Summer Fun III

Happy Aniversary! 9 Years on July 8th, Can you believe it?!I just had to add this picture of Parker, our neighbor. He was having so much fun eating this ice cream sandwitch we had to take a picture.
Just a little update on the backyard. Julie and our neighbor, Chris, raked the entire backyard after Tim came over again and finished leveling it with the tractor (Will couldn't rake, for all of those wondering, because of his hectic work schedule this month). Still a few more steps, but getting there. The sprinklers should be added within a week to two weeks.
A small garden area that Julie and I added to the corner of the yard with the extra bricks.



We had leftover sparklers after the 4th of July so we got all the neighborhood kids together and had a sparkler party.
Kiley
Lighting the sparklers


Dillon
Maverick came over for a night while Staci had a activity with the young men and young women of her ward as she is one of the advisors.
Maverick is a real character. He decided to put Drew's helmet on...
and climb the crib!

One last video of Maggie, Drew, and Maverick enjoying some music in Drew's bedroom.

Summer Fun II

I decided to do these blog's in two parts since we had a lot of pictures to add. We just got back from Julie's family reunion which was over the fourth of July weekend. I had to work on the fourth of Julie but Julie went up with the kids and camped with all of her cousins and their families. I got to join them all the next day. It was a fun relaxing couple of days.Drew wanted to get out so bad but there was too much dirt and several dogs which would bowl him over. Plus he hasn't learned to walk yet so Julie didn't want him to be a muddy mess and be pooping out leaves which he would be guaranteed to eat.
Maggie enjoyed riding her bike around the campsite.
There were horseshoe tournaments both days during the evening. The pits were in the sun during the day so we all played when the sun started to go down and it was cooler. On the last day we all played an elimination tournament until 1100 pm and had to drive cars around the pits with the lights shining onto the horseshoe stakes so we could see.
We all took turns watching kids while different parents got to play horseshoes. Amelia entertained Drew for part of the time.
The wagons in a circle!

Billy brought his bike too.The campsite was right next to a river and we all watched as the kids and grandparents floated by on tubes. Tim had quite a shock when he first got in the water as the river still consists of winter run off. FREAZING COLD!


I mostly sat and enjoyed everyones company.
One final video of half of the campsite. Several people also camped in tents which was in a field adjacent.

Again much more summer fun to come. On a more somber note, as we were walking out to our truck to leave and go camping we noticed our brand new cement has already cracked. Julie took it better than I did.

Summer Fun

Maggie wants to grow up too fast. She showed up giggling and decided to pose for the neighborhood showing off her new look!We celebrated Will's 32nd birthday with a special birthday dinner at Julie's parents house.

After Dinner Julie and Staci competed in a fast game of "Speed" a card game which requires you to think fast. Notice Will did not participate!
Drew tried to join in too by collecting the stray cards that fell onto the floor and eating them.
We all enjoyed Paul's company, Staci's new boyfriend. He has been fun to be around for the past few months that she has been dating him.
I had to include a video and a picture of Nona's pool as we visited again the next day.

To be continued....

Cement Pad

This is a picture of Monday 6-25-08 when the cement along the side of the house was poured. We have been looking forward to having this finished.

I was beginning to wonder if Julie was taking pictures of the cement being poured, or the guys with their shirts off!

Notice the next project which has already started. The pole which was poured into the cement is going to be a gate in the near future.

So many projects, still more to do. This week we plan on getting more dirt for the retaining wall in the back and also add an area for a small garden using the remainder of the retaining wall blocks. In addition to all this, Billy has to go in to get tubes in his ears tomorrow. This will be his third set of Tubes. Well I'm sure Julie will have more pictures soon to add.

The Rock Wall

These are probably boring pictures for most of you, but I thought I'd include puctures of the retaining wall I just finished in my backyard. These first two pictures are the ones I took at a Harley Davidson dealership to pattern my wall after. I mainly needed to see something to know how to step the blocks up the slope.

This is my wall. Julie and I worked on it until 10:00 pm last night, then I finished the last part this morning before the sun got too hot.


Next are a few pictures of the wall from the backside. The next step will be to level the yard a little more, then fill in the back of the wall with topsoil.

Overall we were pretty happy with how it turned out. One step at a time and our yard will eventually be done.... I HOPE!