Mother's Day & LOTS of Rain

This weekend was a slow one. It rained a ton, so we didn't get a chance to do much which was exactly the break we needed! Friday Dave swung by Lowes and picked up rocks to pour around the stepping stones and where the fire pit is going to live. It was raining, so he bought them with anticipation of hopefully laying them Saturday. We went to the temple Friday night, and it was so nice! Traffic was horrible getting there, but it was so nice to get to go. We sat at talked in the Celestial room after for quite a while before heading home.

Saturday I had my last quilting class of the year! Well, technically the last one is in June, but I'll be in North Carolina for that one. So this is the last one I'm going to attend. I've been waffling back and forth about signing up for next year's class or not… and Saturday made my decision for me. My mom was spring cleaning out her sewing stuff/stash and I probably ended up with 7 projects! So really I'm set for the next 7 years. Some of them are just collections of material in complimentary colors, but some are completed squares just waiting for someone to make them into something! So I went through them all, and have my work cut out for me (although I probably won't start anything until late June). We also ended up with food and a few other odds and ends.

 The boy's favorite things we inherited were costumes! They spent all weekend being a fire fighter, cowboy, and viking! Their favorite is the viking so there's a lot of fighting over the hat with horns. Logan will tell you he's Lyle the Viking and when Dustin wears the hat he's Bob the Viking. We even went on our walk this morning dressed as fire men (both boys had a hat).

Saturday Dave's parent's also kidnapped the boys for the day. They were supposed to go to the zoo, but since it rained all day long, they only made a brief appearance there, then went bowling. They had so much fun. Dave prepped his lessing while I was at quilting, and when I got home we relaxed.  That night we braved the rain and went to the mall to do some Mother's Day shopping. The boys both picked out a gift for me and we spent hours in the Lego store! They (and Dave) were in HEAVEN! So many toys to play with!

Sunday we had a relaxing Mother's Day. We had Raspberry White Chocolate Chip muffins for breakfast. Dustin went to Nursery. I dropped him off, and I only had to go calm him once. He stayed the rest of the time just great! Logan had to go potty 3 times during church, and since Dave was teaching, I got to take him each time (he threw a fit when the youth tried to get him to go in the men's room instead of the ladies room where I take him… guess we'll have to work on that). We decorated cup cakes for our dessert (I wanted German Chocolate Cake, and I knew the boys wouldn't eat it, so I got a can of frosting for them and a variety of sprinkles and German Chocolate frosting for Dave and I). Then I got to do some sewing!

I finished this bad boy! It's for the nursery rhyme quiet book, and it's supposed to be the 3 little kittens. In the basket are 6 different sets of mittens. So they have to find their mittens, match them, and hang them on the line. It turned out cute! I have 8 scripture pages done, am waiting to receive 8 from the exchange, have 4 nursery rhyme pages done, and am waiting on 1 more from the exchange. So I think I'll try to get 3 more nursery rhyme pages done before the reunion as well as making 2 - 3 book covers for these. Eventually I want a Book of Mormon/Church History, Old Testament, New Testament, and Nursery Rhyme quiet book. But for now I'm just working on 3 and I will mix the church ones into one or two.

Oh, random, but we got the boys an Electric Toothbrush a few weeks ago. After finding a $10 coupon online, I got it for $30. They both throw major fits every time we brush, and now they fight over whose turn it is to brush. They don't do a great job brushing, but it's a lot better than before. And the brush times them, so they know how long to brush for. I got a set of knock off toothbrush heads 12 for $9, so we're set for the next year or two! I would highly recommend one for anyone!

Also, since it was Mother's Day, I can finally share this project!!! I've been secretly working on it for months. I kidnapped a quilt my Grandma Yoder made for my Mom about 40 years ago. It had a few spots where the material wore through, so I patched up those spots with new material. You can see the piece above that was torn.

This is one that's done! It was a lot of work, but it turned out great! The piece above is a different one that has been patched. My mom just loves this quilt (because her mom made it for her), so I wanted to make sure she could enjoy it for years to come.

There was also a tear in the back that I patched up. I forgot to take a picture of that one fixed before I gave it to her, but it worked out well too.

Ducks, the Yard, Sewing & Playing

Last blog post I didn't have any pictures of the boys (I haven't been taking many lately), so here is Logan feeding/chasing the three "daddy ducks" that have been roaming up and down our street. He loves when they visit our yard. Sorry Dad, it's the only one I had this week!

Last Thursday night we had our first date in a long time!!! Dave's work was doing a movie night so we got to go see the Avengers. It was better than the first one, and Dave loved it. It was so much fun to get out and see a movie without the boys. They also did free popcorn and drinks too, which was nice since we never get those when we go.

