A bit of catch up

Where to start.  If you want to jump to the more exciting stuff, look toward the end of the post.  I'm going chronological here.  Well, here is a family photo taken at our picnic on the courthouse lawn on our anniversary.  It's just around the corner from Caleb's job and is very nice to relax at.

A few days later, we attended a little friend's birthday party.  Anita has decided that since all of her kids birthdays are in the winter, she will celebrate the half-birthdays instead in the spring/summer when it's nice to be outside.

My two favorite people on a Saturday morning.

Caleb's folks came out last week for a long weekend, leaving today.  Kale'a warmed up to them fairly quickly reading books and sitting with them, etc.  Here is a picture of Kale'a and her "I'm now independent" hiking skills.

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago Caleb and my brother-in-law had the grand idea of sending me and my sister to Phoenix overnight (by ourselves!) to go garage saling!  That was this Friday and we took our friend Marti and stayed with Aimee's sister-in-law Faith.  It was very nice to be free from responsibility and "helpless" children for 24 hours!  We were very successful in our shopping, maxing out the space in our car.  And I was in for a surprise when I returned home!  Before I could walk in the door Caleb blindfolded me and walked me through the house.  To my very great surprise he had finished renovating the backyard!  We had talked about what we were going to do and were halfway through the process but I was sure it would take several more weeks to complete.  Surprise!  What we did was chop down the aspen tree in the backyard because the root system was making the pavers uneven and dangerous.  Also, we discovered later the ants were eating the core of the tree and killing it.  Then we wanted to remove the pavers and install artificial grass to make it kid friendly and easy maintenance if we ever turn it into a rental.  It is a townhouse so you will notice the backyard is on the small side but it is very doable with small children.  Anyway, here are pictures for your enjoyment!

Before, but after we cut down the tree and had pavers removed.

After.  I will use the buckets by the fence for tomatoes and zucchini this summer!

The tree (now firewood) used to be where the swing is.

Enjoying bubbles before church.