Callum's Playhouse

Callum decided to build a playhouse, using the money he earned from his 4-H pig last fall.  

 Rusty & Callum planned what it would look like, and then in April they broke ground.

 Callum was out there every spare minute he could find.

 And he did a lot of it by himself.

 Gotta love his smile!

 The foundation!  hooray!

 Benjamin having fun walking the "balance beam".

 Emmalee's turn.

 We are thankful that Grandpa lives right behind us--he is letting Callum build his playhouse just on his side of the yard.  That way your yard won't be any smaller.

 Getting the walls up.

 Callum put the tarp on the top so he could be inside & be a little sheltered.

 I love how Callum thinks & tries to figure things out on his own.

 Benjamin was having fun already with just a shell!

All the side frames on up and the roof frame is now up!  More pictures to come.

Dubois Biggest Loser Contest

I saw that there was going to be a Biggest Loser contest in January, but I didn't think I was ready to get serious about weight-loss.

The contest started Jan. 12th but I had decided I didn't want to commit myself to it. But the following week & the weekend of the 21st Zane had some basketball games.  While I was at the games, 2 of my friends talked to me about the contest. We were in Montana on the 21st (for a b-ball tournament) and Amy & Stephanie talked to me (again) about joining the contest.

I told them that I just didn't think I was ready--but Amy said, "Is anyone ever really ready?"  That made me think and so by Monday morning, I had decided that I was going to give it a shot.  My friends also said--losing something is better than losing nothing.

Here are some of my "before" pictures: 

Nov. 3, 2011.  My birthday 

Dec. 2011

Dec. 2011

This is the last of my "big" pictures.

When I finally signed up (2 weeks late), I knew that I was going to put all my effort into this.  The next blogs will be about my journey.

And here is a picture at the piano recital on May 21st (10 days before the end of the official contest).

My friends--Stephanie, Amy & myself.

Shortly after my 5K run--feeling good!

My 1st 5K!

Today (June 9, 2012) was my 20th day of "running" (alright--jogging).

My friends--Stephanie Eddins & Amy Murdock (who both talked me into doing the Biggest Loser contest with them) also talked me into signing up for this 5K.

 Notice how happy we all are BEFORE the race.

 #700 is Amy's sister, Emily.

 Anxiously awaiting the start of the race.

 Rusty was kind enough to come with me & take pictures--proof that I was crazy enough to take on this mountain.

 And the first 2 miles were all up hill.  

 Stephanie & Amy finished together--40 minutes!  Awesome ladies!  The actual course was 3.3 miles long.

 The first 2 miles were a killer for me--I ended up walking up the 3 steepest parts, and when I reached the first mile marker, it was already 16 minutes (which I can walk 1 mile in 16 minutes!).   So I only walked 1 more place for about 2 minutes (up the last steep hill) & thankfully the last mile was downhill.  After we turned the corner it wasn't that easy, though.  But here I am near the finish line.

 My time was 42 minutes 40 seconds.  At home the fastest I had run 3.1 miles had been 40 minutes, so I figure with the 2 mile climb & the extra .2 miles, I did quite well!  I have found that I can do hard things!  

 So hopefully, my time will improve the next 5K I run in!  Yes--that's right, I think I can do this again!

Here are my results (#81).  So my goal was to finish--and not finish last.  I was about in the middle.  

I am going to see about running the 5K in Lander over the 4th of July.

Flood 2012

I posted about the flood this past weekend.  But if you want to read it in "order", then you'll have to start 5 posts down & read "up".  It has been an eventful, tiring (exhausting) weekend & I hope to get a good night's rest tonight.

Flood March 18--Round 2 (Part 3)

This is looking west from the corner of the old highway & 5th St.  

 The water was diverted from the house across the road (on the south side) & went as far as the announcer's stand on the football field.

 This is looking north on the corner of the old highway & 5th St. Sunday morning around 7:45 am (the sun was just coming up over the mountains).

 More ice chunks being scooped out of the water.

 I guess since we didn't get a lot of snow this year, they decided to make up for it by plowing ice?  (ha, ha)

 Another look as the sun rises.

 The front of Grandpa's house at 9 am.  It was good to see the water gone.  He only had a little water come into the basement.  Cody was up for the weekend to spend the night with Grandpa, so he didn't get to sleep in at all.  Tammie & Mike came up along with Belinda & Doug & their boys.  They helped rip up the carpet in the downstairs bedroom & clean up.

 Looking at the "small" puddle that was left at 9 am in Grandpa's yard/driveway.

 The creek was down a couple feet by 9 am.  Although it looks high still, it wasn't clear to the banks.  

 There was no water under the ice--the ice now was the "new" banks of the creek.

Another look at the creek (the corner of the workshop is on the very left).  It looks more like the creek when it runs in the spring (well--except for the ice).

Flood March 18--Round 2 (Part 2)

As soon as they broke up the ice jam between our house & Grandpa's, the water from both yards quickly receded.

 I wish it had been lighter so you could have seen how much water was in the yards.

 Ice chunks & pieces of the tree (that was broken off with the back hoe) floating down stream.

 The back corner of our workshop/shed--water flowing over & through the sand bags.

 Flooding by our house (work shop directly to the left).  This is around 5:30 am.

 This is blurry, but a ton of ice is heading downstream.

 And within 15 minutes, the creek dropped a foot or 2.

 More ice & debris 

 Breaking up one more big ice jam behind our shed/workshop.

 Another big branch from the tree.

 The water dropping (or really the ice is gone off the bottom of the creek bed now so the water can flow like it should).

 Hard to see in this picture, but the water has dropped.

 If you look across the creek, you can see how much the water dropped.  It is getting closer to 7 am (getting lighter).

 And just like that, the water is almost gone.

 Until we get downstream.  This is 2 blocks south--we are on the old highway looking south.  (To the right is the football field/school)

The 5th St. bridge (which is now condemned).  This is where a lot of the ice was backing up.  The machines were working all night scooping ice out of the creek & breaking up as much as they could.  This is around 7:30 am (Sunday morning).