Retaining Wall

So here is an update of what Matt and I (well mostly Matt) have been doing for the past 3 weeks.

This is our new retaining wall. Good bye old rotted timbers. Matt spent many days cutting the block to fit just right, and then when WE (yes me too) cemented the top block on so that it remained intact. The first night we used the concrete Matt rubbed his two fingers raw from scraping the bottom of the cement bucket. The next night we used gloves. Because of all the landscaping being done all of my plants have spent the last month in plastic garbage bags and I am surprised that almost all of them survived. Maybe it to soon to tell but I think that they are much happier. The wall has some residue of the white cement but after a few rain storms it will go away.


Matt has also spent the last month fixing our sprinklers. We have a sprinkler system but it was located in the planter box. Since we ripped it out we decided to relocate the sprinklers.

One thing that I love about Matt is he is so handy! The great thing about Matt is he is very ambitious to try to fix things on his own. If he doesn't know how to do something he figures it out. Sometimes he has to make a phone call or buy a manual, but he can almost always figure it out. And then he knows how to do it the next time.

Up next: Fix the swamp cooler, and repairing our fence

Poor Matt his project list keeps getting longer and longer!

What Color?

I can't decide what color Aidens eyes are.

They are definitely not brown.

Not BLUE like Matts.

They aren't GREEN like mine.

They aren't HAZEL!

So then what color are they?

Is seaweed a color?

My Precious!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to give Aiden some root beer. I think that this was one of the first times I had given him root beer. I put some in a sippy cup and he took one big swig and his facial expression was hilarious. His face went from happy to angry, he cradled his sippy cup with both hands and held it close to his neck and said "mine, mine, mine" as he turned his head back and forth. My bro in law said that if he would have said "my precious" things would have gotten freaky.

Aiden is starting to pick up a lot of new words. He will repeat words that I have him say. (jake never did) He also knows the difference between mommy and daddy. I won't be surprised think that Aiden will be talking before Jake does. Jake is coming along slowly with his speech. He has learned 4 new words in the last 2 months which isn't great, but the fact that he doesn't call us Teresa anymore is a huge improvement.

Dirty Work

Matt and I are very excited to finally have our patio done. This last week has been very exhausting and stressful for both of us.

Our house had ugly rail road ties up along the side of our house. When we pulled them out some of the boards on the bottom were so decayed they were the size of a 2x4. I guess that explains why the retaining wall wasn't level and collapsing.

BEFORE:AFTER:

We had the concrete done by a professional. It is stamped and colored to look like stone but costs a faction of the price. I think it turned out really nice. I was so scared of choosing a pattern and the colors but I think it turned out nicely. It will also be so nice to be able to come down the deck and through out the trash without walking on grass/snow. The stairs from the deck will come down were the 4 pillars are. And I think my kids will like having a place to ride their bikes on. We also had the concrete on the left side of the house ripped out so that I have a bigger garden. It will take away our basketball court but we NEVER used it. It got so hot next to the house the concrete just made that space to hot-my kids never played on it. Plus with the new patio it would just be too much concrete in our yard.


The night before the concrete truck came Matt, Nate (Matts brother) and I stayed up until 2:00 am digging 6 holes for the pillars. Two of them we had to dig 3 feet deep into the hard clay. It was not any fun. Thanks again Nate! We had to get it done that night because the concrete truck was coming at 7:00 am the next morning. Of course they came early and the first 30 minutes was very kayotic. Matt also had to repair 2 sprinklers that got cut during the excavation. So that explains our dead looking grass. We also spent all day Saturday (which was a very hot day) patching the side of the patio with sod, and hauling junk to the dump.

So hopefully the hard part it down. We are going to put up a small retaining wall next to the house with a retaining wall stone. Then I can replant my plants and hopefully they won't die. We also need to fix the cement on the side of the house. If you can see in the picture it is black and ugly. I also have to go through the dirt in my garden and get out the clay clods and rocks. I wish it wasn't so hot. I really can't even go out and work until it is 7 or 8 because the heat just about kills me. It has also been over a week since I have taken my daycare kids outside. That is just about killing me. When it is finished we will post more pictures. This is just the start of a work in progress.

