Pictures - Fall 2018

 Obstacle course in town

 Carpooling with neighbors - that's a lot of girls in one Subaru!

 Hanging out with Darren & Richard

 Apple picking in Midway

 

 Helping stack firewood

Pippy & Bill

Checking out Uncle Philip's plane!

Snow comes early in the mountains!

Bebo leaves

Bebo (Philip) moved out at the end of February. The girls were very sad. 

We read about Little Critter cleaning his room. For some reason it seemed similar to Philip 'cleaning' and 'organizing' his room, packing up what fit into his Subaru, and 'storing' the rest for a later date. 

Bebo's room, all cleaned up after moving!! Too bad I don't have a before picture.

February

Penelope really likes Elsa and everything from Disney's Frozen right now.

Daddy makes us awesome burgers

Big sisters and muddy puddles are where it's at.

Brynn's Nursery

Baby Brynn at home

Springtime

Spring is her and Penelope LOVES being outside. 

 Sunshine and grilling.

The Trial of a Marriage

Three words: Home Improvement Project.

Spoiler Alert: Wayne and I are both still alive. And we are sleeping in the same bedroom.

We have been talking for a while about making our backyard patio into a nice place where we can relax and barbeque during the summer. There were several drawbacks that we had come across, so we kept putting it off. First of all, our beautiful view is on the front side of our house, the backyard faces houses, sagebrush, and lots of dry Nevada landscape. The backyard also has no shade, and is very hot and bright during summer evenings. The project would also cost quite a bit, starting with rock or pavers  on the ground.

In June, Wayne and I came up with a grand idea. On the front side of our house, there is a cement pad that extends off of our garage. We decided if we made an outdoor relaxing area there, we would have the nice view and we could build a privacy wall for shade and, well, privacy. Since there was already a cement pad, there would be little cost involved, and the work could be done ourselves. We should have stopped right there, felt our soft palms, and thought of a better idea. But we didn't. Who can't build a simple fence? A simple fence that you buy 'pre-assembled' at Home Depot? It couldn't be that hard, and we were excited about doing something ourselves, and thought of the satisfaction we would feel when it was completed. (I should have remembered the time when Wayne asked me where the tools were kept.)

We went to Home Depot and bought fence panels, posts, cement, and a few energy drinks. Energy drinks are one of those things, like candy, that find their way into shopping carts whenever Wayne comes shopping with me. They probably weren't needed. Looking back though, something a little stronger maybe would have been a good idea, but I don't know if Home Depot sells anything like that. I will have to check, if in fact I ever go into a Home Depot again. 

We realized ahead of time that digging post holes ourselves WAS a bit of a stretch, so we smartly rented a post hole digger. We also were smart and realized that there MAY be electrical wires underground, so we called the 'call before you dig' number to get the lines marked. That set us back a few days, but we were glad we waited when we saw that there were electrical lines where we were to dig one of the posts. 

Things were going smoothly until I realized that the post hole digger required two people to operate, and the only people I saw were Wayne and Penelope. Once Penelope was in bed, I somehow managed to assist Wayne with the holes, with the help of a bag of cement on my side to add some weight. 

After waiting for the weekend - and my sore muscles to revive - we continued by lining up the fence posts and six foot fence panels. It was then that we discovered that a 'six foot fence panel' is not six feet, but rather 67 inches. So the fence panels wouldn't work. We decided to find six foot panels that were actually six feet rather than drill new holes. We ordered them online, returning the others to Home Depot. Our fence building was set back another few weeks. 

We were a little bit set back when the fence came and it wasn't all together, but a 'self-assembling' model. So we started putting the fence together, on a day when it seemed to be 95 degrees by 8AM.

Soon Wayne wanted me to help him make something 'level'. 

Me: It is level.

Wayne: No! Level with THIS.

Me: It is level!

Wayne: NO! Level with THIS!

Me: I have no idea what you mean, because it IS level.

Wayne: NO! Here, take the level here and here and make sure it's equal.

Me <<(It was level...but I used the tape measure, pushed the fence this way and that, and grunted a few times.)>>OK It looks level.

