Grass!! And a few other things!

Well, we inherited a 1/4 of a palette of left over sod. Who knew that such a small amount of grass could make a person so excited! Even the kids were jumping around on it! Travis said he figures we need 6 full palettes to do the entire yard -- that's still $600 for grass. I just hope we can inherit a few more left overs!! In the picture it looks like there's still a bunch of sod to lay but, our new grassy area doesn't extend too much farther than what is already laid.


A week ago Sunday we rode up right hand fork so Travis & I could shoot our guns. Here are a couple pix of the kids.
We actually had to wake Nash up after we were done shooting so he could use the bathroom!

Have you ever met a kid that looked more like his dad?
















Sammie girl:
















About 2 weeks ago we were out at my grandparent's house in Hyde Park. These pictures are of the kids in the leather shop with Great Grandpa Russ poundin away on some fabulous leather treasure! I remember spending hours doing the exact same thing when I was a kid!

33 Weeks

Well, I'm only 33 weeks but I look like I'm 53 weeks! And, two weeks ago at my dr.'s appointment, the dr. I saw was kind enough to point this fact out to me (like I hadn't noticed). She politely mentioned, "You're measuring kind of big." To which I said, "Yes, I know. I've already gained as much weight as I did the entire time I was pregnant with Nash." I then kindly informed her that he was 5 days early & still weighed 9 lbs 4 oz. (Travis told my mother I give birth to toddlers!) She was then nice enough to tell me that, "If you keep measuring so big we might need to do another ultrasound, just to be sure." Yea, thanks, I hadn't noticed I was as big as a house, but yes, I am in fact only 33 weeks pregnant & not 53 weeks pregnant like I look & my son will probably weigh 10 pounds! Not to mention the fact that I no longer have ankle bones & I'm too fat for my maternity clothes so I had to buy a few things from the plus size department at Kohl's the other day! Although, the good news at the dr. today was that I have in fact only gained 1 pound in the last month! Guess that makes up for something, right?

Anyway! I went to a Grocery Smarts thing with a girlfriend tonight. When I left I asked Travis if he'd make Nash's bed & clean up dinner. When I got home I was sitting on the couch talking to Travis when I realized how quiet it was. So, I asked him where Nash was. Then I caught a glimpse of Nash out of the corner of my eye. Yes, he is in fact very much asleep. This was too perfect of a kodak moment to pass up!

Kids!

Well it would seem that nearly cutting his thumb off recently just isn't enough to satisfy or slow down my son. Today he tried to gouge his eye out. He was playing in his bedroom with Samantha when all of a sudden I hear him start to cry. I'm thinking, great Samantha's being mean again. By the time he makes it from his bedroom to the kitchen, his eye has bruised on the eyelid & just below his eye & is swollen half way shut. Yea. So, I picked him up & tried to get him to quit crying. Meanwhile I call my mom to ask if she thinks I should take him to the dr. since it was his eyeball he landed on this time. So, we load into the car & head to instacare. I told my mom if it had been his head I wouldn't worry about it so much b/c he smacks it so many times a day that it hardly phases him at all anymore! (She thought I was rotten.) So, we get to instacare & the dr. basically tells me that since his movement is fine & everything looks ok cosmetically that even if he had fractured his face that there was nothing they could do for it. He told me to keep an eye on him & make sure that he doesn't lose the movement of his eye (being able to follow a finger without moving your head kind of thing) because with that kind of an injury the swelling can push the optic nerves forward & into the fracture where they get stuck & then they have to do surgery. Lovely! He then assured me that the chances of that happening are about one in a million (why mention it to a mother then?!). The dr. did say that he did bruise his eyeball & that's why it bruised & started to swell immediately (broken blood vessels filling the space with blood -- all kinds of great things a mother wants to hear!) So, it sounds like he's just going to have a narley black eye this time (luckily). I tried to get a picture today but only had my phone camera & it didn't take very good pictures so I'll try again tomorrow! I'm starting to think I should wrap the kid in bubble wrap before he gets out of bed in the morning! Thank goodness for health insurance & AFLAC!!

