Yard Project

Since we bought a house with no yard we have been spending the last 4 months putting it in. It has been quite a project. All I have to say is that I will never buy a house that doesn't have a yard and sprinkler system in it again. It is so much work! I thought we could put it in in about 2 weeks but their is always something that needs to be done. We still don't have a fence or the flower beds in yet. Oh well, this fall or next spring. We are just happy with the grass.

The front yard with top soil on it.

The back yard with the kids playing the top soil.

Of course the day that we rented the machine to spread all the soil it snowed. We only had it for 24 hours so we spread it anyway in the snow!

Ryan looked like a little boy playing with his tractors in the dirt!

Here is the little green fuzz starting to grow. We had so much rain that we ended up with a canyon down our yard. But at least it was kept really wet even if some of it did wash away.

Finally the finished product! It still needs to get thicker and fill in, but we have grass. I don't know if it was worth giving up going to Hawaii but I sure am glad that we have grass to play on.

Grass in the back yard with our rabbit hutch, chicken coop, and our garden. We dug holes to put our vine plants in thanks to the help of Jill, Dan and my parents. IT was a huge debate on how much grass we should plant in the back yard because Ryan wanted a huge garden. But we finally compromised and we both got what we wanted.

1st Perm

People are always asking Lindee where she got her red hair at and how pretty her curly hair is. I think Jenna feels a little jealous. So when my parents came to stay with us over Memorial weekend Jenna asked my mom if she would perm it. It turned out pretty curly but didn't last for long but she loved it. She has my hair that doesn't perm very well. I think we will try again and get a Sally perm instead of one from Walmart.

All rolled!

Her curly hair made her look more grown up to me. She really liked it!

JT's 6th

We have 3 birthday's 6 days apart and JT is last. He turned 6 this year. He went to kindergarten last year and made a lot of good friends. We usually let the kids have a birthday part when they turn 5 but JT wasn't in school yet and didn't know very many kids so we let him have a party this year. He chose a Star Wars party and invited 6 little boys. They made a charm necklace (because every Jedi should have a good luck charm) and then they went through training to earn their light saber (a balloon sword) at the end. Then they had a sword fight. It was a lot of fun. JT is the clown in our family and is always doing goofy things to get people to notice him. He likes to play outside, play on the gaming systems, and play with his siblings. He has a bit of a temper but when he smiles at you he melts your heart. We are so glad that he is in our family. We love you John Terry!
JT also wanted a pillow pet. He got a penguin.

JT's star wars cake

JT wanted a pinata at his party so we made one. Here JT and Lindee are painting it before I covered it with tissue paper and glued Darth Vader on it.

We ate pizza at his party

JT hitting the pinata.

Here is some of their training--Learning how to get out of tight spots by playing twister!

The sword fight at the end of the party

Lindee's 3rd

I can't believe that my baby is already 3. She is getting so big and has her own personality. She loves the color pink, Dora the Explorer, and princesses and she likes to wear dresses. She loves going to nursery and asks at least 3 times during sacrament meeting when it is time for nursery. She has a cute little dimple in her left cheek when she smiles just right. We used to tell her that she had crazy fire hair but we had to stop that when she would tell people that! She does not like having her hair brushed unless she has just gotten out of the bath so it isn't so tangled. Our family wouldn't be complete without our little Lindee Lou Who!

Her princess cake

She has been wanting a pillow pet so we got her an elephant which she sleeps with every night!

Easter 2011

For Easter we went to an Easter Egg pick up (I call it a pick up because you just pick up the eggs off the ground in the designated roped areas. But we had a lot of fun decorating eggs and having the Easter bunny come to our house!

The kids coloring their eggs

Crazy Easter Morning Kids!

Soccer and T-Ball

Jenna is playing soccer and JT is playing T-ball. They are having a ton of fun and learning lots! JT team is the ironbirds and they let the kids all bat and then it is the other teams turn. They try and get outs but they don't count beause the kids still say on the bases and run. They let the kids play for an hour and then they are done. He is starting to do coach pitch this week and if they can't hit off the coach they get to use the tee. JT really enjoys learning how to play.
All the kids in their uniforms. Don't they look so cute!
Hit the ball
Run for 1st!
Running home
Jenna playing in a game. Jennas poor little team is so small that they usually have to borrow players from the other team if not all of her team mates come. She is pretty tired after the hour is up from running the whole time!! Her team is the Green Bandits.

Chickens

Since we bought our house we have gotten rabbits and chickens. The other day the wind blew so hard that it picked our coop up and it landed on it roof. It didn't roll or anything. Lukily we didn't have any chickens in it at the time. They were still in the garage growing bigger!! Here it is upside down. It ways about 300 pounds and it took 3 of us to tip it back over. Needless to say we now have it staked down and we will do the same to the rabbit hutch when we move it out there once our yard is in.

Flag football

Luke is playing flag football for the first time this year. He is really enjoyable to watch and is on a really good team and had a great coach.


Here he is playing center.

Baptism

Luke had a very special day surrounded by those who loved him.


Luke looking handsome in his new suit.

Its Great to Be 8!

Luke turned 8 this year. He is so excited to go to Scouts and to be baptized next month. Luke is in the 2nd grade and loves math and is a good reader. He is a happy boy with a smile to share with everyone and a big helper. He is always the first one to volunteer and is willing to do something when we ask. We can always count on him. He likes to play outside and play video games. He also likes to tease his siblings and is continuously getting in trouble for this. He was only 4 lbs when he was born and we wondered if we would even get to raise him. We sure are glad he joined our family. Love you, Luke!
Lukes birthday was on a Wednesday and the kids get out early from school that day so we let him open a present after school. It was an XBox game and he got to enjoy it until Dad got home and he could open the rest of his presents.
He got a Star Wars cake and the light sabers really lite up. When Luke was little he used to tell people that his name was LukeSkywalker!!!

Blow
He got his scout uniform and his wolf book.
He also got a suit to wear after his baptism!! He wore it to church the Sunday after his birthday and looked really grown up!

Christmas 2010

We invited Jeff and Neeley's family and Neeley's sisters family over for Christmas Eve dinner. Then we played games while the kids ran around and couldn't wait for Santa to come in the morning. We let the kids open their one present of PJ's and then sent them off to bed with strict instructions that they were not to go downstairs until everyone was awake and they couldn't wake anyone up! We told them to go into the spare room, shut the door and play until everyone was awake. It worked pretty good. Luke and Lindee got up at 7. Luke was really good with her and read to her and played games. Then Jenna and JT got up at 8 and then they had to wait for Dad to feed the rabbits and then they could come down.
They looked into their stockings first and then saw a note on the tree from Santa!
We all went downstairs and found.....an air hockey table!!!

and a.....Horsey for Lindee. .We played for a bit and then headed back upstairs to open presents




Later that day we went and saw Tangled (so cute) and then just had a relaxing day enjoying our new toys!!