Getting a Backyard!

It has only taken almost 4 years, but we finally got a backyard!! With the incredible help of friends and members of our ward, our yard went from this.....

To this in a matter of a few hours!

It was pretty amazing to watch this all go down! In less then an hour and a half more then 25 people from our ward showed up with their shovels and wheelbarrows to haul 17 tons of rock from the street in front of our house to the backyard. They came despite the drizzling rain. Some even brought their out of town relatives to help out. It is truly humbling to see so many people give up their Saturday morning to come and serve you. 

 Brayden and Conner did a great job helping to shovel rock too!

Landon even helped for a while until one of my good friends came to pick him up. Apparently he thinks that shoveling and sweeping are one in the same!

Trenches were dug for the irrigation system for trees and shrubs that will eventually go in...

I was totally shocked at how fast that rock was moved. 

Once the rock and trenches were done, it was time to do the patio. That meant hauling 4 tons of sand from our driveway to the backyard. Again, this was done amazingly fast, about only 10 minutes.

They leveled and prepped the patio area and started laying hundreds of pavers. 

 After about 6 hours it was done, and everyone was exhausted. 

We were so grateful for all the help everyone gave in planning and putting in our yard. The boys have loved it!

No matter if it is just sitting out there and enjoying the nice weather while playing with their Pokemon cards...

....or riding their scooters around the "track", they have loved it. 

The yard was made even better the following weekend when my sister and her family came to visit and my brother-in-law was kind enough to put our swing set together. The boys and their cousin immediately tried it out. It's a huge hit!

We were lucky though, because we didn't think the swing set was so long, and it barely fit in the area...we have just a few inches to spare in each side. The boys have loved it! I don't think a day has gone by that they haven't gone outside to play on it and/or ride their scooters and eat popsicles. Even if it's hot, they wait till about 6 pm when it's shaded by the surrounding houses and it's perfect to go out and play after dinner for a while.

I think I'm gonna love having a backyard again! They boys have so much fun, and Landon runs off lots of energy out there. We have enjoyed several evenings out there together as a family and we can't wait to finish it off. We are hoping within the next year we will be able to put in the trees and shrubs and hopefully a patio cover. It's still a work in progress, but we are so happy to have the hardest part done. 

Once again we are overwhelmed by the love of our ward and just beyond grateful for the service given to us, not just for the yard, but over the past year and a half. While Patrick can do many things again and is slowly getting back to normal, it is things like putting in a yard that are still not possible for him yet. The kindness and love of those we have around us is very appreciated and we just hope that we are able to serve them back one day with the same love and compassion that they have given to us.

Easter 2012

We had a great Easter again this year! 

It of course started out with coloring eggs for FHE. Landon was really fascinated by the whole thing. He kept stirring his eggs and smelling the dye. I guess he likes the smell of vinegar.

The boys all had fun coloring their eggs and seeing how dark they could get them. They turned out pretty great!

We were excited to wake up early on Easter morning to see what was in our Easter baskets....

 ...and the egg hunting began pretty quickly! They searched high and low and found lots and lots of eggs.

Landon was pretty excited about hunting eggs and putting them in his basket. About half way through their egg hunt, Landon realized that there was candy inside the eggs. So he was done hunting eggs, and he was now ready to eat as many jelly beans and M&M's as he could shove in his mouth. He so kindly sat there while his brothers gathered the rest of the eggs, even giving him some more that they found.

The Easter bunny brought the older boys some Pokemon cards. I really don't get what is so great about these things, but the boys were so excited to see that them in their baskets and immediately started trading them amongst each other.

We hurried and got ready for church, and I somehow had enough time to get a few pics of my boys in their Easter clothes. I let Brayden and Conner pick out their own shirts this year because a certain 9 year old that lives in this house is becoming very picky about what he wears, and if I just pick something out and he doesn't approve, he will never wear it. So I figured it just wasn't worth a fight, so they picked their shirts out. I think they did a pretty good job. They looked so handsome and grown up!  (tear!)

Then there is this little boy.... how do you not just love that little face! He at first resisted the tie, but a little convincing that he looked just like daddy since daddy wears a tie to church did the trick. 

Hope everyone had a great Easter!!!!

