Speedway

The big news this week is that construction on Locey Speedway was completed! The high speed track will officially open for business this coming Monday, although several test runs have been completed (without equipment.) We are pleased with the results. Underfoot has made several laps already.


L4 returned to Tucson and work on Monday. Mama and the boys returned on Thursday.

On Wednesday L4 participated in a heated board meeting. The board is faced with increased costs and decreased revenue.

Mama spent time in Idaho with her family. She took the boys to the orchard at Merridale and picked apples. She went to lunch with Grandpa K. This is cousin Mason and his Mama. Baby Mason is six weeks younger than K2. She took the boys to be with cousins S and S. Underfoot enjoyed a McDonald’s happy meal with his cousins. They returned to Salt Lake to stay with Grandpa H. Mama enjoyed being with both her Grandpas.

On Saturday we picked up our second round of Bountiful Baskets. We also had family pictures taken at a local park. The park was an interesting place. It is a wild west replica town with several shops and period exhibits. It was fun to walk around. They even have a 1/3 model steam train, although we were too early to see it in action.

Whirlwind

On Monday we did an Iron Rod activity for Family Home Evening. Mama and Underfoot moved dirt. On Tuesday our neighbors came and helped move more dirt. Why are we moving dirt? We are getting a race track for the boys to go in circles around in our backyard! On Wednesday the concrete guy showed up to start the process of pouring concrete in our back yard. In addition to the sidewalk, a patio and new walk way will increase our outdoor living space. We are excited to see Underfoot ride his bike in the back yard.

Thursday was a whirlwind of a day. We took a jet plane to Salt Lake City (SLC) to celebrate L4’s parents’ wedding anniversary. So in our preparations to leave town, we ran to the dump, clean the kitchen floor, did laundry, packed, and cleaned out the frig all before 10 am. Once at the airport, we ran to the gate believing we’d missed our boarding call to learn it had been delayed. We flew with NO problems. Upon arrival in Denver, the flight was delayed for an hour and half because the plane smelled so bad the airline changed planes. It had something to do with turbulence and vomit. We arrived safely in SLC and drove to my parents’ home.

Friday morning was spent looking at the changes in all the work project with K. and J. (my parents). Like this dance hall.... Like this future Mater truck....
In the afternoon, L4 fixed computers for my family while the boys and I got to drive around and spend the day with my Dad. It was a great treat! Unfortunately in the time we had we didn’t get to do all the things we wanted to do. Like spend more time with these folks...

Saturday was a full day of activities. We drove to SLC from Idaho arriving just in time for the luncheon at the Lion House. The L. family arrived, ate, talked, reminisced about the lives of their parents. One of the highlights was listening to the laughter and love shared between everyone.

The Original FamilyAfter a great slide show and Newly Wed Game, we went to the LDS Church History Museum.

Underfoot had a great time with his cousins while we were gone. He loves to play with the marble game. We came and spent the evening with my Grandpa H.

On Sunday, we attended church with my Grandpa H. It was a real treat to be with him. He is so positive and happy. After his church meeting, we went to the blessing of Lance’s sister’s baby, Angelina. Our family went to Temple Square to take a picture with the Salt Lake Temple. We had a yummy dinner at L4’s brother and sister-in-law’s home. We returned to Grandpa H’s home for the evening.

Auntie & Nephew are good friends.

It has been a full week with family. K2 is getting some teeth and has been uncomfortable. Besides teething, the boys have been great!

On Monday Underfoot wanted to take care of K2. He crawled into his crib, put his arm around him, and promptly fell asleep. They slept like that for some time.
Underfoot tries hard to play with K2. K2 laughs most of the time. Sometimes he cries, especially when Underfoot gets a little too excited with the ball. All the hard balls (golf balls, baseballs, etc.) have been put away. We feel so blessed that Underfoot loves his brother and smiles with him.

L4 worked a lot because he wants to celebrate with his parents their wedding anniversary this coming weekend. L4 was selected to participate in a month long specialty course at work. It is exciting that he has been considered for the opportunity. He must be doing something right at work (even though we as his family don’t know what he does).

On Friday L4 worked a few hours. He came home, and we went into town for an adventure. We ended up at the Honda Dealership on a test drive. We really liked the Honda Pilot. Someday we hope to be able to afford one. . . perhaps in a few years.

Switch of authors. . . L4 is now writing.

A funny side note- as soon as we arrived at the dealership, the salesman asked if we’d like to see their Odysseys (mini-vans). I said that I am not a mini-van driving mama. The salesman teased me about minivans the entire time we were there. All the while, Underfoot did a great job climbing all over the seats.

At one point the salesman told us how we could get an aftermarket DVD system with screens in the headrests. He pointed out that children were not likely to damage the screens because they would be too high for a child to kick. As if on cue, Underfoot immediately kick the salesman’s headrest.

After the test drive, we headed north to the quaint little town in the mountains. It is at approximately 8000 feet above sea level. When we left the dealership, we didn’t really know where we were headed, just that we wanted to experience something new. We arrived in the little village to discover that the only place to get something to eat (that was open at 5 p.m. on a Friday night) was a small convenience store. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of Dorritos chips, saltine crackers, and canned tuna and chicken.

Underfoot has mastered several songs, including “The Wheels on the Bus”, and the “Intsy wincy spider”.
K2 is good at repeating the same sound over and over again.

Saturday morning was filled with a new experience for us. We participated in “Bountiful Baskets”. Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op where people pool their resources and purchase produce, bread, and other items directly from a wholesaler, rather than the grocery store. The results are impressive.

Our first time out, we were able to get 37 pounds of produce for 15 bucks! We got grapes, plums, apples, a cantaloupe, pears, and bananas. We also got lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, artichokes, potatoes, and broccoli. In addition, we purchased a 40 lb box of pears for 12 dollars.

The pears were canned later that evening at a friend’s house. We didn’t get home until after midnight. (We did play a few rounds of Wii tanks and the cow riding game while waiting for the pears to be processed in the canner.)

We enjoyed listening to our church’s General Conference yesterday and today. It is nice to be able to watch the leaders of our church speak on the internet from the comfort of our home. We can pause the proceedings and talk about what is being said. We were impressed by the number of people who spoke on the importance of the family and how parents have an obligation to teach their children true principles and skills. The solutions to the worlds problems can be found in homes where parents love each other and teach their children virtue and morality. The other concepts taught were that of service and the value of hard work.

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.