Butterflies and birthdays

    First, we can't skip over cute baby Beau wearing the dress I bought her in Australia, it finally fits! So pretty!

     And we finally got to meet Jack the butterfly. Of course we missed the official 'pop-out' from the chrysalis but we got to watch him/her stretch his wings and get ready to fly, that didn't take long either.

This all happened in a few short hours.

Saying hi and by.

Opened the door and off he/she flew.

This was a fun time.

     And then it was McClane's 10th birthday on Wednesday. He was sure excited to get his balloons and the Nintendo Switch he's been begging for, for months. He also requested a strawberry jello-cheesecake. I don't think it was as good as he expected but oh well, we'll know better for next time.

    So that was a good week! We're sure excited for General Conference weekend! We've got our food plans in motion and it promises to be a great weekend full of spiritual enlightenment, renewing and direction. Let the fun begin!

Good stuff

     Lots of fun things this week but no pet butterfly has emerged from the chrysalis but hopefully soon. McClane got to do the infamous Utah-shaped-cake project at school. It was a success and eating the 'topography' was the best part.

     Even 'Cat Cat' a.k.a. Sapphire thinks Isaac's car is cool.

     And sometimes I just have to document the simple moments like doing homework without throwing a tantrum.

    I went to a fun boutique and found a booth where they were making up different jewelry items with stones from many different temples and when they had this pretty stone from the Logan Temple I couldn't resist.

   I also couldn't resist picking up a couple cute clothing items for Beau. (I think that's the only reason Kayli invites me to go to this boutique because she knows I'll inevitably find something I just have to buy for Beau.)

      Charlie was so excited to share her tricycle with Beau.

   Here are a couple short videos of Charlie and Beau in action on the trike.

     And for some reason I'm feeling sentimental and had to capture some hand holding. I'm never sad to have a photo that reminds me of simple happiness.

     And how gorgeous are the neighbors flowers!? I'm so happy he shares!

     And not only did Beau ride the trike she also came over with a big announcement! What!?!? Bring on grandbaby #2!

     Best promotion I ever got was to big sister status and I'm sure Beau will love it just as much. Siblings are priceless!
     There was also a fun motorcycle ride to end the week but I'm always enjoying them too much to take a photo. Just know that the colors in the canyon were spectacular!

Friends, fun and caterpillars

     We've had a nice week. Friends, new pets, pet friends and the cutest grandbaby!

Our cute neighbor decided Charlie's bike was cooler to ride then his own. His smile says it all.

Georgia and Greg cuddling on the bed. (Note her paw on his neck, which he may or may not have placed there.)

     Kayli, Tanner and cute Beau like to update photos on Sunday visits.

This photo is blurry because she rarely stops moving but I had to catch her naughtiness in progress.

     Isaac finally let me take his car, "Jade", for a ride. I had the four youngest kids with me and had Carter catch proof with my camera. The top photo is me trying to look cool and the bottom photo is how I'm really feeling. So fun!

      And I forgot to mention we have a pet caterpillar, Jack, and in less then two weeks his progress is amazing! I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo on day one but here's photos from the last two days. When I tell you he went from caterpillar to chrysalis in a matter of hours I'm not kidding! So amazing how quickly this process goes and it's even more amazing how much poop a little caterpillar can produce from just munching on leaves all day!

Jack the Caterpillar. This photo of him shaped like a 'J' was literally taken in the morning and the photo below of him as a chrysalis was later that same day.

We can't wait to meet Jack the Butterfly in 7 to 8 days.

     And Miss Georgia has begun her first heat cycle and also had her first visit from our little buddy Ollie who is actually a 'stud' for the same breeding program Georgia's a part of. Thankfully they haven't gotten frisky during the visit and Ollie will be headed home in just a couple days.

Georgia's great about sharing her bed but not her treats.

      So there's the highlights. The only downer from this week was Isaac being sent home from school for two weeks because one of his classmates tested positive for Covid and apparently Isaac was close enough to this person to require a two week quarantine. Not the best news he's gotten but he's doing what he can online to keep his grades up. All I can say is people need to wake up and stop getting tested!!! Just stay home if you're sick and wash your hands! Can we just see some common sense for a change! Go away Covid!

Living the dream!

     Our paver project is pretty much done and now I've got to crack the whip for the next project, either new shutters or the back fence redo. Today Greg has plans to clean out the motorcycle's carburetor. We've been on a few rides over the past few weeks and the carburetor is definitely not running smoothly. There's probably a clog somewhere that's limiting the fuel flow. I'm sure Greg will have it fixed and running smoothly again soon. I sure do love our bike rides!

