Ready for Summer in our *NEW* Backyard

Well, it's been a while, but that's pretty much always the case with me and journaling, or in this case, blogging. In February, I "retired" from working part time at the Children's Clinic. Pregnancy and little kid germs are a bad mix for me-- I would get sick every weekend and infect our family as well! I definitely have a lower immune system when pregnant. So now I am enjoying even more time at home with McKindrey.

In April, we took a trip to Utah for Summer's graduation and to visit friends. It was a great break from the monotony of every day life. Just this past weekend, David completed his first 50K trail run around Los Alamos.  Crazy man!  His iPhone tracked him as doing a total of about 32.8 miles in his 50K. When I saw him at the half way point and at the finish, he hardly looked winded!  Just a smiling, excited runner! He recovered very quickly, too.

Our main devotion since March, though, has been our backyard.  Since we moved into this house, we have liked the idea of "improving the land" while we live here. Besides, we both don't mind yard work (don't ask us about that NOW....), and we LOVE being outside. I am sad I don't have many pictures of the actual process, but here are some before, during, and after pictures of our backyard FLIP! Get ready for lots of pictures. There are also some of our front yard, which we mostly fixed up last summer, but didn't require nearly as much work.

List of the major improvements we made in the backyard:
-removed old plant growth (grass and weeds), a large bush, and several bush stumps
-installed sprinkler system
-installed in-ground trampoline
-installed sod lawn, mulched areas, and brick edging
-cleaned up and mulched plant strips by house
-built and installed sandbox, compost bin, and raised garden beds
-hung hammock, swing
-created fire pit area on back patio

We still have a few details to finish, but most of the major projects are done!

Front yard:

BEFORE

AFTER

 BEFORE

AFTER

Back yard:

 BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER (sorry it's from a different angle)

 BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER (Again, sorry it's a different angle)

 BEFORE

AFTER

And, for those who are interested, here are some "during" photos:

This was so much work, we wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of so many wonderful friends and family. We are also grateful we were able to do it on a reasonable budget, since we got what we could for free and did all the work ourselves. We are way excited that we were able to wrap the major stuff up by the end of May so we can enjoy it all summer long!

Christmas Craft Project

Our first Christmas on our own, our first Christmas tree, and no tree skirt!  We had lights and ornaments already. What's a girl to do? I know, EASY! Make my own tree skirt! It would be so much more personal than buying one, right? (oh boy, seriously? sometimes I wish I would just simplify my life for myself and go with store bought stuff)

When all was said and done, this project probably took a reasonable amount of time, but it felt like it took forever, probably because I had to rely on the help of some babysitters (mom-in-law Julie and husband David) other than myself, which always makes me feel guilty and imposing for some reason. As much as I would have liked to accomplish this all during McKindrey's nap times, that just wasn't happening (with all the other stuff I have to get done during nap times like pumping, showering, reading scriptures, preparing dinner, etc) and Christmas was drawing nigh!  I wanted to have my tree skirt done! Luckily, with the help of said babysitters, this was done a few days before Christmas.

I got the idea for this tree skirt from a "no sew" burlap version I saw on Pinterest. Honestly, the "no sew" aspect of it seemed dumb to me, especially since I have a lovely sewing machine. It seemed like it would take just as long and cost way more using all that hot glue! Furthermore, I wasn't sure it would hold up well. 

I got the cute fabric from my mom's fabric stash, and the backing was an old bed sheet (maybe I should have gone with something sturdier, but this was free and I didn't want it to be too heavy in the end.

I am really happy with the final product!  (otherwise no way would I be posting it, ha!)

Christmas Card

Some News

Wow, a blog post is WAY over due. Oh, the fun we've been having lately!  And the big news (well, big for us) we have to share.

Starting with the biggest:
1. David got hired as a REAL LIFE employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory. So long student status, hello pay raise!  That also means we can plan on making New Mexico our permanent home.
2. McKindrey is a great crawler now, and can walk supported only by one hand. We have yet to encourage her first independent steps, but maybe very soon we will try it. It is so fun to have her more mobile.  She is also getting to be more of an explorer, especially outside.
3. David and I look forward to celebrating our 3rd year of marriage at Santa Fe, snowboarding.  Well, David will be snowboarding, and I will be tumbling down the hill as he tries to teach me. So far I have been successful at sticking to my skis, but I've finally decided to learn something new. Maybe next year I will get David to try skiing.

We enjoyed Halloween-- carved up our pumpkins and even splurged and bought candy to pass out to trick-or-treaters.  Sadly, we only had 11 trick-or-treaters, and ate about 3 bags of candy ourselves (or maybe that wasn't so sad)...

We recently got a bike trailer to take McKindrey on rides with us. We rode to the park yesterday and oh the fun. McKindrey LOVES the park. We go almost every day. The sand, the swings, the slides, the bouncy horses, the KIDS, the grass, the leaves, the dirty bandaids (gross, I know). She can't get enough of it all. The most joyful part of yesterday's park trip was that she climbed up some relatively huge steps all by herself. I so wish I had taken my camera to document the moment. But, David and I were flipping out and pretty much giddy. We are total dorks as parents.

