the lawn, came back inside started on lunch, ate lunch, cleaned up lunch, rested a bit, waited for our friends the W’s to come over, began dinner prep (grating cheese, chopping green onions and cilantro, making fresh salsa, blending beans), visited with the dear W family (they are such a blessing!), said goodbye to them, finished dinner prep, and began the wait for uncle Greg to arrive. Caleb and Jaden had been mowing two of Caleb’s customers lawns during this time (except for when the W’s were here). We girls watched some of Fireproof in our room and just relaxed a bit. Uncle Greg arrived about 6:30 and it was SO wonderful to see him!!! We had a most delightful evening with him, talking, singing, playing our instruments and just enjoying each others company. Joel arrived from work and soon thereafter we convened to the back yard where we ate a delicious meal of tostadas, green beans and salsa. Our favorite. Uncle Greg stayed until 10:30 or so and we had a great time together! Can’t wait until the next time.
- Today (Saturday) – We are getting ready to clean the church, mow the church lawn and go run errands. Jaden is in desperate need of new clothing. He is outgrowing EVERYTHING so I am hard put to find proper clothing items for each day. He has taken it in stride and enjoys wearing his overalls quite frequently. Hopefully, we can fix that problem… soon.
I hope that you all have a very blessed Saturday and a most wonderful Sabbath! More pictures over at the family blog.
Filed under: America, Current Events, Happenings, Historical, In Freedom's Cause, Park, patriotism | Tags: America, Blogging, Current Events, Family & Friends, Family time, Freedom's cause, Holidays, Liberty, My world, Seasons, updates
Today is Memorial Day, a day we here in America set aside to honor the memory of our fallen soldiers, air-men, sailors and marines. A day to remember and pay respect to them and their sacrifice! May God bless their families today as they remember their fallen hero.
A very Happy Memorial Day everybody! I hope that you all have a blessed day and remember….
God Bless America!!!
Filed under: Articles, Current Events, Family & Friends, Gardening, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, Jaden, Links, My simple life, My travels, Our yard, a lovely home, food preparation, simple things in life | Tags: a lovely home, Blogging, Current Events, Family & Friends, Johanna, My family, My simple life, My world, Others writings, Personal, Seasons, updates
(emphasis added)
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, My simple life, Names and their meanings, Pictures, simple things in life | Tags: Blogging, darling babies, Family & Friends, My world, Pictures
Some friends of ours just welcomed into this world a new little grandson. His parents named him Noah John and he is SOOOOOOO cute! His fine black hair glistened in the light as I held this precious little bundle from God. What a fine little man he is.
His big brother Bear (a nickname), is also very adorable and manly even though he is only 15 months old! I am so glad that we know them and that they are some of our newest friends.
Noah & me
So cute, he kept yawning which was so sweet to watch!
The cutest little “bear” I have ever met!
Filed under: Family & Friends, Film-making, Films & media, You Tube | Tags: Blogging, Family & Friends, Film-making, Personal, YouTube
Our friend Kaleb entered the 36-hour film contest that the guys over at Christian Filmmakers put together. So, it would be really great if you watched this video and then left your feedback (at YouTube) for Kaleb!
