Splendid Saturday

Cameron showed up to work with Michael at 11 - see previous post. 

EVERYONE else slept in late...I decided to go run errands. I got the car washed, filled the car with gas, picked up some library holds and decided to buy some ribs and fixings for dinner tomorrow. 

I got home in time to bounce out to the Alaska Vintage Market with Allie, Stacia and Nolan while GG napped. It was a GORGEOUS day. It is always great fun to spend time with our adult kids.

Me, Stacia, Nolan, Allie

We walked through the vendors - mostly window shopped. I bought a gift for Maria; it made me happy to think of delivering it in person this fall when we drive Allie to school.  Stacia bought pork rinds, and I bought far too much popcorn. Allie had a yummy shake from Soda Jerks and that's about all we bought. LOL  

I do like this but need to figure out what to remove from the walls before I buy anything else for the walls. They are a local shop so I'm "thinking on it."

Another shot of the gang!

Nolan, Allie, Stacia & Me

I cannot believe Carrie and the girls were at the market the exact same hours we were, and we did NOT run into each other. Honestly, it wasn't THAT big of a crowd. Carrie posted her photos, and I texted to find out when they were there. LOL 

Josi enjoys the fairgrounds 📷by Carrie

Carrie, Olivia and Josi 📷by Carrie

We dropped Nolan off at home and the gals and I did a bit of thrifting and headed home. Jared and Noah arrived. (Yes, I lifted these photos from Jared's instagram). 

Jared and Noah

Jared, Noah, Jamin, Allie, Stacia and Millie went to hike the local Butte. 

Hiking snacks are the best. 

Noah and Allie

Noah, Jared, Jamin, Allie, Stacia

We ended the day with dinner and connecting over a bit of communal tub time. ::snort::  We are all reveling in the long spring days!  This was taken after 9 p.m. 

Me thinks something is off! 

You NEED to see Allie's Amazing End of the Semester/School Year - French Toast.  You're welcome. 

It's exciting to have Allie done with this portion of her college career.  She'll begin the final two years of her cinematic arts degree. Stacia is done with classes and finals start Tuesday. 

Smile! You're on Candid Camera

I said something on Facebook but haven't gotten around to blogging January and February yet. One of the results of us sitting through two weeks of hearing about murder and mayhem was we realized we need to begin to take security a bit more seriously than we do - even out here in the boonies of Alaska. I mean firearms are great and we could go full Kevin McCallister, but we opted to begin with cameras. Why? Because we saw firsthand how important video can be in getting a conviction if one is ever a victim of crime. There is little wiggle room if it's all on video. 

The events of the past 18 1/2 months, has brought a new awareness of crime to our family. And to be honest, a bit of fear.  There are shady characters out there and we discovered some of them live in our very own town. Yes, we've been naive. We also have family in politics - which can be a very odd world as well.

How do we balance preparation with faith and hospitality? I had this sign made which expresses our philosophy on life and ministry. We've lived with open hands and open hearts. We intend to continue to do so - but we also need to be wiser. Michael and I were talking about our neighbor the other day. He has lots of lights and cameras. I remember Josiah joking about his yard looking like Stalag 13. As we've become to know him, we learned his family was also the victim of violent crime.  We understand now. One never thinks it will happen to "us," but we realize it can happen to us. 

 It's time to step up our prayers, our faith AND our security systems as well as our acts of hospitality. 

Jamin and Jared came over on April 26th to help Michael begin to put up these eleven cameras. It's more involved than it looks (at least if you want the outside of your home to look nice). They got three cameras installed that day. 

Michael saw a couple of things he wanted to change on mounting the other cameras. He continued to work towards mounting more cameras. This became a common sight...parts of Michael outside the windows. 

and another day....

Saturday Cameron (on the left) came over to help Michael. Their plan was to dig a trench for the electric dog fence. I had asked for a small area where we could let Millie out in the winter. The fence will encompass 40% of our 2 1/2 acres. After digging this section Michael decided it was a good idea to rent a trencher for the rest of this project. 

About this time Jamin showed up and everyone switched over to installing cameras again. Seven of eleven cameras are now up. I didn't take a single photo.