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| Getting ready to race! |
Monday, August 3, 2015
Swim Team - Done!
Even though I had a great carpool this summer, I am glad the daily swim practices are over! Owen did great, ended up with a bunch of ribbons and a really nice tan!
Sunday, July 26, 2015
A Working Holiday
For the 24th of July we headed up to the cabin to do some manual labor. Sounds fun right? We have heard that at some point many years ago, someone went up onto our property and did some logging. Consequently we have a lot of dead wood laying around. When the workers cleared room for our road and cabin they ended up pushing dead wood and newly cut wood into piles up and down our road and around our cabin. You can see some of the piles in the pictures below.
There is so much dead wood! It is overwhelming. Huge 80 year old logs down to small logs mixed in with dirt and a lot of rock, pushed all together in a big, jumbled mess. Very unsightly to say the least. Plus, quite a fire hazard. Last fall we hired some of Taylor's friends and started to clean it up. After a day of hauling, we barely scratched the surface.
Fast forward to this weekend. Our builder has a forklift at the cabin for the next several weeks so we thought this would be a good time to put it to good use in moving some of the giant trees. We borrowed our neighbor's dump trailer and went to work. We worked and worked and worked.
Anything that was a small enough size, we threw in ourselves. Anything bigger, Scott cut them into small enough sizes for us to lift. And the really big ones, he lifted into the trailer with a chain, cut off a chunk and then repeated the process until the whole tree was in the trailer.
Although we all worked hard, Owen latched onto the job of chaining and unchaining the trees and delighted in doing this all day long. The second Scott gave him the thumbs up,
he was scrambling onto the dump trailer to unhook the log and chain it to the next one.
We ended up camping overnight (ie sleeping inside the half finished, saw-dusty cabin) so we could get to work early the next day.
We didn't have a table for our meals, but this pallet of rocks worked just fine!
After 1 1/2 days of working, we made another big dent in moving all the wood. We all ended up with sunburns, a few bumps and scratches and pine sap all over our arms, but it was worth it. We were all so filthy when we were done that we opted to eat our Cafe Rio dinner out on the grass rather than go inside.
Are we done? Nope. Not a chance. Scott estimates that between this weekend and the day last fall, we have moved 15-20 loads of dead wood. However, it is looking better and better!
As far as the cabin being completed.....slowly, but surely we are moving forward. Our builder has found that because of the building frenzy in the valley it has been difficult to get workers to drive 30 minutes up Spanish Fork canyon for a little 'ol cabin. Case in point. The windows in the family room. They were finally installed this week after waiting for the window guy to show up for months. Hooray!!
Here is the view looking from the kitchen to the front door. The fireplace separates the entry from the family room. Initially our completion date was the end of July. But, as with most construction it takes longer than expected. We are crossing our fingers for a Labor Day weekend at the "finished" cabin, but will be satisfied if it is done in time for Christmas. Sheetrock is scheduled for next week. We will keep our fingers crossed!
There is so much dead wood! It is overwhelming. Huge 80 year old logs down to small logs mixed in with dirt and a lot of rock, pushed all together in a big, jumbled mess. Very unsightly to say the least. Plus, quite a fire hazard. Last fall we hired some of Taylor's friends and started to clean it up. After a day of hauling, we barely scratched the surface.
Fast forward to this weekend. Our builder has a forklift at the cabin for the next several weeks so we thought this would be a good time to put it to good use in moving some of the giant trees. We borrowed our neighbor's dump trailer and went to work. We worked and worked and worked.
Anything that was a small enough size, we threw in ourselves. Anything bigger, Scott cut them into small enough sizes for us to lift. And the really big ones, he lifted into the trailer with a chain, cut off a chunk and then repeated the process until the whole tree was in the trailer.
Although we all worked hard, Owen latched onto the job of chaining and unchaining the trees and delighted in doing this all day long. The second Scott gave him the thumbs up,
he was scrambling onto the dump trailer to unhook the log and chain it to the next one.
We ended up camping overnight (ie sleeping inside the half finished, saw-dusty cabin) so we could get to work early the next day.
