Bad Day

Wednesday was a rough day for our family. It started out with a big swimming pool next to our house. One of the sprinkler pipes had broken and there was water shooting out everywhere. Preston was in meetings and wasn't able to come home, so the kids and I gave it a try. We were able to turn the water off and use the shop vac to suck things up before it all went into the crawl space. I was hoping to enjoy the rest of the day after the mess was cleaned up, but after a few hours, this is what happened...

We had a huge wind storm here and it blew 3 of our trees down and onto our neighbor's (Parkside) roof. Luckily it only damaged a little bit of the rain gutter of the neighbors, and it broke some of our fence.

 Another view of the trees.

It also blew down 5 sections of our fence. I think most of it is repairable.

Here's my awesome hubby cutting the trees so that we could get them off the the roof. I was pretty nervous when he was climbing the roof with a chain saw in his hands. But he came back down with all his body intact.

 I decided to add a cute picture of my little Kate to lighten things up. She loves the slip & slide except she doesn't slide. She just likes to stand in the little pool and the end and play in the water.

This is how Tyson does it. He runs down the whole thing and then does a seat drop at the end.

Just a couple of pictures I wanted to add. The other day I heard a strange noise. I ran in the kitchen to see Kate in the pantry with the Marshmallow Maties. She dumped the whole thing out. It was hard not to get mad. When I got to her, she was really going to town on the marshmallows.

How can you be mad at this cute little girl?

Random Summer Pictures

This summer is already flying by. We've already gone to 2 family reunions, finished T-ball, half way done with baseball, and started swimming lessons. There are so many different things, that I just need to post a couple of pictures to breifly show what we've been up to.

We went camping in the desert for a family reunion. Kate got to spend some quality time with Grandma.

My sister brought her dog with her and Kate wouldn't let that dog out of her sight. The dog was a pretty good sport about it.

Preston helped catch a horny toad for Tyson. He carried it around on his shoulder for a while until his dad talked him into letting it go.

It has been so hot here lately that running through the sprinklers has become a part of our every day routine.

Kate even jumped in on the fun.

We have been enjoying the warm weather. It seems like every night we have something right at dinner time and it makes it hard to prepare dinner. So we have been having a lot of barbeques. Mostly hamburgers and hot dogs. They're great and fast and we all love them. We had  grapes with our hamburgers and the kids thought they were pretty cool as they threw them up in the air and tried to catch them in their mouths. Kayson and Peyton were pretty good at it. Tyson tried to be just like his brothers, but was not as successful. In the end he did actually catch one in his mouth. I don't think anyone was as surprised about it as he was.

 

 After dinner, its a special treat for the kids to hang out with their dad. He plays ball with them in the back yard or jumps on the tramp with them. They love it. He's been so busy lately with work. It seems like the only time we see him is after dinner. This was Kate's special time with her dad. She loves her daddy.

While the other boys were playing baseball in the backyard, Tyson secretly climbed into Kate's old saucer. Unfortunately for him, he got stuck and needed help getting out.

We started swimming lessons again this year. Peyton and Kayson are loving it. This is Peyton doing bobs. He's not even posing for the camera. This is how he looks when he does them. He loves swimming lessons.

Kayson has been practicing his cannon balls. I'm not sure they teach you that in swimming lessons.

Mommy's little helper

My mom brought us a bucket of about 2 dozen fresh eggs. We set them on the table while we finished watching a show as a family. During the show, Kate quietly dissappeared. After it was over, we turned around and found this.

She didn't get all of the eggs, but probably broke around 8 of them.

I can't believe we couldn't hear her back there.

 Eggs are so gross to clean up.

She even tried to help me clean up by picking up some of the shells.(Notice the egg on her face and dress.)

This is after she knew she was in trouble.

A Great Mother's Day Present

It's been a really long time since I've updated my blog. A big reason is that I haven't had a camera. The kids got a hold of it and it no longer turns on or off any more. But on Mother's Day I got a wonderful surprise... A camera! I really like it. Preston and the kids did a great job. So now I have no excuse not to post any blogs.

