Enjoying our backyard with our New Playhouse!!

We have really been enjoying our back yard. It is the best feeling ever to just open the door and let my kids run and do as they please and not have to worry about them getting out and running into traffic. I love just watching them play!

We bought a playhouse from Costco again and the kids loved it even before it was done!

 

 

Almost done.....

Matt worked really hard to get this done for the kids. He did most of the work himself!!

TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!

Construction

When we first moved in to our home here, we knew there would be a few things we wanted to change. Our dining room had a large sliding door that was non-functional -- they had taken out the handles and painted the door shut! We decided we wanted to put a garden door there rather than a sliding door. We had built a wall downstairs to make another bedroom downstairs, but the window was so tiny that we knew we would have to put in a larger one and the other bedroom downstairs had no window at all. So along with the garden door, we also had two windows installed for the basement bedrooms. This involved cutting the concrete sidewalk and walls. It was an eye-opening experience to see how much work was involved in putting in a window!

There was some concrete left over so we were able to add a little walk to our front door. Everybody who came to our front door had a hard time getting around our big beast of a van, so it was nice to have a little extra room!

Planting our Garden and Being Just Like Dad

Matt turned over a section of grass in our back yard for our garden this year. We knew that not too much would grow this year because of the fresh turned over sod, so we just filled the whole garden with potatoes. Gideon was right in there helping his Dad -- it was pretty cute to watch!

Gideon and Sarah have a bit of a tradition in the mornings. Brendan leaves a bit earlier to walk to school, and then Matt drops the older girls off at school and then heads to work himself. Gideon and Sarah love to stand at the window and wave good-bye to them. I seem to remember my little sisters and brothers doing that to me when I went to school too!

Gideon and Sarah both love Matt so much and Gideon especially always wants to wear a hat just like his Dad. Sarah loves to get in on the action too!!

Mother's Day

I had a lovely breakfast in bed made by my kids for Mother's Day. Most of it was eaten by Gideon while I was busy opening my gifts! The kids all made me cards at school and Anna made me a vase (a painted pop bottle) with a beautiful (albeit fake) flower in it. Matt took over making lunch (sorry I can't turn the pictures -- I'm still trying to figure out our computer) and we had a pre-made crock pot meal for dinner. It was a great day!!

Ladies Fest 8km Run

I participated in an 8km run this year. It was a good run, and I finished with a time of about 52 min. I am trying to recruit/get to know more runners to go with me next time. I do love running, but I love running with friends even more.

Fly-In at the Cardston Airport

We were excited to be able to attend the Fly-In at the Cardston Airport that my Mom and Dad are involved in hosting every year. The kids had a great time checking out Grandpa's airplane, plus all the other planes that flew in this year too!

Catching up might take a little while......

It has been a great summer so far for us -- the weather has been great and we have been keeping busy discovering the city in which we now live. It has definitely been a while since I have updated this blog, but we have been 3 weeks without a computer! It has finally gotten fixed and I can now try to play a little catch-up. I have tons of pictures that I can put up, and I will have to try to find the time to do that. While our computer was out of commission we have been really busy renovating too! So -- updates to come soon!! Stay tuned!!