The Backyard Project

This summer, we have done quite a few projects. Our dogs have necessitated a few of them but some have been just for fun. Our biggest focus this summer has been on our backyard. When we first moved into our house, the backyard was a nightmare. There were random concrete walkways that led into the fence or ended in weird places. There were also so many huge trees that nothing could grow because they wouldn't let any sunlight through at all. We had quite the adventure getting it all to work. We started with the trees. We took out two of the five hundred year old behemoths which was perfect. It let enough sun in for grass to grow but still kept the house almost entirely shaded. We then did a sprinkler system and grass. In our planning of this backyard, we sectioned off an area specifically for a deck. After three years in our home, it was time. We went through so many different plans and ideas that we started to wonder if it would ever really happen. Originally, we wanted a redwood deck but with snow and all the continual maintenance they require, we bagged that idea. We put in a call to my brother who is the stone master and he got us some amazing limestone for an incredible price. We re-poured our back porch since the concrete was falling apart and that was an adventure itself. Concrete can be some funny business. We then went through more scenarios of how to do the limestone that anyone could have possibly done. At that point we decided that it was time to just go to work and whatever happened was the way it was going to work. It worked out beautifully. It took much longer than anticipated and there were times where we wondered if we were going to have snow before a bbq but about mid-August, we were finished!

The ceremonial laying of the last pieces.

My favorite part, the trees back there keep it shaded 24/7 so it is wonderful to sit out there and enjoy lunch, read a book, or just take a nap. It has definitely been used and worth every bit and blister.

The Rest of July's Adventures

The last week of playing that Amy and her family were here, we played even harder. The following Monday, we went over to my dad's work and played trains. The kids all got to jump inside the engine and honk the horn and make everything work. Usually we get to drive them too but there weren't enough guys in the train yard to do that. Another time…

Afterwards, we headed back to my mom's and got everyone in swimsuits and such and headed for Salem Pond. This pond looks so horrible and gross from the road but if you drive up in, there is a big sandy beach, playground, pavilion, and such that is wonderful. The water was even quite warm which was amazing. There isn't much in Northern Utah that is warm. Without reservation, they all stripped down to their trunks and bailed in while the rest of us camped out in the shade and started blowing up tubes. We got those done and those kids were hilarious. Abby could have spent all day making sand castles and Kaden in about 3" of water splashing his heart out. We played on the playground and checked out Ryan's broken toe from the water fight of the day before. It was pretty ugly. Becky, Gavin, Abby and I also walked around the pond to feed the ducks. Becky and Gavin didn't have their shoes on though and the pavement started to burn their feet so we found some shade and Gavin dashed away to get shoes. We tried to make some progress with one shoe each but it was so hot! Gavin came flying back to our rescue though. It was pretty fun feeding them bread and popcorn until this massive goose decided that she wanted all the bread to herself and started after us. She was ready to give chase so we threw a pretty big piece a ways away hoping she would go after it instead of us. She did so we fed the ducks for a bit and then threw her a piece to keep her as far away as possible. On our way back, we saw this whole group of baby ducks and Abby was enthralled with them. They would get pretty close too and Abby would just giggle and tell us to look at the baby ducks. We played all afternoon and everybody ended up pretty sunburned until Becky and her family and Ryan with his had to get on the road. We said our goodbyes and started to get things cleaned up to head home. That is when a paddle to the row boat sank and a tube that someone was borrowing blew away. Derek and Lance went diving for the paddle and the others went swimming after the tube. It was going just enough faster than they were though so we ran over to some kids in a canoe and they went after it for us. We never did find the paddle though.

The rest of that week, we didn't do much but goof around until Saturday. That morning was the kid's parade for Pioneer Day. Our ward did a float (we took 2nd place for Best Float!) so I went and did that in the morning and then picked up Gavin, Garrett, and Dallas from Amber's to go enjoy the festivities at the park. Lance and Derek went to help Lance's grandma so they didn't come. Our town does so much for the kids after the parade that it is crazy and almost all of it is free. We started with getting tickets for the fish rodeo and then headed for the dunk tank. They all wanted to get dunked but there were so many kids who wanted to get dunked but not many wanted to throw the ball. Come to find out, if you throw the ball, you get to choose who you dunk so Gavin instantly dunked Dallas; Garrett dunked Gavin and I got to dunk Garrett, jeans and all. Dallas chose an unsuspecting victim from the crowd. They are all amazing throwers and dunked each other multiple times because they nailed the bull's eye so often. Gavin looked the most worried up there but they all had fun with it and it cooled them off while we waited for our turn at the fish rodeo.

