The Jungle

We spent some time last weekend taming the jungle of a backyard that we have.  It was long overdue.  It's been hard to carve out the time with work and the kids. 

Before:

We had our lazy boys help.  And they whined and complained the whole time.  :)  But it was hot and a lot of work.  Plus the wasps were out. 

Look at this!  It took 4 loads to get rid of it.

After:

 

It isn't really after because we aren't done.  We still need to do some more weeding and get a couple loads of wood chips.  Still, what a difference.  I can't believe how much bigger our yard looks. 

Raspberries

We are so lucky to have an amazing raspberry patch in our backyard.  They take very little effort, just water and some occasional weeding.  My kind of gardening.  They are aggressive growers and seem to do really well. 

 

Look how many we got!  Wow, yum.  The only hard part about raspberries is that you need to go out almost every day when they are on.  Once they redden, they don't last long. 

 

We planted an early bearing peach tree a few years ago, and we got a ton this year!  So yummy.  I wish these were not cling peaches, it would make peeling easier.  But they are delicious.  So, I took the fruit from our own yard and made raspberry-peach jam. 

 

Oh my yum.  So good!  I also did a batch of strawberry, which was ok.  But not as good as the raspberry-peach.  Wow, new favorite.  And here is my pretty freezer jam!  It makes a pretty amazing peanut butter sandwich.

Pioneer Day

Here in Utah, we celebrate pioneer day.  I love this because of the fireworks.  Bonus!  So we had the cousins over, lit off a few of our own, then watched the big fireworks go off.

Fountains are my favorite, especially the quiet ones.  Julia is the same way, she cried pretty good when a loud kaboom startled her.

Here Brian is teaching Kyle to light some smaller ones off. 

 

 

Cousins are built in friends.  :)  I always do glow sticks for the kids which are a big hit.  It seems to satisfy the younger kids' need to touch.  That way they don't get burned. 

 

We did watch the Independence Day fireworks.  I had Julia in my arms and she fell asleep right as they started.  So she really didn't see any.  But this time, she was awake to see them start.  Brian held her, and she stared.  She seemed to like it.  

 

We have a pretty good view of the big ones right across the street.  It was perfect.  And lucky us, we didn't have to drive home!  :) 

Trouble trouble trouble

Dallin loves Taylor Swift.  I hear him chanting, "Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble" all the time.  Well, this morning he got in trouble trouble trouble.

Every single kid that has ever been in my backyard has done the exact same thing with my air conditioner.  Kids that I have babysat, neighbor kids, cousins, they all drop small nick nacks into it.  Maybe it is because it is right by the door, or because there are pebbles right next to it, but it is irresistible.  Of course Dallin is no exception.  Usually it doesn't cause too much of a problem, but this time he managed to get a big stick into it. 

 

 

The fan blade would not spin anymore.  It made a terrible noise, and was quickly overheating.  This is a disaster around our house because Brian LOVES the air conditioner.  He is a welder, so he really loves to come home to a cool house.  I turned the air off, and tried to reach in with my fingers.  The stick was just far enough down that I couldn't get it.  I was afraid of poking it because it could slide down even deeper and I would never be able to reach it.  Dallin felt bad. (He has been into coloring on himself too.  Busy 4 year old boy!)



 

After telling him he was not in trouble anymore, I gave him a big hug.  He felt better then.  Of course he was quite curious about how we were going to fix it.  I was too.  But then, I made this ingenious contraption.  Tape in between two pencils. 

 

 

Voila!  The tape grasped the stick and out it came.  Air conditioner running perfectly again.  Thank goodness.  :)  My hot hubbie can come home to a cool house.  Now, if only it was clean....

Because I'm Happy

 

 

 

 

Good morning

Hi Mom!  I am so happy to see you!  Let's chat.  I make some pretty cute cooing noises.  I am also super smiley. 

What's that?  2:30 am?  I should be sleeping?  Oh, sleep shmeep.  Isn't this more fun?  Let's talk some more.  I am just so cute! 

Julia is the most wonderful baby.  She hardly ever cries, and usually sleeps pretty good at night.  For what ever reason, she was super social last night.  So we just hung out for a couple of hours.  The house was quiet and it was just us.  Then, we both went back to sleep.  I was pretty tired, but at the same time, it was special to just have her to myself for a while.  :) 

Imagination

I love how creative Blake is.  He always has something going on in his mind.  He tells stories that are so detailed.  Maybe he should be a writer. 

Anyway, he wanted to be a Ninja so he made this costume out of tape and cardboard.  He gets so excited about things and sometimes when those things don't end up the way he envisions them, there is some heart break.  This costume was a good example of that. 

He made this all by himself by pulling apart a couple of boxes, and creating all these little pieces.  Look how happy he is here:

Well, I guess you can't see his face.  But let me just say, he was happy!  Then he started running around.  After just a few steps, the tape started to give way.  Piece after piece fell off.  He started getting frustrated.  Angry tears came.  I felt so bad for him that the image he had in his head didn't match the reality of things.  How do you teach a kid to handle disappointment? 

I explained to him that tape just doesn't last, and that if he wanted a real costume, we could make one out of fabric.  We could also just get a Halloween costume.  He wasn't as sad, but he still moped around for a good part of the day. 

Anyway, I need to keep encouraging this awesome creative side that he has, but teach him to temper disappointment.  I never want him to feel like he has to give up.  We will just keep working at it, and we'll get there.  :)

Compare

I saw this funny picture on my computer a few days ago.  It shows how much smaller Julia is than her brothers were. 

Here was Dallin at about 7 weeks old.  Cute little fatty! 

And here is Julia, she is 8 weeks old here:

She does look a lot like Blake.  Here he was at about 3 months old:

 

And here is Kyle:

 

 

Sometimes I think Jewels looks like Kyle, sometimes Blake.  And every once in a while I can see Dallin in her too.  She has her own little look, but she definitely is ours :)  Love these sweet kids!

 

Blake eating a lemon.  Silly kid!

 

 

Redneck Waterslide

Last week our ward had access to this super fun waterslide. It is nicknamed the "Redneck Waterslide."



It is really steep. You can't really see how far up it is unless you are at the top looking down.

You can just see Blake and Kyle at the top here:


The first time down, they went together. :)





Then they had courage to go down independently. They had a blast!





There is a 2nd smaller slide for the little kids. Dallin jumped right in and had so much fun. There isn't much water on these; you mostly just get muddy.




I even took Dallin down the big one. It was hard to put myself in a bathing suit right after having a baby, but I didn't want that to stop me from having fun with the kids. I am glad I did it. It was fun but I almost chickened out. Seriously, I almost backed out last minute. It was so steep looking.



I am glad I did it. So fun!