House PROGRESSion #2

My awesome kids unloaded TWO monstrously heavy boxes of cultured stone that couldn't be budged until they were 90% empty. I borrowed Tom Page's truck and wanted to get it back to him asap, so I put the only available workers to work. I don't remember what I promised, maybe it had something to do with McDonald's. Anyhow, we were all mighty impressed with our muscles after we got the pallets unloaded.

We're getting closer on the house. A couple more weekends with our part-time contractors and we should be ready to hunker down for the winter. The lights have gone up since I took these pics and I need to post a dark picture because it's my favorite part. The railing and raw wood will be painted white next week.

We've heard we should take down the front trees so you can see our beautiful house, but I disagree. We think they add to the charm, knots and all. Maybe they just need a good trimming.

We love the new green board and batton siding and faux shake shingles.

Oregon! Zobrist Ranch & the Redwoods

We spent a wonderful week in Oregon with our friends, the Conk's, from Las Vegas. Kristin's parents have a place in White City, Oregon on the Rouge River. They invited us a few years ago, but one baby led to another and finally...this was our year to go! We drove the 13 hours there with an overnight stop in Reno. At the ranch the kids loved to roam on the Mules (the motorized variety :) ), swing by the river, follow the deer, visit the Llamas, play tennis for hours and hours, the list goes on!
The must have experience was rafting the Rouge. We all loaded up, minus the babies, with four blow-up Tahiti boats. We had seven minors amongst three adults. Mark ended up with Jono and Madison. Right away Madi was nervous. This was warranted as I watched she & Jono separate from the raft running the first little rapids. I screamed from behind thinking for sure they were overboard. Luckily, they came back down IN the boat. From then on out it was petrified howling. Poor Mark was sitting back so low, his boat looked like it was submersed on the puniest of waves. After his tailbone took a beating he attempted to ride it out on his knees which didn't work any better. When they made it to the ranch it was discovered that the bottom of his raft was completely flat and the sides weren't all that inflated either. Needless to say, 2nd time around: Mark had an inflated boat and Madi road with Kristin. They played like the rapids were the buckin' bulls she's so fond of and then they weren't so scary.
We took a side trip to the Humbolt State Park just East of Cresent City, CA. We walked through The Stout Grove and stood in awe of the redwoods. The kids loved this Paul Bunionish playground; they ran the highways of fallen redwoods and climbed and crawled through burned out trees. The way there was eventful in the car sick category, but I'm sure Payt and Madi (and Mark who hates cleaning it up) would agree- the experience was worth it. We continued onto the Pacific Coast and the dads and big kids SLID down to touch the ocean. The tide pools held treasures of star fish. It was 55*F there on the coast and as we climbed East to Medfore it was 95*F; Mother Nature's A/C.
To get the local's experience, they took us to Mill Creek Falls. We found a GPS "GeoCache" there - a first for us. The falls were breathtaking, but The Avenue of the Boulders was where the fun was. A rock you could slide down, tens of "slip and you're a goner" perches and a raging river with a man-made wading pool accented by a black sand beach. It was just our style.
I can't wait until we get to Vegas and slideshow Kristin's photomemoir and relive the whole trip. My pictures of Oregon are so sub-par! I became lackadaisical the moment I saw Kristin taking pictures. It was a vacation to remember for sure. Thanks Terry and Kristin for the good times!!! And thanks to the Zobrist's - we love your patch of paradise!!!

Where Cael lived; chasing balls from sun up till sun down

Pacific Ocean

The Stout Tree

How's that for tree climbin'?

Friends from Vegas Past

After the 4th of July we were lucky enough to see lots of our Vegas friends who we really miss!!!

Jared came to stay with Payton for four days! They had the greatest time. We kept busy at Cherry Hill, Egbert Park & Eccles Dinosaur Museum. The best things about best friends is that no matter how long you're apart - you can pick up right where you left off. Laura met us at Gateway to pick him up. We had a good visit and weren't ready to say goodbye. We'll hope for next summer!

Blake and Jono got two play dates out of their trip to UT/ID. While I was trying to take their picture they could barely stop talking and joking long enough to catch 'A' shot. The rest of their pictures of them include stick poking, wrestling, laughing...What good buddies!






