Our Soldier

Pvt Hoogendoorn, Tyler

Here's a few pictures from the last couple days.

Tyler got a promotion at the Family Day ceremony. Gene had the honor of putting the new badge on his uniform.

 

We all had dinner together at Applebee's after the ceremony on Wednesday. Greg joined us from Florida! He surprised Ty.

 

 The graduation ceremony took place in an auditorium. The soldiers were all sitting in their places when they opened the doors for the families. They didn't move a muscle.

 

 Each soldier said their name and where they were from.

All 4 of my soldiers and veterans. We are so proud of them all!!

MOM Hoog

Patio

Our patio is about to be laid and the electrical work is installed in the garage.

 

We have a couple exciting days ahead of us here in Oklahoma. We got to talk to Ty on the phone last night, he filled us in on some things that will happen at the ceremony this morning- It will be exciting!! I really didn't get any sleep last night, my mama heart is excited, bleeding, excited, happy, sad, excited, proud. . . . . . .

Mom Hoog

Ahhh Cement!

They set the garage addition up for cement on Friday and poured it this morning.

 

It was a little tricky, the wind picked up and the dust, dead grass and leaves started flying around. On
top of that the cats were very confused about where they could walk since there is now a sidewalk to the whelping building. The cement layers had to fix it up a couple times when the cats walked on it.
The round holes in front of the Puppy Place room will be for the pillars that will go from the cement to the underside of the overhang thingie.
Saturday night was a beautiful evening! No wind, warmish, no bugs- perfect for a little bonfire.

 It was so cute, Gene sat down in the glider rocker and Houston ran to the house, opened the door himself and went to the storage closet and got the booster seat. Hauled it outside and made himself comfortable- Mr. Independent :)

Dana, ever busy doing online college classes, studied by firelight.
 We grilled up some meat and Dana tried out a new potato recipe from Pinterest. Trev, the master chef made homemade onion rings- they were a hit! We made a batch of gluten free onion rings. Gene says we're not going out to eat on Saturday night anymore, he wants homemade gluten free onions rings at home instead hee hee.

Mom Hoog

Construction Update

Here's a little update on the garage addition.

The cement sidewalk and driveway, siding, pillars, electricity, heating, replacing upstairs and entry windows, are all scheduled in the next week or two. Gene's going to attempt to put new basement windows in himself. Landscaper and the guy who is laying the patio are both coming today to put that plan in place- can hardly wait!!

Mom Hoog

Oops!

 

 What's that, you ask?? who's ticket is that??

 

You all know the Rock River bridge, the one with the stop light a couple miles from our house. I've been quite vocal to anyone I'm riding with that they stop for the light. My husband, being one of those that runs it if he doesn't see anyone coming from the other direction.  He does stop more often lately because I've warned him that there is law enforcement parked on the driveway south of the bridge quite often.
Well. . . . . Tuesday morning I had an early morning run to the airport to deliver puppies and following another car I approached the curve before the bridge, saw the light turn yellow and sped up a little to make sure I made it onto the bridge while the light was still yellow. This is something I think we all do when we see the yellow light on that stoplight. After all I HAD to get home quickly as I'm sure Trev couldn't get his breakfast by himself.
As I approach the other end of the bridge there are the reflective "Sheriff" stripes and some flashy lights happening hee hee. Oh crap!
Mr. Oostra claims the light turned red as I crossed onto the bridge. It may have, it may have, it was very close. Imagine the humiliation if you will! Me- the advocate for stopping for this light, getting a citation for running the light.
I asked Mr. Oostra to please define the law so I would be well informed and never have to lay down another $200.00 and break the law again. He said "yellow means caution/slow down, and not quickly accelerate to try to make the bridge. Imagine how many minutes a day I will lose now that I know that.
In other news. . . . . . . .
The garage addition is coming along nicely! Impact Construction came with 4 guys yesterday and really hammered away (hee hee) at that garage.

Mom Hoog

Ty!

Looks like he's enjoying himself :)

Mom Hoog

Finally

The garage addition is finally taking shape. The cement for the garage floor was laid on Friday.
That night Levi had to test it out on his bike. He rides bike like a pro!

 

I guess I should photo shop the long chicken legs out of the next picture hee hee! For some reason the husband thinks he can run around outside in his underwear.

 

Impact Construction arrived Monday morning with 2 guys and the work began.

 

By 5 pm this is what it looked like. Wow! Now . . . if we can just keep them here! They plan to be here most of week. (A few things elsewhere that need attention- yup Janelle, you are on the schedule to get that trim done).

 

It's going to take some getting used to  . . . . It looks huge, the house is kinda dwarfed by the size of it.

 

It's kinda fun walking around the inside and imagine my Puppy Place room all up and running. I CAN NOT WAIT!!

 

Chantel checking it out. We took a few pictures of her tonight to send to Tyler.

 

Tyler got his phone for a half hour on Sunday and Chantel and I both got a call from him. He is doing well and he's anxious to be done with basic training and to move to the next phase- AIT at Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. He'll be there from the end of October until the 2nd week in March. He is scheduled to come home for a while over the Christmas and New Year holiday. It was quite funny when he called Sunday, I answered the phone call (during my nap) on the home phone, no caller ID, and I didn't recognize his voice and wouldn't believe that it was him. It took a little convincing on his part. We are very much looking forward to our trip to Ft Sill for graduation. We hope to spend a couple days with him, the day before graduation and maybe the day after.

 

This has to be my favorite season. The trees are just gorgeous right now.

 

Coming tomorrow. . . . . the tale of the river bridge citation.

 

 

Mom Hoog