Week 23

{June 6 - 12}

Monday began our first full week of summer. When Josh came home from work, he used Ed's backhoe to dig out dirt/rocks from the area where the garage will be, in order to make it more flat, because the area was sloped. The boys played in the ditch that afternoon to keep cool from the hot temperatures. We don't always have water in the ditch on Mondays (our water turn is the weekend), so it was nice that there was this particular day!

Josh took a photo of this sunrise while he was working at the golf course

Starting the excavation project...

Still working on it hours later...

The boys using swings and tubes to make the most out
of the backyard ditch!

I picked the first-to-bloom Peony. I couldn't believe how huge it was!!

I found the 3 boys like this in Jonah's bed that evening. They're all playing on
their iPods; I like that they like being close to each other while they're playing!

Pretty sunset that night!

On Tuesday, we continued with the excavation. This time, Josh used his smaller Kubota backhoe from work to do the rest of the digging, because it's not as big and heavy, and it was easier to maneuver around to do some of the finish work to make the pad level. Jonah and Kanyon both had soccer games, but Kanyon wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home. Micah {reluctantly} agreed to ref the U-6 league, and reffed his first game that night. Josh and Ammon went to Men's golf league about the same time we went to soccer.

On Wednesday, we worked on hauling gravel, and leveling the gravel on the pad. Josh hadn't been feeling good all week, so Edward was kind enough to haul the gravel to the site for us. Josh first smoothed the clumps by moving the gravel around with the small backhoe. Once it was all distributed over the pad, then we worked by hand to rake and shovel the gravel to be totally level.

Totally level and ready for the garage to be built!
We had to stake out each of the corners.

Thursday was the day that the contractors and materials were scheduled to arrive and the work on the garage would begin. The construction workers got there about 8:30 that morning, and the delivery of materials came about 9:00. They immediately went to work! It took them a long time to dig the post holes because the ground was so rocky. By the end of the day, they'd dug the holes, had the building inspector check them, put all the supportive posts in, and cemented them in. Jonah and Kanyon had soccer that night, but Kanyon missed it again because he still wasn't feeling well.

The main branch of one of my peach trees blew over in the wind the previous night. 

Look at that beautifully-leveled ground. I was so proud of what we'd been
able to accomplish ourselves all week! Especially since Josh was sick!

Materials delivered

Beginning to dig the post holes....goodbye perfectly leveled ground

Still working on digging post holes hours later...

Progress on the garage at the end of day one of construction

On Friday morning, the construction crews came back and started work early. They got all the framing done, but were missing one bracket. They left that afternoon to head back to Montana, and were going to bring that bracket back with them on Monday morning, to get the inspector's okay, before putting the siding on. I went to town around noon to go take a college test for my Visual & Performing Arts Methods class. I've been taking the proctored tests at the elementary school lately because they have higher speed internet than I have at my house, and it's a requirement to have high speed to be proctored. Unfortunately, the school's internet was down that day as a result of some construction going on. I'd been studying and was ready to take the exam, so i didn't want to wait until Monday to take it. I went to the library to see if there's any chance I could take it in a quiet, isolated space, and I was happily surprised to find out they have a small room just for that purpose in their new building! However, someone was already in the middle of an exam and was using it, so I had to wait about an hour. I did some errands in town, and when I came back, the person just finished and I was able to use that room. It was a great space, and I plan to use it again in the future. During the test, I got disconnected with the proctor and had to start the process again all over, which was super frustrating. That's never happened before, and I wasn't sure what to do! I cried for a few minutes until I could figure out what to do to remedy the situation. Thankfully, after starting over, I passed the test! When I was finished, I picked up the Oliverson boys to come and play for the afternoon. They swung over the ditch, played on the hammock, and then when they started getting bored, I suggested they make boats to float down the ditch. They pulled items out of the garbage and my cupboards to construct their own boats before floating them over and over to determine winners. It was fun to watch their excitement!

The construction manager--on the right--was super nice to work with.

That Skid Steer was super handy--it dug the holes, lifted heavy materials,
and lifted the guys up to the roof.  

Progress on the garage at the end of Day two of construction

Kanyon & Aidan being goofy

Kanyon & Aidan pushed each other in this hammock,
until they were able to flip each other over.
Unfortunately, right after I took this picture, the rope
snapped and Kanyon went flying!! He was fine, though,
just a bit shocked, and they re-tied the rope and pushed
each other in it again!!

Erik, Aidan, and Micah with some of the
homemade boats. Jonah opted to not make one,
because he'd used a lego boat instead,
but I told him that was cheating because
it always won, and he quit after that. 

Kanyon and Aidan racing each other

Erik and Micah's boat race

The boys walking along the ditchbanks to watch their
floating boat creations. 

Sick, tired Josh taking a nap in the hammock

On Saturday, we headed to Utah for the Tolman Reunion in Honeyville. Edward rode down in the car with us, and we got there early in the afternoon. It was really rainy and cold, so Josh and Edward went to the Honeyville Park where the reunion was to sit and chat with family (Kathy and Tiffany were there, too), and I opted to take the boys to Crystal Hot Springs for a while so they wouldn't be bored and cold. It's been a few years since we went there. They soaked, swam, and slid down the waterslides. Kanyon especially loved the waterslides the most! There wasn't a line for them, either, so he never had to wait, which was nice. We swam for a couple hours, and then headed back to the park for dinner. It was still cold and rainy; Josh was freezing!! We ate in/around the pavilion, and then left to go to Grandma's house in Tremonton to warm up and spend the night.

Ammon

Micah

Kanyon

Jonah

Kanyon playing football shoeless at the park in the cold weather with a cousin

Hovered around the pavilion, waiting for dinner to start

Susan spearheaded this year's reunion, hosted by Uncle Ralph's family

Grandma made homemade vanilla ice cream for us

She had lots of topping choices to put on it, too. It was a lovely treat!

On Sunday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and then played for a while as we waited for Grandma's church to start at 11:00. Josh was feeling worse, and stayed home and slept on the couch while the rest of us went to church. After sacrament meeting, we had lunch, and then left to come back to Salmon. I drove most of the way home as Josh slept off and on. It had been 10 days since he'd been sick with the fever, chills, nausea, body aches, and fatigue. At first we just thought he'd had a sickness similar to Kanyon's--but Kanyon got better, and Josh didn't. So I told him it was time to see a doctor the next day, because we both started feeling like it wasn't the flu.

Kanyon and Ammon played chess with Grandpa, then played against themselves

We taught Grandma how to play "Village Idiot" with cards on Saturday night,
then we played it again on Sunday morning. Jonah and Micah played with us,
too, they had just already finished with their cards by this point.