Wayne was satisfied, and we continued. The next few hours were filled with noises that sounded like this: "AAAAHHH!" "OUCH!!!" "Hold it steady. No, right here!" "ARGGG.." "I'm never doing any home projects ever EVER again!" and "Waaaahhaaaahh!" The "Waaaahaaahh" didn't always come from Penelope either. 

Somehow the fence got put together, with the exception of the panel and post that would have electrocuted us if we had drilled. Unfortunately the fence is a bit crooked, but Sunday night when we had guests over for the evening, it worked perfectly. And we felt a huge sense of accomplishment in our crooked three-panel fence. However, I don't think we will be doing any more 'projects' around the house any time soon. If we do, no matter what the contractor charges, it will be a great deal.

The outdoor patio area

 Figuring out what boxes are for.

Already trying to wear mommy's shoes.

I came in the living room to see this - she had pushed the car to the piano, climbed up to the piano bench and was playing a song.

Penelope and her buddy Tanner

Spring Update

Watch your step

The cats have been bringing home lots of dead things lately. I am one of those people who jump five feet in the air when they see a mouse, so I am glad to see the cats catch them. This past week has been a bit of a rodent extermination around here. We have had a large vole and several other large rodents. I have noticed the mice around hear are rather large, however, the last few have been exceptionally large with a fluffy tail. I wanted to know what kind of mouse had a fluffy tail. Yesterday Ruby the cat came to the yard and set down her latest kill. I went over to look at what was not a mouse, but a baby squirrel! After a few days and several more of them, I realized they weren't squirrels, but baby groundhogs. She must have a knack for catching them, because she has her taste set on baby groundhogs. We are glad to see them go - they dig up the yard and have even broken our sprinkler system.

We now must watch where we are walking in the yard, and be careful when letting the cats in the house. Upon coming home late from our last trip, we stepped up to the dark house and unlocked the door. As I stepped in, I felt a lovely squish under my foot. "UUgghhhh!" I said, "I think the cats left a mouse on the step for us." "Yep," Wayne said. "I stepped on it too."

Penelope

Penelope is enjoying spring. She seems to like going outside and watching mom and dad do yard work. I had been putting her on a blanket on the grass, but now I am petrified she will find a dead rodent to play with. She loves animals - including the neighbor's dog, who often gets loose and comes over to visit. Once we had just gotten home, and I was getting Penelope unbuckled. The golden retriever came from nowhere, was into the car and practically on top of the carseat within seconds. She continues to be enthralled with the cats, and I am amazed she hasn't gotten scratched yet. She is rather violent with them, pulling and squeezing if she gets ahold of them. The cats must sense what I would do with them if they were naughty!

Running

My career as a professional runner has been on hiatus, but was revived again when Wayne drug me out for a run last week. The weather has been perfect lately, and it feels good to get out in the evenings with the stroller. And, I am actually 'running.' I used to define 'running' as putting on cute work-out clothes, attempting to run half of a block, and walking for the remainder of the way. I remember being 'in shape' and 'running' a 5K, of which I ran about 2K and walked about 3K. However, somewhere between getting pregnant and taking care of a seven-month-old, I found something inside that either wasn't there before, or I didn't know I had. Maybe it was morning-sickness. Maybe it was childbirth. Maybe it is the fact that for 20 minutes I don't have to hold, feed or change a baby. Whatever it is, last night I ran a mile and a half without stopping. This may not seem like much, but it is a lifetime achievement for me, and I am not exactly 'in shape.'

Lilacs

We have lovely lilac bushes in front of our house. They normally look magnificent every spring, almost ready to bloom, when we get a hard frost, and the buds all droop and die. This year we have not had much for cold cold weather, so we have gorgeous lilacs!

Lawn Mowing

Wayne is still enjoying his old-fashioned mower. However, our backyard was only mowed once let year, so is overgrown again with weeds and sagebrush-a job too big for the manual mower. Our waiting to buy a mower paid off, last weekend Wayne found an excellent mower in the classifieds for 80 bucks. Just watch out for dead carcasses!

 Above: Penelope uses her feet instead of her knees to crawl or pull up sometimes.
Below: Pestering the cats.

 Lilacs!