Heidi and Gabby visited us at the Discovery Museum (no picture?! - maybe Heidi has one...) Gabby was darling with the kids and kept hollerin' "Nono," which Jono loved.

Matt & Lauren Bishop & crew...Reilly, Thai, Racer, and Jet were in Utah for a Summer vacation from Saudi Arabia. (It's cool to have friends that live in SAUDI!) We got together for dinner and an evening at the park. (No pic?! I USUALLY carry my camera in my purse)

Our friends from Vegas past wouldn't have been complete without our perfect summer vacation with the Conk's in Oregon...on to the next post!

Who needs a Summer Job?

PAYTON and JONO!
So, I "suggested"picking and selling cherries from our trees in back. (Do mom's really ever suggest anything? Or is it more of a mandate posing as a suggestion :) ) They were really pretty good workers for 8 and 6. Mark sprayed to eliminate the nasty worms with spray the boys bought. Then they picked, washed, weighed, bagged and sold their cherries for $3/lb. The sold part was definitely the most enjoyable. I think they sold 15 or so lbs. But as I said to - many a mom - "I don't care if they make a penny, I just hope they learn a little something about work." I believe we don't see the fruits of our labor immediately with this kind of stuff, but I HOPE the payoff will come as they grow!

House PROGRESSion

This is our old house the day the pine tree was coming down. Mark's brothers Matt and Mike helped him out by insuring the tree didn't land in our living room :) Thanks! It was all in preparation for what we call our "Curb Appeal" project. Matt was the architect on the project and Mark was the visionary. Aren't they good?

Our new house is coming along. If you look close you can see the stone wainscoting that will go on the columns too. The house color is the green/gray around the windows. The initial part has moved very fast the breaks are pressing down as our part is coming into play. We'll get there and have a pretty house for all our efforts! I'll update again when it's closer to finished.

CAEL TURNED ONE (last month :) )

July 2nd we went to the Rodeo in Oakley, UT with some of Mark's brother Bob's family. He was on call with Justin Sports Medicine. We spent the night literally about 8 sleeping hours at the Larsen's cabin before heading to Richfield. We went straight to my Dad's cabin on Cove Mountain to help with a concrete pour and celebrate Cael's birthday. My so sweet sister made THREE cakes so everyone could enjoy. White, chocolate and Cael's very own. He ate a good portion of that cake systematically and quite seriously. He barely smiled - but we know he enjoyed it. Right after, we headed for the Richfield 4th of July celebration. The evening of his birthday he flat out flew to win the DIAPER DERBY at the city park. With his Mogli crawl, he beat out 45 other diaper wearing crawlers for the grand prize ($100 Savings Bond). A great weekend was had by all. Hopefully Cael likes having busy birthdays because 7-3 is bound to always be a travellin' party! We can hardly believe our baby is ONE! He's walking everywhere unless he needs to get there fast and then he runs on all four! We love our Cael and his zest for life. He's a climber (no surprise), a smiler, and a good sleeper (finally!)

WARNING - NOT FOR WEAK STOMACHS

Payton had an adventure last night. About 1 0' clock he comes stumbling upstairs. He tells me he's fallen off his bunkbed. He tells me his arm is hurt...I lay him down on the couch and tell him I'll be back with a blanket. I went to wipe his tears before I went and noticed in the darkness that his eyebrow was black... "oh great, it's blood!" I called for reinforcement and two seconds later Mark says, "We gotta go." So, Molly (our so sweet sister-in-law) came up and off we went.
On the way to the ER, Payton let us know he woke up and was getting out of bed to check what time it was. If it was in the "5's, 6's, or 7's" he was going to stay up and play. Me: "5's?!!! - go back to bed!" He obviously takes bing a morning person to the extreme. Anyhow, he didn't realize how close to the edge he was when he rolled over, fell and cracked his head on Jono's nightstand.
He was a brave dude and was pretty calm through the whole ordeal, minus the shots. But a minute worth of shots in an open head wound would get anybody ornery. He yelled, "You're touching my brain!!!" Which is probably what it felt like :) After he was well assured he was numb he lay perfectly still for his 6 inside & 10 outside stitches. 2 hours after it began, he was resting on the couch, doped up on Loritab, looking forward to his vacation from school and promised sports cards.
Battle wounds are part of growing up. He's got his first good scar comin' on, but hopefully he'll leave his face alone from here on out!