Week 15

{April 11 - 17}

On Monday, I picked up my (new to me) boots from the leather repairman. I found these boots in Jonah and Micah's "grow box" a few weeks ago, and they didn't want them, but I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them! And since I'm currently the same shoe size as the twins, I knew they would fit--and they did! I've been looking for stylish boots to wear FOR YEARS! Unfortunately, my calves are so big, no boots ever fit me. I never thought to look at male boots. These boots came from my dad--which came from his dad. He gave them to Ammon a few years ago, and Ammon didn't want to wear them, so he put them in the grow box. It was such a pleasant surprise to find them a few weeks ago. I fell in love at first sight, and even more in love when I wore them the first time. But then one of the boots started unraveling because the thread was falling apart. It only cost $15 to fix, and I'm happy to be able to wear them again!

At Family Home Evening on Monday night, I was in charge of the lesson. We had a quarterly goals report, to make sure everyone still remembered what this year's goals were and to keep working on them. We played the new game "Spot it" that Tabbi gave us. It's quick, easy, and fun!

On Tuesday, I volunteered to help the Drama Department for a few hours. I cleaned up the wooden floor, swept, and started putting out chairs. Then Darcy and I created a floor plan with the risers that the boys brought upstairs to the theater. Then we worked on labeling all the chairs, and I proofread the entire program that John had printed up. I thought I would only be there for about an hour, but since the stage was still getting built, the area was a mess, so I ended up being there 2 1/2 hours to get everything accomplished!

Wednesday was a hectic day. Micah had his first track meet of the season at Ririe. Neither Josh nor I were able to go, though. Josh was out of town because he drove the bus for Ammon's golf tournament that same day to Rigby, and I had committed to helping with the high school play's box office every night, and Wednesday was its opening night.

Ammon scored a 90 and got 4th place overall at the golf tournament. Micah ran the 400 (although we advised him not to), and didn't like it. He also ran the 1600 with a time of 6;38. Jonah rode the bus home after school, and Kanyon had scouts after school. I asked Kathy to pick him up when it was over since I had a piano lesson and then needed to stay in town to be at the play early to take money. However, my piano lesson student was a no-show (which I'm not even surprised about, because she does this to me AT LEAST once a month). Since I had somewhere to be in an hour, I didn't want to run home, and then come back, so instead I took myself out to dinner at the Junkyard Bistro, and had my very favorite meal: the coconut curry chicken rice bowl. It was SO delicious, and was a nice treat to myself!

We had a ward party on Thursday evening--a dinner and talent show. Micah walked down to the Oddfellows Hall on Main Street (where the play was at every night) after his track practice was over and waited until I was done taking money at the play. Then I took Micah over to the church, where Josh met me with the other boys. We were all a little bit late to it, which worked out fine. Dinner was loaded baked potatoes and a variety of desserts, and the talent show was fun! We've never had one before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The boys really liked the guy that did the whip tricks at the end. I told my favorite joke at it, too.

On Friday, Josh and I drove up to Hamilton to go to MQS (Montana Quality Structures). They had an open house with a 5% discount if you signed up for a building that day. We've been communicating with one of their salesmen via email for several weeks about specs and prices on a new garage that we've been wanting for about 5 years and are finally making a reality this year! We finalized a floor plan, paid a down payment, and are excited for mid-June when it will be built! We got back in town just in time for me to be at the play when I needed to. I had reserved tickets to watch the show on Friday night, too. It was unbelievable! I was astounded with the quality of the show that these students did! They've worked on it for 6 months and it showed! I was moved to tears, I got chills multiple times, and I laughed so hard during several scenes.

On Saturday morning, Josh and Ammon went to work, and I was planning to take the twins to their scout pow-wow at 10. When we showed up, though, we discovered that the Pow-wow actually started at 9. Whoops! Josh came home around noon, and started the project of clearing out trees for where we are planning on having the garage go. We hope to put it directly across from our house--to the west.

BEFORE shot - our plans are for the garage to be just to the left of the poplar
& will end in front of the big open shed where we currently park the motorbikes.

Josh pulling out the Lombardi Poplar
that we let die in anticipation of this project

Josh digging up the large chokecherry bush
that his grandmother planted so many years ago

Josh raking it even, and moving away all the large rocks leftover

What it currently looks like

We were planning on moving my metal shed to a different location, too, in preparation for that space to be emptied and ready, but then we realized that our current location for the new garage would be built directly under the power lines. We looked up the power company's restrictions for building codes, and we aren't sure that we'll actually be able to put our garage there now. So we stopped for the day, and decided on a new location just to the south of our house that we could possibly put it instead of the building inspector won't sign off on our first location. 

This is the first year that white tulips have bloomed in this area behind the
house. I just love it! This is the 3rd year of the tulips, and this is the most
we've ever had grow before!

Look how I found the twins sleeping on the Living Room floor last night!
It made my heart melt to see them sleeping so close,
just like they used to when they were babies. 

This afternoon was SO beautiful! It felt like summer, so we spent a lot of time outside after church and dinner at Grandma's house.

I'm laying on the new hammock from Mexico,
and Jonah and Micah are above me
climbing in the cherry tree. 

Ammon and Kanyon hit golf balls around the yard, trying to hit a target that
they kept alternately moving.