We didn't have a table for our meals, but this pallet of rocks worked just fine!
After 1 1/2 days of working, we made another big dent in moving all the wood. We all ended up with sunburns, a few bumps and scratches and pine sap all over our arms, but it was worth it. We were all so filthy when we were done that we opted to eat our Cafe Rio dinner out on the grass rather than go inside.
Are we done? Nope. Not a chance. Scott estimates that between this weekend and the day last fall, we have moved 15-20 loads of dead wood. However, it is looking better and better!
As far as the cabin being completed.....slowly, but surely we are moving forward. Our builder has found that because of the building frenzy in the valley it has been difficult to get workers to drive 30 minutes up Spanish Fork canyon for a little 'ol cabin. Case in point. The windows in the family room. They were finally installed this week after waiting for the window guy to show up for months. Hooray!!
Here is the view looking from the kitchen to the front door. The fireplace separates the entry from the family room. Initially our completion date was the end of July. But, as with most construction it takes longer than expected. We are crossing our fingers for a Labor Day weekend at the "finished" cabin, but will be satisfied if it is done in time for Christmas. Sheetrock is scheduled for next week. We will keep our fingers crossed!
Monday, July 20, 2015
4th Annual Movie Night
We have been hosting an outdoor movie night for the boys and all their friends for 4 years now. So far, we have been lucky enough to avoid the Highland wind that shows up regularly around here. This year, the wind caught us. The boys really wanted to have it regardless and we had friends showing up ready to pig out on candy and popcorn despite the wind. So, we decided to go ahead instead of rescheduling.
Luckily, she wasn't as bad as she usually is, and other than candy wrappers and popcorn cups blowing around the yard and a movie screen that folded in half a few times it turned out just fine!
We have decided though that from now on, we will be showing a double feature. One for the younger boys and one for the older. It is way too difficult to find one movie that appeals from ages 7 to 15!!
Luckily, she wasn't as bad as she usually is, and other than candy wrappers and popcorn cups blowing around the yard and a movie screen that folded in half a few times it turned out just fine!
We have decided though that from now on, we will be showing a double feature. One for the younger boys and one for the older. It is way too difficult to find one movie that appeals from ages 7 to 15!!
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| Prepping for movie night |
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| Hoards of boys grabbing soda |
Happy Birthday Chasey
Chasey's birthday came and went so fast!!
After Deer Creek, Chasey was determined to play Laser Tag. So, off we went and played a game and ended with dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and cupcakes! Do you like the pink candles? I went to the cupboard to fetch the regular kind and we were completely out. So, we went with mismatched pink ones!
Monday, June 29, 2015
He got a job
Summer is here and that means this kid has a little bit more time on his hands. I thought it would be a good idea if he found himself a summer job. Quite a few of his friends work at Burger King up the street, so Taylor decided to join them. Doesn't he look thrilled? Actually I don't think he is dreading it, he just didn't want me to take his pix. This is all that he gave me.
I told him this would be an excellent opportunity to learn what he doesn't want to do the rest of his life.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Owen and the Giant Cabbage
Last April, Owen came home from school with a baby cabbage and growing instructions. Included in the instructions were more instructions on how to take pix of the cabbage and send them in, in order to get your name put in a drawing for a 100k scholarship. Owen was all gung ho about growing a giant cabbage, but really had no idea what a scholarship was.
So we planted it and short of telling Owen to go and water it on occasion, it has been left alone. Today we harvested it. It is big! 14 lbs. big. I took a pix of him and will send it into his teacher.
What do you do with a cabbage that big? Give it to the chickens, of course. It took them all day, but they ate almost the entire thing. That's about a 1lb a cabbage per chicken. Wow. I wonder what their eggs are going to taste like the next few days?
So we planted it and short of telling Owen to go and water it on occasion, it has been left alone. Today we harvested it. It is big! 14 lbs. big. I took a pix of him and will send it into his teacher.
What do you do with a cabbage that big? Give it to the chickens, of course. It took them all day, but they ate almost the entire thing. That's about a 1lb a cabbage per chicken. Wow. I wonder what their eggs are going to taste like the next few days?
Finally!
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