Bovines

OK, this photo just made me laugh. Why exactly, I'm not sure. 

Weight Loss Program for Dogs

I'm not kidding, my dog has lost a lot of weight this summer! All due to chasing around the pool cleaner, Steve. Maddie, the dog, thinks that "Steve," the robotic pool cleaner, is ALIVE. It's great entertainment for us all to watch her whine, bark, and even get sprayed by the moving "tail" which Steve likes to swing back and forth. Steve even climbs the walls and enjoys the deep end, eating bugs and debris from where I cannot (choose not) to go. This weight loss program simply includes running around and around and around and around... all day. I am trying this program, too, and have lost 5 lbs myself. You know, maybe Steve really is alive. 

Cousins

My big Sis is now Stateside to help out my Mom, and she extended her stay so she could roadtrip to Detroit to watch 2 of her boys compete in the Little League World Series!!! How awesome is that??!! The best part of it is that I got to see her and hug on her little girls 2 times already.


Hey! I finally figured out this picture grid thing. Many thanks to Rachel B. and Picasa. I love that program, I will have to add it to my grateful list this Fall.


My kids started back to school today. August 16th is a little early, don't you think?! We had a time of grieving and mourning last night as we put the backpacks together, followed by a night of the throw ups via Emma. BUMMER, she missed the first day of school! The first and the last days are the only 2 good ones all year, right? 

Sooners go to Texas

This Sooner loving family, who happen to live in MO, took a roadtrip to San Antonio,Texas. Here are some moments to remember:

First stop, Lulu's house...

Princess dress up
homegrown food, specifically, fried ocra
pickin peaches off the trees
frozen banana slices (try it, it's very good)
frizzy pigtails
big Aunt Teri hugs
fairy dust ( chalk dust)


On to Texas:
I-35 TRAFFIC
This is our room? Next time we need to try Hotels.com
Alamo - the shrine. Take that OU hat off, Nathan.
Rivercenter Mall - Imax, Starbucks
Riverwalk floating taxi - very cool
Mi Tierra's - authentic texmex, even down to the $5.00 song at your table
Cartoon likeness of the kids
Market center
Tower of America's , the fanciest meal the kids have EVER eaten, the floor rotated so we could watch a 360* view of San Antonio
finding the location of every bathroom downtown.

Sea World:
Shamu (he really is dead you know)
Dining with "Shamu"
Feeding the dolphins
Mom getting kissed by the mime
Mortified kids
"Lost lagoon", which smelled like it was everyone's first bath of the summer.
234 - average weight of women who wore their string bikini tops to show off their new tatoos.
Dressin' Sexy at Sea World is alot like the Ozarks Empire Fair, I'm guessin'.

Shlitterbahn:
Yeah, it's real river water. (on the old part of the park)
65 acres of lines, 4 hour waits, people, people, people everywhere.
Not your average "Lazy" river.... 2 lives lost and my big toe stabbed a guy in the neck.

Austin:
Lunch with the Gotcher's in his own home town, how cool is that?

Last Stop- Lulu's house:
cheese fondue that stunk up the house, but was amazingly delicious
planting peach trees (it's the pits)
swimming at the cousin reunion
watching the "Doodlebops" in the morning

We had fun, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun...

AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!


...except Daniel who must have slept through it.

Irony

You Know You're in the Ozarks When...

Life is good, may I explain?

Friday: I kiss my Mom and head home again, leaving Lulu at her house with a fridge full of groceries, friends who I know will check on her all the time, and Mom being in relatively good health now. We are over the worst of it for awhile, I am quite confident about that. What can I say? God answers prayers. Thanks to all of you who took it to the Throne with me. It is an awesome feeling to know that there is a huge family out there who rally behind you when you need it. Thanks to everyone who watched my kids, prayed, or simply asked how things were going. It just said to me that you cared.

OK - so I get home and try out that new place... "San Francisco Oven"?? I think that's the name. If you've been there, tell me what you think. So far the reviews are mixed.

