August 2016 on FB

August 3: I have loved floating around on lake water ever since I was a kid...and it means so much to me to see my kids enjoy it too!!! Josh got us a new paddle board this year, and I got a new kind of float tube, and we've spent the last two weekends enjoying mountain lakes together!

August 5: I want Josh to look like this when he grows old. Also, an accent wouldn't hurt either. P.S. I love the Olympics! And how cool it is that golf is back in it!

August 6: I love Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics! Last night's event was spectacular! I especially loved the spinning contraption around the Olympic flame at the end of the ceremony--I was definitely wowed. The twins and I watched every single team come in during the parade of athletes--learning about new countries, listening to stories about all these diverse athletes, and critiquing all their cool outfits (Indonesia & Barbados were definitely our faves and the flagbearer from Tonga was a fun surprise). Here's some of my opinions on the array of uniforms from last night:

August 9: At Lava Hot Springs with possibly 2 future synchronized Olympic divers!

August 12 [posted by Ammon]: Fun fact: the Perseids meteor shower was shootin across the sky while we had our midnight madness run to kick off what's gonna be an awesome season with the crew

August 12: I just got a big piece of dog crap off my arm. How did it get there, you ask? Well, I was mowing around the outside of the lawn for kanyon (I always do the edges for him), and i saw a big turd in the grass so I asked him to go get a shovel, scoop it up, and put it in the ditch. As I'm coming around the edge that borders the ditch, my arm touched the hose that I'd just hung on the fence and i thought "that's nice that the hose feels so cool to the touch on such a hot morning". A minute later, I smelled dog crap. I looked at my arm and sure enough the poop was ON my arm. He'd used the shovel to catapult it over the fence into the ditch, but it went through the hose and fence on its way and just so happened to swipe across my arm as I passed it. Yughhcckkk!

August 12 [posted by Josh]: A great start to the day, Ammon!

August 13 [posted by Josh]: Apparently Nik thought the sand needed a good mowing. At least he knows to smile on camera. You weren't the only one "drifting ", Ammon!  #2daysinarow

August 14; Happy Birthday to Me!!! Thank you Josh for the date night, the gifts, the motorcycle ride, and for making my favorite birthday meal! Thanks Darcy for being my date at the play, going to dinner, game night, and for making the most delicious pie!! Thanks Kerry for doing my hair and the lunch date! Thanks to my boys (incl Ammon), Mom Ruth, Kathy, and Barb for the thoughtful gifts. Thank you everyone for your nice facebook and text messages! I sort of felt like a celebrity at church today with everyone's kind birthday wishes and it made me feel so loved! I have absolutely enjoyed this birthday! And the icing on the cake was spending the afternoon and evening at home just relaxing with my family watching the Olympics!

August 14 [posted by Ammon]: Happy birthday mom, I've been trying to think of something clever and cute to say that will make you happy but I couldn't think of anything cuz I kinda suck at that haha, anyways, happy 37th birthday mom I hope it's a great one, not too much longer and I'll be the one taking care of you 😉, thank you for everything you do for us boys, I really appreciate it even if I don't show it sometimes 😁, good thing I'm Not home so you can actually enjoy your day haha 😉, I love you so much and I'm thankful I get to call you my mom ❤️

August 19: Viva mexico! On a monthly date tonight with Kanyon at the Mexican restaurant. He's trying deep fried ice cream for the first time. Yummmm!

August 20: Best cereal EVER! And it never seems to go on sale, so every time my birthday comes around, this is what I ask for! Mmm mmm. Yummy way to start my day!

August 20 [posted by Josh]: Some days it is just me and the deer on the course. Enjoying a nice Saturday morning.

August 28: I keep finding these little man toys in the dirt around our house and yard this summer. So far I've discovered 3 (I forgot to take a pic of the first one before I threw it away). They're starting to creep me out. I have no idea where they came from and why I'm just barely finding them but I feel like a zombie doll invasion is happening! {p.s. I found out they are foosball guys, but we've NEVER owned a foosball table!!!)

August 31: Guess where I get to go tonight?! And with my sister too!!!! Thanks Josh for the awesome bday gift!

August 31: I love Coldplay!

August 31 [posted by Josh]: I enjoy my morning view on a regular basis.

Week 34

{August 22-28}

Monday - Josh and his employees (including Ammon) aerated greens at the golf course (the twins even helped out with raking cores early that morning until they went to the a.m. XC practice). It was a horrible and very long day for Josh; the tines on the aerator kept breaking, and he didn't have enough replacement ones, so after they all ran out he started using some older tines but they also broke, then the hitch pulling the sander broke. He was behind schedule all day, and it was a super tiring and stressful day for him.