Now, this rodeo is no ordinary rodeo. The city builds a big pool at the park about 6" deep and then fills it with over 500 fish. They then let the kids get in and catch their fish with their hands and put it in a big bag of water to take home. Here is the funny part: they are 8" rainbow trout. This ain't no goldfish mind you. Gavin was having no part in it so we bought tickets for the other two and he went over and watched for a minute then decided he could maybe do that. We bought him one as well and they all leaped on it when it was their turn. Gavin did pretty well and caught one pretty quick but instantly panicked and dropped it and started to chuckle. Dallas was the first to get his fish. He grabbed it and put it in his bag and had the biggest grin on his face. Gavin and Garrett weren't having so much luck and Gavin wouldn't even touch them so he grabbed a fishing net and proceeded to catch two. He put one in his bag and let someone else take the other one. Garrett took another minute or so but grabbed one and off he went. They were pretty excited with them. Once the excitement died off though, it was a realization of "now what?". Now we had three trout in bags and no idea what to do with them. They decided to throw them back in the pond. Someone had left some other fish on the table so they had us take them home instead. Before we left, the boys wanted to go play on this big blowup obstacle course so I got a break in the shade and they took off. They were doing flips, and seeing how high they could bounce each other and just being all around crazy boys. It was so fun to watch especially when they kept falling into the fence that blocked the sides and getting stuck. Once they got their fill (which took awhile), we headed home and Greg and Dallas cooked up the trout, took a couple bites and fed the rest to the dogs. Gavin and Garrett would have no part in that. They were fine with catching them but that was the end of it. Boys after my own heart…

From there, we went in and made some real lunch (PB&J YAY!) and ran some errands. Molly's collar was chewed off sometime during the day so we let the boys choose her a new one and then took them down to see the wind mills and the mouth of the canyon. There is a road that takes you right underneath them and had a contest as to who could jump the shadow of the blades when they would come around. That night, the festivities continued with a big concert at the park. They blocked off the street and set up a huge stage. The band was incredible too. Greg and Dallas laid down on the grass but G&G and I weren't done yet. We went up next to the stage and danced until I thought our legs would fall off. G&G even lined danced the Boot Scoot with me and did a pretty good job at it as well. We then headed to get them a change of clothes because after a dunk tank, fishing pond, bounce house, and a dance party, we stunk! They ran in to get some clothes and filled Amy's ear almost to bursting with stories of the day. They were so excited and couldn't be contained. Once they content with their version of things, we headed back to my house for showers and a sleepover. They all laid down to watch Cars and were gone before it even started. We were all exhausted from a day full of the craziest adventures we could possibly come up with and we weren't even done yet.

Ode to Summer

Summer has been fun. We have done so much and enjoyed so many adventures that it is sad to feel a chill in the air and see different colors appearing around us. At least with summer ending, there are now books to read and sleep to get caught up on, quilts to make and cookies to frost and the holidays loom ever closer. One of my favorites is Halloween. Just before Labor Day, I made some decorations to put on my wall like a ghost and a haunted house, a pumpkin and a bat, etc, but Greg wouldn't let me put them up just yet. "You can't decorate for a holiday before the one previous to it (i.e., Labor Day)," he told me. So, as soon as we came home from the cabin on Labor Day, I pulled out all the fall decorations and unleashed them on my unsuspecting living room. There were even more than usual as my mom and I spent Friday playing in Midway at Swiss Days. There was so much to see and do that we couldn't be contained and I couldn't fathom putting these new friends away in a closet until the time came to let them out. Instead, they sat in the living room until the rest of the fall decor could be released. Greg just laughed but his conditions were met so he stepped aside and even fixed an item that had an incedent last year on the front porch with the wind. Once the decorations are loosed from their dark container, it is only then that I feel like Autumn can be. Although Summer and sunburns will still be missed.

