Sandbox!!

Before

Boring! and needs.... Sand!

The fort really needs another coat of some stain, but that will be for another time. Too many projects!

But one day the kids came home from school and found a huge pile of sand in front of our house! We borrowed the Belnap's wheel barrel and went to town.

Char and Addy of course need a ride!

Oh, I know you remember your dad taking you on a ride in the wheel barrel. I certainly do! Only thing is that I don't ever remember wearing a tiara all the time. :)

I know you can hear her say...

Mom! Take a picture of me like this... like this.... like this.... I only included 2. :)

 This is what was going on in the back yard.....

Chanting... Bury him! Bury him!!

Gabe is a totally good sport and you can tell he's not complaining at all. In fact, it may have been his idea.

After all the hard work, we have a fun huge sandbox!

There have been people and toys buried, rivers and canyons built, and destroyed, and constant sand dinners and treats formed. I think its a really fun place to hang out under the shade of the tree.

The teenagers even play pretend with the kids! I am holding on to these moments because I know they will soon pass when they will think its too cool to sit in the sandbox and talk to the kids in high pitched English accents. Sigh. Until then... lets get sandy!

Just for the record, this is Isabel and her best friend Tessa.

We love Tessa and she's pretty much our adopted daughter. :)

Bea and Char LOVE her!!!

Thanks Tessa!

Garden Summer!

I am so totally proud of Chris. He is really doing an amazing job being a farmer on this tiny piece of land that we have in an ordinary neighborhood. He has figured out tons of good stuff and almost all of the plants are doing so well. (except the cucumbers, but I know he wont rest until he's figured it out!)

Some things that he's been doing in the yard have been: planting seedlings, compost delivered and deposited in the right beds, dozens of different vegis growing in the tiny yard, we made a cute pathway herb garden surrounded by strawberries, trimmed up all the bushes and grass, riped out old gross roses and planted new, killed all the bees, took out unwanted grass in areas that we don't want them, fertilized all the shrubs and trees with iron because of our stubborn soil is deficient in it, and then all the upkeep that comes along with it. We all have our chores and things that we do together. Its been a real blast being outside! I wonder why this California girl doesn't actually LIVE in California! :) I miss the sun and weather. :)

Things have come along way from these pictures, but I am not that far in my pictures and blogging. :)

And we're all working together! How fun!

Chris's Twin!

Have you ever seen Man vs. Food?? Adam is really Chris's twin! I am telling you! Some of the things this guy likes and does is just like him! Chris thinks that this show is great because its one of those things you ask yourself, "Why didnt I think of that?". Chris would LOVE to tour the country trying new foods at all sorts of joints and telling people what he's found and what to get! A food critic of sorts! Right!? (refer to our Boise getaway post!)

That being said... I have the BEST ideas! :)

I think he should start a blog like it! The Taste of Twin Falls, Idaho! Only LOCAL restaurants!! YOOHOO! (that is what we go eat at anyway, we hate the chains) We have a pretty good video camera, so I could be his side kick when we go out on dates and video him talking to people in the restaurant and go back in the kitchen and all that jazz! Plus trying the best foods to get and it would be a guide for all the thousands of visitors we get. hahha. Ok, we actually do get visitors because we have these and this. Awesome! We could make some money blogging too! See, I think of the best ideas!!
He especially loves it when I make up some cool thing for him to do!
It takes a certain kind of man to be married to me! THANKS HONEY! I love you!

Gabe's Bike

I told about the bike, but I didn't have pictures of the bike. Now I do.

Here is the bike he used to have....

Here is the bike he has now! HOT DOG! YOOOHOO!!

 He wants to show the difference in size.

 And how well its received!

Don't try this at home!

This is what happens when you neglect all the laundry while trying to figure out how to advertise a business.
Each basket is 2 loads. I would love 2 dryers today, but its raining and so I cant even use the clothes line. This doesnt even show the 3 loads already done! hahah. Crazy!

I wish I could just design and sew all the time and just sell stuff like that. BUT it requires lots of time doing other things too. Dang it!

Another instalment of dinner conversations

We were talking to Isabel about her Young Women Personal Progress. She said that there was a 12 year old young women (just like she is) that has a goal of getting her entire final recognition before she is 13 years old. We thought that was amazing! She did to.
Then we asked her what her goal was for her to get hers and she said, "Before I graduate from High School". After we stopped laughing to tears we both said, "We are so proud of you that you make totally reachable goals!"
Gotta love it.
hahahahahaha!

Hanging around after school

Addy rides a bike......

FINALLY!!!

I wont remind you how old she is, but she is finally riding a bike with no training wheels. When Gabe got his bike, she decided to jump on his old one. There is magic with that bike! Everyone has learned on that bike. hahah. Another key was Grandma Linda was here and it was about 15mins with her and... whalla! She could ride! Grandmas are the true magic! How many times was I out there with her? Countless! I am just sooo happy she finally did it! Yahooo!

But, Charlotte was wondering why she couldn't go as fast as Addy could! She was yelling after her. Our little street echos when you bellow and so Char has figured that out and practices all the time. I am sure all the old people on our street really love it. :)

Oh yeah! I have a 10 year old BOY!

This year I decided that we are going to do fun parties with just our family.

So, naturally, everyone talked me into it meaning having only 2 friends over for a sleepover. :)

Its no wonder that Gabe likes video games. Wow, how did that happen? Oh, yes, because father like son. :)

He really likes Mario. He wanted to have a Mario cake... out of cupcakes. He really meant that he wanted little mini cupcakes and each a different color to make pixels to make Mario. The kids have been watching way to many episodes of Cake Boss. Isabel is helping and it turned out pretty good considering that I am not "Buddy" the cake boss and I ran out of powdered sugar. hahah!

(if you know me, now a days, if i run out of something I am in no way running to the store. I just improvise!)

See, the kid is HAPPY! We served it the morning after the sleepover for breakfast!

Happy Birthday Gabe!!!!

And it's yummy and gets a thumbs up from Bea.

A Bike!

Gabe always looked like he stole some little kids bike. Oh, but it was his own. We just never got him a bigger bike. So, we gave a shout out to see if there was anyone in our church ward that was getting rid of a bike. Yeah! We found one! How cool! We fixed it up a bit and gave him a cool recycled bike! No one in the neighborhood has to wonder about his integrity any longer. He didn't steal a little kids bike, he's got one that fits! :) One more point for good parents. yes, i am keeping track.

For his actual Birthday I made Gabe a coconut cream marenge pie! Yum!!! He likes that too.

He claims he had a great celebration for his 10th birthday! :) Awesome! Love ya boy.



dinner conversations

There was an interesting dinner conversation last night.
I tried a new recipe last night. It was Ham and Apple Skillet in the BHG cookbook. Gabe says, "This is new... ummm... looks....uh.... Hey mom, if I eat all my dinner, as a prize can I just eat a big slice of ham out of the fridge? "
Chris and I think it's totally funny.
It wasn't that bad. But, I think I would have just served Ham and cooked apples on the side!

Isabel looks like she's grown up!!

I can't believe I made such a beautiful girl! And on the first try and everything! :)

THE photo shoot!!

Introducing...

Leslie Lheron Couture!

http://leslielheroncouture.blogspot.com/

Staring The Lheron Girls

and their friends! :)

"Let's celebrate the Country"