May's Backyard Progress...

So the backyard is taking over my life. I start in the morning and try to get at least an hour of work done before the kids need help getting ready for school.  A lot of days I can get 2 hours in. Most days I'm out there by 6:00 or 6:30.  I've stopped running because I'm so exhausted from shoveling and raking that I can't manage to do anything else for exercise. This backyard is taking all of me. However, things are coming along. First I got the sprinkler pipe laid and buried. Things would definitely go a lot faster if I'd stop changing my mind and going back and forth about how I wanted it to be. 

Blowing out my gloves

I redid the irrigation control box three times. Change the valves at least twice. 

The littles keep flooding the back yard to make mud and undo my progress a little.  

I kept thinking that the grass was going to be too low so I kept adding manure and dirt trying to raise the level of it. It's really beautiful first thing in the morning, and I've enjoyed the work out there a lot.

I hired some guys to come do the cement curbing, turned out great. And then it was time for sod.

I got the sod on a weekday, dumb because nobody could help me. But part of me likes to do it all by myself anyway. So I laid 391 square feet of sod all by myself. I pretty much couldn't use my arms for the next 2 days.

That stuff is heavy! But it is gorgeous!

I purchased and planted grapes along the back fence too!

Grass is settling in well!

Uncovered more rocks.  Bah!

Step by step, it's coming along.

End of School Year Bonfire!

We gathered with friends to celebrate the end of the school year!  We took a bunch of pallets out to the desert and set them on fire.  Merril brought a flare gun to set it ablaze!  It took off!

It got hot so we all had to stand waaayyyy back!

ALSO, Merril had another cancer scan and he is all clear!!!  He'll need scans every 6 months or so for 5 years and after that, they won't even check him anymore!  I've felt very blessed this year that 1-the cancer was caught early, 2-it hadn't spread to any other organs, 3-that we live in a modern time that surgery and cures are possible, and 4-that we already have life insurance on him!  There is much to be grateful for!

Buddies...

These guys love to go mountain biking together.  Merril, Collin Phipps, Jack, and Logan Phipps!  

Cherry picking...

I saw on Facebook that our neighbor picked cherries at a farm in Hurricane. I had no idea that we had a Cherry Farm in hurricane! We went with our buckets and we got all too many cherries. We ate a lot of them and I froze some of them.

I also made a cherry pie!  YUMMY!

Silly faces...

Clearly we have too much time on our hands!  That's okay.

Fathers and sons...

Fathers and Sons always prompt some sort of mothers and daughters activity. This year we decided to roast marshmallows where the fire pit is going to be someday. They were delicious!

Lambs Knoll...

Merril went rapelling with some buddies at a place on the way to Kolob called Lambs Knoll. So now he wanted to take us! It was actually a lot of fun. 

Julie on her way!

Mikayla actually did the first one all by yourself but was too scared to do the second one, because it was a lot higher.

We had to repel with the little kids, Merril went down with Mark, and I went rapelling down with Mikayla on the last pitch.

All the older kids did really good. Slow and steady and got down safe.

End of the school year...

Maxine sang in the choir and accompanied one song.  She played All of Me by John Legend and killed it.  I just took video of her playing, no pictures.  

Mikayla's preschool had a cute little program for the end of the year.  She did great!  Our neighbor Luke was not having it.  He sat in protest.

Juliet wanted to celebrate the end of the school year by setting her math book on fire.  It looks awesome!

Maxine 8th Grade Awards...

At the end of the school year comes the end of the year choir concerts and apparently end of the year award assemblies. Maxine got an award for high honor roll, which means she had a 4.0 during the whole year. She also got an award for the outstanding language arts student. It seems that it was only because her teacher really likes her, but she's also really good at language arts. I think it's a little bit of both.  

She's standing next to her friend, Paige Mangelsen in this picture. We used to be in the same ward, now we just live in the same town.

SAR Fundraiser Dinner...

The St. George Rotary Club holds a fundraiser dinner every year to raise money for Search and Rescue.  Merril and I went last year dressed in casual clothes.  On the drive over, Merril wanted me to look up the address on the invitation on his phone.  I started reading the words, "You're invited to An Evening of Elegance!"  I turned to Merril and said, "Are we supposed to be dressed up????"  He and I were both in nice jeans and casual shirts and the other attendees were in tuxedos and evening gowns.  I spend the night hiding my jeans under the tablecloth.  

This year was going to be different.  Merril and I clean up nice, real nice.  We were going to knock it out of the park.  

So....the dress:  I found this dress at a consignment shop that was going out of business.  I paid $6 dollars for it.  The sleeves were coming undone and they weren't great to begin with.  They didn't cover enough for me to feel modest.  So I went to the fabric store so I could make new sleeves. 

I purchased an additional $6 of fabric for the sheer fabric and liner.  This one sleeve is pinned on and it's coming together nicely.

It took some creativity because I was working with a side zipper but it turned out great!

We wouldn't look like fools 2 years in a row.  In fact, some of the other SAR guys said Merril was making them look bad.  

I ended up spending $12 on the dress and as I was browsing the auction items by myself, an older gentleman stopped me and told me that I looked "exceptional" that evening.  Daaaaannnnngggg!  I did feel exceptional.

We both did!

Backyard excavator...

We rented this little excavator for 24 hours and started leveling and digging sprinkler line.  The kids all wanted a turn driving the little thing. 

I looked at it when we were done and can not believe the amount of time it saved me.  We dug out some of the hugest rocks.  I did most of the digging and moved some of them but Merril was the one to haul the big ones to the rock wall and patiently and slowly positioned them so they wouldn't go tumbling down into our neighbor's yard.  He did really great!  I was pretty freaked out about doing it myself.

Now that all the trenches are dug, it's time to lay sprinkler pipe.  It would help immensely if I didn't keep changing my mind or realizing I didn't have all the parts I needed.  I must have run to Ace a billion times.

My yard was relatively flat when I started and I feel like I just messed it up completely.  Why did we have to dig sprinkler lines?  It's a process and I know it'll come together but it's such a gigantic mess right now.  I've been getting up early at 6:30 a.m. to work on the yard.  It's been cold but working hard is good exercise and it's nice to be outside first thing in the morning.

This is going to take some time but I'll get there.  Let me just say that this is my project, this is my baby.  Merril isn't really helping me with it and that's my choice.  Occasionally, I really don't know what to do and ask for help.  To be honest, I kind of don't want him helping.  Merril could have my backyard banged out in a week but I'm a tad on the perfectionist side.  I don't just want it done, I want it done my way.  I've been thinking and dreaming about this back yard for 11 years, and when it's finished, it's going to be great!