The Shed Project- Part 3-Walls

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Matt's whole family came to help us put the timbers on the foundation and build our walls.

Grandma Jo even brought gloves and helped. I think she had a pretty good time working with her boys.

Over the past hundred years or so the building settled somewhat, so squaring everything back up was quite a job. The front walls seemed to be the worst, so Matt, Garrett, and Brady got out the Come Along. In just a few minutes everything was nice and tight.

The work only seemed to begin once the base was up. We spent several Saturdays trimming, shoring up, and building trusses for the next step. The roof!

Cody has been so much help this summer. He doesn't complain and is always following Matthew around. And he's been the greatest little "go for" in the world.

The Shed Project- Part 2-Breaking Ground

We went out to the pasture behind the house and drew lines where our new shed/old grainery would live.

As you can see the back yard we have had in the past isn't very big. (Ya know, because the horses need space.) Putting in the shed has us moving the fence and expanding the yard by about 40 feet. Yeah whoo!!
Matt's little brother, Brady came up a couple of weekends and helped us. He was our official surveyor for digging the foundation. (Thank you Brady, so much, for all your hard work and endless brain power on behalf of our shed.) Who knew that something like this would require so much math? :)

The forms for the foundation were homemade and then recycled into parts of the walls and rafters.

The cement truck came in on Thursday, June 27. Matt and my dad ran with fury that day, trying to get everything smooth and set.

Sadly, the pictures don't accurately portray the endless hours of work that I've found goes into a project of this magnitude. Tune in tomorrow...

The Shed Project- Part 1

Last year my uncle and cousin purchased some property here in town with some old buildings on it. They asked if Matt would tear them down but when he saw this old grainery, he asked if he could move it to our house instead. Last fall we cleaned it out as best we could, then marked each log.

In May we tore it down piece by piece and moved the timbers to our back yard.

The shed is about 20 feet wide by 30 feet long. There wasn't an upstairs built in it but there was plenty of room for one so our plan was to put a loft in the front half to use for storage. Ironically, someone had built some stairs that were left laying inside.

The old front doors were used to write on by the old farmers who came to get grain. Some would write the date and even how much they owed the man who's grainery it was. From what we could still read, it was built around 1898, complete with wooden pegs and dove tail corners.

(I should've done what my aunt Tracy did and documented things as they happened. Over this next week I'll try to catch up and write each day about the progress we've made so far. )

Vote Britnee for School Secretary

Last week Britnee came home and asked me to sign a paper so that she could run for student council. She said that she didn't know what she wanted to run for but that she wanted to help the school. I signed the paper and when she took it back, she asked her teacher what would be the best position for her. They decided on school secretary.
This week we made posters and stickers to pass out. And this morning Grandpa Rusty and I went and watched as she presented a skit she had written, in front of the whole school. I was really proud of her.
At about 2:00 this afternoon, she called and said that she had won secretary. She's pretty excited to be a part of this year's student council and I have no doubt she will do a fantastic job.

All I Want for Christmas...

On Sunday I noticed that Cody's two front teeth were pretty loose. He was so excited to get his name on the board at school for losing a tooth that he wiggled until we were able to pull them on Monday. He talks a little funny for right now but I think he's just the cutest little toothless boy in the world.

Memory Monday-Like Father, Like Daughter

I think you could say that Britnee is her daddy's girl. I have been told since she was born how much she looks like Matthew. In 2003 the Bear Lake County Fair had a parent/child look alike contest and we entered these two.

They won first place out of the 12 "duo's" that entered. Britnee won a bag of animal crackers and Matthew won a 6 pack of soda pop.

The similarities don't end there however, these two have the same tender feelings, (don't tell Matt I told anyone about that,) they both like the same kinds of food, and they both love to be doing things outside better than just about anything else.

Britnee is most definitely her own person but each time she does something that is just her dad, I can't help but smile, because-I kinda like her daddy. :)

Knowledge is Power!!

Whoever said that ignorance is bliss is full of it. There's never been a time in my life when I wasn't glad to know something or sorry I didn't know more. You'd think that being into my thirties meant that I've learned most everything there is to know but I've been shocked this summer to learn so many new things that really, I should've known by now.

For instance, on Monday (9.14.09) I learned to bottle. For the first time ever, I will serve my family things from a jar that did not originate from a factory. My good friend Katie came and spent the day teaching all the tips and tricks to successful canning and Voila!! Every jar sealed on my salsa and spaghetti sauce.

This summer I learned to drive a tractor. Mostly because Matt was moving pipe and when I got there to help, the tractor was in low gear, rolling through the field with Cody in the drivers seat. I jumped in and learned how to shift, turn, brake, and stop, all by Matt yelling at me through the back window.

I learned that one must be careful when running a nail gun. A little pressure goes a long way. (And can shoot a lot of nails in a very short time.)

I wanted a brick pathway to the little garden shed we put in last year so I went to the library and got a book on brick laying. I also found an old pile of bricks that I got permission to haul off. With a little help from Matthew and many hours on my knees, I have this cute, little path.

Chickens!! Oh my, if this had been all I learned about, it would be enough. These little ladies are just looking for ways to die. Luckily, we've only lost two and have hopefully learned how to maintain the correct food and water to keep them happy, healthy, and laying eggs.

