the big reveal

Quinn had to jack-hammer some concrete in our front yard after our water main broke. We decided to replace it with some tinted, stamped concrete. Brace yourself for the longest blog post in history.
There was lots of prep work. LOTS.

Taking a break from the prep work:


We're lucky to have awesome neighbors that came over to help.


We're also lucky to have Ron. He's my brother-in-law. He's also the man with the tools and the know-how. Ron- thank you thank you thank you.

This is what Eli did during our busy week:

All ready for the cement truck:

and here it is:

Working so hard:

Hayden was working hard babysitting Eli:

So was grams. Oh my but does that baby have the chubbiest cheeks!!

This is Lou. I don't know him. He showed up with Ron and did a beautiful job on our stairs. Thanks Lou.

washing out wheelbarrow

chels and andrew

Here is a very dirty man smiling with the satisfaction of a job well done:

This is my dad. Dad- thanks for helping us out every.single.time. we have a problem or are working on a project. You're the best.

Guess what the best part is?
IT'S FINISHED!!!!



You can't really see how cool the color looks due to my crappy point and shoot.



I don't know how to properly express how grateful we are to all our friends and loved ones who were willing to come out and help us with our project. THANK YOU!!!!!

bits and pieces

A numbered list of blogworthy items:

1. We're currently knee-deep in an exhausting front yard makeover which should come to a head on Saturday (provided it isn't snowing). Maybe I'll post pictures when it's done. But if I'm being honest- it's not likely that I'll actually get around to doing that. We'll see.

2. Lola has taken an excerpt from a children's book about Samson: "Oh Lord, make me strong just one more time," and she keeps saying it at random times when doing something difficult. Like when trying to open the front door. Or going number 2.

3. Last Sunday, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Forrest shovel a huge handful of sacrament bread into his mouth while giving the deacon a sideways glace. Then, with a straight face he told me, "it wasn't more than one piece...it was just one really large piece."

4. Don't tell the environmentalists but I keep running my dishwasher nearly empty so I don't have to wash bottles. I hate hate HATE washing out bottles.

5. If you want a laugh and don't have cable, turn your TV to channel 16-2 after 10 pm. They play episodes of He-man. They are super-funny but I think the show would be a little more realistic if they showed Prince Adam or He-man in a tanning bed, getting his roots touched up, and having his little friend with the "O" on his nightgown injecting him in the behind with anabolic steroids.

The End

mother's day and pooheads

I think Forr got sick of Lola ceaselessly asking me if it was still mother's day and then upon learning that, yes, it was still mother's day, acting just delighted and wishing me a happy mother's day (on a side note: I did not get sick of Lola's adorable mother's day antics).

After one such sweet mother's day wish from Lola, Forrest said, jealously, from the backseat of the car, "well, happy boy's day to me because I'm a boy."

Just as an aside, he also called our local ecclesiastical leader a poohead several times on Saturday night. Is it bad that my first reaction upon hearing this was to laugh??

And I know that I have had a third child for six months and still haven't updated my blog header to include him. I am working on it...