A Trip to Touch-A-Truck

Every year there is an event here called Touch-A-Truck where kids can go and see all kinds of different trucks like fire trucks, ambulances, cranes, tractors, police cars, etc. and they can sit in the trucks and turn on the sirens or honk the horns. I have heard about it every year.... AFTER it has happened. So this year I was so excited that I heard about it a few days before. I told the boys about it, and they seems really excited for it too. So we found a friend to go with us, and we headed over to see what kind of trucks we could see. And we saw a LOT of trucks and other big vehicles. I don't even think we got around to seeing everything they had there. But the boys had lots of fun, even though it was SUPER loud with all that honking and sirens wailing.

And we got to see Robosaurus.

Never heard of Robosaurus?? Well it's a GIANT robot T-Rex. They boys thought it was so cool!

He even ate a car. Like totally destroyed and ripped the car in half.

Don't mess with Robosaurus!

That tangled mess above Brayden's head is what was left of the car when Robosaurus was done with it.

We saw fun things like the Oscer Meyer Weinermobile.

And got to sit on Harley's and in Hummer Limos....

And we saw some different Police vehicles...

This had better be the only time they are ever in a Police car!

We saw several different fire trucks...

and even got to get wet at some of them.

Landon currently LOVES a movie we have called "Elmo Visits the Fire House" so he was so happy and excited to see the fire trucks and firefighters. As we were walking away, he said "Thank you Firefighters!" just like Elmo does in the movie. It was pretty cute!

We had to take a picture at the U.S. Forest Service booth with Smokey for Grandpa Shumate!

And get in this fire truck like Uncle Russ used to ride in. They boys thought it was pretty cool that their uncle used to ride in that big green fire engine. 

We also got to go inside a Hot Air Balloon. Like actually INSIDE the balloon part. It was pretty cool!

We had a great day! We even were lucky enough to run into a several friends that we haven't seen in a long time! So fun!
We headed home with lots of fun free stickers, pencils, toys, and candy.
I was exhausted when we got home, but it was pretty fun to finally get to take the boys to Touch-A-Truck! 

Sleepy Time...

Every night I go in and check on Landon before I go to bed. I have done this with all my boys when they were little. I just love going in and making sure they are ok, and covered with their blanket before I go to sleep. The other night, I found Landon like this and it just cracked me up.  Looks like he's trying to do a sit up in his sleep or something.

The funny thing is that both his brothers used to sleep like that too. So cute!!!

11 Years...

Last month Patrick and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. 

We had an awesome 2 day celebration. The day before our anniversary, Patrick send me a beautiful bouquet of roses and cala lilies. They looked and smelled amazing! Then we were able to go out to one of our most favorite places to eat dinner down on the Strip called Mon Ami Gabi's. It is the best!!! We got to eat our yummy dinner while watching the Bellagio fountains across the street go off. Those fountains are some of my favorite things to see around here. They never get old! Our dinner was super delicious as always, and then we dedcided to take a trip up the Eiffel Tower. We had never been up there before, but the view was amazing! It was a little freaky being up that high (it's 50 stories up I think they said) since I don't really like heights, but it was pretty cool anyway.  

An added perk.... since Patrick is "handicapped" at the present time and still walks with a cane, we got to go right to the front of the line to go up the Tower. It was a 30 minutes wait, and we didn't have to wait for anything. They had him go right to the front of the lines for the elevators. Sometimes his "handicapped-ness" comes in handy!

We got a few pictures with Patrick's phone...

Then then day of our anniversary was the day the boys went to the Nascar race, and we only had Landon. So we went out to lunch and then came home and watched a movie and ate cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory while Landon took a nap.  It was a perfect afternoon!!

I'm so glad to have been able to spend the past 11 years with Patrick. I'm so grateful for him in my life and that he is a worthy priesthood holder to lead our home and is such a great father to our boys. He is one amazing man, and I'm so so lucky he is mine! I love you tons Patrick, and I can't wait for another 11+ years with you!!!

NASCAR With the Grandparents!

Every year Patrick's parents come down to go to the Nascar races. This year they decided to take the 2 older boys with them. Brayden and Patrick had gone a few years ago, and Conner has wanted to go ever since. So when he heard that Grandpa Patton and Grandma Ann were going to take them, he was super excited!!!

The boys had so much fun at the race! They got to go in the Neon Garage, into the pits, and get in the cars. They had a very full day of fun, and were exhausted by the time they got home that night. Their grandparents bought them t-shirts, hats, toy cars, lanyards for their tickets, and lots of yummy food! They had so much fun at the race with their grandparents, they talked about it for days! I'm so glad that they got to go do this. They loved every minute of it! Thanks Grandpa Patton and Grandma Ann!!!!