Posts filed under 'Family'
All the boys, Christmas morning, smiling real big and wondering what is in all those presents around the tree.
We’re at this great stage in life where all of our kids still completely believe in Santa. I thought it would be fun to ask them what Santa brought this year:
Scott:
Mars Mission Command Station (Legos). A T-Rex puzzle that glows in the dark with bones. Candy in my stocking. Mini race car. Dinosaur dig. A Wii Remote. A coloring book.
Dallin:
Gorilla Jungle Play thingy. Mars Mission Space Ship (Legos). Another Mars Mission thing. Dinosaur dig. Coloring Book. Wii Play (with remote).
Tim:
Race Track. Mega T-Rex. Allosaurus. Thomas the Train cars. Geotrax train cars. Coloring Book. Wii Remote. Super Mario Galaxy.
Matthew:
Da Da Da Da Da Da
???:
Umm, actually, Santa didn’t bring this one did he?
Somehow, Santa was able to find a Wii for all the kids (and me too!). We must be pretty lucky I guess.
January 6th, 2008
On Christmas Eve this year, we decided to make a goal of playing as much as possible. Actually, I think we made that goal for the whole Christmas break. Anyway, One of our top priorities was to see how fast we could travel down the golf course hill on our sleds.
Here is Grandpa K. taking his turn.
Scott and Dallin are quite adept at sledding at this stage of their lives. I think they’ve overcome most residual fears of going too fast, getting buried in the snow, or crashing and dying. Tim, at not yet 4 years old, on the other hand, needs a little coaxing. Matthew hadn’t got a clue what is going on but enjoys things no matter what.
Here is Matthew, all bundled up and ready to go.
That all being said, the key to taking the little ones sledding is this: Make it easy for them to get up the hill.
“Here Matthew, just sit back and relax for a bit.”
Anyhow, we completed our goal and had a good time.
Just fixing a couple gloves or something and getting ready to go again.
January 6th, 2008
I was too tired to write much last week. That is because we had a pretty late Saturday night. We had originally planned to relax, watch a movie, and get some sleep after a long week of preparing for my thesis defense and finally finishing my Masters Degree. Well, about the time we were finishing dinner, our plans changed for the worse.
My first chore after we finished eating was to give Tim a bath. He and I went up stairs to get that done and I promptly discovered that there was no hot water coming out out of the faucet. Hm :/ Next, I went back downstairs and checked the kitchen. Sure enough, no hot water. Next, I decided I better go down to the basement and check the water heater. I didn’t make it that far though. As I approached the basement door, I found a large wet area outside our laundry room door. Upon further investigation, I found that our Laundry room had about an inch of standing water in it.
It turned out that the drain hose on the washing machine had come undone. Gayla had been doing laundry all day. When the washer got to the rinse cycle and started filling up with hot water, the water just went out the back of the machine and onto the floor. There is a drain on the floor behind the washer and dryer but it isn’t meant to have that much water running down it and didn’t appear to be adequate to handle the flood coming from the washing machine.
After a few seconds of shock and wondering what I ought to do, I put my head back on straight and turned the shutoff values to the washing machine off. The water continued to drain for a minute or so but then at least the source was turned off. Next, I went downstairs to see the damage.
This is where it was raining and pouring. We had drips all over our basement. We had standing water in a couple places but luckily, since nothing is finished down there, it was only on the cement. The water had been running down the heater vent in the laundry room too. That made it so our heater didn’t light until I took it apart and dried things out. I had to replace the furnace filter too. (That part needed done anyway.) Also, the water heater either shut itself off or the pilot area got wet. I had to re-light the water heater’s pilot light. I also had to remove some of the insulation from the ceiling. We spend the rest of the evening mopping up water out of the laundry room and the basement.
1/2 of the laundry was on the floor in the laundry room so that had to be rewashed or dried. We also had to put a fan in the hall for a few days to dry out the carpet. I’m glad we don’t live in an area that is particularly susceptible to mold.
December 23rd, 2007
Yesterday was our Ward Christmas Party. Our ward had quite the party too. First of all, everyone got a train ticket to the Polar Express. When you came, you went through the train station (complete with ticket takers in costume) and exchanged your ticket for a boarding pass. Then you got on the actual train (the hallway) and listened to the conductor for a bit before arriving at the North Pole. Once on site, there were an unlimited supply of candy, donuts, hot chocolate, and pretty much anything you can think of sweet that you could dip in chocolate and make yourself sick on. In addition, all the kids got to go around to various activities of making snowflakes, cookies and getting pictures with Santa.
