Oh MY, WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE!!

Well, we've all been praying for rain, and boy were our prayers answered!! It came in abundance!!! It rained really good on Wednesday, and then it came down hard and long on Thursday, creating lots of flooding all over town. All that water had to go somewhere, and a lot of it came down the irrigation ditch. The ditch was so full, the water coming so fast and deep, it wiped out both of LaVerl's bridges he uses to cross the ditch with the 4-wheeler! This was where one bridge was...

 This was where the really good bridge he built was, going to the rock walkway.

 Luckily, they stopped not too far down stream, so he can put them back once it dries out a little!! His water retrieval tank is over-flowing too!

 The water went other places too, our shop got flooded...

 ...its going to be great fun cleaning all the mud covering half his shop!

 Then it over-flowed the banks and flooded the garden and

the orchard. I guess thats called 'flood irrigating'! 

 The little walking bridge managed to stay in place!

I was really sad to discover that our basement also got flooded. I thought the house was fine, but our rain gutter in the front of the house, drained into the flower bed and then went down the wall and into the wood drop and flooded our furnace room!! UGG!! From there it leaked into the carpet!! We had to pull the carpet and pad back about 3 feet on two walls. I have four heaters going and two fans, so hopefully it will be dry tomorrow!! BUMMER!! On a good note, our lawn looks really nice and green!!

Our EVENTFUL WEEK!!!

It's been a busy, eventful week! We flew up to Provo, UT to attend BYU Education Week (the 17th-21st) and spend time with Tami and Aunt Nan. Then Lisa arrived on Thursday, so we got to see her too. We drove Tami & Ryne's car back to Eagar with the two boys, since Ryne has been here hunting.

 So we started our trip and left on Sunday, Aug. 16th, early so we could attend church with Mom & Dad in Mesa. After church we went to see Bret's family and then Lisa & Barry, where we spent the night. Monday morning we flew out!

 You can tell we are excited to have LaVerl take our picture!

 Later that night LaVerl discovered he didn't have his money clip/wallet, with all his ID and credit cards and we were flying out at 6:00am the next morning.  The HUNT was on, we looked everywhere, Lisa's house, Bret's house and Mom & Dad's house and cars and outside, etc. After many prayers, and much looking, LaVerl found it in the weirdest place behind the dresser at Mom's, a place I'd already looked! We were so relieved and thankful!!

 For Blake's #5 birthday on the 15th, I made him another super-hero cape, this one is 'Green Lantern'. (Note the projector and speakers in the corner of the picture, they wanted it moved, so LaVerl had a little electrical project!)

Blake 5 years old Aug 15th!!

 On Tuesday morning it was off to classes!! We were late for our first one at 8:30am so everyday after that, we left early, at 7:00am. It was so much easier to find a parking spot and get a good seat!

 This is the new way of taking notes!! Everyone just takes pictures with their phones or iPads!!

 Ronald Bartholomew was our favorite teacher, his classes were packed full of people!

 We took a few classes in the Marriott Center too. LaVerl wanted to see all the new seating and new big, fancy scoreboard!  NICE!

So after Tami went to work, LaVerl started on their project. They wanted their projector and speakers off the kitchen counter and out of the way!! So LaVerl had to run a wire from this plug, up the wall and come out  on the other side, he's really quite amazing!

We went to DI and found this little shelf that Tami painted white. 

 The finished project!! She was happy with how it turned out!

 Watching these two cute little guys is always fun, Colter managed to turn on the hose outside and had water everywhere!

 Early mornings snuggling with their mom!

 Too cute!  That's their 'tough' super hero faces!

ATTACK Grandpa!!!

On Saturday we met up with Lisa's old roommate, Megan (was Clark) and her husband Josh and 3 cute little kids, from her SUU days, at Bridal Veil Falls for a little hike.  Provo Canyon is so beautiful, green and lush, a fast, rolling river, and then these Falls!

We packed a few little snacks and had a picnic. 

After our hike we headed to the 'Creamery on 9th'!  Whats a trip to Provo without having some ice-cream!!  Its a must!!

Besides all this fun we were having, there was some problems!  We finally turned on our phones and found out that on Wed. our little Elijah was in the hospital, covered in a rash and bruises all over his body!! He spent the night in PICU after they had run all kinds of tests on him. The Drs. found out he has a connective tissue disease called IPT. (Immune thrombocytopenia)

Normal platelet count is around 150,000 and his was 3,000!!  Not good! He responded well and got to go home the next day, but his blood will have to be monitored and right now he's having to be careful to not fall and get hurt!! We are so thankful that he's okay and doing great!!

Marks family at Roosevelt--bring on the FUN!

Mark & Holly's family all came to Roosevelt Lake this last weekend for some fun at the lake house. We all arrived Friday morning, Mark coming from El Paso, TX and Holly and kids from Mesa. We hadn't been there long when of all things, it started raining, thundering and lightening! Going to the lake that afternoon got put on hold, so Mark took all the kids on 4-wheeler rides. They had a blast riding through all the big puddles of water, getting soaked and dirty!

 Saturday dawned sunny and bright, only a few clouds, so we were off to the lake!

 Even baby Wembley got in the water!

 Whenever the kids needed a swim break, Gpa would try a little fishing! He can't help himself!

 "Catching some rays!"

 Too cute!

 After tubing most the day, Kaemon decided to try knee-boarding and he got it his first try! He got right up on the board, got strapped in and proceeded to ride like a pro!!

 Marks little fam!!

 Then Milea decided to try and she succeeded her first try too!!

 They all had lots of fun on this huge tube that almost the whole family could fit on! Gpa did manage to throw them all off a couple of times!

 They played and played in the water all day, it was so warm and nice!

 The only one that got tuckered out was the baby. Those kids were still going strong at 10pm after a long, hard day at the lake, amazing!

A great day and weekend, all made possible by Grandpa! He makes sure the boat is running good, and that we all have a great time!

Food, glorious FOOD!!

Its harvest time!! LaVerl's garden and green house are producing lots of FOOD! His broccoli plants have been the best he's ever grown! We've been enjoying beets and beet greens, lettuce, cucumbers, yellow squash, green beens, tomatoes, snow peas, cabbage, cilantro, dill, and rhubarb!

The proud gardener! Now those are some nice heads of broccoli!

Somehow it just tastes so much better than store bought!

The heads are getting smaller now, but very plentiful!

 LaVerl got a picture of the ribs I cooked for the kids when they came for the 4th of July. This was after I grilled them, but before they cooked all day!  That's lots of ribs!!  YUMMY!

From this to ......this!!!

The only fruit we got this year was pie cherries and it was only half the tree. The other side froze I guess! We picked about 8 buckets full and I made 5 pies for the freezer and then about 24 pints of jelly!!  

 Just waiting for the bacon and lettuce!!

Its just too much food for the two of us, so we've been giving lots           away!  Wish you kids were closer!!