Saturday: My Birthday. These aren't as exciting as they used to be, I'll admit. But I have decided that I won't have a problem with turning 40 in A FEW YEARS as long as I am in the best shape of my life and have made those major healthy changes to get that way. So here goes...

In the afternoon we saw "Nacho Libre." Very stupidly funny in a Napoleon Dyn. kind of way. For the record, I did laugh, even hard at one point. It was just the sheer ridiculousness. Spend your money at your own risk on that one.
Later, some friends came over, we ate BBQ and the kids swam, swum, swimmed? I have never figured that out. Also, poor Maura got kicked in the stomach by Charlie. I mean she went flying backwards. That horse is history! (Charlie is NOT the one that knocked me off.) Maura is a tough little girl, though, and she is OK.Thanks for all the fun cards and presents... Now I have to learn to TANGO! Let's just hope Antonio Banderas is my instructor.

Now for today, Sunday, FATHER'S DAY, which isn't even over, yet: We got up and went to church, heard an awesome message to Dads by Pastor Eddie, and came home to a crock pot full of Robert Roast. Greg opened his things from the kids and asked to saddle up the horses. After his quick tour around the 10, I took the girls around. Sophie, the big white mare, never gives us any problem. She is great. Amigo is the one that can get a little fiesty. Well, today he was fine! Not a problem. We just have to keep working with them, and they will get better and better. Although, I don't think I'll ever stop praying before I hop on a horse's back.
Now, on to the Reynold's for a chinese buffet...

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!

Lulu Update

For those of you who are wondering...

Mom is doing pretty well right now, there are good days and not so good days. Good moments and not so good moments. The big operation actually happened last Wednesday morning at 7:45am. It lasted for about 6 HOURS. The other surgeons must have had assembly lines set up, they were knockin' them out like flies. Here comes one doctor to talk to the family, then another, then that first one again.... Some volunteer drill sergeant was in charge of the desk and kept yellin' out the family names, and once he came by with hard little apples of which I am still carrying one around in my purse to use as a weapon if I need it on my long drives to OK. Back to Mom - She came through the surgery with flying colors, and went to her own room a day later. They had her up walking around the floor doing laps, and I still can't seem to get on the treadmill for 30 minutes a day. All was going well, but now we are seeing signs of infection settling in and that isn't good. The symptoms actually could be signs of rejection, which is easier to handle, believe it or not. So, keep praying us through this time. I go down again tomorrow and hopefully she will come home from the hospital very soon.
That's all for now!

Roy Roamings

Hey, like the new title? Don't know how long I can keep up the RR thing, but I am no longer wanting to admit that coming out to the office for hours on end to blog and surf is really a big waste of time. I like having a pictoral journal of our happenings, sure beats scrapbooking.

GIVE ME YOUR INPUT and cure yourself of NCS: answer this question...

Where is the best place to take a cheap, fun, family friendly roadtrip this summer?

(Be advised it cannot include purchasing a set of mouse ears. )

The Horse + the Post = One badly bruised hip bone and a possible cracked rib...

Who wants to come ride a pony???



Mom update: THANK YOU to all of you who have checked this blog and prayed for my Mom. They have postponed her surgery until June 6 or 7??? This is a transplant surgeon so his schedule has to be flexible. Of course his office could use a little desk help in communicating with the patients and their families, that would be nice. Just so you all know, if you ever want to get anything done and you keep hitting a brick wall, call my husband. He'll take care of it. After a day and a half of me trying to get some info about rescheduling the surgery, Greg got the number and talked to the surgeon himself within 30 minutes. He was even nice, too. It must be a special gift to be able to work with people so well. Almost 16 years ago, he pulled that on me and I married him! Go Greg. You're the hero.

The Waiting Game

8:30am Ready to walk out the door after a sleepless night, Mom has fasted, the bags packed and everything ready.

