Making Flowers

One of Makayla's favorite things to do is make a project. She is all about doing anything crafty anytime. I love to make things with the girls too. Yesterday we decided to make flowers. It was hilarious when we got to the part of gluing raisins for the centers. Allie couldn't figure out why we would waste something so delicious, and so her flower hardly has any raisins. Kayla was just happy I found a use for those gross things, and her flower center is completely covered.

Would You Like Reese's in Your Water?

Nate went to get ice from the ice machine the other day and got surprise instead. A full sized Reese's Peanut Butter Cup came out instead of ice.

I'd bought this for our trip next week, and I'd just set it on the top shelf on the door of the freezer without thinking anything of it. It must have slipped off the shelf and straight into the ice machine opening.
I'm glad it was Nate and not one of the girls. I can just see the chocolate mess all over them and the ice covering the kitchen floor as they tried their luck again.

Two Wheels

We love our new neighborhood except for one thing, the sidewalks are always covered with gravel, rocks, dirt, and other construction equipment. Sadly we've had to teach our children it is okay to ride and walk in the street. For this reason we have left Kayla's bike in the basement all summer since she has to go slower on the scooter and hopefully will be more aware of her surroundings. We would have taught her to ride last year, but with moving out of our old house onto a busy street, we just never got around to it. We finally decided to get out her bike last Saturday. It was the perfect day for playing outside, and the neighbors front yard is nearing completion so their bobcat wasn't running back and forth.
One last ride before removing the training wheels.
Look at her go! She's a natural!


Obviously Kayla was more than ready to get rid of the training wheels. She did so good from the first. The hardest part was getting started, but even that didn't take too long.

Nathan's Trucks

Nate got to bring his brand new service truck home last week. It is definitely much shinier than his old truck. Plus it has a crane, which he already got to try out helping a neighbor move some big rocks around in his front yard. It has been funny watching all the men in the neighborhood stop by and say something about his new truck.
Now he's just got to find the time to switch his tools over. Then we can get rid of the old dilapidated truck that is completely falling apart. His new one still needs a few minor things done, but his old one was no longer safe to drive. The tires were so bad he was on his two spares and there was wire showing on at least one of the other tires.

We've Got Grass

Now our entire yard is covered in beautiful green grass. Yeah!!! We didn't have time to finish the front yard before it got too hot in the spring, but now we don't have anymore dirt to worry about!!! No more kids sitting and digging in the dirt as soon as they walk out the front door regardless of what they are wearing or where we are going.
Also our neighbor is getting ready to pour a huge cement RV pad all along our property line. As they were getting ready we realized we were going to have about a foot drop off or end up with all the water from his yard creating a swamp in ours. So with the help of Mike (our neighbor) and his Bobcat, Nate and him raised our yard about a foot yesterday morning. They brought fill dirt from across the street, then Mike donated some of his topsoil, and then we used some of our extra sod to cover it back up. You can see we no longer have a big slope on the side of our yard. The yards in the neighborhood tend to vary in height depending on whether they were the first house or later house with all the extra dirt. It makes it frustrating for doing yard work. We'd made the slope so our yard would level out with the house next to us, but at that time they were just starting building and the level of their land rose quite a bit. Oh and on a side note-we really need to fertilize our older grass. We just keep pushing it back so the kids can play on it. Where we're the only one of their friends with grass we hate to take it away even for a few days.

Nate made sure the sprinklers covered everything after we finished laying the sod.
Allie enjoyed watching Daddy at work.

You Know You're Tired When...

You fall asleep before you can even finish closing your game. I walked into the bedroom the other night to find Nate asleep in the computer chair, hand still on the mouse, in the process of closing everything down on the computer. My question-if you're that tired why don't you stop playing a little sooner and GO TO BED?

Our Cover Girl

It is great fun to get to have pictures of our darling girls in the Cards magazine thanks to our fabulous photographer Amy. Both girls are always thrilled to help Amy however they can. This weekend Amy surprised me on Saturday when she called to say she was coming with Mom and Dad so Kayla could be on the cover. We spent several hours taking lots of fun pictures, but Kayla was most excited about this picture. I mean not only is it going to be on the cover, but she got to eat cookies and drink "hot chocolate." She can't wait until the magazine gets printed so she can take it for show and tell.