As if we hadn't had enough drama & excitement for the day, Travis & I went & took the concealed weapons permit class tonight. My poor mother had all 4 grandkids for about 4 hours (anyone that knows all 4 kids knows what a handful that was!). Travis thinks I should carry while I'm at school. Can't say I disagree so much as it being close to SLC (not to mention all the school shootings you hear about these days) but, I just don't know how I feel about a bra holster! Guess we'll have to wait & see when it gets closer. If I have to walk through a metal detector (don't think I will) every day then I won't carry at school for sure! It was interesting to go to though. The guy that taught the class did a good job (made the four hours go by pretty quick). And, since they were doing the fingerprinting cards while we were there, I had them do the one I've been packing around for about 2 months to send to the Idaho State Office of Edu. for my Idaho license so now I don't have to pack my kids into the jail with me to get fingerprinted! Travis was skeptical about how they would fingerprint him (what with the missing tip & all). Well, they did it, they just inked what they could & said "Ah, they'll figure it out when they look at your card." I'm sure that was reassuring for Trav! Oh well!

Projects...

Ok, I'll admit I've been a slacker on my blog. But, we've had some nice weather when it quits raining so I've been outside! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to. I finally figured out if I take the step stool I have in my kitchen outside, I can weed a little bit easier! I know we probably won't get grass this year, but at least I'll have some flowers!

This is out in the backyard. You can't really tell on the picture, but Travis has dug a trench & put in some 2x10's to partition off my flowerbed. I planted all these hostas last Oct. & wasn't sure if they'd survive or not since we had deer in our backyard all winter. And, I'm happy to announce, the fern I thought had died has finally got green showing! Travis is mad at me because I "ruined the tree." I told him I didn't even touch the tree! All I did was stuff underneath it. He was quick to point out that under the tree is the best part of the tree. Oh well. Guess I can't win that one!






This is up against the back of the house. You can actually see the partition in this picture. This flowerbed isn't finished yet. My mom gave me some hollyhock starts that I've put in along with about 6 strawberry plants & 1 yucca plant. I am hoping to get a bridal wreath start from my grandma to put in at the far end when the rain finally stops again!
















This is our attempt at a garden this year. We've put this along the west side of the house. We've got 1 watermelon plant that Samantha picked out at the greenhouse & had to have but I think has died, 1 pumpkin planted that I'll be surprised if it sprouts, 3 tomatoes & 2 pepers (thanks mom)! I figure if nothing else, at least we gave it a try!














This is our front yard. The dirt pile has gotten considerably smaller. And, now it is all in one place instead of a small mountain over the entire front yard! I have another flowerbed against the fence & a long one against the entire front of the house & one down the side of the driveway. Travis hasn't made it to these flowerbeds yet, but they are on the list to be partitioned off soon!






Another view of the fabulous front yard!


As you can see, we've been busy. Hope it's raining less where you are!

Old Ephraim Mountain Man Rendezvous

On Saturday we walked down to the park with the kids because it was the first time since Monday that it wasn't raining. While we were at the park, I had the idea that we should take the kids & go to Willow Park (our "zoo"). Travis suggested we take them to the Mountain Man Rendevous instead. I had never been & neither had the kids. Travis went several times when he was in high school and thought we had gone with the kids once before (I was kind enough to remind him that he was building a house 2 years ago & last year he was crazy insane with work during the summer).
So, we headed back home and loaded up the truck. We weren't sure where to park when we got there so we just parked where we saw vehicles first. Turns out we had to walk 1/2 a mile after we parked! Travis said he knew we could park farther up but he knew I needed the exercise (I told you the pregosaurus comments would kick in soon!)
There weren't a whole lot of people there (we didn't get there until about 4 or so). The kids were pretty excited to see all the people dressed up like cowboys, mountain men, pioneers & Indians. Our neighbors (whose daughter Samantha would be attached to at the hip if I let her) participate in the rendevous every year. Samantha was pretty excited to see her little friend Jolie dressed up like a little Indian girl. At one point we even saw a lady with the carrying contraption on her back with a baby (papoose) in it. Samantha thought that was pretty crazy to carry a baby on your back like that!
We walked around for awhile and the kids got a kick out of seeing all the stuff for trade/sale. Somewhere they were shooting guns & occassionally a cannon would go off. Nash wasn't too sure about the cannon! We ended up getting Nash a wood machete (I'll take slivers over lost appendages any day!) & Samantha picked out a butterfly ring. Travis found himself a powder horn that he can take hunting with him this fall. (Did I ever mention he drew out for the big game draw? He's still grinning ear to ear about that one!)
Anyway, we had a good time and if it hadn't rained all week I think there would have been a lot more people there (personally I'm glad there wasn't more people there!).