We're still here, but....

Some of us make look a little different....

Chelsea and her friend Isabel, decided to makeover Michael.

You can tell he loved it. I love all the accessories! Good job, ladies!

On a more masculine note, Michael has a battle wound! I was baking something in the oven, and Michael was leaning on the handle (of course, not remembering the billion times I have told him NOT to do just that...) and the door popped open. Michael burned the underside of his arm. It just took off the first layer of skin, so he was okay, just one sad, in-pain, little boy.

Chelsea lost her second tooth this summer. Both her front teeth dangled by a thread for about a week, before we finally made her pull it out. So gross. When I was a kid, if I had a loose tooth, I wouldn't stop wiggling 'till it came out!

For Chelsea's birthday party, we tie-dyed shirts! I have never done it before, so my friends, the Outsens, came to help. It was a lot less messy than I thought it would be!

And I think they turned out pretty cute!

We also made them hairbows for party favors.

For her birthday, Chelsea got a decorated room! :) more on that later, but here's a sneak peak:

My Sister Tami, helped me out with it. Thanks Tams!

Cheslea also just opened her first savings account! She is excited about the concept of saving money, so now I just need to provide the jobs and ways to earn!

 Michael took the picture...

Brinly is a climber, just like her brother. 

Her absolute favorite place to be is sitting  standing on the table.

Her other favorite thing is "talking on the phone". Oh boy.

She still likes the face to face interaction, though. This is her friend Clara, who just moved to Utah. We are so sad to see them go! It would have been fun to see these two grow up together! At least, they will be living in the same area as my brothers, so we will definitely be visiting!

I have a couple projects I'm working on, but first I have to finish my canning. EIGHT boxes of fruit! WHAT WAS I THINKING!? 4 boxes of peaches, and 4 boxes of pears. I ended up giving away two boxes of the peaches, and will start the pears tomorrow. We LOVE the pears, so maybe we'll just have to buy more jars...

In other news:

Our garden is on steroids...

 

Check out these Zucchinis! It takes us about 3 days to just eat one of these babies! 

We've already harvested 10 or more, so needless to say...we are zucchinied-out!

Brinly likes to help pick them too. Her face in this picture cracks me up!

My sister bought me the "Square Foot Gardening Book" for my birthday in April. Since I was planting late, I was skeptical anything would grow. 

This is what it looked like after I transplanted our veggies...

This was the garden in June.

I thought I planted some zucchini, cucumbers, and pumpkins, but it turns out, I just planted a BUNCH of zucchini.

This is what it looks like now!

 

(Try to ignore the dead rhodi and the blue swimming pool....)

I LOVE the cherry tomatoes! 

Unfortunately, I'm the only one.

 I try to make sure I pick at least 15 every day, so they don't get out of control. 

I think we'll scale back a little next year.

Anyway, we have been busy. I'll try to be better about posting more often...only if you'll promise to be better at commenting! Seriously, your comments is what makes blogging fun for me.

 No comments + no fun = no blog updates. :)

How to make a paver patio

First, outline your design with a water hose. 

Enlist LOTS of slave labor. :)

But don't work too hard. Make sure you go for a ride now and then..

Once your area is excavated, you have to measure, level, measure, dig, level, measure, level...etc.

Then you can compact it with a rented plate compactor. 

Beware: This thing is HEAVY!

Enlist some more volunteer labor (a.k.a. LDS missionaries)

Put in your retaining wall. Once again, measure, level, measure, level, dig, level, measure.

Make sure you have a supervisor...

Next, fill in the area with 5/8" course aggregate rock. 4-6" deep. Compact.

Spread and level 1" of fine sand. 

Lay the pavers! 

Then, crash.

Tip: hire your brother-in-law to do the dirty work.  

(Jonathan and my sister Tami and their three boys,  drove all the way from Texas to help us out! They did stop in Utah for a while to visit other family members, so it wasn't a straight-through drive, but still, a very long one!) 

WE love our new patio and firepit!

 Jonathan did an amazing job, and my sister helped a lot as well. 

I mainly bossed and directed them. :) They were so great to put up with me.

This pit is going to get a LOT of use. Thank you so much Staigers!

Before:                                                                                                                    After:

4th of July Reunion

We journeyed to Menan, ID for the 4th of July, again this year.

Packing is a little-bit of a process for me. This is my picture-of-the-day for my project 365. I have everyone's outfit laid out for each day. Trying not to pack too much, but making sure everyone has enough.

 Menan is a little town by Rexburg, ID. Rexburg is the location of BYU Idaho.

Now that we all know where Menan is, I can continue...

Most of Dan's mom's family lives in Menan. This year, ALL of Dan's sisters were able to come down for the Clark reunion. So, of course, that means LOTS of pictures. :)

I don't have any of the other group shots...but I love this "sibling picture".

These are Dan's fabulous sisters. Aren't they cute?!

They even let me join the squeezed-face picture!

When I look at this picture, a certain Sesame Street songs comes to mind "...one of these things is not like the others...."

Anyways...

Every 4th of July, they have a breakfast at Grandma Clark's home. Since the 4th was Sunday, we celebrated on the 5th.

First, we started with a flag ceremony.

ahh yeah..... That's MY hottie...

Then a delicious breakfast of the best-wheat-pancakes-ever, sausages, hashbrowns, and fruit is served.

But the best part is the company...

Dan's sister, Michelle, and her adorable baby Sara. 

Everyday, she had a different, adorable bow. 

It's about time this mom of 3 older boys, had a girl to dress up!

Chelsea and her second cousin (?) Hallie. 

(Hallie is Dan's cousin, but Chelsea and Hallie were born about a month apart)

Then great-grandma Clark gives all the kids a dollar to spend at the Menan fair.

I can't believe I forgot, again, to take a picture of the fair. Ugh. 

Here's Michael at the ring toss, a booth set up by our own Aunt Ann. 

He didn't win this year, but Chelsea did!

He won last year, so I guess it's even now...

Our cousin Devon, brought his shaved-ice trailer, so we had to support his endeavor!

"blue raspberry tongues"

After playing a few games, and watching the entertainment, we went to the parade. Our cousin-in-law, Mike, brought a huge flat bed trailer, to reserve our spot for the parade. It was packed, so it was awesome to have a place to sit! Thanks Mike!

(...again, I failed to take a picture....)

They had the chocolate-milk trailer as the opening float,  again this year! YAY!

After the parade, we headed straight up to the ranch.

We were greeted with lei's, hawaiian music, and  a pina colada!

 

while we were there, Aunt Janet turned the dreadful 40! 

They made this casket for her with a pudding cake inside.

 

It was SO stinkin' cold while we were there! At night, it got below freezing, and the days felt barely above 60. Even though we were camping in the cold, the kids were so worn out, they slept soundly.

Other hi-lights of the reunion:

The men cleaning/fixing dan's gun? Something very manly, I'm sure...

Michael hardly left this fire-pit. He stayed by it the entire time, finding all sorts of things to put in it. My little pyro....

Brinly got a new "do", compliments of daddy...

We called her "incredi-girl!"

despite the cold, Chelsea and Hallie went swimming in the creek. BRRRRR!!!

On the last morning, we always have a pinata. Michael went at it!

Chelsea swung pretty good too!

Needless to say...the kids were pooped by the time we headed home...

And I bet you are too, after reading this excessively long post!