Work Hard, Play Hard…

This last week I was so happy to have some good weather so that Adam and I could work on some of our projects. During the days while the kids were out playing and Adam was working I was able to get some much needed things done in the yard. One day I moved our wood pile from next to our house down to the bottom of our hill (by throwing logs and boards over the edge of our hill making a horrific mess at the bottom) and then neatly stacked all the wood in piles down below.

I figured since I was down there that I would also make us a make shift fire pit to do some smores and weenie roasts this summer (at until we get our patio in and are able to build a more permanent fire pit). Adam and I think it would be fun to make a tradition of having a fire with our boys and neighbors once a week during the summer months. There is just something about being around a camp fire that we both love. Then I spent about 1-2 hours just hauling away rocks from the bottom of the hill so that we CAN one day put in our patio.

This week we were also able to get 5 new fruit trees planted! In addition to our Gala Apple, Pear, Plum, and Apricot trees that we bought last year, we were also able to buy 2 peach trees, a nectarine tree, another apricot, and a bing cherry tree. I cannot WAIT for them all to start producing fruit. There are few things I like better than fresh fruit off the tree!

One day I was also able to make a run to our local green waste plant and pick up some compost. The kids loved watching the big tractor dump the compost into the back of our truck. On our way home we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some bright yellow flowers to plant out front. (My flower bed is all purples and pinks and I was needing a bright happy color to make it pop!) I love how it turned out! Brans and Harry helped me plant the flowers when we got home and then I drove the truck down our hill to where our garden boxes are and spent the next hour or so shoveling compost into our boxes. UNFORTUNATELY though a big wind storm came up and I ended up eating more compost than I actually got in the boxes which forced me to take a break. Adam and I finished up later that evening and then were FINALLY able to plant all our vegetables that we’d been growing in cups in our house. Yay!

We ended up planting tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, snap peas, zucchini, giant pumpkins, corn on the cob, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, summer squash, and strawberries! I can’t wait to see how everything turns out. This is only my 2nd time doing a garden, but my first time doing more than just tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. So there is a lot to learn. But I’ve got some good gardening friends and family members that I’m hoping will share their wisdom! 🙂 It will be fun to have a new hobby though.

In addition to all the work we’ve been doing in the yard we were also able to do some fun things this last weekend too. On Friday night we decided to try out our new fire pit and headed down to the bottom of our hill to roast some smores! The boys absolutely loved roasting marshmallows and getting all goey and sticky from making their own smores. I can see that this will be a fun tradition for our family.

Then on Saturday after doing our normal jobs around the house (sweeping and mopping all the floors, bathrooms, dusting, and picking up the house) we headed up to the hills here in Payson to do some exploring. Then we stopped near the “P” here in Payson to have a little picnic before heading up the hill to do some hiking. We ended up hiking the back way up to the “P” but then decided to go down the front so that we could actually see the “P.” This ended up being a NOT so good idea as the hill was SUPER steep and we ended up slipping several times and several of the kids got hurt. We ended up more sliding down the hill on our bums than hiking down it.

Afterwards we made a quick Wal-Mart trip again to get some stuff for our yard (more flowers, and some landscaping fabric) and then headed home to shower and head up to my cousin Serenes wedding in South Jordan. She got married in my Aunt and Uncles backyard and it was so fun to spend some time catching up with my extended and immediate family. We had to leave somewhat early though as the kids were BEYOND tired from the hike that day and I needed to finish writing my talk for church on Sunday. Which ended up taking me until 1:00 am. Yikes!
Then I also had my primary lesson to prepare.

To end the weekend on a lovely note though we were able to spend Sunday evening with Mum and Smurf up at there house and share a tasty meal of roast beef, potatoes and gravy, vegetables and salad with them. We always love any time we get to spend with them.

It was a great week! Lots of work, but lots of play! 🙂

(Oh and sorry there aren’t any pictures. Adam got a new camera at his conference in San Diego and borrowed my memory card from my camera to use it, and unfortunately we can’t find the new camera. 🙁 We went to pick up a new memory card at Wal-Mart but my camera for some reason is not liking it. So we are again memory card-less. Hopefully soon we will either find the missing camera and my card, or be able to find a card that works with my camera.)