6/29/18

April

Sorry for those that follow my personal instagram account, this is all on there, but I still like to blog, because this is how I journal and can write more details. 
We have some dry rot on our eaves and asked a contractor in our ward to come over and give us a bid to get it fixed.  That turned into a list of things we wanted to get done sometime, and subsequently turned into a major backyard remodel.  To date, we've done most of the things on our list, minus the dry rot. 😂 This was the beginning of April (just realized I posted the start of this reno in the last post) - started demo on the old fence line, the LONG and TEDIOUS chore of removing all the terrible rock from around the pool, and started the big awning over the living room. 
Easter/Conference weekend at the cabin.  Candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
Went with Grant on his field trip to the Utility Center.  I hate this field trip.  It's so lame, but every 2nd grader has done it, so it's my last. Yay!!(not yay, that it's my last kid, but yay that I don't have to do this field trip anymore - kind of sad it's my last kid)
Easter bunny brought the kids a tie dye kit, so we finally got around to making them.  
Has to get worse before it gets better, right?!!! Got the awful river rock that was on one side of the pool removed, most of the rock in the flower beds removed, 2 huge palm trees removed and 2 big palm trees relocated.  Making progress.  This is about the time it started to rain and didn't quit for a few weeks. 
Took a quick trip to SLC for grandma and grandpa Ellis' 70th wedding anniversary.  Fun to see everyone and lots of distant cousins we never get to see.  Little Suzie stamping the kid's hands after she taught them how to play soccer. 
Soccer training. :)
My boys with The Moose. 
Lots of cousins eating pizza. 
Adam sang a song, A Wink and a Smile, at his grandparents party. 
Cutest grandparents.  They had 200+ posterity there, and still had 80+ missing.  What a legacy!!
Swimming with cousins. 
Being entertained by Beth's stories.
It was Adam's birthday, so we brought ice cream cones back to the hotel and the kids went wild in Beth's big room. 
Went with grandma Connie and grandpa Rob to The Spoken Word on Sunday.  
Went to lunch with Rash and saw her new work place, then drove back to California. 
Our baby doves that were growing on one of the palm trees we had to relocate.  We successfully moved the nest, but then a few days later a big wind gust came and blew the nest off the awning and we couldn't find the babies. 😢

Sweet signs the kids made for their bedrooms.  😒
Yard progress: framed up for concrete, palm trees relocated, lots of dirt and rocks hauled off. 
Drains, electrical and plumbing ran under concrete and concrete poured (we ended up having to re-pour a few spots to level in more).  Started draining the pool. Took almost 5 days to drain it all the way. 
All drained.  The kids liked riding their scooters and wiggle cars down there while it was empty. 
Started laying the Travertine deck and also getting ready for pool tile.

Made Ava a dress and pinafore for her field trip to the Barnhart museum.  I'm embarrassed to say how long it took me to sew. 
I got to go with here and helped in the toy making station. 
This is a fun field trip and we had perfect weather. 

Our friends threw Adam a surprise birthday party.  He was completely surprised, and I'm surprised I could keep it a secret from him and the kids.  


Noah was John D. Rockefeller for his wax museum.  
Ava graduated from level 1 gymnastics. 
Flowers blooming everywhere.  These hot pink flowers lined a sidewalk on my walk and it suprised me every time I saw them. They were insanely bright. 
Deck tiles almost all done.  They did a really good job at first, and then towards the end, not so much.  We made them remove a few of the bad ones and reset them, but there are still a few that bug me and maybe someday I'll replace, but for now, I just try not to dwell on the bad tiles and look at how much better it looks than before. 
New pool tile in. 
Noah created a bottle launcher in the front yard with some PVC and a hose.  It worked pretty great.  Our neighbors enjoyed watching them launch. :)
Swimming pool hopping since ours it out of commission. 
My sweet peas this year were insane.  They completely covered 2 of my garden boxes and bloomed for over 3 months. 
Open house at the school. 

New pebble tec coating on the pool.  Time to fill it up. This only took about 2 1/2 days. 
Looks so much better and bigger.  Getting rid of those rocks and the lip around the pool really made it 'grow'.  
Wow, I forgot how much we did in April, because May was even busier. 😉

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