8:31am The phone rings, it's the hospital. SURGERY POSTPONED.
The surgeon had to perform emergency surgery on someone else and we don't want a tired doctor cutting on my Mom. OK, we'll wait. Just let us know when he's good and ready. Hopefully Tuesday?

8:45am Out the door, we want some breakfast! So we went to Cracker Barrell and came right back home. So now we are sitting by the phone, anxiously waiting the call that will tell Mom when it's time for her big dance. Don't you hate that "Don't call us, we'll call you" scenario?!?!?

For all of you who read this blog and still suffer from NCS (No Comment Syndrome), I am very thankful you are here and now I need to make a request. It is time to take a momentary break from my usual sarcasm and/or fluffy stuff of life type entry, so here goes:

Please pray for my Mom. She goes in for sugery this coming Monday at Noon. I couldn't possibly make an accurate description of what they will do to her, but to make a short summary, I'll do my best... (If you aren't into details you can skip the next paragraph)

She recieved a liver transplant a little over one year ago, and her recovery went better than we could even hope for at first. She did not reject the liver, and adjusted her lifestyle to match the many needs of a transplant recipient. However, since Christmas she has had a difficult time. The liver has not been functioning properly mainly due to the bilary tree not draining well, this is the place where all the ducts come from the liver and move into the small intestine. She also has a very uncomfortable incisional hernia that is causing all kinds of problems, too. After some pretty severe pain, she finally cries out for help and spends a week in the hospital trying to get better. They sent her home for a week to regain some strength and now we are slated for surgery on MONDAY AT NOON. As I understand it, the doctor's will actually remove this "bilary tree" and somehow connect the small intestine to the liver... didn't know you could do that. There is still a lot I don't know, but I will ask many more questions to better grasp what is happening. They are saying, though, that this will be "even more extensive" of a surgery than the transplant was, and to expect her recovery to be the same: approx 3 months?? Well, she was Wonder Woman a year ago, so I am hoping and praying for the best.

If you have EVER even met this precious woman, then you know what a jewel she is. Proverbs 31 in the flesh. I keep trying to put into words how amazing she is... but they don't seem to make it into any one complete sentence. She is calm through all of this, and encourages me through scripture when it should be the other way around.

So, I ask you, my faithful bloggers, family, and friends... if you talk to God, please talk to Him about my Mom. I sure am, our kids are, I hope you'll do the same. I will be in OK for the big event, and will try to post from my Mom's computer so you can all have an update.

AS FOR MEMORIAL DAY: If all goes well, I will try to be back home, but I can make no guarantee and so bummer, we cannot plan a big blowout pool party here at the Roy Ranch. Maybe we can aim for Flag Day or something! We'll keep you posted on that as well!

THANK YOU!!!!

Pony Rides!

This lovely Spring afternoon was the best day I've had in a long time. Great friends, lots of food, fellowship, laughter, all topped off with our Bibles open and even a time of prayer together. Wow, I sure needed a party like that.

By the way, this is Sophie. She's the big, white animal on which the kids are riding. She is a wonderful, gentle, 11 year old mare (that's a female horse that is a mother, for all you DTBer's). She is NOT the one that knocked me into a post last Wednesday, possibly cracking a rib or two and leaving me with a nicely bruised ego and hip bone. Yeah, you'll hear more about that beast later.
This is just more of that dream being fulfilled. But most importantly, the relationships that continue to grow and the memories we make are really what is driving me these days. We just have to make the most of each day, people. They are numbered, you know.

VAIL, CO

Moments to remember...

*Mini- Ha Ha

*Club "Med"

*Roses' lovely shorts

*Day 1 = 10 wipeouts

*Day2= only 3 wipe outs

*I need more practice before I can do those bowls with everyone else...

*Luggage that went on to Idaho?

*My own personal thumb injury, which pales in comparison to all the others we heard about: the broken leg on the other side of the curtain, the head that hit the rock, broken back, broken wrist, and of course, the torn ACL...