I brought home the left over popcorn and the boys ate it for breakfast. I went to the bedroom to get something and when I came back into the kitchen Logan was chowing down and Dustin had dumped his cereal on the ground and was eating the popcorn Logan had poured onto his tray. Man those boys are already getting into trouble together!

Friday after Dave got home from work we went to Lambert's Nursery and got the plants for our garden and some flowers as well. Logan and Dustin loved helping pick things out and wanted to smell all the flowers! When we were in the check out line one of the workers was writing out my bill to make the trip to the cash register quicker (it's an old school mom & pop shop with zero technology). Logan decided to untie her apron. This is his favorite thing to do when I'm washing dishes, but I was surprised he would do it to a stranger!

Saturday the boys and I planted the garden and flowers while Dave ran around to a few Home Depots to get a stump grinder. It took Dave all day to grind the 3 stumps! I did most of the second one to give him a break, but man it was tedious and exhausting!

This week has really gone by in a haze. I've been throwing everything together so we can shingle the house next weekend. Well, we are just tearing off the shingles and paying a guy to put the shingles back on for us. Yes, we probably could figure out how to do it ourselves, but this is just not the year for a major project. I'm praying like crazy that it doesn't rain next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so we can get these bad boys off and the waterproofing layer down. It's been raining all week here.

Oh, I've also been sewing quiet book pages! I joined a quiet book page exchange a few months back, and we just switched pages. We ended up with some bible stories and some nursery rhymes, so now I'm going to make a book for each. So I've been making extra pages so I have enough. I'm more excited for the scripture book, but the nursery rhyme book will be fun too.

Christ Calms the Storm (finger puppets in a pocket)

Joseph's Coat (puzzle & snaps)

Samson & Delilah (hair braiding)

Adam & Eve (color matching & buttoning)

David & Goliath (button & make the rock hit him)

Swallowed a Fly (she eats the finger puppets & zipper belly)

I love how these are turning out!!! I hope to have at least one book done by the time we go to North Carolina. If so, I'm going to hide it away so the boys don't play with them before then.

We've also been playing with friends a bit this week. We went to Sugar House park with Logan's friend Briggs (short for Brigham) and his sister Calli that is a little older than Dustin. It was fun to see the four of them explore the park together. They moved en mass from the river to slide to tunnel to swings, etc. Next year Logan is going to go to Pre-School with Briggs two mornings a week. He's excited to go with his friend, although I'm sure he'll make more friends too.

Wednesday morning Abby, Madddy and Edison came over to play. They tore the house apart, but had lots of fun doing it. Logan misses having Abby and Maddy come over every day, so it was nice to spend time with her. We do get to play with Devonsch a few times a week though (and he is calming down a bit, which helps).

Working in the Yard!

Last week we met with the missionaries and the family renting out our basement. It didn't go well, but I don't think they were offended. The missionaries had approached Ronak on the street, and asked if they could teach, so I think the family was just glad we were there to help out. I don't know if the missionary had ever taught anyone that wasn't Christian before. They would say something, and I would have to break it down so it was understandable to a non Christian background. It was extremely confusing, but they now have an idea of our beliefs. Hopefully they can learn more in the future.

The plan was to build a fence this weekend (Dave tore down the old rotting fence last fall, so we had to do something to keep the kids in the back yard). When we saw the forecast for Friday and Saturday was rain both days, I convinced Dave to build the fence Thursday night after work. He got done around 9, and the next day the boys and I painted it. Dave told me I needed to have it painted by 10 for it to be dry enough for the rain that afternoon. So we worked like crazy and got it done!

Dave's also been working like crazy on the gazebo. He removed a section of the side wall and built a step so we can access the gazebo from the back yard! I love it, because it gives us that much more space in the back yard. We also laid stepping stones leading from the gazebo to the grass. Later this summer we will fill in between the stepping stones with rocks/gravel, but for now, at least we're not stepping in mud.

To the right and left of the stepping stones, we will probably plant some drouth resistant plants (i.e. something I don't have to water). Dave's looking for some kind of a grass and I like Chicks and Hens. But we'll see what the nursery down the street has to offer.

Saturday morning and afternoon, since it didn't end up raining after all, we tilled up the garden, laid our plastic down (to discourage weeds), laid the water line for the garden, and weeded almost all our flower beds. I couldn't believe how fast the day went, and all the sudden it was time for dinner! The boys were filthy from digging in the garden, so we cleaned up, ate, and called it a night.

Sunday we got to see my Aunt Kathryn who was in town from North Carolina. We also saw some of my family (since my parents threw a dinner for her). It was nice to catch up, and have a day of rest after such a busy Friday and Saturday.

Monday Dave and Dustin woke up with coughs, sore throats and stuffy noses. So we're just holding down to fort, hoping everyone gets well soon!