Sewing

I know that it has been a long time since I updated my blog, and I have to confess that I don't have have much to share with everyone. For those who don't know I do know how to sew but only get out my machine 3 or 4 times a year -mainly to fix and alter things. My true love of sewing comes to sewing baby quilts. I think that I like them because they are small and I can get it done quick. I especially like to applique them so that they are unique and different. I can put together a patch work quilt in a matter of days so appliqueing them gives me a challenge. It is all done by machine, (I don't do any hand quilting). I also like to free hand sewing, which is where the feed dogs on the machine is down so the needle is moving up and down and I control where the stitches go. I use this so make the squigly lines in the middle of the quilt, you can see if you click on the picture. I have started to make a quilt for each of my sisters when they have a baby. This is for my sis Vaylene who is expecting her first boy in a couple of months. She told me she loved circles and stripes, and this is what I came up with.

Happy Anniversary!

This week was our 7 year anniversary. This year we decided to go to Park City and spend a couple days without the kids. And it was WONDERFUL. In the past we really don't do anything big for our anniversary, so when Matt's parents offered for us to use their time share in Park City we couldn't refuse. We dropped the kids off at Grandma Davidson's and drove up to Park City Friday night.

Biking:
We brought our bikes along and after getting lost a couple times we found a bike trail that looked fun. Not soon later dark thunderclouds rolled in. We decided to keep going and hoped that it would be a short storm. Matt asked me if I still wanted to go and I did because we had spent all morning getting our bikes ready. The first 20 minutes into our ride it rain and I was really glad that I had my raincoat on . After we got to the top of all the switch backs it POURED and DUMPED on us. By this time my fingers were cold and I was ready to go back. My Capri's were soaked and it was hard to pedal because they were sticking to my skin. Not only this the rain was making the trail muddy and slippery. Our tires would skid out and we had a hard time getting traction on our tires. At the top of the hill lighting and thunder circled around us and we decided to get off our bikes and sit down low. Luckily it didn't last to long and got back on our bikes. At this point the trail was filled with big puddles, and our shoes and legs were caked with mud. The rain made our hands icy cold and braking our bikes was a challenge because mud was in our brake pads. We debated what would be the quickest way back because we didn't have our map with us. Luckily we came within a few hundred yards of a major road so we ditched the trail and walked our bikes through the sagebrush so that we could take take the road back home.

NOTE: I have to mention that it may seem like I am extreme but I am definitely not at mountain biking. Mountain Biking is definitely Matt's thing. I just tag along for the ride. HE is also very good at being patient with my slowness. Our first year of married Matt took me to Moab on a advance trail called "slick rock trail" and not even 1 mile into the ride I went over the handlebars and had to get stitches put in my chin. Ever since then I have this extreme fear of going downhill and getting flipped over my bike. So. . . . this is why I go very SLOW and I am very cautious of myself.

Here we are huddling together so that we wouldn't get struck by lighting. I know, how romantic is that! Sorry the picture isn't very good, it was hard to keep water off the lens. It was also kind of fun to sit and watch the lighting bolts strike in the distance.

After we got back to the condo and got all cleaned up we decided to go to "Butchers Block" and get some steak for dinner. This restaurant was super fancy and was definitely the most money we ever spent on a meal. We have not been out to eat since Jake was 5 months old so we felt like we could splurge. After the delicious meal we went to the swimming pool and relaxed in the hot tub while it rained on us. It was so relaxing sitting in a hot tub while cold rain fell on our faces.

The next morning we drove back and got the kids. They had tons of fun at Grandmas and I hope they didn't wear them out too much. (thanks again Paul, Julie, and Amy) It was good to have them back and we missed them a ton.

No No Neigh Neigh

Aiden has learned a new word: SIT

Only his "s" sounds like "sh". And he emphasises the sh. He LOVES to repeat this over and over. He even did it at church today and I just have to clarify that he didn't learn a swear word from us, he must have picked it up when we tell Soby to sit.

Aiden also learned to say my name a couple of weeks ago. "se saw" I was so sad the first time I heard him calling my name and searching for me. I really really want at least one of my kids to call me mommy. (jake now calls me 'hey D' ) Aiden has this thing were he will say the same thing over and over for a week or two. He hasn't called me "se saw" for a couple of weeks and I am okay with that. Instead he says sh*t!