Funny story for the week: On Thursday Mama picked me up from work so that I could help her run some errands. We ended up at Costco and decided to get a bit to eat after making a few purchases. As we gathered around the Costco picnic table, I asked Underfoot to bless our food. He immediately folded his arms, closed his eyes, and began to pray out loud. Loud is the key word. By the time he ended his simple two sentence prayer, he was yelling at the top of his lungs. It is hard to contain the enthusiasm of youth. Mama and I exchanged chuckles as we helped Underfoot eat his hot dog.

Family
 We helped organize the annual community yard sale. We met lots of people and had fun haggling. We got rid of a bunch of stuff that we didn’t want or need. What’s left will go to charity. We both practiced using our Spanish.

L4f
 Sprayed the yard for bugs.
 Fixed the garage door opener.

Mama
 Planted four of the six garden boxes.

Underfoot
 Developed a new laugh. He copies the sound made by Larry the Cucumber from the show Veggie Tales.

K2
 Loves to giggle and coo.
 Has learned to roll over from his back to his belly.

Growth

My Auntie Lyn said she liked the bullet point update. She could go through and know what was happening for the family and each individual. So in honor of Auntie Lyn, we give you highlights for this past week.

Family
 We built a standard of truth for our family home evening. We traced our feet one one of L4’s white t-shirts. Underfoot really liked writing on clothes.
 We went to Phoenix and Mesa on Friday to visit the Harbertson family and the Mesa temple.
 The tree in our backyard extended it’s roots into one of our garden boxes because of the water. We moved the garden box and trimmed (pruned heavily) the tree. We were amazed about how much the tree had grown since the trunk of the tree to the end of the garden box was over 15 feet. It took us all day Saturday to accomplish the dirt removal, repositioning the box, and returning the soil to the boxes.
 We can see the Milky Way in a very clear, beautiful streak across the sky at night.

L4
 He continues to work on multiple projects at work. He enjoys work very much.
 He got to use a huge wheelbarrow (the trailer and Scout) to move the dirt. He said multiple times how grateful he was to have those tools.

Mama
 I have gone back and forth for about 3 months if I should get my hair cut or colored. On Wednesday, I cut enough hair to donate to “Locks of Love.” L4 says he likes my haircut but is still getting use to it.
 I picked our corn patch and got a total of 3 cups of corn to freeze. We will learn how to garden here. The corn ears this time were full of corn and without worms.

Underfoot
 As his parents, we are impressed by his growth in speech. It is amazing to us how he is putting together concepts and sentences.
 He loves to go on walks.
 Underfoot and I swung on the swing set. He would sit in my lap and on take off, I would lift my feet and lay back. He loved laying back and watching the sky go by.
 Grandpa K gave Underfoot a trampoline. He loves to jump and jump and jump. He will jump off the couch, into a pile of dirt, or off a ladder. We better be careful or he will break something.

K2
 He has started to babble and coo and drool and groan and giggle. He likes to make noise.
 K2 is rocking from side to side. He can push himself to his side but not all the way over.

There is the nutshell.

Peaches

L4 presented the results of his work on Friday. He has been putting in many hours to be ready. He felt very successful after he gave the information.

Underfoot wore big boy underwear and used the potty multiple times this week. We were very excited and so was he at first. We even bought him more underwear. Underfoot stopped wanting to use the potty after a couple days. So it was a brief taste of what will come!

For Labor Day, we labored outside and cleaned house. This is our corn before we pulled it out.
Yesterday we made pesto from our basil plants and canned peaches for home storage. The Utah peaches were delicious. It is what I grew up eating from Brigham City.

We continue to plug away at school. I think that I want more immediate results and struggle when Underfoot doesn’t want to do it. He is an enthusiastic 2 year old. What more could we want!

He's just taking a break.

K2 continues to bring us smiles. He likes to be tickled and smiles when his brother talks with him or gives him hugs or kisses.


We hope that you are well and that you know that God is watching over you and loves you very much.

Late by a week and a day

This spans two weeks.

Last week:
Mama and the boys went swimming at a local pool. At first Underfoot wasn’t sure about swimming and by the end was jumping from the edge into the water. K2 cried in the cold water. The pool is not heated.

Last Saturday I worked on fixing the Honda. I was able to get the exhaust leak in the Honda fixed for a mere 15 dollars. I spent some time with the air conditioning too. It works better, but it does not work all the time. The Honda needs some more TLC. The Scout always needs TLC.

Last Sunday winds came through our neighborhood and took down a neighbor’s tree. Our shade system of PVC pipes and cloth took a beating and were broken by the winds.

This week:
Yesterday, Mama, Underfoot, and I worked outside pulling weeds and picking up rocks. K2 took a nap in his swing. We made some progress on the weeds in our back yard. There seems to always be more weeds than time to pick them. In preparation for fall planting, we pulled out a bunch of our plants and worked the soil. We discovered lots of nasty grubs in one of our garden boxes and will need to investigate in the other boxes. Some of the grubs are the size of a silver
dollar!

Underfoot has a new game. I blow up a balloon, but I don’t tie it. I then give the balloon to Underfoot. He lets go of the balloon; it flies all over the room, and he laughs hysterically. He retrieves the balloon, and we repeat the process.

K2 is sleeping well through the night. He likes to eat about every two hours during the day. He is drooling a lot. I believe he is getting a tooth. Mama is not convinced.

Mama started a home pre-school program with Underfoots this week. Each month Mama gets a box of materials that have complete lessons for pre-school aged children. She spends about an hour each day teaching Underfoot. The time will increase as she gets more prepared and knows what she is doing.

Mama and our boys are walking every morning with a neighbor that walks her children to school. This is helpful to me because my hope is to have a fixed schedule. We get up and get going. It’s been nice.