I continue to enjoy working at the children's clinic on Fridays while McKindrey has daddy day with David. Other than that I love being home with her, even when every day is a mix of joy, frustration, laughter, crankiness... you name it. Learning to be a great mom is such a challenge, but it is also a fantastically fun and sanctifying experience.  Now for the good part, some pictures :)

Fall is here

We live just a block away from Chamisa Elementary school, and when school started a couple weeks ago, I could practically taste FALL watching all the kids walking to school with their backpacks, pencils, papers, and lunch bags.  McKindrey really enjoyed watching them, too. David started grad school last Monday. He is taking a class via internet TV, one online, and one for which he watches various lectures around Los Alamos. So far, it hasn't been too crazy stressful with working also.

McKindrey is growing up too fast!  I guess children do that. She's 7 months old now. She is "eating" (read: tasting/gnawing/mutilating) solid foods a lot more. She doesn't like baby food much, so she pretty much has whatever we are having, mostly fruits, vegetables, and bread. She can sit up very well now, and is starting to crawl like an inch worm using her toes and arms. She walks assisted by one of us holding her arms, and stands leaning against the coffee table or back of the couch. She is getting her first two teeth!  They are both coming in at about the same pace, her 2 bottom middle teeth. Other than chewing on a lot of things she isn't particularly more cranky.

I am still working at the children's clinic on Friday and some Saturdays, but I have labor day off, so we are going to relax at home, do yard work, and hit up the pool for the last time (it will close after labor day). We were planning to go camping somewhere, but weren't too keen on fending off the hoards of campers. Especially when it would be McKindrey's first time camping (and sleeping in a tent...away from home and her crib... or not sleeping at all, really). So we came up with the brilliant plan to stay home for labor day, and go camping the following weekend!  Should be fun.

Chantal, a college friend of mine, came to visit us in July. She and her husband were working at Philmont this summer. We had fun eating New Mexican food, going to the Farmer's market and getting smoothies.

We have been making home made pizza with chocolate in the crust.  This invention is something David found on his mission in Brazil-- pizza com chocolate na borda. It's delicious!

David was in a triathlon last weekend, and his team took third overall!  He did an AMAZING job on the biking leg of the triathlon, and his team mates were also awesome.  They had the best time in their age group, and out of all the teams that competed.

I just got a new calling in church, and will be teaching the 10 year olds in Primary.  Can't wait to start next Sunday!

Summer Storms

Last night around midnight there was a giant thunderstorm RIGHT OVER our house. I could've sworn lightening struck us, or somewhere very close by. The rain was so hard, the window in our bathroom started leaking! The most amazing thing was that somehow McKindrey slept through the teeth rattling clashes of thunder. I was so worried about her waking up terrified, but she slept peacefully through the whole thing. Huh.

 I love evening thunder storms in New Mexico. The smell in the air and the refreshment of the breeze, clouds, and rain are the perfect combination. We have had some really hot days lately, and with no A/C, there's nothing like a rain storm to cool everything off. David and I enjoy watching the lightening together, too. Today David and I are going for a bike ride! Earlier in the summer I got a new (used) road bike, and David recently got new tires for his. We want to take them for a whirl! We are also hoping to go swimming with McKindrey this afternoon.

 We have finally finished all our travels for the summer. We went on a grand total of four vacations, including three family reunions and one wedding: Cancun, Las Cruces, Zion National Park, and Silver City. For the fourth of July, McKindrey got to be in the community children's parade put on by our church. We also enjoyed relaxing and barbecuing at the Parkinson's house. Then we watched the fireworks from our roof! It was GREAT.

 Now that we are home for the rest of the summer, we are doing yard work like crazy. We finished removing some giant junipers from the front of our house, and now David and Scott are working on extending the back porch roof. We have many more projects planned, we will have to see if we finish our goal of fixing up the front yard (we decided tha back yard will have to wait until next year).

 One thing in our backyard we have really been enjoying is David's hammock from Brazil. We found the perfect place to hang it under some great tree shade. McKindrey loves to swing in it, too.

 Two interesting facts about us: David is secretly (or not too secretly) a total nerd. He is currently watching a documentary on Denali National Park in Alaska, and I keep hearing remarks like "Whoa, cool!" and "No way!" Ice worms and moose are crazy interesting. I am also secretly a total nerd. I decided that for a whole month, I am only going to listen to classical music (within reason-- I can't control what they play over the loud speaker at Smith's). It's kind of an experiment to see if I come to like classical better, and to see if I feel better in general, and to see if McKindrey likes it :)

 Enjoy some pictures!

Fierce baby.

Fourth of July Parade

Babies make the best expressions!

Playing in the Parkinson's new "water feature" in the back yard.

Grumpy baby on a long hike in Zion.