Yard: Before and After

Our backyard needs a lot of help. It's not our favorite at all, but when we were looking at homes this had the biggest yard and we liked the house a lot. The yards are off to the sides of the house (yes plural yards because one is on one side of the house and one is on the other), weird, I know. We have 2 giant trees off the back of the house that we hate. They make a mess. Pine needles are everywhere. I feel like I'm up camping when I walk around back there. It's gross. I guess you can't have it all! But man oh man, we wish we could have a better yard. We talked to the landowners behind our house because the giant trees are on half our property and half theirs. You have to get permission before taking them down. Kyle talked to them and the owner had just died and the land was in probate. Kyle called the lawyer and he said they can't alter the property while in probate, but to hold on because they will be selling the property soon. Hopefully, the developers take down the trees! That would save us some money. :) But then again that would mean we have neighbors right behind us. It was nice to have no one behind us.

Anyway, we decided to rent a trailer and get to work. We hauled two big loads off and got a load of gravel. We weeded a lot, ripped out several trees, bushes and tree stumps left behind. It was a lot of work, but it looked better afterwards. Not great because we can't really do anything with the lawn due to the big giant trees. Some day maybe...hopefully! 

Side of house Before:

Our little helpers weeding the side of the house.

After: 

We put down gravel because we store the garbage cans here and it keeps the weeds down. Except we have a mole that keeps making mounds in our new gravel!

Before: Backyard looking from side of house

After!

Before: Backyard looking from back deck

After

Much better overall. You can see the giant tree off the back deck. Ugh. The other side yard is on the other side of the deck and we haven't touched that yet. 

I had to include a picture of Kate's eye. Kyle was taking the kids on a ride in the bike trailer just around our neighborhood and Kate wanted a ride. He started swerving from side to side to make it more fun and it tipped over and Kate went tumbling out as they were going downhill. Kate came to show me and she had this HUGE bump on her head. It was ginormous and I forgot to take a picture, but it was 1/2" off her forehead. This is the next morning showing the bruising and swelling. I was worried at first b/c I'm thinking awful things like bleeding on the brain, but she was fine and didn't black out or anything. Kyle felt horrible. Kate cried and said, "I don't want to die. I just met Grace (our neighbor) and I have lots of things I want to do still." That broke my heart when she said that. She was fine and had a good story to tell her friends the next day. She had a black eye for a while. 

We are Farmily Reunion

My parents put on a family reunion the day after 4th of July. My parents have a license plate that says "Farmily" to combine the works Farm and Family. So my Mom had t-shirts made with their license plate on our shirt. It was very clever. I've had people ask me if the word Farmily is misspelled and once I explain I grew up on a farm they get it. :) The theme of the reunion was "We are Farmily". 

Attempting pictures with the kids

 L-R in birth order: Aubree, Carter, Kate, Paige, Preston, Hailey, Reagan, Lindsey, Baylor, Chelsea and Zane.

All the grandkids so far...Sara is due at the end of September with another boy.

Everyone minus Jared who is in Brazil (until October), Marci who was in Utah for the summer and Sara's husband Derek who came later in the day. 

Us girls crafting a block that my Mom designed with the theme and pictures from the beginning of the farm. 

This picture of a barn used to belong to my Dad's parents and it was famous in Ellensburg. I remember seeing it when I was a little girl before it was torn down. 

Preston, Lindsey, Baylor and Chelsea enjoying the small kiddie pool and slide. My parents make sure to have fun things for everyone to do while at their house. 

The huge slip 'n slide that the kids had fun on. They use dawn detergent and rub it all over their bodies to make them slide better/faster so at the end is a pool of bubbles and they had fun with that. 

Putting the brand on a block for the kids' to keep. The brand is called a stirrup F and the Sabin's and Walton's used it on their cattle they had years ago in the Ellensburg/Kittitas area. My Mom also made a book for all the kids to give the history of my Grandpa Paul's Dad, my Gpa Paul and down to my Dad and us. It tells about how they came to WA and farmed and then     how my parents ended up in Mattawa. It was awesome! She went to a lot of work to put it together and collect all the pictures. It is neat to have. 

We had different activities throughout the day and one of them was an obstacle course race with the loader tractor, which has been in our family forever and my Dad is a pro at working the front loader part digging up rocks. Jeff set up this cute obstacle course for us. The tractor was for the adults, the four wheeler for the bigger kids, the gator ride on for the little kids and the wheelbarrow for the toddlers. They are ALL green!!! We went around cones and then had to stop and lift a bale into the front loader and then take it out then go back through the course backwards. It was so funny watching everyone! The younger kids had a more simple course, but we timed everyone. I won for the girls and my Dad won for the men, but then Jeff did it again alone (the first time he did it holding Baylor) and he beat my Dad's time. Good competition!

Chelsea and Baylor figuring out the gator

My turn on the obstacle course. I spent lots of time on this tractor baling hay while growing up. Us older girls had older tractors to use while baling hay. We say the 2nd family (aka Jeff, Sara and Jared) had an easy time baling hay because they had tractors with cabs and air conditioning! We had older tractors with radios (only some of them did so we would fight over who got what tractor based on the radio! No joke! Or we would fight for the tractor with the cab if it was cold or buggy outside.) 

Zane was the only toddler who competed in his obstacle course. :) He grabbed the wheel barrow and picked up that chunk of wood and pushed the wheel barrow back. It was adorable! He loves being outside and in the dirt.

