24th of July and Apricot Jam

Wednesday night I went home with Liz to spend the night. We went to the Real Soccer game and watched the fireworks afterwards and then in the morning we sat outside the apartment and watched the Parade. So much fun!!!

Then I came home and spent the afternoon making Apricot Jam YUM!!!

Fun on the Big Swing and "LET ME OUT!!!"

Hailey and Aubrey finally got brave enough to try swinging off the windmill and of course now we can't get them off of it!!





Miley J is starting to pull herself up and stand. Everyone else was having fun outside and she wanted out.



"Hooray! I made it!"

A Wonderful Scofield Surprise!

I had a wonderful surprise last week. Melanie called me to say they were in Malad and headed my way and could they stop and visit. Well ya!!! She was taking Ashley to the airport to go home for girl's camp and then picking Brian up the next day so he could join the family for the rest of their vacation. So she and Cory, Emily and Gavin spent the night and the kids had a ball playing in the tree house and swinging on the big swing. Cory figured out that if he stood on my windmill base he could get a really good swing out of the deal. Melanie and I just hung out on my hammock swings. She loved them so much that she went and bought the material to make one and I gave Emily a little sewing lesson as we put it together.
The next day she left to pick up Brian and they returned to Malad. Then on Friday they all returned to spend another night. We really had a good time. That night we went to our Ward's ice cream social and Cory and Logan (Darren's) were called on to make and eat a banana split in a contest. After they left on Saturday they headed to a cabin up by their property up at Strawberry and the last I heard, the hammock swing was a big hit.

New Carpet and Foot Surgery

WAHOOO!! The carpet finally was installed Tuesday. It's so soft and nice. I was really worried for a bit when they rolled it out on the driveway to cut it because it looked really light and green but once it was inside and laid down, it looks exactly how I want. Now I just have to get rid of the lovely 15 year old wallpaper and do some painting and put things back together. (I think I'll get the grandkids together and we'll have a wallpaper ripping party.)
That may take a while though because yesterday I had foot surgery. It's called a Plantar Fascia release. They went in and snipped the tendon that had torn from my heal. I hope it works because it has been bothering me for months. I'm supposed to keep mostly off of it for two to four weeks. AURGHH!!! How am I supposed to do that and what am I supposed to do?
My Primary class brought me dinner last night and it was so cute. Our lesson last week was on gratitude and one of the little boys told me he was grateful for me. It made me feel so good. Now I get to show them my gratitude for making my dinner. What a fun object lesson.

Tree House Fun

The deck is done! Thank you Caleb. The kids love it!!! Bryan christened it by being the very first Grandkid up there. Then a sleep over with Aubrey and Brooklyn who spent most of the day up there and thought it was so fun to throw "Cheezit's" at Uncle Mike and then at Troy.
Liz took Franklin up there one day and then the next time he was visiting he wanted up again but Liz said, "Not this time." Well next thing we know, he's half way up the tree and just about to climb in. (He just turned 2 in April). When Liz went to get him down he said, "I'm a monkey."
TRUE TRUE TRUE!

Enjoying the Deck

It's finally finished, well almost. Just a little more staining here and there but I'm waiting for Hailey to help with that. She came over one day and bless her little heart worked for hours on her back and tummy staining under the bench and the lower slats. Brooklyn came to help for a little bit as well. I've made some hammock swings that we all enjoy for various reasons and if we're not careful we could spend all day in them reading or sleeping. I had to make some gates to keep kids and little dogs in. The big dog just jumps over.

4th of July

What a nice day! It was quite cool for here (90's) and there was a nice breeze all day. I went to the famous Clearfield parade with Emma and Neil and kids, then Neil went to work and the rest of us went to lunch and then to the carnival. Emma took the boys home for a nap and Brooklyn and I spent the rest of the day together. Then it was off to the fireworks.

Frogs and Funerals

Brooklyn and Aubrey had a sleepover and really had a good time playing with the frog that I have in my pond. But alas it hopped out and met it's demise. They brought it to me with it's guts hanging out and were quite sad so they had a little funeral and buried it under the bird bath and made a very nice memorial for it. Later I found the frog still in the pond so I guess it was a different one that had died. POOR POOR FROG!

Girl's Day Out

Being Bekah's 30th birthday (am I really that old?) I decided that a few hours without the kids would be a good present. So I hired a couple of babysitters and we 4 girls went to lunch and shopping. So much fun to spend a few hours with my girls. I am so proud of them and the wonderful people and Mom's that they have become. After lunch we went clothes shopping and I was treated to a fashion show. We were like little girls, giggling and laughing and having so much fun.

Then it was home and some painting was to be done. Liz wanted her belly painted like we did when she was pregnant with Franklin. Then it was a sunflower, now it's a butterfly. Of course the kids couldn't be left out so we I did them too.

Tree House and Deck

With about 6 trips to the Freeport center and lots of work taking pallets apart we ended up with enough free wood to build both a tree house and a Deck out front. With what started out to be just a little platform to sit on and enjoy the evening became a full blown deck. There it is again...IT'S NOT DONE UNTIL IT'S OVERDONE!!!

Broken Pipes and Soggy Carpet

Sunday night the girls went downstairs and came back up and told me it was sopping wet in the little room. So I went down and sure enough, water everywhere. We had a pipe with a slow leak that I guess had been going on for quite a while. We cleaned everything out of the little room (thank you Frank and Liz) and turned off the water. I called the insurance company and they called a restoration company that came and cleaned it all up and ripped out the carpet in the whole basement and cut off the drywall about 1 foot up and now I have huge fans going down there. So I guess I'm getting new carpet and walls and paint down there. Fortunately the insurance covers it all. Neil, bless his heart, and Caleb, bless his too, worked for hours fixing all the pipes down there so we have all new pipes and valves as well.

Planting is Finished!!!

I believe I am finally done but you never know. Now we just wait for it to all grow. The red trees are gone and in their place, tomatoes. I really am getting concerned about the price of food and also the illnesses that are being caused by vegetables bought in stores lately. I've always loved to can my own food and when the kids were young I used to can about 4 0r 5 hundred quarts a year of fruits and vegetables. Besides all the vegetables I've planted, we also have 2 apple trees, a cherry, plumb, pear and peach tree. Also the neighbors next door have an apricot tree that they don't use so we always help ourselves to it.