July's Adventures

Much of the month of July was spent with my sister, Amy, and her family. We had a blast. She has four boys who are tons of fun and so full of energy that sometimes I think they will burst because of it so we did quite a bit to expound this exuberance. Once the scouts all headed to Maple Dell with the two older boys, we went of goofed around. A few days were spent at the city pool with the twins and Derek and Gavin and Garrett got quite the addiction while there for the diving boards. They just learned to swim further distances so we dared the diving boards. From there, we spent half the time there. After the first couple jumps, they decided to spice things up with flips, dives, belly flops, and every other cool thing they could think of to do off the diving board. They were hilarious especially with the dive that was more a flop but they didn't care. They could have spent all day there and not mind in the least. It was great and so much fun to see them enjoy every minute. That night they were planning on sleeping over at my house so I told them I was going to go home and get cleaned up from swimming and then come and pick them up, but Greg and I decided to go to dinner quick before we picked them up. I left my phone home and pretty soon Greg gets a call from my mom wondering where in the world we are because the boys are going crazy that we weren't there yet. We told them we were on our way and they were out front waiting for us. We went back to my house and took the dogs for a walk and ate junk and crashed after reading stories.

We also spent quite a bit of time frequenting the shaved ice shack down by the library. The best part: they put ice cream in the bottom of your cup if you want it and it is real shaved ice and not the snow cone chunky stuff. We went many times with all the boys and tried many different flavors and kinds but found out the hard way that they don't take debit cards, just cash or check. This was also after everyone got their food. At this point, me and the twins walked a couple blocks to the ATM while Dominik and Derek stayed and ate the shaved ice. They were pretty worn out already as we just finished at the skate park on ripstiks and long boards and roller blades. As we were walking, we kept losing chunks of our shaved ice as it would fall to the ground. We left a trail and enjoyed every minute of our adventure but there were still many to come…

We spent quite a bit of time with Grandma too, giving her a haircut in the "salon" and talked to her and singed to her. She got her hair done and was all pretty and ready for all her company to come.

Pam and Nathan along with Elizabeth and her kids were coming up for the weekend so she was all pretty and ready to go. The boys were the best of gentlemen with her and held her hand and told her all about football and school and did such a good job. They then were done and headed to the school just down the street to play while we did her hair and everything. Once Pam and everyone showed up Friday night (the 10th), we played a crazy game of tag but had many injuries so we played Red Rover instead. It was pretty fun and everyone was so funny. We played for quite awhile (even Pam played!) until there were too many injuries that half the teams were on the injured list. We went in and made chicken enchiladas and played games and goofed around until it was almost dark. We then headed to the park and played night games on the playground. While the kids were playing, we noticed a funny light coming from the cemetery through the fence so we thought we might scare some kids with it. We gathered them up and Greg did a good job trying to scare them but when he said that they were going to find out what this scary ghost light was at the cemetery, they were all trying to climb the fence without a fear in sight. They thought that was too cool and had to go check it out. It completely backfired on us and we just had to sit and laugh. Elizabeth's Aubrie was the only one who was even slightly skittish. We all came back and played some more games until they came to lock the gates, so we started home with everyone piled in the bed of the truck (shh, don't tell). They were all so beat by the time we were done that everyone just crashed.

Saturday morning, they were all up bright and early though especially with all the scouts coming down the canyon and cleaning up before they hit the road for home. They did so amazing and got so many awards and they all just beamed as they showed everyone. They were a great group of boys as well as their leaders. Lance and Dallas were pretty excited that they didn't have to drive home that day and got to spend an extra week with all of us.

That day, we went to the park down by the library and played football, rode the ripstiks, and just goofed around. Dallas was such an amazing kid and brought Dominik over and showed him how to ride his ripstik. It took Dom awhile to catch on and Dallas helped him and caught him so he wouldn't crash and they both were so fun to watch. We went over and played football, and danced to the Mexican music blaring from the stage behind the library and completely goofed around. One of my favorite moments from the park was when Gavin was on the swing and going pretty high when I threw the football to him. He let go of the swing to catch the football but didn't hold back on after he caught it. The swing came back and Gavin came right out of it and belly flopped right on the ground. We ran over to see if he was ok and he looked up with this looked of "huh?!" and started to laugh like crazy. He was such a goof. We went back to my mom's house and started making a big dinner as Ryan and Kim and kids showed up and had a blast. Amy took all the kids under 17 (there were quite a few) and had a corn husking party on the patio while we cooked inside. We had so much food that it looked like Thanksgiving and we ate like it was with more people than we have had together in a long time. Once again, we ended up at the park playing more night games with most kids in jammies, before Pam, Nathan, Elizabeth and kids headed home.

Sunday, we had our picture and water party at the park and on Monday, a whole different adventure started...