Monday, October 21, 2013

Landscaping.

This truck showed up today!  Hurrah, grass.

To tell you the truth it has been a little over-the-top stressful to also be trying to figure out landscaping while building.  Many times I have wanted to call it quits on the landscaping and deal with it in the spring, but the reality is I will be very grateful next summer when my kids have a yard to play in.
I took this picture for my brother McKay who is on a mission, it was taken from my dinning room {McKay wanted to see the snow already on Timp}.
Trees.
And more trees.
It happens to be the best time of year to buy trees.  It's the end of the season so everyone has them on sale and the trees actually do really well being transplanted this time of year.  Good new for us - it actually means I bought more trees then originally budgeted.
And more trees!!!
The only bummer was that the fruit tree selection was sparse.  I picked up a few very small fruit trees for cheap so we will see if I can baby them along.
This is why subs don't get along!
The facia and sofit guys want the exterior to themselves - those are all their ladders - and our landscapers want the grounds to themselves.  Instead they are learning to work around each other.
Although the trees were actually a really good size they look kind of small against the house - I literally walked around and "placed" each tree where I wanted it then went in the house to see from inside how it looked.  We only had to move two or three to get it just right {Gregg and I both feel like the landscaping should be an extension of the architecture and house}.
This is the back of our property, we wanted to line it with trees so that eventually it will feel more private.  There will be bark where the white fabric is although I made the executive decision to wait until spring to get the bark - so until it snows it will be white fabric!
The sandbox {which is not getting sand until spring}.  I saw a poured concrete sandbox a few months ago and fell in love with the idea.
The back left corner of our property has quite a big slope - we decided to build it up with a big rock retaining wall {which you can't really see in this picture} and then we added some rock steps down to our raised bed gardens.  I have 5 boxes in all, I am going to really have to work on my gardening skills :)
And off the right of our property we did this outdoor fire pit.  You can see the cantilevered red rocks that will be places to sit or tables for food, then there are three larger red rocks that are long and narrow for seating in front of the fire pit.  The steps off to the right lead up to the house {although the house you see pictured is our neighbors}.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Primary Program.

Yesterday I went and watched the Primary kids practice for the Primary program.  Our ward is huge and we are usually sitting in the very back so I wanted to attend the practice so I could see and hear the kids.  
Truman got to sit front and center!  The program is darling, as usual - my mom also came to watch the practice with me so she could see Truman.
So today I did stand in the back and sneak a picture with my iphone of all the kids sitting up there.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Hee Haw Farms.

Today Bodie and I got to with Truman on his field trip to Hee Haw Farms.
Tiff and her kids are off track right now so they met us there.

Anne, Addie
Truman, Jean, Enoch, Quinn, Bodie
The big slide is always a hit - and Truman did it by himself this year.
Petting the goat, which Anna was not to sure about - look at that face.
Oh my, could this kid get any cuter?!  He is sitting on the pumpkin he picked from the pumpkin patch.
The tractor hay ride.
The Hopkinson kids.
First picture of Tiff and her six kids! Way to go Tiff.
All the kids, even though Anna was being a stinker and would not look at the camera.
I love this kid.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Skeletons.

 We bought our new cousin Nelson this skeleton outfit so he could match the boys for Halloween.
We are practicing for a new brother.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Brothers.

 I looked back in my car to see both the boys sleeping in the same position!  Truman usually sleeps like this so it was funny to see Bodie do the same, brothers.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The driveway.

Oh, where do I start.

Today was not my best day ever.

I was home with the boys when I got a call from Gregg {who was in SL} telling me I needed to rush over to the new house because a dog {who shall remain nameless} had run through our wet cement.  
Unfortunately I was not surprised by the news - "the dog" has been a problem at the new house the entire building process.  In fact Gregg had called the owners yesterday to let them know we would be pouring our driveway today and asked if they would please keep the dog inside/leashed up {by the way it is Midway City law to always have your dog on a leash}.
 My father-in-law met me at the house as my 'back up' since he saw the incident and I didn't have Gregg there to help me figure things out.  I also called the HOA manager and animal control on my way over.  I was so upset - to put it mildly! 

It has been SO wet and rainy here that it has been hard to get our driveway poured, and at this point it has started to hold up other things like landscaping and exterior finish work.  Once the rain finally stopped we could not get our flat-work guy to call us back and schedule a time to do our driveway, stairs and sandbox.  Finally about a week ago I started asking around for recommendations for a new contractor.  After meeting with and looking over bids we hired a guy from Park City to come do the work for us and he graciously squeezed us into his packed schedule.

I say all that to give a little perspective to how happy we were to finally be getting our driveway poured - then this happened.
Our cement guy came over to try and "work out" the paw prints.  The dog was 'ticketed' by animal control and I cried.  I know, silly thing to cry over - it was just such a long time coming {the actual driveway}, so many other subs have been backed up because of it, I am tired, and pregnant, and the drive way cost almost $10,000 - now I have paw prints in it - and we don't like dogs.
 Truman made this sign while listening to me on the phone all afternoon with the HOA, animal control and Gregg.  He knew I was upset and was trying to help out.

I love his picture of the dogs ... with 6 legs and an "X" through them.  And that he wrote "No Dogs"
He asked if we could hang this sign on our driveway!  GLADLY!
At Gregg's request I had already made this sign and had it up at the end of the driveway along with caution tape.
Later today I found this cute note from Truman - I think he felt my pain today.

Monday, October 7, 2013

FHE 4-Wheeling.


The boys have been asking to ride grandpa and grandma's 4-wheelers so tonight we took them up to Cascade Springs for family night to see the fall colors.

We can ride straight from my parents new house {that is under construction} to the trail head.
 Me, Bodie and Grandma {notice Bodie is holding his little red 4-wheeler in his hand}.
 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

General Conference and callings.

As always we had a great weekend watching general conference with family.

I think I forgot to mention that Gregg and I received a calling in our new ward.  We teach the 13-year-old Sunday School class, there are 22 kids in our class {that is JUST 13 year olds}.  Just to give you an idea of how big our ward is, we had 100 new people move in this summer adding to the 600+ members already in the ward!!!  We are excited to have a calling together - and Gregg is especially excited to be teaching the youth.

Last Sunday we gave them this simple sheet to take notes and color for General Conference {it has a huge crossword puzzle on the back side}.  If they bring it back next week complete they get brownies and ice cream {they came up with that incentive}.  I hope they watched.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Soccers over.

{Avery, Truman, Hudson, Lance, Gregg
Not pictured: Canyon}

Fall soccer is over and these boys made a great team.
It was co-ed soccer but we ended up with no girls on our team.

Thanks coach Gregg.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Special Leader.

 
 Truman got to be the 'special leader' at school today.  The letter was "d" so for a treat he took his two favorite foods; dill pickles and donuts!  Sounds yummy together.
 Here is his monster face?!
 Here he is with his teacher Miss. Lisa - she is great and they have such a good class again this year.



Tuesday, October 1, 2013

More Soccer.

I love the look of concentration!
Substituting out and taking a break.

These boys are so cute and so much fun to watch.
Today we had lots of fans on the side-lines.
Grandpa and Grandpa Simons and Enoch.
Grandma Quinn with Anna and Jean.
Cheering for the black team.