Tuesday - I judged some of the open exhibits at the fair for my 3rd time and really enjoyed it. There were less entries this year, which was a little sad, but there were some awesome entries, too! Our family actually didn't enter anything in the fair this year, because our veggies haven't been too successful and we didn't think to cut any pumpkins in time to let them turn orange, either. Hannah came over in the afternoon to hang out for a while before leaving with the boys for evening XC practice. I went to a staff get-together at the Wilkins home that evening to welcome the new principal and some of the new employees. I stayed for a few hours and had a much funner time than I'd anticipated having! I really like the new principal, and I loved the casual setting, chatting informally with other staff members, and all the delicious food.


Wednesday -  Kanyon had his last day of CrossFit Summer Classes. Abby's dad picked him up and dropped him off, which was so nice! He had a good time; it was a nice change of activity for him from his regular daily regime. I worked on my college class all day, and submitted my final project for the Applications of Language Arts Instruction class. Family Fun Night at the fair was that evening, and I helped for an hour with the beer goggles kid station. It was funny to watch them try to maneuver around the obstacles with the goggles. I loved seeing some of the kids from school and being welcomed so freely and receiving lots of hugs! Josh and I walked around to look at the booths after Kanyon had gotten his fill of going on the inflatables. We got a scone and some ice cream from the hospice booth to end the night.

Kanyon demonstrating how to walk in the
obstacle while wearing beer goggles.

Thursday - I got my college project returned back to me with the request to make a few minor corrections; I did and resubmitted it. It was accepted--which means I completed another class. I've only got a few left this semester before my pre-clinicals and student teaching begins! When Josh came home from work that afternoon, he and I worked together to empty the contents in his shed and transfer them to the newly-finished garage. In the process, we found 3 jumpy mice and I screamed every time I discovered one (I don't mind snake or spiders, but mice are a different story; however, it's the opposite for Josh! He hated that I kept screaming over the tiny mice, but he reacts the same when he sees a snake!). Then we decided to move the shed to its new home in the backyard. Josh thought we could just pick it up and move it the 100 yards ourselves by hand, but I told him we should put it on the small flatbed trailer and drive it over. He thought it was a ridiculous suggestion, but after he tried lifting it, and the walls started separating from the base, then he suddenly thought my idea sounded a whole lot better! It was a little tricky, but we got it up on the trailer by putting 2x4s under it to give it something to slide on. Unloading it was a little more difficult, but by the time we were doing it (dusk), the boys were just coming home from practice, and with some pushing and pulling (and some cursing too) from all of us, we got it situated just right.

Sometimes I have good ideas--like how to move a shed! ;)

Friday - The Boys' had their first XC meet of the season in Rexburg. Josh drove the bus to it. Kanyon and I drove down to go shopping before the race, and actually passed the bus when it was at a pit stop for the kids to use the bathroom. Kanyon was so patient as I tried on clothes at D.I. Then we treated ourselves to some ice cream (it was a hot day!), and drove to the race which was at the Rexburg Rapids park. They ran the race differently than we're used to: they separated the kids into age groups, rather than by varsity, JV, and middle school and had 10 races overall. The junior high ran just over a mile, and the high school ran 2 miles (instead of their traditional 3.1). It was very spectator-friendly, though. Micah had a phenomenal race and was the first runner for our time in his age group. He placed 20th. Jonah also had a good first race, and ran the whole time near some other Salmon boys. Ammon was also the first runner for our team in his age group, and he had a great finish--taking 22nd overall. After our 3 boys ran, I took Kanyon to dinner and to see the movie "The BFG". We'd read the book over the summer, and I told him I would take him to see the movie when it came to the theater as his reward for reading it, but unfortunately it never came to the Salmon. We had to drive to Idaho Falls to see it, but he really enjoyed it, so it was worth it! We got home after 11:00, about an hour later than the rest of the boys did.

Ready for their first race!

Micah is a strong finisher!

Jonah is battling it out at the finish!

Isn't he so cute?!

He gave it his all at the finish!

Saturday - I emptied my shed and carried one load at a time to unload into the garage. Things that have been stored in our sheds (which were full to the max, btw) since the garage construction began in June were finally where they were all supposed to be! Josh helped me take a load to the dump of excess items and garbage that have been piling up, and it was such a great feeling to have everything looking clean and organized! Ammon, Jonah, and Micah went to the fair and rodeo that evening and they took the Simmons kids with them. They were also a little disappointed in the fair's minimal activities and entries this year, but they had fun at the rodeo. I had my last movie night of the summer with Jen at our house that night. We watched one of my old favorites: "Speechless". Josh surprisingly even watched it with us, which made me super happy!

This is now a parking spot south of the garage
(where the bike shed and Josh's shed used to be) 

"Josh's" shed is now at the corner of the dirt pile next to the lawn.

All the extra yard toys, lawn mower, and yard tools are
stored inside it.

"My" shed is now in the circular pasture area to the south of the garage where
we park the trailers. 

Inside it are seasonal outdoor items: pumpkin patch supplies,
pool and lake floating devices, skis, and sleds.

This is a view of the north wall of the garage from the walk-in door.
We will be parking a car in the north bay during the winter months.

A view of the south wall of the garage from one of the overhead doors.

