TIM-BERRR!

After the chainsaw buzzing and with soft snaps and cracks, Kevin has cut down the 4th tree in our yard. This magnificent tree was right next to the house and dripping sap onto our cars and dropping pine needles daily. We decided when we moved in that the tree was definitely a fire hazard but it provided some desperately needed shade onto the driveway where the kids play, so we decided to keep it around. This year it has turned from green to mostly brown and some green needles. We aren't sure why it decided to die this year but we figure defensible space is always a plus, and the kids are not so little anymore.

Surprisingly, when the tree fell it was hardly noticeable. It simply snapped and cracked and fell softly to the ground. Kevin's mom pulled in the driveway right before it tipped over and Kevin desperately waved at her to back up quickly. Derrick was enlisted immediately to help Dad with the tree and put on a cowboy hat so he could be better at helping. Sam and Derrick hauled the logs to the pile of firewood and figured out they could use the wagon to help them go faster. I stayed in the house to keep KayDee from "helping" so she wouldn't get hurt and we did laundry.

Racecar or racecaR

Derrick is our super boy! He loves all the tools, fixing things, and especially driving around and finding places he can go with plastic wheels. Luckily he loves to share his adventures with his sisters too. KayDee is his favorite to drive with since she doesn't care if he drives.

Our kid four wheeler has broken inside the gears so Kevin told me to find the parts or another vehicle since we have a really nice battery. DI has always been one of my favorite places to find things and so I found this race car/dune bug (or whatever) for $6 hoping that it either worked or had the right parts to fix the four wheeler (the battery was missing so I couldn't test it). Kevin hooked it up that night and it worked perfectly. Then I looked at the tires and they are hardly used. I think someone bought it and parked it outside so the colors are faded, but rarely used it.

Samantha has fun driving it but I think it intimidates her a little. Kevin helped direct her on how to back-up to get around things and she responded with the recognition of "oh" but not the kind that says she will remember for next time. I'm sure practice makes perfect and Samantha will be curious enough to get that practice in.

Heavenly Peels

So I am not the worlds best bottler but I sure try! I tried to do our peaches when they were only picked the day before. I boiled them to get the skins off like the instructions said and only 1 out of 7 would come off, even after boiling for over 5 minutes! So I had to peel them...and waste my time when I really don't love bottled peaches. I'd rather peel pears because I love those bottled. Besides the whole reason I chose to do peaches is because the skins came off easy! So I finally had enough peeling and got 8 quarts done and then I cut the rest of my boiled peaches and dehydrated them. After a few days I started smelling the rest of my peaches and decided I should try again. Confidently I told myself that I should be successful since they were sooo ripe, especially after asking some of the bottling queens in the neighborhood.
I have never been so ecstatic over food! The peels slipped so nice off the peaches that it was so gratifying and the peaches were beautiful! It was HEAVENLY and I got done so quickly that it redeemed my disastrous bottling.

1st Grade

So Sam is finally at school all day and loving it. The favorites are, of course, hot lunch, and being busy all day long with her friends in her class. For some reason this year she is insisting on being called Samantha at school, but she isn't bothered by the other nicknames we call her at home. She has even told other kids all the names she goes by: Sam, Sammy, Sammy Jo, Samantha, Babe and of course Froggy (that was when she was a baby). She is doing so well and even tested another grade higher for reading so that pleases us, especially since she reads to Derrick and KayDee.

I am thrilled she is in 1st grade too. Kindergarten is a lot of work for a mom! Derrick will be there next year...

More Wedding Moments

Here is my dress I talked about.

KayDee and Scott enjoying ice cream together.

Priceless father/daughter moments.

Milt and Shelbi

Derrick is really being trained by his sisters on how to treat a girl. Mandy hauling Scott around during clean-up. I was surprised to see I got him looking too!

Welcome Aunt Bree!

Kevin's brother Travis got married to BreeAnna last Saturday and we had fun taking pictures and celebrating with them. Kevin's mom asked me to take pictures of them throughout the day and reception so she could have the memories. The photographer and I were competing a bit for pictures but he was so kind to give me tips to take better pictures.

My favorite part of the night was the wrestle to get Travis' keys so they could replace his truck with a tractor. Nice thinking DJ!

Samantha did a great job helping with serving the food and taking plates.

Derrick helped take presents and after a while got bored and told people there wasn't enough room on the table. He was reassured that there was room under the table, so he was energized to take the rest of the presents. KayDee enjoyed the food and the dancing.

