Summer Recap #4

 

The month of August was BUSY and kind of a blur.  After we returned from our family reunion my parents moved in.  They had hoped it would be just a few weeks but not long after they got their new house possession date for Sept.25.  They were a bit discouraged but what can you do.  They moved into our toy room and the kids have loved every minute of it.

 Way too often I find them all camped out on Grandma and Grandpa's bed lol

 We also started our two week session of swimming lessons every morning.  With all the lake time the kids had leading up to this it was clear that they could pass their swim level probably within the first ten mins of class starting.  It actually worked out great because confidence was huge!  AL loved when parents of the other kids would compliment her on her abilities that were far beyond the other kids.  JA had always struggled with sensory issues that come with swimming lessons but he had a truly amazing teacher and came leaps and bounds.

 In fact he made such huge progress that we decided to sign up for several 8am private lessons the week after his class finished.  His teacher is heading on a mission for our church so we wanted to get in as much time with her as possible.  Having the entire pool to himself was perfect (no extra noises to compete with).  He did outstanding!

 This was the view from my upstairs window mid August.  We finally got our rough grade approval after a very long wait and a failed attempt.  Once we got the green light we went hard trying to tackle what should have taken all summer.

 The posts were installed and we had a big job taking 15-20 wheelbarrow loads of clay away from the holes, good thing we had "help"

 Our neighborhood has specific guidelines for the fences, the style and colors etc.  T took the week off and we got up between 5-6am all week and worked hard until midnight most days painting, painting and painting some more.  Tedious back breaking work in between trying to keep WR from running off!

 We spread boards out on the neighbors yard (one who hadn't take possession and one who was on holidays sadly) and when it rained I set up shop in the garage.

 T has struggled with his back the past couple yrs and by tuesday he had thrown his back out and could barely walk, let alone build a fence.  This man is a machine though, he went for a back massage then hobbled up on a ladder and started cutting tops off posts.

 At this point I took over lifting all the lumber.  I can't even begin to describe the level of pain and exhaustion.  One night T asked if I wanted to run over to DQ for a treat after kids were asleep but I told him I couldn't even walk that far.  He assured me we would drive to which I replied I couldn't even walk to the garage from the couch ;) 

 By thursday we were all painted and we enlisted the Elder missionaries from church to help drill in the pickets in the afternoon, finally we could see reward for all our work!!! T and I had spent the morning cutting and hanging the stringer boards before they arrived and because T couldn't lift I did all the lifting and let me assure you those dark blue boards are HEAVY.

 The next morning the bob cats rolled in and our top soil was spread!!  Perfect timing.

 Our neighbors who we thought would be back from holidays a week earlier finally came home and helped paint the boards for the last few sections of fence along with the sister missionaries.  Such a relief to have help at this point.

Last but not least we finally got our gates built and installed.  Our motivation all month had been finally being able to contain WR in our yard, this was a big moment.

 While waiting for our top soil approval from the city we set to work planting trees and shrubs.  This was way harder then I anticipated.  The 4 inches of top soil were a breeze to dig through but the clay was SOLID.  I dug most of the holes by standing on the shovel, rocking back and forth and was lucky to scrap away a tiny piece of clay.  Such a slow and tedious job..........oh and painful.

 We got in some aspen columars in the back along with some apple trees

 We took a lot of trips to the local greenhouse where the kids fell in love with this cat

 Our sod finally went out just a week ago.  As luck would have it our sod was delivered late thurs night.  It rained all day friday so by friday night when we tackled it each roll weighed a million soggy pounds.  In hind sight I should have asked friends to help.  Thankfully my Dad took pity party way through and helped.  My mom contained the kids and we worked into the dark hrs to get it done. 

 By the next morning all the back ache seemed to wash away as the kids laughed and ran through the sprinkler.  Nothing has ever looked so pretty as this green grass.

 We still need a large tree in the front and rock on the side of the house and garden boxes in the back but that will wait till next spring.  I've added raspberries and cherry shrubs to the back as well

I honestly can't believe what we pulled off in 4 short weeks but we couldn't be happier.  We LOVE saying goodbye to the dirt after a year of it.