3 Years in the Making

This post is a long time in the making. But I finally got permission from Kendall to release it.

Here is our dreary back yard, 4 years ago when we moved in. The slope to the yard doesn't look as bad as it really was, but there wasn't a single flat place to put a swingset or trampoline.
The view from the edge of the yard. Nothing grew in the back yard. Weeds barely grew back there.
Another view. You can also see Kendall working on splitting his firewood and stacking it up by the shed.
The first item of business was putting in a drainage pipe to allow the water from the front yard to drain all the way back to the ravine behind our house.
Next Kendall started digging the trench that would be the spot for the retaining wall. You can see how muddy it gets, and the clay doesn't drain the water at all. There was standing water back there for months at a time.
Finally, a spot that is dug to the point where Kendall can lay the first block for the wall. This happened June 30, 2009 (during the time that he was still laid off).
The base line of blocks is the most important and most difficult to lay. Trying to get them perfectly level and straight is no easy feat.
The wall is coming along! (Still June of 2009)
Once Kendall got a job and went back to work, it was REALLY hard to find the time to work on the wall. This is about where it sat for all of 2010.
The stairs were tricky. They took more time than the rest of the wall, all put together, and blocks had to be cut and ground down to fit nicely. But don't they look good?
Before we could finish the project we had to cut down a couple of large trees. They were hanging over the roof of the house. The squirrels loved climbing the trees and then hiding their nuts in the shingles, which was ruining the roof. So, Kendall and my Dad got to work cutting down a couple of trees that didn't seem so big, until you start climbing up into them! Can you see Kendall up in the tree? You might have to click on the picture and make it bigger. That ladder is the biggest one my dad has and it looks tiny next to the tree!
There he is! About 20 feet off the ground with a chain saw in his hand.
Here is a short video of the tree coming down. It is sideways, sorry. This happened in October 2010 when Rigdon was barely a month old.


Once the trees were down it would seem that the hard part was over. Not hardly. The roots had to be dug out by hand and chopped at to get the stumps out. Holy cow, I had no idea how hard of a worker I was marrying. But thank goodness! Here is one of the tree trunks finally out. This thing is like 10 feet tall!
Then we had to fill in the holes! Any lesser of a man would have stopped months before this and just hired the whole thing out!
FINALLY, the wall is finished, the sandbox is in place, with clean, fresh, soft sand. The two gaps in the top layer of bricks are for the slides that go there. Time to plant grass seed!
And a closer view of those stairs.


We decided that this project had been dragged out seriously too long! So this is the year we finish the back yard. Kendall went and spent a few hundred dollars on the last of the blocks that we needed and got to work on the part of the wall that goes around the big oak tree.


This is where I need to put in two bits about how HARD this work is!! Kendall has done most of it himself as I make meals, watch kids, change diapers, break up fights, etc... But one day I decided to do a favor for Kendall and I put in a FEW HOURS of back breaking hard work and I got about 1 1/2 rows of blocks laid and dirt packed in and behind them. These blocks each weigh over 50 lbs and I was exhausted by the end of the day. But it was worth seeing the look on Kendall's face when he saw what I had accomplished.
 
 The kids helped by picking up rocks from the back yard. Mostly they liked to get out shovels and dig holes wherever they wanted.

We still need to get caps for the top of the new part. Now to smooth out the ground and give it a nice slope to the rear to drain any water away from the house.

 And we get out the tiller once again.

We have spent countless nights working until well past dark. But here you can see the back yard is tilled and ready for smoothing and leveling. This part always seems like it should be easier than it is. It should just be move a little dirt from here to there, no big deal. NOT EVEN! More like, fill the wheelbarrow with dirt about 150 times and put it somewhere else.

Apparently I don't have pictures of when we laid the grass seed. But that pretty much just looks like dirt anyway. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. And FINALLY we got some grass. Both on the bottom level...

 and on the top level.

This is probably the best the yard looked this year. Unfortunatly we've been in a major drought as well as having temperatures over 100 for the last few weeks. So our grass is not looking this green anymore. But I know it will come back next year.

The last step is putting the cap blocks on the wall around the oak tree. This step was a lot harder than it sounds because the caps were rectangular, but since they were going around a curve they each had to be cut with a special saw. But Kendall's amazing and had no problem with that either.

