Summer Update

It has been too long since we have blogged, so I thought it was time to post an update! We have spent much of our time gardening, harvesting and have even done a little canning, but we look forward to lots more of each of those. There is just something amazing about eating food that you grew yourself!

James has worked on many projects this summer to make our home look nicer. He has found some great deals on Craigslist and even took some of those finds and made them even better. He found this buffet but after getting it home realized the bottom was rotted out. So, he put a new bottom and back on and painted it all pretty. It looks great in our dining room!

I have been having a great time teaching the Young Single Adults at church on Wednesday nights and decided to have an end of summer party with them. We had a super yummy dinner followed by a spiritual message. We then headed over the park to play soccer. They had a great time and even let the boys play with them. I was really impressed by how well they played with the boys.

It was really sweet when they let Jacob score a goal. They even had a small celebration for him. It was super cute!

After they were all dripping with sweat we headed back for cake and ice cream. Then, they showed the boys that even grown ups like playing with lincoln logs.

Michael even got a lesson on building roofs from someone who really builds houses. I thought that was pretty awesome!

Our most recent adventures happened today. We hired some friends to help us take out our pine trees in the backyard. When I mean help I mean they did the work and we made the food. :) Here is a great before picture.

This is after the biggest tree fell. That was one big tree!

I just loved this picture. It is amazing to watch such a large tree come crashing to the ground.

Two down and three to go. Now the first two were the biggest but it was the third that gave them the most trouble. After taking out a wedge to make getting it to fall forward easier the tree decided it was done standing and wanted to fall the other way. The boys describe the next stage as a great tug of war between the tree and well, everyone else! Our neighbors even jumped the fence to help. After tying the rope to one of the cars and pulling with another rope the tree lost and came the way we wanted. It was a close one but in the end we won and all of the trees fell without hitting the garden, fence or house. It was great!

And here is the end product. It is strange to be able to see the house behind us but it is nice not having dying trees dropping pine needles all over the backyard. Now we need to figure out what to do back there. All ideas are welcome. :)

The boys did a great job helping. I'm pretty sure that Jacob spent 80% of the day out back helping. We are grateful for wonderful friends who did a great job and let the boys help. They even played with them and let them feel helpful.

It has been a productive summer and a lot of fun. Hopefully we will still have plenty of fun adventures as we head into fall!