I love this new spot in the garage (between the doors)
 for the boys to change into their irrigation boots!!
Because it means these boots are no longer
cluttering the floor of our narrow utility room. 

Sunday - We spent the afternoon lazily hanging out, which was glorious! I love taking Sunday siestas; I fell asleep on Josh's lap for a while that afternoon, and he even put up with me snoring for a few minutes and didn't disturb me! I love that man! Jonah and Micah changed pipe for the very last day of the summer. They've done a great job for Grandpa this year, and he was so impressed with their commitment and level of responsibility in helping him out on the ranch.

Week 33

{August 15-21}

This week was basically filled with watching Olympics every day, the 3 older boys going to XC practice every evening, Kanyon going to Crossfit twice, me working on my Language Arts college class every day and finishing it with the final exam, and Josh working on the floor in the garage after he came home from his job at the golf course every day.

The day after my birthday, I had the most delicious breakfast!!
I just love strawberry/rhubarb anything!

Ammon's girlfriend Hannah made me a
scrumptious birthday cake with strawberry
topping and strawberry filling, too! We all
loved it and ate it for FHE on Monday night. 

On Wednesday night, Josh built the framework for the concrete floor

We decided to pour in two segments: the two outsides first and then the middle.

Beautiful sunset on Wednesday

On Thursday, Josh watered down the gravel
and pounded the floor with a hand-held metal compactor

You can see the metal compactor in the center towards the back.
The floor is now all ready for the concrete to be poured!

Friday was a busy day for us. Josh and Ammon went to work early in the morning, in order to be done before the concrete truck was to come out at 11 (it was 45 minutes late, though). Jonah and Micah left to go on an overnight river trip with the Young Men's group as a reward for reading the Book of Mormon individually throughout the summer. I taught two piano lessons before noon. The concrete truck came out and Edward helped Josh and Ammon pour concrete in the two outer bays that Josh framed in the garage. It was a grueling task, and they worked so hard for hours to get the job done! It was Ammon's first time helping with concrete, and it was harder than he thought it would be. I took Kanyon and his friends to swim at the pool in the afternoon as a reward for reading books for the library's summer reading program. When I got home at 5:00, Josh was just finishing up scraping/troweling the concrete to have a nice finished surface. His hard work paid off, because the floor looked awesome! I took Josh and Kanyon on Kanyon's monthly date that evening to eat Mexican food--we ate burritos at Taco Grande and Mexican desserts and appetizers at Fiesta En Jalisco. It was delicious! Kanyon liked the deep fried ice cream and Josh liked the queso dip with the tortilla chips. It was a very fulfilling day.

Jonah, Micah, and Erik ready to float the Salmon River

That truck backed up as far as possible! It was about an inch from the garage wall.

Josh had to carefully walk across a thin 2x4 to screed the cement on the outside. 

This was a tricky area to fill and level

Kanyon, Abby, and Aidan spent the whole afternoon playing at the pool!
We wanted Brylin to join us, too, but her mom wouldn't let her. 

He wore the appropriate shirt to eat at
the Mexican Restaurant! ;)

Yummy Deep Fried Ice Cream

The Queso Dip is divine!

On Saturday, we only had to pour concrete in the center bay and it was WAY easier and faster than the previous day's pouring! The finishing work didn't go as smoothly, but I was happy with the end results! The twins got back from their floating trip around noon; they had an enjoyable time floating the river and reading the scriptures around the campfire and eating breakfast at camp, too. On Saturday evening, we went to an outdoor barbecue at the Simmons' house. Colleen made a delicious meal, and we cooked hot dogs over the campfire after it simmered down a bit. When the kids first lit it, it was huge, way too hot, and was actually spreading--thankfully Josh thought quickly, unhooked a sprinkler from the hose, and started watering down the surrounding area! That was exciting! Especially since after the kids made the fire, they all left and it was just Josh, me, and Jim near it when it began to spread!

Getting the floor ready for Day 2 of pouring concrete!

Josh finishing the floor by hand! 

Smoothing it out

Kanyon in front of the Simmons' HUGE
weeping willow. That tree is awesome!

The fire right before it started getting out of hand

All the kiddos as we waited for the fire to calm down so we could eat

On Sunday evening, the Deschaine family came over for dinner. It was Jonah's turn to invite a friend, and he wanted Nathan to come. They haven't been to our house for several years. It was a very enjoyable evening for us. We ate fruit, fresh salsa (my 2nd attempt at ever making it) and chips, and chicken enchiladas. For dessert, Leslie made a yummy, moist chocolate cake. After dinner, the boys played outside for hours: on motorbikes, in the ditch, and around the yard. David & Leslie played card games with us, and the Judy family joined us for card games and dessert, too. It was SUCH a nice evening! We had so much fun playing and chatting and laughing, that I didn't take a single photo! I loved it, though, and I felt so happy as I went to bed that night, thinking about the great quality time we'd had with friends and family.

Our finished floor--view from the north garage door

The view from the entrance door on the south side

We had enough extra concrete to even pour a sloped lip in front of it!