I feel so old. My nephew is leaving for his mission in a week. I was able to go to the temple with him last weekend. I was a great day.

We've been spending a lot of time outside. It's so nice to be outside. Kate loves to visit the dog. She puts her hand in and it gives her little kisses.

 A really tired boy after a fun day.

 Lately Kate thinks it is fun to climb into my bathtub. It drives me crazy because every once in a while she tries to turn on the water.

A little all-star in the making.

 Peyton & Kayson are getting really good at baseball. They go in the backyard and practice every day. It's our first year having grass to play on. I love it!

Kayson has been working on catching fly balls. He thinks he needs to dive every time.

Isn't he a great dad! He held Kate the hold time he mowed the lawn. She loved it, until...

She fell asleep.

She loves her daddy.

.

Another tired kid after a long, hot, fun day

We all love warm days.

PUPPIES!

A little background. My dad is into hunting dogs.  He has about 5 German Shorthair dogs.  He is very particular about the breeding of his dogs.  They all go back to some kind of dog champion on both sides of the dog.  He is also particular about who he sells his dogs to.  So it was supposed to be a big compliment when he offered to give Preston one of his puppies.  That was 3 years ago. Around the the 4th of July this year, our dog got out of her kennel and ran away.  She was gone for 3 days.  We found her wandering the streets and put her back in her kennel.  Okay, so lets bring you back pretty close to the present.  A week ago, I sent Kayson out to let the dog out and give her water.  He came running back in all out of breath.  he brought me some pretty surprising news.  PUPPIES! Sprinkles our dog had had puppies. (Yes her name is Sprinkles.  Kayson named her) I had no idea she was pregnant. Six cute little brown puppies.  Apparently she must of had a pretty fun 4th of July.  Here are the puppies a week old.

Not a very good picture, but still really cute. 

 

Here's mama Sprinkles. I am not a dog lover, but this seriously is the best dog.  She is a great hunter (from what I hear from Preston), she fetches, is really good with our kids (never jumps up on them), doesn't bark or howl, and goes to her kennel when called.  She is a really mild dog.  I have to admit I kind of like her.

So here's my little plea.  These cute little puppies are a week old now, and in 5 more weeks will be needing a new home.  I can't have 7 dogs. If you want a puppy or know someone who does, they're yours.  I'm sure with a mom like they have, they will be good dogs. Come on, look how cute they are.

So enough of the promoting.  On to everyday life.  Along with school starting, soccer started too.  Kayson and Peyton are playing soccer.  This is the first year we've put them in it.  I don't know why we waited.  They are naturals.  It is so fun to watch them.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kayson playing in his first game.  I couldn't find the camera in time for Peyton's first game, so next game I'll get some pictures to share.

The BIG Project

I have been wanting grass in our backyard so bad.  And it looks like my wish might actually come true.  These are some pretty boring pictures, but I have to show our work.  Not too long ago, all this dirt used to have huge weeds in it.  They were so big and so thick that we had all my nephews and nieces come over and play night games in them.  All they had to do was duck in the weeds and they were gone.  Preston has been working so hard trying to get it ready for the sod.  My dad came over and used his tractor to help smooth out any bumps. 

That little thing in the ground in the back is the trampoline.  We decided to bury it while we were doing all the other work.  Just a little advice for those thinking about it.  Harder than it looks.  Our sod comes a week from tomorrow.  We will be pushing it to get everything done on time.  Any prayers are appreciated.

While helping, my dad decided to give Tyson and they neighbor kids a ride around in the bucket of the tractor.  They loved it.

Hopefully next weeks post will be some pictures of the new grass.

After party party

I forgot to post a few pictures.  About 5 minutes after we got home from the birthday party, we had a little rain storm. It only lasted 5 minutes, but it poured.  We live in the middle of a hill, so we had a lot of water running past our house.  The boys were letting their toys float down the water until the water got too full and fast and swept their toys away.  Then they just decided that it would be fun to lay down in it.  Pretty gross, but I let them do it anyway.  They had fun.

Tyson's pants got so wet and heavy that they were starting to fall down.