 It made so much dust!!

Isn't he so good looking? I married an amazing man.

 Finished wall!! This is more exciting to me that you can imagine!!!

 See the thinning grass? Dumb weather.

 But now we have a couple of swings, two slides, a sandbox AND a yard to play in!!!

 Around the tree I'm going to plant my rhubarb and some other plants and flowers, but probably not until we start getting some rain.

 Ahhhh.....

Before:

After:

I think after all of this we will very seriously be looking at the landscaping of the next house that we buy. It should be FINISHED!!!

Thoughts and Prayers

This beautiful family is the Fox family. Cody is Kendall's closest cousin, with his beautiful wife Dani and their darling boys. Yesterday their family was in a horrific car accident which killed both Dani and their youngest son Zach. Cody and the two older boys were released from the hospital today and are doing as well as they can be. But our hearts are aching for their family and their losses, which are our losses.

As I contemplate today on how fragile life is and how instantly it can be taken away I see all of my faults. It has been so much easier today to be patient with the kids - at least mine are still with me. The messes in the house don't seem to matter as much - they can wait to be cleaned up. And I find myself cherishing my husband more than usual. I have so much to be grateful for and so many blessings that it seems amazing to me that I ever find anything to complain about.

I am especially grateful for the gift of the gospel in my life and that I know that this family will be together forever. This wasn't a goodbye, just a leave of absence. It doesn't take away the pain. That will always be there. Those poor sweet little boys will not get to grow up with their mother beside them. But the Lord loves them just as much and I know that their mother will be watching over them from above. We love you so much Dani and little Zach, and we anxiously await the day that we can be together again.

Two Become One

In May we took the opportunity to Drive to Utah once again for a beautiful wedding. Kendall's brother Aaron was sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to a darling girl named Melissa. The kids think it is so fun that they have an Aunt Melissa as well as a mom Melissa now. :)

 These two are so cute together and we are so happy for them to start their lives together.

 The day of the wedding was quite rainy, but it was really nice otherwise. Here is the Groom's side of the family at the temple. We are growing to be quite the family!! (Notice that besides the baby I am by far the shortest one there!)

 After the temple we went back to the church for a fabulous luncheon! The original plan was to have both the luncheon and the reception in Kendall's parents' backyard. But the cottonwoods were spewing their mess all over the place and so they decided against it. And it was a good thing, with the rain.

 All of the food was so delicious. Kendall and I got there in time to help put some of the food together the day before the wedding, so it was nice to be able to help in some small way.

 After the luncheon we got a picture of all the kids with the bride and groom. Yes, Sadie's hair is still in curlers. I wanted it to look nice for pictures, so I left it in curlers until right before.

 I also got to hold one of the most adorable babies ever (beside my own). ;) This is our new niece Cambria, who we had never met before we saw her at the temple.

 

All of the men together. Cody, Scott, Aaron, Reed, Kendall and flat Preston.

Preston was the only one actually missing from the pictures. I don't think we have all been together since before Talmage was born, so it was great to get everyone in the same picture.

 I love this little chunk too! This is our nephew that we hadn't met yet, isn't he a doll?!?

 It was great to get some family shots of each group as well. Kennessa with her family:

 Amber with her family:

 Colette with her family:

 And Kendall with his family:

 The reception turned out very nice too.

 Sadie found herself a friend to dance with. This is Alyse, Preston's girlfriend. Sadie just loves her.

 Rigdon had a great time dancing, too. I didn't even get a picture of Avri and Talmage; they were having too much fun playing with cousins.

This was by far our fastest trip to Utah yet. We left Wednesday afternoon and drove through the night getting to Utah Thursday morning. We helped all that day getting food prepared and had haircuts. Friday was the day of the wedding and was plenty busy with running to and fro. Saturday we spent the morning hanging out, playing games and letting the kids have fun with cousins.

 Trampolines are so great for hair do's.

But then by Saturday afternoon we had to leave to come home. So we packed up and made the drive across the country again. It added up to almost as much time in the car as we spent in Utah, but we were so glad that we could go to the wedding and see everyone.