We all had a great time and we hope Travis and Bree had a great night too! We stayed and helped clean up after and got home just before midnight. We had very tired children in the morning and amazingly made it through church without too much drama.

We hear Travis and Bree are visiting Travis' mission in Oregon for their honeymoon.

Swimming Lessons

We went to the library once a week this summer and they gave us little coupons for reading 10 books each week. We recieved a few passes to the swimming pool and so we went twice. I put life jackets on all the kids since I was the only adult and we had fun playing. KayDee would scream "No, no, no" over and over when we climbed the stairs to the slide, but after 3 rounds she was yelling "again, again!" Derrick is not a huge fan of the water but since we swam those two weeks he was really comfortable, and Samantha is always up for more water fun. It was perfect timing for swimming lessons.

For two weeks we went Mon-Thurs and I can say that I am exhausted from going to town and being in town all day to save gas money. It all worked out and again, the timing was perfect.

Yeah! July is Over!

July was a long month for me and for Kevin. Although Kevin works on his trucks and gets things done, he doesn't have a good stop button. So we are rearranging how he works on trucks so... We had a deal that he needed to get all of his trucks in order throughout all of July and be done before August 1st. He worked really hard and nearly made it at the end of the month; he finished August 2nd. Since he went two days over, he then "owed" me.
I had gone shopping with Rachel that weekend and we had found some really cute dresses. I didn't get one dress I completely loved because it was more expensive and so when I got home and told him about it, he said I could get the dress and we would be "even". So that is how I accidentally worked it to get a new dress, which is absolutely adorable (I'll have to take a picture).
Now that July is over, he still works on his truck projects but in a more balanced way. I am so blessed that my husband is the kind of person he is and that he will do what it takes to make life better!

Funky Trucks

So, if any of you don't know Kevin, this describes him very well. Some of the vehicles leave our driveway looking crazy but that saves Kevin time and money. He makes deals and gets trucks for free, takes what he wants then puts it back together (obviously not always the right way), gets rid of it and carries on to the next. I am grateful my husband is a worker and gets things done. These things would never come into our yard if he didn't work on them.

Slinky Truck: We had many ideas for what could go in that space... Double Take: The double cabs still gets me when I look at it (it is still in the yard but will be leaving soon). Bare Bones: The often occcurance of a frame with a motor is typical. Just thought I would share what my driveway has to deal with.

Memory Lane

This will be fun especially if everyone and I do mean EVERYONE will join in! This is just too fun to pass up.
Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember, good or bad but be nice please! ;)
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.We can make it a competition if anyone wants. Let's see who can come up with the funniest memory and who has the most memories. Please keep it going. ENJOY :)

Rodeo

Once again we went to the annual town Rodeo and still we have not caught a chicken. KayDee had a bad week for naps so she never ended up going, but I promised the other two that we would go, so I took them the last night.

They had fun eating snowcones and nachos, and of course trying to catch a chicken. We laughed through the donkey-watermelon race and the kids tried to win new boots by racing to put on their own shoes with the other kids.

This is the only Rodeo I have ever been to and it is a lot of fun, but I don't stay until it is over, which is usually after midnight. Kevin on the other hand helps every night with the gates to keep the cattle moving smoothly. It is a tiring weekend but we are glad we get to go and do our small part.

I am not sure why I let Samantha wear that purple hat, since she has the cowboy attire. She got a few smiling comments and she was definitely happy to wear it.

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July celebration with Justin and Rachel. Rachel loves this holiday so she cooked amazing ribs and they had Justin's family over (which are Kevin's relatives too) and we ate heartily. Then we went to hear Rachel sing the National Anthem at the Rodeo and afterwards we did the fireworks in the driveway. Maxine and Jack were sitting with Sam and Derrick watching so they wouldn't get burned. Maxine was traumatized by an ash falling on her toe, so they stayed back. The dogs sure didn't like the noise, but the flashing lights didn't bother them.

4 Staples

We don't know how it happened exactly, but KayDee cut open the back of her head a few Sunday's ago. Kevin thought she had followed him out, like the other kids, to check chickens in the pasture. Then he heard crying, and so did I from in the house, and found her bleeding. After looking at it, it definitely needed something to hold it together so I took her in to her doctor's office night clinic, (I didn't have to pay emergency room fees!).