*If you go skiing on the last weekend of the season, be prepared for the icey slopes and great sales on equipment!

*Ginger iced tea

*4 at 4 - good thing we missed that one.

*Already decorated Christmas trees

*George, the white- haired ski instructor who is a horse trainer from Texas. No wonder she got hurt!

Hiking Fox Acres

It was time once again for our quarterly hike to the big tree where all the snakes and crawling things like to hide. I always prefer doing this in the winter when everything is dead or sleeping, but now it is Spring and I could not justify keeping these kids holed up in the house when green grass, cow patties, and walking sticks were calling out to us. For your Fox family trivia knowledge, this is the lake in which my Dad threw my cousin's dog, Tramp, assuring us that ALL dogs can swim. He was wrong.

Meet "Charlie"

And No, to all my Fox family members, I did NOT name her. She is nothing like anyone in this family, immediate OR extended, living OR those with our Lord.... :-) This little Charlie likes to roll in her own manure, and kick at me if I have no grain in my hand. She is a bit like a spoiled toddler living in a child centered family. She has been by her Momma's side now for almost 1 1/2 years, and it shows. She is slowly learning, though, mainly because I am slowly learning how to teach her. And so far, she is settling in nicely. Her Momma, Sophie (pic will come later), went away for awhile, so I am the one she is learning to trust. She looks a bit like a mule, Greg says. And I agree for now, but just wait. If she is anything like Sophie, she will be beautiful!

National Holiday: "JUNE BUG DAY" April 12th

This morning I saw my first "June Bug" of the year, and here it is, April. Poor thing was doing what all June Bugs do, fighting for it's life on it's back. This sighting brings back to me all the memories of summer. It's my own little reminder that warm weather has arrived again, and with it all of summer's little pleasures like steaks on the grill, itchy mosquito bites, and running barefoot on the hot concrete. Even Nathan noticed the difference in the air this morning, he said it smelled like summer. So, what exactly does the return of this June Bug mean? Is it likened to groundhog day? If the brown little beetle actually flips over to it's feet, does summer come early?

OPENING DAY!

It's that time of year, folks. Dig out that sunscreen and lather it on thick, 'cause we're gettin' in the pool! Better find the nice, big beach towel while you're at it. There has to be some sort of physiological phenomenon in children under the age of 12 where they have a layer under their epidermis called the "wetsuit" layer. They might actually notice the cold water, but do they care? Oh no, not on your life.

After the fun, we opted for some blood warming hot chocolate!

This is "March Madness"

This is how you know you've gone to beach during SPRING BREAK!

"Kid's, let's go warm up in the hot tub! Uh, nevermind..."

Destination: Destin

It was wonderful to go to Florida for Spring Break, especially since we heard it was so cold and windy back home. After hearing about the blistering cold weather in MO, I didn't mind so much the fact that I wore a sweatshirt to the beach. This was a much needed break from all our self inflicted running around that we do. We ate out a lot, saw a movie, shopped way too much for the kids to stand it, put hundreds of miles on the car, and I even read a 500 page book while baking in my sweatshirt on that beach. Now that's a vacation!

So, how can you go on vacation without playing an exciting round of mini-golf? This big guy watched over the place, I guess.

The Roy Ranch...

Don't let Greg ever hear you call him a "farmer," no he's a "Rancher." I think he even looked it up just to make sure. You see, we don't grow anything. Not even grass, so far. However, we do have cows, dogs, and horses. (Pics to come, can't wait!) We did it. This is now home. It may not have a front yard, and the bushes are microscopic, but it is where we hang our hat. And coats, and throw our shoes around, and all the rest of those awful habits you swear you'll never do once you get that new place.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

You are all so kind (as well as probably a bit bored) to keep checking this page for recent Roy ramblings and pictures. Hey, that's a great name! I think I will rename this blog. It's a good thing to do, a new year, a new chapter in our lives, even a new job. Did I just say new job??? . Yes, it may involve me waving my arms around a little, I might even speak a line, "please be seated," or "Join us and sing..." , but I am just putting the music together. So far, it's a blast. How could I not love pouring through music books, rehearsing, and listening to new music collections all day long. Ahhh, if only that's what I did all day today. I have spent way too much time in front of this computer screen and right now my eyes are twitching and I have a pulsating headache, more like a rhythm, pounding in my head.

