Labor Day Weekend 2013- Operation Patio

While many people spend their Labor Day weekend shopping, vacationing or relaxing, it seems to have become a tradition at our house to spend it doing real hard labor. Last year's labor day weekend, with help from Kyle's family, we painted the playroom and put up a tree ring around the tree in our front yard.

This year: Operation Patio.

It started with 5 hours of loading and unloading 5 tons of gravel and 2 tons of sand.

The cheapest way to get the sand and gravel we needed ended up being to get it directly from the source. The place where the big construction semi-trucks go to fill up on material. We rented a Home Depot truck and Papa Hill and I spent a good part of the day getting what we needed. It was quite the experience. We had to drive in, weigh, drive down into a deep pit with huge mounds of varying degrees of sand and gravel, load up, and weigh again upon leaving. Us, in our little Home Depot truck, playing with the big boys- the big dirt hauling semi-trucks. The Home Depot truck only held 1.5 tons, so we had to make multiple trips to get enough for the patio. Thankfully, the truck was loaded up by a huge bulldozer. The 1.5 tons was barely anything in his big scoop. We felt a little silly getting so little, which also felt like so much! But, bringing it home, we had to unload it ourselves, shovelful by shovelful.

I forgot to take a before picture of what the yard looked like. (FYI, we very much neglected our backyard on purpose. We have the intent to kill the grass and completely start over. That is partially why our yard looks so horrible. The other part is because it really is just that horrible.) This is what I have. So...

Before

After

Here is the in between:

It began with moving some sprinkler line.

And then busting up some concrete.

Hailey even did her own concrete busting.

Once the sprinkler line was all put back together, then the real work on the patio could begin. We started with a base layer of gravel.

And then it started to rain.

That didn't stop progress. So next we compacted the gravel with a plate compactor.

Once the gravel was compacted a layer of sand was laid down. And then the fun part- laying the brick.

After the all of the brick was in place, sand was swept over the brick and into the cracks to secure them in place.

All done! Now we just need a new deck, new grass and some patio furniture. Any guesses to what projects we have in mind come spring? :)

Haileyisms- 3.5 years

While shopping at the store with Aunt Brittany, Hailey took along her purse with her wallet. Brittany went up to the register to pay for the items she wanted to purchase. When Brittany went to pay Hailey held up her hand and said, "Hold on. I got this!" She then pulled out one of her play cards from her wallet (we give her the fake credit cards that come in the mail) and held it up to the cashier. Brittany politely scanned Hailey's card and then her own.

One nice fall afternoon I took Hailey and her friend Grace out for a ride on my longboard. They both sat with their legs crossed while I pushed them from behind. Hailey had on one of her absolute favorite skirts- a circle skirt that flares out when she twirls. The skirt became caught between the wheel and the pavement and tore. When Hailey saw the rip she immediately burst into tears. I hugged her and asked if we should turn back around. She said "No. Let me fix my eyes. I need to get the water out."

After a trip to the zoo we stopped off for happy hour drinks at Sonic. Hailey got a small strawberry limeade. When she got to the end of her drink, she opened up the lid and exclaimed "Ohhh! That's so nice!" I looked back and saw her excitedly holding up a lime.

My mom went out for a run one morning. After she came back and Hailey saw her, she greeted my mom with "Hello sweaty girl!".

The morning after my mom got her haircut Hailey greeted her with "Hello short hair!"

On our road trip to Washington this summer Hailey did pretty well. Except for a stretch of constant, "Mom." "Mom." "Mom!" Annoyed, Kyle told her you can't say mom anymore! Smart Hailey then responded with "Renae!"

Out front of our house is an old planter box. Hailey loves to dig in the dirt in it. One day Hailey found some rocks and decided to bury them. She told me she was planting them and was going to grow rock trees! She said they are going to grow sooo big. So big she can climb them and climb sooo high. I hadn't planted anything in the planter box and weeds were growing. She asked me to pull out the weeds so her rocks could grow. She informed me the other day that her rock trees are growing. I'm so glad. I was worried she would be disappointed.