Brothers, Storms & Batman

So before we get into this week, some Easter pictures I forgot about! Well, I was going for a traditional cute brother picture, but the boys just didn't agree. They wanted a silly one. I've kept meaning to dress them back up and try again, but it didn't happen. So this is what we got… Maybe Dave can photo shop the picture with Dustin smiling not the one with Logan smiling, although the wink is pretty cute too.

So we tried again yesterday and got two cute ones. I asked them to say cheese and Dustin would say it, then start laughing! Apparently it's pretty funny when there's no cheese in sight. Getting two boys to smile at the same time is quite the chore! No wonder our family pictures growing up always had someone not smiling in it!

Anyway, last week was a crazy one! We had a wind/mud/snow storm on Wednesday! It was crazy and it the 100 mile an hour wind blew down one of our trees! So instead of building a fence Saturday, we had to find a chain saw and cut down a tree.  Lots of work, but glad it's done. Now that sections of the yard looks so bare we're considering what we want to plant there instead.

Our Snowman after the storm!

The tree took us all morning to disassemble, but it's done. Now we just have to grind down the stump and we should be good. In the afternoon Dave, Dustin and I took a long nap (yup, Dustin is still teething). After that, we found out the sink in the basement was leaking hot water, so Dave fixed that while I took the boys Grocery shopping.

Sunday after church we went to the Hindu temple with the guys in the basement. This all stemmed from the sister missionaries approached Ronak on the street and asked if they could teach his family, it lead to a discussion and the invitation to their church (and we'll all be meeting with the missionaries Tuesday night).

We tried to prep Logan on the drive over about going to a different church along with what to expect (statues, incense, etc). He was very quiet and respectful, but told Dave after he didn't like it, he wants to go to our church from now on. Dave and I think it's good for the boys to experience different religions and cultures, and it was very interesting for us to learn about their church too.

Monday night we had FHE! We watched a movie on the Tree of Life, then we had to act out the Tree of Life for like an hour (Save me, I'm falling off the iron rod! Oh no, you are stuck in the big building!!!).

Also, I got Dustin on video singing the Batman Song! And Logan telling a story about Batman. Excuse the messy house… We have 2 boys who destroy the places regularly. And a pile of clean folded laundry in the background.

Tax Week

Last weekend we worked out in the yard a lot! Dave has been altering the gazebo. He removed the side rails leading up to the gazebo, and made the 4 foot long step into a regular size step. This is helpful in my loading the boys into and out of the car. Now I have more room to get them in. He also opened up the side of the gazebo leading to the back yard and added a step so we can easily access the gazebo from the back yard. Finally he laid two polls on the side of the gazebo to install a fence. Oh, and he hug our swing bench thing from the ceiling. I also changed things up so we have a bench attached to one of the walls of the gazebo. It is the length of our table, so it will be nice not to have to get out chairs if we want to eat outside. Now I just have to paint it!

Dustin's been talking like crazy lately! Mostly food words; with cheese, milk and more topping the list. But he also has started saying Batman and between that and pointing, we're now communicating quite effectively. It's really interesting to compare him with the little Indian boy in the basement. Dustin is two months younger but talks like crazy in comparison.

Monday was 75 degrees here! We spent 5 hours outside that day. The first two were spent walking to the store and playing outside. But the latter 3 were spent outside because I locked us out of the house. Sigh! Needless to say I have now replaced the hide a key so this shouldn't happen again. I was glad it was nice out, so we played in the sand box, walked to the park, swung on swings and played on the slide.

Wednesday it snowed like crazy, so the RS president canceled our presidency meeting. So we decided to play with Logan's friends Abby, Edison, and Maddy. We built a snow man, had snow ball fights, and just had a good time. The kids refused to let me take pictures of them, so you can imagine how much fun they had.

That afternoon I got a text from Dave requesting a presentation on Utah Animals. He teaches the 11 year old Scouts for the Stake, and I guess they wanted him to teach about what animals we could see in the wilderness. I have a few weird things like that saved from teaching at Girls Camp, but I didn't have animals. So the boys and I created a 15 page document (complete with pictures and scientific names). It turned out well, and Dave bound it. The boys loved looking at the pictures and making the noises the animals make. I just hope we have an excuse to use it again.

Wednesday night Dave fell asleep at 9 (teething is killing us), so I started a doll for a friend's little girl. Although I don't remember, I guess I made her oldest daughter a doll years ago. Now she has two girls and they fight over the it. So since she is going to be out here visiting, I whipped one up! I wanted to make two, but I just didn't have the time. I think she turned out cute!

They came over this morning to play! We had fun comparing 3 year olds and letting the kids get out every toy we own. De's one of my best friends, and it's great to get to catch up!

Logan informed me this week he wants to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and Dustin wants to be Woody. And every few hours he asks me if I've finished his costume yet! I keep telling him first we have to go to JoAnn's and buy the material. I really hope if I make him a costume, he will still want to be Buzz on Halloween. If not, at least he'll get some dressing up out of it!