Do You Play Croquet?

For Nathan's birthday I got him a croquet set (he's been wanting one for years). Sunday evening we finally had time to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather as a family. It was really fun to watch the girls try to figure out how to get the mallet to hit the balls. Kayla played with us for most of a game while Allie just ran around randomly hitting any ball she could find. Nate beat me severely the first game, but by the second I was much closer although still a looser. We were having too much fun to remember to take pictures other than right at the start.
Afterwards we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood as the sun was setting and yes the mosquitoes were biting. I think the girls must share my blood because the mosquitoes don't seem to like them much, but poor Daddy made a delicious meal for a dozen or so of our gigantic blood sucking friends.
On a side note, if you notice the disgusting swamp in the background of the first picture you might be able to figure out why we have such a huge mosquito problem besides being close to the Stansbury Lake. We're trying to get Richmond to level this lot next to us to get rid of the standing water, but everyone on our street is having problems with the city way over water on the hill behind our fence. It is causing us all to have standing water at the back of our yards. One family's yard was so bad they had to completely tear out all their newly landscaped yard and bring in a bunch of dirt to raise the entire yard. We only have a small amount at the back of our yard, but we're among the more fortunate.

Ouch!!!

Last Monday Nate slipped on a ladder at work. He slammed his leg down and yanked his shoulder as he tried to stay upright. That night he came home with a swollen leg and nursing a sore shoulder. All week his bruise has continued to get worse. We finally thought to take a picture of it, but it actually is already looking better. Other than Kayla accidently kicking his leg, it hasn't been much of a problem. Unfortunately his shoulder has been another story. The poor guy hurts to even use his left arm. I've felt so bad for him. I know he can't take it easy at work, but we've been trying to let him off the hook here at home. The problem is he hasn't really been home to give it a break. Finally last night he decided it wasn't hurting quite as bad. Maybe we'll be getting our superdad back :)

What Have We Been Up To

I finally decided to hang some cute tin sayings I found at Reel Deals in Pocatello several months ago. When I held them up to the wall I was disgusted to learn they were the wrong tan for my walls. I debated what to do, and finally decided on this... I took painter's canvas, painted it pink or ivory (depending on if it was for the girls' room or ours) and then mounted the saying on top. I think it worked out okay...

When we were first picking out everything for our house, we were disappointed in the lighting selection and disgusted at the outrageous prices. We knew we wanted dark lighting and fans; so we decided we would do it ourselves once we got settled. After a couple of outrageous electric bills, we determined it was definitely time to install some fans. While at the store we found lights for the kitchen and entry that were perfect for our house. So Nate has spent the last week or more installing and renovating all the lights on the main floor.

I hated this light over our dining room table (the way it looked is down below). The center is glass, but it didn't light up. Plus it was way too small for the area. I got the idea to paint it pink and hang it in the girls' bedroom. Nate thought I meant pastel pink, but I figured if you're going pink, might as well do it right. Anyway, I love how it turned out and as you can tell the girls do too.

Here is the new fan for our bedroom. We wanted something simple and light. Unfortunately as I was pulling the glass out of the bag, I immediately broke one of the pieces of glass. I guess it's back to home depot for me.
This is one of our dim cave-like lights. It used to be silver, but Nate painted it black to go with the rest of the house. These lights were throughout the house, and in the bigger rooms they just didn't put out enough light. We replaced them with fans and then are painting and swapping out the bigger size for the littler size in the rooms where they will work.
This is one of the new version for the hallway. It matches the entry and dining lights. Although it's pretty small it really lets out a lot of light, and for the hall we figured it is nice to open up the space.
This is our light over the stairs. I've always liked it, but it was silver...
Now the silver is replaced by black, and I love it even more.

Really this light wasn't bad, it has now been painted black and will be replacing the dim lighting in the front room as soon as Nate can get to it.
This is our new entry light. It is quite a bit bigger and matches the other new ones.
Here is that chandelier. See it's just kinda ugly where the center is glass but doesn't light up. It also looks just way too small.
Here is the much prettier chandelier and the nice new fan for the family room. It is so nice to be able to just turn on a fan instead of having to turn down the AC. And the best part is, we will be able to see each other. Neither of us wanted to spend a winter where it gets dark at 5pm with those horrible lights. It is nice to be able to finally have enough light.