Then came the program. There was a mini train on the stage that took a few kids to Bethlehem. (The presentation was “The Polar Express to Bethlehem”). After the train stopped along the way to see the shepherds and the Angel, it made a stop right outside the manger. Gayla and I somehow were persuaded to be Mary and Joseph.
In addition to just sitting and looking humble, we got to sing a song too. Gayla’s mother played the piano for us. We went up to the mics and started to sing. After the first line or so, Tim came running out on the stage. I didn’t see him at first but Gayla did. He looked at me, the circled around behind and came up on Gayla’s left side. He kept trying to give Gayla the wrapper to his candy cane. I would have kept a straight face if Gayla didn’t start laughing (Well, at least I think I could have). Gayla started to chuckle a little bit and then I missed a couple notes too. It took about a page of music before someone finally grabbed him off the stage. We maintained composure for the most part after that but there were still a couple places where I started to smile a bit.
Anyhow, we had a great time and I think things went just fine in spite of Tim’s comic relief. I still have no idea how Tim made it past the stage doors and the stage crew and out onto the stage though.
December 2nd, 2007
I’ve been planning on getting an iMac for some time. Even before the latest models, which have a cooler sleeker design as well as a nice glass finish to the screen, I’d thought that an iMac would be a nice alternative to the PC sitting under my desk. Instead of a big clunky case with tangled cables crowding the floor around my feet, I’ll have my entire computer sitting up on my desk. In addition, I’ll be working with OS X instead of Windows. (That is another story entirely. I’d write about all the reasons Windows Vista is horrible and all the reasons why OS X is a far superior operating system, but it’s been written about many thousands of times already on the Internet and you just need to search a little on Google to find a very comprehensive number of resources on the subject.)
My plan originally, was to wait until we got a tax refund early next year and spring for the latest model iMac at that time. This last month however, another option was made available. Gayla’s parents have some very tall trees in their back yard. These trees rain branches and leaves all over their house and yard. In addition, the back yard is about to be overrun with roots, which has caused the cement to buckle in a few places and made for a very rough lawn. They decided the trees needed to go. They learned, after receiving a few bids for the work, that the process of removing the trees was not going to be cheap.
Back before I was married, I worked for the Forest Service for a couple summers thinning trees. Having a little experience with chain saws, and thinking that I’d like to own a chain saw anyway (you never know when one of those might come in handy), I said I’d take care of his trees for him if he’d go ahead and purchase the saw for me. After they considered that option for a while, they decided it was a pretty good deal. I had mentioned to Gayla’s dad, just the day before, that I was planning on getting an iMac for our next computer. He called back and said that have me cut down the trees would save enough money on the deal, that he’d like to purchase me an iMac as well as the saw. I got a little more excited to do the job at this point!
We borrowed a rappelling harness and I got some rope to hold me up in the trees. Then I used another rope to pull the chainsaw up. After cutting down the top branches, I worked my way back down the trees and cut sections off until the whole tree was cut down. It would have been a lot easier if there wasn’t houses and fences to worry about. In that case, I could have just cut all the trees down and been done with it.
I would have been a little more nervous of being that high up in the trees if I wasn’t buckled to them so I couldn’t fall off!
Getting closer on this one.
The yard is getting a little more cluttered.
Not a lot of room between the trees and the house. This is part of the reason the trees needed to go.
A few of the stumps.
Looks like I’ll be getting that iMac a little sooner!
November 11th, 2007
We finally got all our trees this week. We ordered 9 big trees and 16 shrubs or smaller trees. There were three families that ordered a lot of trees at the same time and then a few other neighbors that ordered just a couple odds and ends. They came on Monday about 4:30. Well, they almost came at 4:30. I got a call about that time saying that the truck driver needed help finding our sub division. So off I went to find him. It turns out he was pointed the wrong direction on a road in Highland. We had to go down through American Fork and then back up to our neighborhood because turning around wasn’t really an option. (It was a Long truck.) Finally, after battling traffic that doesn’t give long trucks enough room to turn corners, we made it back. We had rented a bobcat to help unload the trees because they were pretty big. The reason we ordered them was because we could get trees with a 2-3 inch diameter that are 20 feet tall for the price of much smaller trees here. After 6 hours of unloading we had all our trees in the correct spot to start planting. (Other families ordered a lot more trees than we did.)
The 1st Trees
Tuesday I planted until I had to go to Pack Meeting. After I planted a Sycamore, I got Kyle Wright to come help me dig because at this point I was pretty overwhelmed with the task. We got another Sycamore planted and then started on the holes for a few pine trees. We’d have got further but Kyle found a sprinkler pipe. It’s my fault though, I thought it was 2 feet North of there. It’s amazing how those things just move around under the ground. Kyle’s dad George picked me up a connector for the pipe while I was at Pack Meeting and they fixed it up. Thanks Guys!!