Recently.

Here is a little of what has gone down at the Hill home as of lately:

• Toward the end of August my parents moved from their home in Washington to a future new home in Utah. My dad's job was transferred to work in Salt Lake City. Yay! Family close by! After spending many trips to Utah this summer looking at houses my parents chose to build a new house. They are still waiting to break ground on the foundation. Should be next month! In the meantime, they are living with us and staying in our basement.

• Our basement is completely finished, except for the bathroom. Since we have temporary permanent guests (temporary permanent?) staying with us, we decided to finish the bathroom in our basement. Really, my parent's funded it, we're doing the work. Or I should say, Kyle is doing the work. I just help pick out what goes in it and take occasional pictures. Kyle has been working on the bathroom every evening after work and every Saturday for the past month. He is working HARD. And it is coming along. Hopefully just another two weeks. Or less. Fingers crossed!

• Kyle and I were asked to teach a class for a Relief Society activity next month. We are doing the class on repurposing and upcycling. I've been busy trying to figure out the best way to paint on glass for the hands on portion of the class. I'll share more later.

• Kyle's brother Kris recently got married. Welcome to the family Emmie and Kaylee! We spent the evening partying it up at the reception. Hailey and Keira had a blast dancing. Especially Keira. Honestly, she really stole the show. Laughing and squealing, dancing on Kyle's shoulders. It was hilarious. I wish I had video or pictures or something. But I don't. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the moment.

• With my parents around, Kyle and I have been able to escape a few nights and go on some dates. Mostly dinner in Salt Lake and then wandering around City Creek. We've also spent a few nights roaming the aisles of Home Depot collecting the endless supplies for the bathroom. Still, Home Depot with no children and just Kyle? I'll take it and love it.

• I recently cleaned out my portion of our bedroom closet. I had plans to give my unwanted clothing to DI, but found myself keeping almost all of it to repurpose the fabric for clothes for the girls. We'll see if I ever get around to it. So many ideas, not enough time or energy. I need to clean out and organize the sewing room- maybe I'll be able to talk myself into just letting go of it. I'm not a hoarder- absolutely not. But there is just so much potential in some of those shirts!

• I had a birthday. I turned 29. I really am feeling sad about this. My last year in my 20's. Wah, wah... I know. 29 really isn't that old. But I just don't feel it! Kyle keeps finding gray hairs on my head. He loves to tease me about it. I'm not ready for that. I'm only 23. Really.

• The past month I've tried to get outside with the girls to enjoy our last few days of nice weather, when we've had it. We've gone on a few walks, did a little longboarding down the driveway and along the sidewalk (the girls sit while I push- boy is that exhausting!), gone to park, colored with sidewalk chalk, and even took a trip to the zoo. I'm not ready for winter yet. I hope it stays away just a little bit longer!     

Keira: 10 months

Cute little Keira is morphing from a baby into a toddler. She is still definitely my baby, but I've noticed the beginning of her exit from babyhood and her eventual entrance into toddlerhood.

Keira is now crawling. Real hands and knees crawling. It has made her so much faster and she can go so much farther. She is into everything! Her favorite place? The stairs. And the dog food. Of course. (Dog? My parents, sister, and dog Lucy are currently living with us while they wait for a new house to be built.) I definitely have to watch her closer now, but she has become the happiest baby. Ever. Seriously. Before she would whine and complain for me to come get her, now she is free to move about, explore, or come to me instead of waiting.

Keira really is such a happy child. She has become so giggly. All I have to do is look at her and she giggles. You laugh, she laughs. You smile, she smiles. The other night she was hilarious. We were trying to watch a movie, but she was so giddy. She made her own game: she sat up, threw herself back onto the floor, rolled, laughed, and did it all over again.

Standing is Keira's favorite. Always has been. She is now pretty steady holding on with two hands, and sometimes even gets tricksy and lets go of one hand. She will walk if you hold her hands and walk with her. She is beginning to pull herself up to the furniture, or anything else she can get to. She tries to follow me upstairs and stands at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on the first step to steady herself.

