Flowers and repairs

I have roses at my house! One in the front growing up the porch, and one huge one in the back yard taking over the yard. 

 So pretty!

I also have a couple of hibiscus, but I don't have any good pictures of it. They are really pretty too, one is white, one is pink.

We found some water dripping in the basement and Mike was cleaning the gutters of the roof out, and he found the cover for the gas vent was completely rusted through. 

So he repaired it with some metal tape stuff he found in the garage.

He also took some fun pictures from the roof.

Don't you just love my porch?  So awesome!

Fourth of July

Our house came complete with a nice flag and a mount for it.

So patriotic.

We had a barbeque dinner at Grandma's house and ate it outside.

 Aiden likes hot dogs and watermelon.

Grandma has a nice toy kitchen in her back yard, Mason had fun with it, once the dogs were locked up in the neighbors yard.

Camping

We went camping with the ward and it was fun! We brought Aiden's high chair so we'd have a way to feed him without having to hold him. He liked it.

Here is a picture of some family that was there.

Aiden got really tired. . .

but wouldn't go to sleep. At first. Mason also wouldn't go to sleep and then Daddy took him for a walk and the pond full of frogs freaked him out. Maybe it was the dark, maybe it was the noise, maybe it was both, but he started shivering and saying, "Night-night!"

 And they slept, one on either side of Mommy.

 So cute!

 Mason apparently didn't get much sleep. Well considering he went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 7 . . .

 Aiden was happy though.

He really liked crawling around on the pad he was sleeping on.

Liz and Bruce brought their dog Buck, he had fun.

The campground was near a horse trail and some guy came by on a horse. Mason was fascinated!

It's the first time Mommy has been camping for years. Lots and lots of fun!

Kite Festival

We went to the kite festival in April. I was supposed to go to Time out for Women, but Aiden kept me up for ages and so I slept in, rather than getting up early. So I went with Mike and the kids instead.

Cool fish kites!

Some big upstanding kite things the kids liked. Mason was shy at first, but then loved it.

Aiden is so cute!

The kids got seriously worn out.

Easter

So for Easter this year we had two egg hunts, one in our house because the weather was yucky, and one at my Grandma's the next day. The snow disappeared just in time! Anyway, here are some cute pics and a video.

You can see part of our bathroom in the pic too.  It's amazing!

He's so big!

Egg man! He was enjoying himself.

Yes, I know I'm cute

 And here is the one at my Grandma's house.

The egg hunt the day before had given him lots of practice and he was ready!

Wee!

Springtime fun

Here are some random pictures from this spring:

Mason reading like Mommy (although I don't sit there)

Aiden after eating squash. He is doing much better about letting me feed him.

We went to the lake last Saturday after dinner. Auntie Missa went with us. Here's a video along with some pictures. You can see my new haircut in these. My hair was bugging me, so I decided to get it cut. My aunt and I went one Wednesday, and I didn't tell Mike about it til he got home. He noticed it pretty quickly, he is an artist.

Mason got his haircut that day.

Standing on an island made by an old road. This is a reservoir so there are some interesting features like this.

Mason loves water!

Last Monday for family home evening, Mike was in charge of lesson, and I had activity. Mike did a good lesson about the temple, and I had an inspiration as he was teaching it for us to take a drive out to the temple. It was closed of course, but we walked around it and talked about it with Mason. I think it went well, and Mike got a few amazing pictures.

And here is Aiden doing his new tricks:

I am such a lazy bum!

I've loved reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books ever since my parents gave me the set for Christmas when I was a little girl. The only one I had trouble with was Farmer Boy.  It took me years to get around to reading that one, but when I finally did it was one of my favorites. It always makes me hungry though, Almanzo was obsessed with food and it goes into extreme detail about several meals. And he's always eating doughnuts.

Anyway, I re-read that book just the other day, and I noticed something besides the food that really got me thinking. Those people did EVERYTHING for themselves!

They raised their own sheep, sheared them for the wool, spun and weaved the wool into cloth and made their own clothes, with a few exceptions (ie the women's Sunday clothes). They were farmers and grew just about every vegetable imaginable, they raised their own meat and butchered it themselves. They hauled their own lumber for building and firewood, they cut ice in the wintertime for use in the summer. They were always busy! The father and the boys were working on the farm with the animals (and they got to skip school when "there was more important work to do") and the mother and the girls were cooking, canning, sewing, cleaning (although the boys had to help with spring cleaning) and helping with the crops as well in extreme situations. Almanzo's idea of fun was breaking his pair of oxen to drive. Oh, he had a sled that he liked to ride on too, but he spent very little time being idle.

I read that book and felt so lazy afterwards. I have a hard time sometimes finding the energy to wash my dishes! I can't imagine doing the things Almanzo's mother did! I do feel better though about trying to start canning, and making my own curtains. I may not be up to Mother Wilder's standards, but I'm getting better about being self-sufficient.

Also, random thought, in the book, Mr. Paddock wanted to take Almanzo as an apprentice in his shop (I think he was a wheelwright) and Almanzo's mother was extremely upset. She seemed to think that owning your own business and being a skilled worker was a step down from being a farmer. They certainly saw it as important to be self sufficient in those days.