Then after dinner we had a talent show outside. Almost everyone participated, well at least most of the kids did. My Mom made the curtains and it looked like a legit stage!

Kevin was the Emcee and did a great job.

Baylor showing us his skills of climbing on top of a motorcycle. Jeff is a proud dad. 

Zane showing us how he plays with tractors.

Preston reading a tractor book to us upside down like a teacher.

Reagan doing a dance routine. She was hilarious with her moves and facial expressions. We were all dying laughing because she was so funny and cute. Lindsey was going to sing "Heavenly Father Loves Me", but didn't want to get up there so she didn't. She turns awfully shy around other people, but at home she isn't shy at all. I don't get it!

Hailey aka Cinderella dancing with her Prince Charming. It was adorable to see them dance. My Mom might have teared up. :)

Paige showed us her gymnastic skills and did cartwheels, tumbling and back bends. She was good!

Kate did her ballet routine from her recital she had in June. She did a great job. She is graceful when she dances. 

My Dad was hilarious and showed us the many uses for his thumb. We tease him about his thumb because he has giant hands and fingers so his thumb can squish or do anything it's so big and strong. 

Carter made some balloon animals for the kids. They loved it. He's gotten good at making them.

Aubree played a song on the flute. She's been playing for a little bit and using Jeni's old flute. She did a great job.

It was a fun family reunion and I am so glad my parents take the time to plan it all for us. They are so generous with their time and it's made our family closer. The cousins had fun playing together and we made lots of good memories. We just wish Marci and Jared were there!

Fourth of July

We spent 4th of July at my parents house and started it off with a flag raising ceremony up in town. The ward choir sang and some community members spoke about freedom. Afterwards, the ward hosted a breakfast for the community. 

Then we went back to my parents and started swimming and playing. My parents added this twisty slide to the pool last year and Jeff finished building the steps up to it. The kids love it. 

Lindsey and Hailey enjoying their pop while the men have  vicious game of water basketball. 

My parents rented a bounce house and the kids had fun, but didn't play in it as much as we thought they would. Oh well, it was still fun for something different.

My Mom decorated the pickup and trailer so the kids could do their annual parade down the lane to the neighbors. They had tootsie rolls to throw out. They love doing this. Chelsea just ate her tootsie rolls, but at least she stayed put. 

Grandpa Bill led the group on a Bingo game complete with prizes for everyone. The kids have fun doing this and so do the adults. :)

Monty and Sonia along with their kids came for the day as well as my Dad's cousin Kent Walton and his wife Sherry.

The kids surrounding Jeff and Sara eating Kettle Corn

My Mom got these shirts made for the guys because they always do the fireworks. Hilarious!

Beautiful Sunset!!!

Enjoying the fireworks show and the kids are having fun with sparklers. We are thankful for the country we live in and for all our freedoms!

Friends

The kids were missing their friends since moving away and since school ended. Kayla and Ethan Giles used to live around the corner from us, but then we moved and soon after they moved too. They live like 15 minutes away now, but we still do playdates. I had Wilson, Reagan and Anna come play for a day. We went to a park to play then home to play some more. 

Reagan and Lindsey have the same dress (funny because I believe Reagan's was a hand me down and Lindsey's used to be Kate's). They like wearing them on the same day to match. Cute. Reagan is a year older, but these two love each other and it's cute to watch. 

I had to start duct taping Chelsea's diaper because she was pulling them off all the time. She even pulled them off after pooping and then would get poop on the floor and it was just gross. I only had to do this for a week before she stopped. 

We got a trampoline and the kids were excited so it was fun to see their reaction once we got it all set up. Side note: now that we have had it for a while now we are disappointed in how little they use it! We thought they would use it more, but Kate claims it's because it's dirty. The big trees that hover over our house and backyard make a mess on it so it is annoying, but still! 

On a Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at Bothell's Landing. We saw bunnies and thought it was cute until we saw more and more and realized there were a ton that lived in the weeds along the walk way. 

Kate made me a bouquet of flowers along our walk and I was quite impressed. The fanciest bouquet of flowers and weeds I've ever gotten!

I went back to work 2 days a week starting in the middle of June after school was out. Dee Ann came and watched the kids for a couple days the first week I worked because the babysitter I had set up was still in school for a week longer than my kids. I am going through the same temp agency that I went through before when Kyle was unemployed. I have consistently been working 2 days a week and it's been good. I was super nervous when I first started since it's been 3 1/2 years, but it was fine. I was nervous with my first injection and cleaning, but like Kyle says it's like riding a bike and it all comes back to me. So true. I have been working at a couple different offices a lot since they request me and that's been good because they are close. I'm working to help pay off the porch expense and I'm glad I can do something to help out. I'm so grateful for my education and training. I have liked getting back into my profession and plan on working consistently a couple days a week when the kids get older, but it's nice that I can be home with them now. 

I took Kate and Grace to see Maleficent because Melanie gave Kate movie tickets for her birthday (great idea Melanie!) and these girls were so excited. It was fun to take them. Grace is our next door neighbor and the same age as Kate. Her and Kate have been inseparable this summer. And a bonus is Grace is a Mormon too! How awesome is that. The first thing Kate wants to do in the morning is to go play with Grace. It's actually been a blessing because Kate was nervous about moving and not having any friends in the neighborhood so we couldn't have set it up any better.