As we waited, nobody in the waiting room could figure out why she was there and the brave people that asked were surprised she was up and about playing. I followed her around like a puppy because I didn't want her to fall again!

The doctor soon saw her and decided she needed 3 staples and told me it is not that bad to have 3 staples put in without anesthetic so we did it without it. While they got ready, I told her the doctor needed to help her so her head could get better, and that it would hurt but she needed to hold still. A nurse came in to hold her head still and I held her legs down and amazingly she didn't fight us very hard at all. The doctor decided she needed 4 so I said put it in since we're here! She cried but she was sooo brave, and the nurse gave her a certificate to eat at Del Taco as reward.

She went a week with greasy hair from the ointment and Elisa took the staples out for us. Thanks Elisa!

I took these two pictures the day after the staples were put in.

Taking Pictures

It is time to get another picture of my kids all together. I have noticed that I do take pictures of two of them together and alone, but not all three. Sam and Derrick also wanted to take pictures, so Derrick took one of the girls and Sam took one of me and Derrick together. If you notice, KayDee is actually puckering up. It was the only way I could get her to look at me and quit being bothered by the other kids. I thought it was sweet that she was pretty happy to kiss me from a distance.

Father's Day and Class Reunion

It isn't very often that I get to be with my side of the family for an event like Father's Day. It just so happened that my 10 year class reunion was the same weekend. The reunion went as great as a reunion could go. Unfortunately most of my friends were not there, but it was fun to see the few that did show up. Friday we had a dinner for just adults and then Saturday we met at an elementary school to play softball. I am so in mom mode, I brought a T-ball because I knew none of our kids were very old. I ended up moving 2 year olds away from the batters to safety, and helping the kids drop the bat and run toward first base instead of after the ball they just hit. We had a lot of fun, and my classmates were grateful their kids had something to do while they played softball.

Father's Day was fun since we got to see Suzy (Kevin's sister) and Jason. They took us to a park near their house that was really amazing, and they fed us lunch. We had fun chatting. Then we headed to my parent's house for the Father's Day dinner and the kids enjoyed being with their cousins, and I of course enjoyed being with my family. It was fun to actually see my Dad for the holiday.

Samantha and Derrick enjoyed the hot tub, instead of us this time around. For some reason, neither Kevin or I felt well enough to sit in it. We kept KayDee out for contamination reasons, but she was enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's yard.

Tag, Your It

Name 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions / collections, 3 random / surprising facts about yourself - then tag 3 people.

3 Joys

Religion

Family

Friends

3 Fears

Not being a good mom

Getting hurt or having my family hurt

My husband will never stop collecting cars

3 Goals

Read to my kids more like I used to

Exercise to help my hormones!

Do more bottling/dehydrating with more of my orchard fruit

3 Current Obsessions

Blogging

My newsletter

Saving Gas Money!

3 Random/Suprising Facts

I am not that surprising

I don't have my ears pierced

I gave my brain away to my children

This is my first tag so if I did it wrong, oh well. I guess I will tag LeAnn, Elisa, and Rachel.

KayDee's 2 Year Photo Shoot

With a lot of coaxing she finally smiled and looked at me at the same time!

2 Years Old

KayDee is now 2 and getting very independent. Although we haven't conquered potty training yet, she is her own person and she always knows what she wants.

We asked her if she wanted a butterfly cake or a lady bug cake, and she told us ladybug. She was not so sure about the birthday song we kept singing to her all day, but by the time the cake came out, she was all smiles. It was fun to see her so excited about the gifts we gave her, a twin size blanket (I give one to all my 2 year olds for their big beds) and a doll stroller. We had a very fun birthday party.

Toy Story

Derrick and Sam decided they wanted to play Toy Story. So of course, Derrick was Woody and Samantha was Jesse. Then they graciously said that KayDee could be Stinky Pete.

The Simple Joy of Water

Playing in the irrigation is every child's dream, at least it was mine. Although, the irrigation I played in was right next to a busy street coming from a grate in the road. I must say ours is much better and safer. It comes out of a pipe, making waterfalls, flooding the orchard. The pasture is also irrigated. We always look forward to irrigation day.
Summer is so fun for me because our yard is so alive. We have the fruit on the trees and everything is so green. We even got to eat some cherries this year, since the birds didn't eat them so fast.

The dog loves the water and races through it like he is pouncing. It is fun but not if you don't want to get wet!