Here are a couple of the Sycamore Trees we planted in the front. There is a 3rd on the North side of the driveway. These had a tag that said “London Plain Tree”.
The 2nd Trees
Wednesday, I got Ben to come help dig. He dug a hole for a dogwood while I planted the pine trees that we had dug holes for the day before. It’s a good thing I had Ben over or I wouldn’t have got the dogwood planted until later. Gayla had to go to Young Women so we stopped for the day.
The tree on the right is a Serbian Pine. There is another one of those closer to the fence too. The bluer tree on the left is a “Bacheri” which I think is the same thing as a Blue Spruce and the bush is a Mugo Pine. We’ll be using these for our outdoor Christmas trees from now on. You’ll notice the rocks here. This is our “National Forest” look.
Here is the Dogwood that Ben helped plant.
The 3rd Trees
Thursday Kyle came over again and we planted two bigger pines in the back yard. We also planted another Sycamore in the front. This one Gayla got from the local tree place since we only ordered two. It’s a lot shorter than the other ones and was a lot easier to plant too.
Here are the three Austrian Pines in our back yard. I think that they’ll end up quite tall. We’ll trim the lower branches when they are big so we can still walk around under them.
Trees and Shrubs
Friday, I planted the last pine tree. Man was that a relief to get all the big trees planted. We’ve got as many rocks on our yard as there are up on the Mountain in any given cubic yard of dirt. There is a berm on the South side of our front yard and I commented to Gayla that we could just leave it like it is with the pine trees. We could tell people we’re going for the National Forest look.
After I got that last tree planted, I started on the shrubs. I was able to plant 4 of those pretty quick before it started turning rainy and we had to go in.
The shrubs on the front of our house are boxwoods. You can also see the skyrocket juniper that I planted there one the side. (The other side of the porch has the same stuff.) The junipers were planted a while back though.
Shrubs .. and more trees
Well, Saturday morning I had to get all the rest of those shrubs planted before the weather turned bad. I planted 5 more shrubs in the front and then 6 more small trees in the back. There was also one more Mugo pine in the front to be planted. By 10:00 I was all done.
These are Spartan Junipers. They supposedly only get about 8 feet tall and should do well against the back wall of our garage.
Wait. There’s more trees. Gayla’s parents have these great big trees in the back yard that are making their lawn all rough. In addition, they rain all kinds of branches and leaves down into the yard and their neighbor’s yards. Well, they got a bid from someone to remove them and the lowest price was $5000. I said if he bought me a chainsaw, I’d do it instead so now my next project is to clear trees out of Gayla’s parent’s back yard. Yesterday evening I went over and bought a new Husqvarna chainsaw and a few accessories. We even started cutting a few of the little ones to try it out.
This morning, I got a call from Grandpa K. It seems the snow knocked down half of one of their trees out front. Good think I got the chainsaw last night 
Those things always come in handy!
More
While I got on the topic of labeling all our trees so that I could come back and read this in the future when I forget what they are, I thought I ought to go ahead and include this picture too. These were planted a while back about the time we got the Skyrocket Junipers in the front.
Emerald Green Arborvitaes. They should get about 12-15 feet tall and about a 4 foot diameter. On the left is our Lemon Elberta Peach tree.
Ok, Now I’m really done. (I’m not done with the more trees part though.)
October 21st, 2007
Matthew has assigned himself a new form of employment lately. His new job is to put small items into containers. The specifics are not important to him. Any little thing will do. Any container will do. It’s the generic idea of having this job that seems to please him the most.
Matthew’s intrigue with this job has led to all kinds of adventures. I found the charger for my Nintendo DS in the trash in the office the other day. It’s a good thing I needed it before it was time to take the trash out. Gayla has had to put the trash in the kitchen closet up on a bucket. All the other trash cans are either behind a closed door or have a child protector in charge of preventing the eminent disappearance of otherwise considered somewhat useful items.
Trash cans are not the only vulnerable portion of our waste management system. It seems our commodes, which due to the presence of one grown, and three other mostly potty trained males, are commonly left with their lids up. I’m not entirely sure what found it’s way 1/2 way down the pipe in our downstairs bathroom. The discolored level and somewhat foul color of the water did however make it evident that nothing else would be making the desired journey in that direction. I’m also not entirely sure that Matthew is to blame for this new predicament. It does seem strangely coincidental though. Our dilemma seems to coincide too nicely with his new found duties.
