Catch Up

I've had a lot of things to post but seem to be getting lazy with my blog. So this is my catch up update.

Happy Birthday to Jake! His birthday fell on a Tuesday, which has been a very hectic day this summer with work, soccer, scouts, and more. So he got pizza for dinner, a store bought cake and a quick celebration betwee all of our other activities. But he didn't seem to mind.






































A couple of weeks ago, the boys hair was driving me crazy so we got out the clippers.















The "before" shot.















And "after" - doesn't that look so much better?




















When my mom and dad were here visiting around the 4th of July they surprised me with these beautiful flowers. When they gave them to me the lillies weren't open yet so I told my mom I would take a picture for her when they were. Aren't they so pretty?















A couple of weeks ago we went to the drive in movie. It's a fun night but not something we do more than once a year because it is so late. The movies were Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum 2. Ice Age 3 was cute, Night at the Museum 2 was boring, especially since it was 1 am and I was tired. But it's always fun to watch the movies from your own car, especially if you have room to stretch out.

Monday night Tracie thought it would be a great idea to spend family home evening at the Idaho Falls Chukars game. Jared was visiting for a few days so we all had a great time at the baseball game -- minus Jeff - poor thing had to work.















Here's the whole crowd except me.



















Ethan and Jake - Ethan isn't grumpy, he's just being serious.



















Kevin and Jared are not being serious. After the game the kids get to run the bases. We were all down by the gate waiting for the players to get off the field so the kids could go out there. As the players pass by all the kids are trying to get broken bats and baseballs from them. Jared was one of the lucky kids that got a bat and Darren caught one of the balls.

4th of July Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July weekend.
















While we were waiting for the fireworks to begin we broke out the glow sticks. Darren had the boys moving them around so he could get these cool photos. He's done the same thing with sparklers at past 4th of Julys.















Between the parade and fireworks the guys went fishing (since they couldn't the day before like they were planning - see sprinkler disaster post below) and the girls/kids went to Rigby lake. Here is me after getting buried in the sand by my sons.















Jake buried - he was hard to keep buried because he kept wiggling.















Everyone had to have a turn - except Tracie and Kat (chickens :-))
Ethan getting buried.



















Kevin buried.















Jacob and Ethan at the beginning of our sand castle. It turned out to be much bigger but Tracie has it on her camera. Maybe she'll post it.




















Kat was worn out and slept for most of the parade. When it was time to go Andy decided to help her wake up.




















Kat waking up
















Andy and Kat















Ben and Darren















Tracie and Ben















Jake waiting in line to spray the fireman hose. We were sitting near the fire station and while everyone was waiting for the parade to start they let the kids try to knock a cup off of an orange cone. They also had the fire truck there with the ladder fully extended. You could pay $3 and climb it. Since it went about 3 or 4 stories none of us were game.




















I love this picture. My brothers are all great uncles. Jake was climbing all over Ben and Andy and they just endured it. We went to Idaho Falls for the fireworks and this is them just waiting.

Sprinkler System

This past week my brother, Ben, took a week off of work and came to Idaho to help Tracie and me put sprinkler systems in our yards. What a way to spend a vacation, huh? Monday we rented a pipe puller - the first half of the day was spent at Tracie's house and the second half of the day at my house.




















Tracie holding the pipe for Ben















Ben with the pipe puller.

They worked on Tuesday and Wednesday at Tracie's house and finished her sprinkler system. I had to work those two days so neither Darren nor I helped there. Late Wed night Andy and his girlfriend, Kat came up to Tracie's house. So Thursday morning when I came back from my run I found Ben, Tracie, Jeff, Andy and Kat already hard at work in my yard. We spent the day digging and putting in the sprinkler system. By the end of the day most of it was done. There were only a couple of things left to do when they all went home (to Tracie's house).















Me - I must be taking a nap or something.















Darren















Ben - I think he's letting Jacob listen to his I-pod. Hopefully not an Alice in Chains song.















Andy















Kat
















Jeff















Tracie

Friday afternoon they came up again. Unfortunately this day didn't go as smoothly. The last step was to cut into our main water pipe and install the sprinkler. This was the part Darren was very nervous about. Because our house is over 50 years old, something seems to go wrong every time we do a project. After several trips to the plumbing store there were no parts that would work. It was Friday night, the day before a holiday and after 5 pm. We had no water in our house. Darren's worst fears were realized. We had to call a plumber, hoping that he would have the right parts. But we found out plumbers don't have after hour privileges at plumbing stores, either. He only had the parts on his truck. He was able to fix it temporarily so we would have water over the weekend but can't fix it permanently until Wednesday. So we still can't see the benefits of Ben's hard work and our new sprinkler system. Hopefully that will be a future post.

Oh, and before anything could be done, Ben told us we had to dig down to our main water pipe, which was about 6 feet down. So Darren, Tracie, Jeff, and I all took turns digging. We didn't have it finished by dark on Saturday night. Since Ben was going to start Monday morning we had to finish digging the hole on Sunday. Darren said it gave new meaning to keeping the Sabbath Day holy :-)





















Darren digging the hole



















Ethan kissing a huge worm Darren found in the hole. This picture is for Mary Ann since we were told she likes kissing worms.



















Another worm photo















And still another one
















This toy dinosaur was also found in the digging. If only it were a real one and we could sell our house for lots of money.















This is just a random picture of my beautiful rose bush. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's only in bloom for a couple of weeks.