Well, that's what we've been doing around the house.

Kayla has been loving kindergarten. She's making lots of new friends, and Friday she even got to go play at one girl's house after school. It's crazy that she's learning to read already, but she says she's old enough.

Allie is working on learning her sounds. Kayla is teaching her preschool several mornings a week (I'm not welcome). It is really cute because Allie will draw a picture and tell me it is for her "teacher."

Nate is in the air right now flying to Vegas for just about 36 hours. A Komatsu 930E haul truck was built for a mining trade show, and now they need to drive it across the strip. He has to be there in case they have any problems. He had to buy a clean tool bag to pack his meter and a few basic tools so he could put it inside his luggage. I'm sure he had to pay extra for an overweight bag, but oh well, they want him to have the tools.

I'm just trying to get everyone where they need to be with food in their stomachs and a reasonably clean home. The girls and I have gotten a lot of extra time together alone with Daddy working. We've been having fun reading lots of loooong books, cuddling, playing, and doing some projects together.

Sisters

I had been telling Allie to get in her booster for dinner, but she just didn't want to listen. I walked over to her-took the bowl of potpourri out of her hands-and gave her a look and simply said time to eat. Apparently it was more than she could handle. Off she ran to her bedroom. I asked Makayla to please put the napkins by each plate figuring I'd give Allie a few minutes. Kayla looked at me and said, "I need to go check on Allie. She likes me to comfort her when she gets in trouble."
I immediately remembered a similar situation when Amy was probably about two and me 6. Amy had just gotten in trouble and she came running to find me. I would always try to comfort her just like Kayla is doing to Allie now. Isn't it funny how history repeats itself.

Playing with Amy

The girls love to play Legos at Grandma's house. And they love to play with Amy!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend we went to Pocatello, and went right to work. Nate helped my Dad scrape up the old linoleum floor in the laundry room. I helped paint the walls and cupboards. Nate helped Chuck and Katie move out of their house!!! I helped come up with ideas for Cards. Nate helped my Dad tile the floor in the laundry room. Mom and I shopped for Cards props. I helped Amy and Mom take 44 pictures for Cards. We took Grandma to dinner. We went to the property for dinner in the rain. Then on the way home from it all Kayla-fast asleep-threw up repeatedly all over the van. We were almost home so after a very brief stop, decided there was really nothing to do but roll down the windows and drive the last 15 minutes. Then we had a fun night of Kayla, Allie, and I throwing up while Nate tried to help us and clean up the car. Needless to say he didn't make it to work on time.

Other than the very end, it really was a fun weekend. I got some pictures up at the cabin, but apparently my lens is filthy so don't mind the pictures. It poured on us from about the minute Bert opened the gate. Thankfully we had a nice place to sit and play and visit. However those (Bert and Josh) cooking some delicious chicken in a barrel were not so lucky.
Allie and Jordy had fun playing their own version of Candyland together.
Sheryl and Nate standing in the new kitchen area. It will be much nicer to have cupboards to hold everything. Sorry Darla-I wish I could have stayed and helped arrange things.

Smile Katie and Kaden!
I know this picture turned out fuzzy, but I still love it cuz almost everybody is looking. Riley, Allie, Jordyn, Makayla, Terra, and Kaden.
What cheesy girls. Morgan, Allie, Kayla, and Jordyn.
Yep, another big cheese. Look how wet his shirt is. It was really pouring and you could get this wet just running to take a little girl to the potty.
We introduced Allison to the outhouse (which she would not use), but fortunately Grandma and Grandpa had a cute little potty for her to use. "It's not scary!" I really didn't expect her to like that outhouse, but I wasn't prepared for the after effects. This was Sunday and then Monday Nate took her with him on a run to Home Depot. She was scared by the noisy toilets. She held it for hours until safely back at Grandma's house. (Even Amy's toilet was too scary.) Now she won't use public restrooms. When I ask if she needs to go potty, she tells me we have a potty at our house and she'll use it when we get home. So far we've been fine, but I wonder what she's going to do when we're gone for 8 days...