The big move to Royrogersville went, well, let's just say.... it's OVER. I had A LOT of help from Mers, God bless her. We are thrilled to be home, though. And yes, it does feel like home already. Some pics are up, and rugs are in place, even greenery ladies! But we have dreamed and planned and waited for this to come to fruition for a very long time. I did end up with an extra black ladies coat, though. No,I did NOT send out Christmas cards, I haven't even sent out a cute little change of address. I don't remember if we had Christmas. Oh yes, ya'll shoulda seen our tree. Now that was an experience I won't soon forget. Greg cut it down off the land (grunt as you read that) , we trimmed it up a little and brought that lovely red cedar inside. Too tall, of course, back outside. More trimmin', back inside... perfect. Moving on the 9th, there was no way I was going to go hunt for the ornaments and dig them out. Instead we paperchained, and popcorn strung, and coffee filter snowflaked the thing to death. Simple, and might I say, quaint in an elegant way. Whatever. The kids said it was the best tree we've ever had.


DEATH NOTICE

Robert has met his Maker this week. He lived a full life of about a year and went peacefully. Like and ox to the slaughter. Oblivious, poor thing. Our freezer will soon be full. Cook out at the Roy's, Memorial Day 2006!!


Back to other things...
We still do not have e-mail hooked up at home yet, it's gonna be dial up, people. It will be painful for awhile, but we'll cope. Neither am I able to upload pics, yet. Lauren's digital broke, I dropped it how many times? So that's what I'll do this afternoon, go get her (me) a new little point and shoot digi.

Love to all,

Roywife

Dear Faithful Friends, I will be back soon...

T - 3 Hours

It's almost over, the wait and chaos is drawing to a close, folks. What will I do withmyself now? No more using a porta potty at the job site. I now won't have to go scouring through 4 different closets to find Greg's belt. I won't have to stare at 1" square paint chips trying to plan the color scheme of the whole house. No more waiting, and waiting, and WAITING for a worker I have named "Dude" to show up and work on the exterior windows. He should've never told Greg he spent his whole day watching TV when he was supposed to be at our house. My husband has it calculated down to the penny per day that we are spending as we wait for guys like Dude. This chapter is ending, finally. I have enjoyed this storyline of creative adventure and anticipation, but I'm thrilled to move on.

The movers will be here very soon, I better get ready instead of watching TV!!

Fairytopia, Oklahoma

While at Mom's for an early Thanksgiving, these pretty little dancing fairies giggled, twirled, switched dresses, and danced again. The plastic tiara broke and the wings were too tight on their arms, and we couldn't find the floor of Mom's "princess room" for 3 days. Between the Irish dance, the constant spins to see how big the skirt would fly, and even a little square dancing, it was quite a site. Why did I even bother to pack the jeans and sweaters? How unfairylike of me.

What am I thankful for?

The Cross (seriously, I'm not really trying to be super spiritual here)

My husband, his wisdom and love

My kids!

Mom (and my Daddy, wish he was here)

Nana (and Papa, I miss him, too)

My sister and her fantastic family

Steve, JoAnne, Ashley, Daniel

My friends - Shannon and Cheri- who are like blood relatives, no matter what, they stay by my side.

My missionary friends who choose to be strangers in a foreign land for the sake of the Gospel... Armstrong's and Eastins, and so many others, I love you dearly.

Cousins and their kids... too bad I don't get to see them very often.