And last, (of the things I can think of right now anyway) is how not to pull a swather out of the ditch. Matt was cutting hay when he got stuck in a very slimy, muddy ditch. He had me run and get the truck, hook onto the back of the swather and as he was backing up, I was to drive the truck forward. I did just what he said, (in addition to all the knowledge I gained from watching truck pulls on TV), and nearly blew up the engine in the truck. Round two: Now I'm in the swather and he's in the truck pulling. After several hard yanks and a near whip lash, the swather is moving backward, toward the truck, and I'm in the drivers seat, with absolutely no idea where the brake is. I got stopped by accidentally dropping the cutting blade and sliding to a halt, as Matthew is trying to yell that the brake on a swather is controlled with your hand, not your foot. Who knew??

See, knowledge is power and after this summer, I'm feeling like I should've taken a few more FFA courses in school. At least now I can laugh at how much I didn't know. (And still don't.)

A Peachy Weekend

This weekend we went to Ferron for Peach Days.

Matt's grandpa Clyde got to be the Grand Marshall for the Peach Day parade. It was a great parade with lots of candy for the kids.
Matt took me to the Grub Box for lunch on Saturday. It was so fun to eat the greasy food I remember loving as a kid. My all time favorite is the English Chips.

We all went to the desert to shoot guns. Matt took turns with each of the three kids, teaching them how to aim and shoot at a target.

The weekend went pretty fast, like these kinds of things always do, but it was fun to be able to spend time with Matt's family, and remember so many things about the little town I grew up in.

Back to School- Back in Time

Last night was Back to School night at the Middle School for Jaycee. Brit had gymnastics so she came with us. We started out with a small assembly in the cutest antique auditorium, complete with fold out wooden seats and brass vents in the floor. Then we went to each of Jaycee's classes to meet the teachers. Each classroom has dry erase boards that were inserted into the old framed black boards. There was crown molding almost everywhere and the old radiator heaters are still sitting around the hallways.
You see, this beautiful old building was built around 1937 and used to be Montpelier High School. My mom went to high school here in the late 60's just as Bear Lake County combined the two high school's in the valley. Last year we had a vote to either tear it down or renovate it. For reasons that are both good and bad, the county decided to fiexit up some and let the kids use it for at least another ten years.
How fun that my kids get to go to the same school as their grandma. And that even though this building could actually be turned into a museum, it's still an excellent place for learning.

Brit's To Do List

Britnee's usually the first one up at our house. She'll get something to eat and then quietly entertain herself until someone else is awake. Saturday morning when I got out to the kitchen to make breakfast, Britnee came and told me that her day was all planned out. She then pulled out her piece of paper and showed me all the most important things in her life that day.

In case you can't see it very well, this is her list:

0. help mom with dishes. (That wasn't on the original list, she added it so she could check it off first thing.)

1. call Gabe

2. play the games

3. play some ball

4. macke something for Kaylee

5. ride to rope swing on bikes

6. look at watch (her birthday present for Thursday.)

7. ask mom if I can try it on

8. count and name stuffed animals

9. pick out dress for Sunday

10. make bed

11. brush your teeth

12. get in bath

13. macke something for Katelyn

Oh that my To Do lists were that simple :)

The Perfect Picture?

Once a year! That's all I ask. Okay, maybe twice if you count a family picture. But I love having updated pictures of the kids and I want those pictures perfect. I know, a little quirky, but that's how I am. We woke up Monday morning and the clouds were spotty in the morning sky, so I told the kids to get ready as fast as they could and called our neighbor to ask if I could use her old log cabin for the backdrop.

We ran up and used the few seconds that the sun was shining to get in position and then as soon as the clouds blew over, I'd yell smile and start taking pictures. The first half hour was pretty much a disaster and then it got worse. I made everyone stop and do the hokey pokey to get our smilers working again after my many statements of "If you don't smile beautiful, I'm gonna smack you" didn't work.
Across the road I found this old fence and had the kids sit on it for the one perfect "framer" picture for my wall. This was almost two hours later and the effects of the hokey pokey were long gone. I kept telling them that I was going to stand here all day if I had to to get my picture. But really I couldn't because the clouds were quickly rolling out.
Finally I felt like the pictures I took could maybe work. At that point Cody sat on the fence and refused to move until he could get the "perfect picture" of him pushing the girls off the fence. One more round of family harmony and Cody was satisfied with this picture.
It really wasn't all that bad looking back on it, but there actually were times when Jaycee and I just stood and laughed at how much Cody hates to sit still and have his picture taken.
I am pretty pleased with how a few of the pictures turned out. If I could just take a deep breath and have a little more patience, I'm sure that we could get these things done in a fraction of the time. But, in the meantime, I don't think I'll be doing this professionally any time soon.

The STAR wore Sketchers

Today was the first day of school for us. Cody's in first grade this year. Because his teacher is in our ward she asked if Cody wanted to be the STAR on the first day of school. He got to make a poster telling all about himself, be the teachers helper and most importantly, the line leader. We worked on his poster yesterday morning and last night he was so excited that he couldn't wait.

I went in to wake him up this morning and found that my star had worn his new school shoes and shorts to bed, "Ya know mom, so I was ready faster."
Anyway, my little munchkins went off to school bright and early and had a great day.

Summer is wonderful, I will miss it terribly, but having all three kids in school all day is a little exciting to me.

My Little Girl is growing up

My Jaycee turned twelve today. It's funny how fast time flies. I have been so blessed to have this daughter of mine and I can see time going so quickly.

Just last week she was four and had the cutest smile in the world.

And then she lost her first tooth on her sixth birthday. She also got glasses that year which just added to her character.

I could really start to see the little girl leaving and some independence show up at nine. She got contacts and started having quite an opinion on clothes and hairstyles.
And now we're onto middle school, braces, make up, mood swings and (ugh!) boys. Yet I love her more every day. Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!!