Just last week Keira started signing "all done" and "more". I'm not sure if she totally understands them yet. She hasn't used them independently, but she will sign them if I say the words. Keira will repeat back animal sounds for dog, cow, bunny, and fish. (bunny sniffs, fish opens and closes mouth). She will also play "so big!" Keira has also started babbling "mamama" and "bababa". And she still screams when she wants attention. If she's not getting the right response out of me she will scream. Unfortunately it works- she gets my attention. Sometimes she screams just for fun. Like at Olive Garden or Chick-fil-A. As loud as she can. It's pretty awesome. (Insert sarcasm.)

I am so in love with this child. She is hilarious. And oh so fun.

Summer 2013- Part 3

Ready for another way too long post? I'll tone it down after this. Promise.

Immediately following spending a week with my family in Utah, we packed up our kiddies and drove the 9 hours to Washington to spend another week with Kyle's family.

After Kyle got off work on Friday we headed out. We broke up our drive and stopped in Nampa, ID at Grandpa Hill's house. He is always so nice to let us stay the night and go out to breakfast with us in the morning.

We rolled into town in Washington at about lunchtime- just in time for some Bruchi's. That evening was me and Kyle's 10 year high school reunion. 10 stinking years. Before our trip Kyle and I did a lot of back and forth on whether or not we wanted to go to the reunion. In the end, we decided to go. We were in town, plus, what would it hurt? Who knows, it might even be fun. And it was fun to see some old high school friends who we really hadn't seen since high school. I wish more people had shown up. It was good to see those who did go.

Sunday, Kyle and I left our girls and drove out to Portland. My cousin Aubrey and her husband Michael live out there. Michael and Kyle are actually friends from BYU as well. They were classmates in their industrial design program. Kyle has two other BYU ID friends living in Portland as well. We went to visit all of them and get away without our two girls for a short time. We stayed with Mike and Aubrey, which was so nice of them.

We packed a lunch for our drive. We planned on picnicking at Multnomah Falls just before Portland. When we got there the parking lot was full. So we drove on by. We looked for another place to stop, but kept missing the exits we wanted to take. We pressed onward and quickly found ourselves in Portland. We were starving and wanted to stop, so as we came upon the exit for the zoo, we saw that there was a rose garden and an arboretum. We quickly exited and drove around, completely clueless where we were going. Somehow we ended up finding a parking spot in the arboretum right next to a path that led to some picnic tables. Perfect!

Kyle packed a wrap. I packed leftover pizza. He made fun of my pizza.

After eating we wandered around the arboretum a little bit. We came upon some pretty awesome trees. Like the monkey puzzle tree. Look at how cool the ends of the branches look!

After oohing and aahing at the crazy cool vegetation (who knew trees could be so cool!), we headed to Mike and Aubrey's for dinner and then dessert with ID friends.

On Monday we spent the day shopping with Aubrey in downtown Portland. We took a mandatory stop at Fabric Depot- a must for anyone who sews. I snatched up a yard of fabric to make some throw pillows and another two yards for a maxi skirt for myself. Then it was lunchtime. Portland has a whole block full of food trucks. Kyle and I lunched at the Grilled Cheese Grill- Kyle's was a BLT-GC, so good! We then did some more shopping in search of new church shoes for Kyle. Success at Nordstrom Rack! And then back to Kennewick for a week of pool time with the Hills.

Kyle really wanted to set up a slackline over his parent's pool. With friend, Reid, he spent some time digging holes and pouring concrete to cement in some poles to attach the slackline to. It was good fun. 

Earlier in the summer Hailey had one incident where she was underwater for a few seconds and it has traumatized her since. Honestly, it was a little good- she had absolutely no fear of water, which made me super nervous. But, since then she was at the point where she refused to get into the pool. I wasn't there to see, but Hailey was coaxed into getting in the pool in her clothes. She did and loved it. Then she went crazy jumping in over and over and over... It was pretty hilarious. We're glad she got back in the pool and enjoyed it.

It was a great summer. Busy, but never boring!