New friends

Old friends that I actually don't see anymore, either, but whose friendship has shaped who I am

The blogging community, although you all must suffer from NCS - NoCommentSyndrome (thanks to Tami who identified the dreadful disease)

Suzanne, the visionary, who crushed me in tennis

88.7 FM, if you can get it to come in (Where the heck is Tumecula?!)

Croissants

Nutella (Chocolate hazelnut cream)

Pilates

Kendra Rogers and her color magic

Friends, even if they don't hardly know me and yet rake my leaves and offer to come dig through my yard looking for a little diamond.

Denise at"Decorating Den", for putting up with me! Who also scoured Greg's farm truck looking for the diamond.

FINDING THE DIAMOND!

Learning how to play chords from Jen and discovering that after all these years, I really can play the piano, just not very well... yet.

My church, where God has literally raised me for 18 1/2 years

The sound of giggles coming from the darkened kids room after we've prayed, kissed, and said goodnight

Dreams come true

Even dreams that don't come true

More Pics of the House???

Aren't you all sick and tired of these house pics, yet?! I know that I am sick and tired of living in a state of transition. That's now a dirty word in our family. December 9th, folks. The countdown is in effect, it just so happens to coincide with the countdown to the opening of "The Chronicles of Narnia!"

My FAVORITE time of year!

... my FAVORITE subject!

Is it Southern Colonial or Georgian?

At this point, I don't care what style of architecture you want to call it. All I know is that, finally, instead of 2x4's holding up the front porch, we now have column's being installed.


Check out the painter, John, calling to me from the doorway. On this particular day I made 1,228.5 decisions regarding the house. I can't wait until we're on to other things: like, should we have spaghetti for dinner or hamburgers?

PROJECT UPDATE

For all of you who are reluctant to drive all the way out to Roygersville to visit, here is a way for you to at least feel connected through this amazing www. You can be sure that if I know your name, you will probably be expected to come over very soon (no internet wierdo's please). We are having hospitality withdrawal, it's been quite visitless around our house since May.

I am looking for good TWEEN room idea's --- please help! She wants lime green, blue, and chocolate brown. The brown is already on one wall. I have striped rugs in these colors and a throw from Target, same colors with circles. It's so not me, so I would like to enlist the opinions of other young, hip persons. If you qualify, please post. Thank you.

I say the butler did it in the library with a candlestick!

This is the kitchen in progress. Yes, I will have such modern conveniences as a stove, an oven (actually 2 ovens), a fridge, sink (2), and automatic dishwasher. Very high tech, I know.

Here is the back of the house. Love the dirt mountain, huh?

The Big Red Barn

I love barns. Strange, I know. But, I love them. They have history, a past which is left untold for us metro people. I even like to go find barns and take their pictures before time and nature claims their weary life. My all time favorite childrens board book is called, "The Big Red Barn." So, I guess it's destined that we would one day own one ourselves. My dream barn would be built out of reclaimed, weathered barnwood, complete with a loft and a cupola (a vent thing on top that holds the iron rooster thing). But the budget can only handle so much creativity, so I'm quite happy with the look we have here. I'm also happy that next spring a new pony or horse will call this place home and there will be 3 excited children overfeeding our new addition to the family and fighting over who gets to ride him/her first. Although we have committed to NEVER owning chickens, I do look forward to barn cats having kittens, watching the deer hop our fence, planting rasberry bushes, and maybe even running off the skunks that find their way onto our property with a 22. ( the Belschner way of handling the nasty creature)
I know I promised to show pictures of the house, and I will get to that, but this is in itself a dream come true for me. Thank you to my fantastic husband who shares this dream with me and strives to find joy in our lives by stretching our comfort zone and reaching out to pursue something that has always been in our hearts.

"... and they played all day in the grass and in the hay, and when the sun went down in the great green field, the big cow lowed and the little pig squealed! ... and they all lived together in the big red barn."

A Pumpkin Pregnancy

No thoughts on that last blog??? Maybe this will get some rumors flyin' around...


Today I will go to take pics of the house, so check back in a day or so for my building project update blog. Oh boy, can't miss it.