Well, suffice it to say, the plunger’s good heave was not enough to dislodge the blockage. It was time to make a trip to our favorite place to spend money on the weekend, Home Depot. Did you know, for $14 you can get a nice 25 foot snake with a handle and a self containing winder that keeps the thing all sorted out when it’s time to put it back in the closet. I opted for the cheaper $12 system that gets all tangled up with itself. Anyhow, my new buddy and I came back to the bathroom and started working. It took me two tries to figure out how to get Mr. Snake down those tight turns at the bottom. Never one to give up however, I succeeded in pushing something far enough down the pipe that the water and other less desirables disappeared.
If the story ended there, I’d be happy enough and may not even have bothered to write all this down. It just so happens that two days later, the dreaded situation was back again. I fear we’ve got something in there that is a little meaner than I’d expected. It lets things by when you bother and push it, then it slowly collects debris until “flush,.. it’s a no go.” This time, I was prepared and it didn’t take two tries to get Mr. Snake down through the turns. After a little wiggling, we were back in business.
Unfortunately, we’ve had the same problem once again. I’m afraid my new friend might not be up to the task of clearing the pipes further. Whatever is in there seems to be valuable enough that it doesn’t want to disappear entirely. My only hope is that whatever is causing our issues down there is something replaceable. We may never know.
October 14th, 2007
Matthew had his first birthday. Since he won’t remember anything about it anyway we decided to keep it simple. I made a cake and let the boys help me decorate it. It was a double layered cake which was more challenging to make look nice (for me, that is). The icing was a little too soft so the flowers turned into little blobs. The boys thought it looked beautiful. Matthew really liked digging into his portion of the cake. Then we attempted to let Matthew open his own presents but when we realized that he was more interested in the ribbon on it we let the boys dive in. Matthew was so cute even though he had no clue what was going on.
I should also mention for posterity’s sake that this week after our 3 year old Tim became fed up with Matthew’s incessant screaming (it is way of communicating) he said in desperation, “I want to get a new baby, this one screams too much.”
Here are some pictures of the big day:
September 16th, 2007
Well, this years Hunt has been short and uneventful. I guess that is, if you want to talk about deer anyway. In terms of doing stuff, I’ve had my share of events so far.
At the start of the hunt, I still hadn’t had a chance to completely tune up my bow. My problem was that my peep sight kept slipping up the string and I would progressively shoot higher and higher. I finally figured this out and moved it back to where it was supposed to be. After shooting a whole in our fence though, I decided I better not shoot in our back yard. That and that fact that our playground is right in the middle of where I used to shoot my bow put a damper on that I guess. Anyway, there just isn’t anywhere close to shoot a lot.
Finally, on the opening evening of the hunt, I decided to take the family up the mountain and have a little picnic. I brought bows for the boys and we had a great time tuning my bow and letting them shoot. I told them if we were quiet we might see a deer. The boys weren’t quiet at all but sure enough, a doe showed up about 1/2 an hour later. We just kept doing our thing and it hung around for another 1/2 hour or so. I thought I’d hike up the trail by myself a ways and see if there was anything else. To my surprise, I found a little two point not far up the trail. It was a little to far for me to take a shot and I didn’t feel like loosing an arrow so I just watched it until it wandered off. It was funny because I could still hear all the boys in the background running around and being loud.
The next week I took a drive up the mountain a couple more times. We saw lots more does but nothing else. The problem is that Tibble Fork Canyon is extremely traveled. You have to compete with 1/2 the valley’s worth of people driving up and down the road. Deer don’t like that much and tend to stay a little further off the trail.
Well, we went to Monticello (me and the boys again) last weekend. We hiked around a hill Friday night, sat in a tree stand Saturday morning, sat in another tree stand Saturday night and drove around Monday morning. All I saw were does again but at least Saturday night they were close enough that if they were bucks I could have shot one. They licked the salt block for 1/2 an hour then wandered off.
This week I drove and hiked all over the mountain again. I saw 3 more does last night but there were too many people again. The worst part is last night, I was driving up this really rocky road and decided it was time to get into 4 wheel drive. To my utmost disappointment, my truck’s 4 wheel drive wouldn’t engage. No 4-wheel light and no 4-wheels turning. I had to turn around. I drove up another road and was surprised how far I was able to get with just two wheels turning but at last, I still had to turn around. Oh the misery of not having 4-wheel drive! I’m fixing that as soon as possible.
The moral of all this is that I guess I’m going to have to take the boys hunting more often. Just let them run around and make noise and I guess the deer get curious and come see what is going on.
September 9th, 2007
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