     Greg made some amazing Barria tacos last weekend and our hispanic friends joined us to give their vote on whether they were good or not. I think they passed and Charlie never tires of hanging out with their cute boys.

Cute baby Joaquin, Charlie and Julius.

     And if you didn't hear, Isaac bought himself a Chevy Camaro this week. It's a 2013 v-6 with just over 103,000 miles. It's got a standard transmission, which was on his wish list so he's living his best life. I may, or may not, be living vicariously through him at the moment. He's lucky I'm letting him drive it at all. There's a good chance I'll be trading him cars on the regular. Super fun ride and what other senior at his high school has a cool car that they're actually paying for themselves, my guess is 0!

It's dark blue if you can't tell from the photo.

Heading home.

     We weren't two miles out before he had a car beside him revving their engine and challenging him to a race, ha ha. Good stuff. He's a good driver and we'll be reminding him regularly not to drive like a hot-rod d-bag! 

      And believe it or not we're headed into our 5th week of school! Lets hope none of my kids get sent home but the high school is near their limit of Covid cases so we might see a glitch for the older boys soon. Such an interesting world we're living in! Salt Lake nearly blew away, California and Oregon are on fire! Send Jesus!!

Kind of finished

     This project is nearly done. It looks done to those who see it but there's still more seal that needs to be applied before Greg will be satisfied but we have to wait for the seal to be delivered. I'm actually a little disappointed with the end result, the color isn't quite like it was before the sand and seal so we may end up putting a stain over the top to darken things up a bit but we'll wait and see how it looks after the final seal and wash off.

This is before sand.

All the pavers are in now it's ready for sand and seal.

Here comes the sand.

Applying the seal. 

Not the best time to take a photo but you get the idea.

     Aside from the paver project the kids have all made it through another full week of school without any issues. Sunday ice cream is still going strong. The weather is still dry and warm. Life is good.

New project

       We had another fun Sunday evening with five different flavors of ice cream to enjoy. We also had lots of visitors, which was great. I also got to see my brother and his family Monday evening but I was so overwhelmed with driving myself and the four youngest kids to Sugarhouse Park that I never thought to take a photo to document the small reunion. We had a great visit though and I survived the freeway.

Key lime, banana cream, peanut butter & Oreo, Vanilla, and peach cobbler.

    Greg has been working hard on the newest project, a paver path in front of the new front porch. It's been a lot of work with digging, measuring, leveling, compacting, etc. but he's had some help and he's put a little time in nearly every night and today there's a good chance it will be finished.

Carter and his buddies were kind enough to add their muscle for a couple hours last Saturday.

Our neighbor was a big help and motivator.

Charlie was also trying to add her 'muscle'. (Bless her heart!)

     I had a surprise visit from cute little Beau. (Oh and Kayli stopped by too.) She's the best!

    Back to the paver project progress. 

Road base and then sand all compacted down and leveled.

Finally! Here come the pavers!

     Happily we made it through another week of school. So far only one class at the high school has had to be sent home to quarantine and luckily that wasn't one of my kids classes. There's actually not that many positive cases throughout the whole school district so, fingers crossed, we won't be shut down any time soon. Now back to the paver project! Tune in next week for finished photos.

Motorcycle ride, ice cream and a new school year

     It's been a weird but great week. The weekend motorcycle ride was super fun. A little longer then we initially planned but no regrets! And our Sunday evening ice cream making was a little sparse on neighbors but, still fun, with lots of yummy ice cream to enjoy. And the kids started school and made it the whole week without any school shut downs. Fingers crossed we get another full week!!

Lunch at Chubby's is always a good idea!

Long hair, don't care.

Seriously though, why the long hair and why don't they care?!

Brock came out to help for the first time all summer!

First day of school for these three!

Brock headed out for 7th grade at the middle school.

McClane is starting 4th grade.

Charlie's now a second grader.

Technically this was their second day, the first day they left too early for me to catch a photo. My two high schoolers, Isaac's a senior and Carter's a sophomore.

And these two pups are hoping schools shut down again so they get more loves throughout the day.

    And Greg finally started the front walkway project. It's not going to be done swiftly but you know it will be done right!

Dig the hole, fill with road-base, compact it, cover in sand, compact some more, put in pavers, cover with more sand. Why does it always have to be so many steps!?

     Well that's our week. Greg and I took another motorcycle ride today in hopes of getting a bison burger in Kamas, but once again, Greg was denied. Lets hope we get a third try and have better luck. We couldn't dine-in so we found a table and bench outside at a neighboring store and the owner was kind enough to bring out a couple extra chairs for us and our friends. We were worried they were going to send us away but were pleasantly surprised by their kindness. The worlds not all bad.