The Homestead was hit by TWO microbursts!!

This summer the Reneer homestead was hit by two microbursts, A microburst is an intense rainstorm with 70-90 mph winds that lasts 10-15 minutes caused by a severe drop in barometric pressure and a low front collides with a warm front and leaves a path of destruction in its wake.

Here is a picture of The Cabin in the woods.

 Here is a picture of Little house on the prairie. *thank you Barb Brown of the clever comment.

(click on picture for full panoramic view)

The white Toyota Corolla in this picture was already parked there and looked like this for 10 years so the trees left it alone. Now the other 4 running vehicles on the property the trees showed no mercy. 

 (click on picture for full panoramic view)

This is how rednecks snowmobile in the summer! YEA HAW!!

Me and the younger three hauling scrap to the ever growing burn pile that consists of slash, and wood scraps from crushed buildings and over 300 tree stumps. 

Ike and his buddy doing some more demolition on my dad's museum (aka shack that held all his yard sale treasures)

Daniel digging trench to run electrical line up to the new shed. Jakey is raking slash out of the Daniel's way.

This is our foreman. The pay is lousy, the breaks and sparse and the insults shouted while working are frequent and most often quite clever. He is yelling at me in this shot because I am holding a camera and not a shovel.

While we were outside working these three girls took a break to make us some delicious brownies.

On a side note, Jacob has been learning how to play with a magnifying glass and sunlight. First he just burned holes through things, sometimes himself, but now he is taking it to a whole new level. I am very impressed.

As my dad expressed there is years and years of work ahead of us. The kids and I will keep helping out when we can one holiday weekend at a time. 

List of damages:

Two buildings hit (roof damage)

3 buildings totally destroyed

4 vehicles hit

3 vehicles totaled

8 logging trucks worth of lumber removed from property

1 trampoline destroyed

1 swing set destroyed

1 satellite dish destroyed (this one really broke dad's heart)

Silverwood 2014

Each year week take the family to our local theme park, Silverwood, in Hayden Idaho.

It is lots of fun for about 4 hours then mom and dad are dragging and the kids are just kicking it into high gear. We go from 11 am to 10 pm. A very loooong day. 

It is a day that mom gets to be a "cool" mom and say yes to everything. You wanna go on that ride a fourth time? YES!! You wanna go watch another three stooges short in the movie theater? YES!! You wanna ride the carousel? YES!! We buy an all you can drink refillable soda bottle to share and then they get to drink all the soda and lemonade they want throughout the day. The boys go off on there own and meet up to grab linner at the van and when it is time to go. Other than that they are far away from Mom's nagging voice. 

Ben and I are super heroes!!

Ben with Anna and Maria on the Mighty #7 getting ready for a train ride around the park. We saw bison, three deer, Big foot, and a shoot out at the mining camp. 

Maria making a silly face for me as we waited in line to drive some antique cars. It was a long wait, I got a lot of silly pictures.

The look on Maria's face as she floors the car and peels rubber out of the gate onto the track says it all.

LOOK MOM, NO HANDS!!

Anna with her hand on 2 and 10. Well not always, at first she thought the car would steer itself, I had to work at convincing her it did not before we hit the dividing bar.

The chicas on the butterfly swing

This roller coaster was awesome because the cart spun around 360 degrees while flying around the track. The girls went on it three times.

Anna and Maria getting ready to go on the leap frog. 

The Leap Frog. They pull them up then bounce them down. It was a huge hit. 

Occasionally I would run into one of our other kids. Here is Jakey soaking wet from going on rides with Daniel. They went on the Spin Cycle to try and dry off. The wetting of the pants from the ride kinda made it a counter productive endeavor. **

As the sun sets it gets chilly out there, especially because your clothes are still fairly wet from rides or peeing. Ike brought along his trusty poncho and made quite the fashion statement at the park. This being northern Idaho no one really noticed. This is the type of establishment where women go swimming in their bras and panties passing them off as a swimsuit. They fooled no one. I could tell because the bra and panties cover a lot more flesh than the average bikini.

So another Silverwood trip in the books. 

** No pants were actually peed in when this picture was taken.

A very special visit

This past Sunday Daniel was ordained an Elder in our church by his step-dad, Benjamin Guhl. It was a very special day for our family.

One of the duties of an Elder is to bless and heal the sick. Before laying the hands upon the head of the individual about to be blessed they place a drop of consecrated olive oil upon the head.

The elder is to carry this oil with them always. Dan was very diligent in being sure to have his vial with him by carrying it on his key chain. When he died I took over the key chain. I was devastated a year and a half ago when I looked down on the key chain and noticed the vial was gone! I was hoping to pass it on to Daniel because of the emotional significance of the vial. 

I looked and looked for the vial in our cars, floors, and anywhere else I had been. I figured it must have fallen off while I was in school or running errands. So while we were in Utah, last month, I bought Daniel a very nice vial to carry with him into the mission field. 

Last night Dan's vial showed up. Out of nowhere it showed up in our bedroom in plain sight. People I turned that room upside down and have deep cleaned it several times over the past year and a half with out any sign of that vial. 

Dan is still watching over his boys and I feel he wanted to be sure Daniel has his vial as he left home for the first time to serve the Lord for two years. It still brings tears to my eyes and opens up a lot of wounds. I got down on my knees and thanked my Heavenly Father for letting Dan still be here with his family for the important events. 

Jacob's Dream

The other night Jacob had a dream about his dad. He has these on occasion. Sometimes they are good dreams, sometimes they are scary dreams, but mostly they make him sad. 

This dream was a good dream. I was so happy to hear he got to spend some time with his dad doing something he loves.

Jacob dreamed he and his dad were watching planes fly by through the sky and they could reach out and catch them and they would turn to model planes in his hands. Jacob loves model planes. 

He was so happy when he woke up that morning.

Jacob's 7th birthday

Why I am now afraid to blog

I have committed all of these crimes numerous times on my blog.



I am sorry



Thank you Weird Al.

Isaac's List of No-No's

Isaac and I finally came to an understanding to help prevent further misunderstandings. We sat down together and went through a favorite magazine of his and made a list of things he is never ever ever ever allowed to own. We have both signed this list acknowledging we both agree on the things listed being dangerous, gratuitously violent, or just plain stupid to own. 

Isaac’s list of No-No’s

Butterfly knives

Throwing knives

Switchblades

Spears

Devil Ray knives

Handcuffs

Fake Concealed Weapons permit

Tire Thumper

Billy Club

Peace Pipes

Throwing Stars

Tasers

Stun guns

Harpoons

Brass knuckles of any sort

Battle Axes

Throwing Axes or hatchets

Nazi Propaganda

Counterfeit money

Guns that are knives

Wallets that are knives

Harmful sprays

Ash trays

Sword sticks

Chain whips

Defense batons

Key chains depicting male genitalia 

I see this a a very small victory, but a victory none the less.