Finishing Projects

This past week has been filled with a lot of little projects and a few big ones. Jeff borrowed dad's tractor and used it to work on the backyard. Here are a few things he's been working on:
There used to be a huge chunk of cement with some cement blocks that the previous owners used as steps. Jeff moved all of that and leveled out the area back there.













Here's a pile of some of what he's moved:













Leveled out the northeast corner of the yard and we're getting it ready to plant grass and possibly put in a garden area. Does anyone need some dirt? We're not sure what to do with it!













I've had a cold ever since Tuesday night but I managed to get a few things done, with Jeff's help:
Took the railing off the back porch. I like the porch better without the railing, it's a lot more open.













Planted flowers in hanging baskets for the front porch.

















Planted shrubs in front of the house. I still need to get some mulch to put in the flower beds, so they're not quite finished.


















Rearranged the guest room.















Moved some furniture into the living room. I still need to get candles for my candlesticks...














Moved the computer upstairs.

















On Sunday we went to my parents' house and had a huge breakfast with them and my brother Ryan while we watched General Conference. After it was over we had dinner and my grandparents came and so did my brother, Jeff, and his girlfriend, Erin. Later that evening Jeff and I took the boys to an Open House for some friends who are moving out of our ward. There are three families moving and two of them are neighbors, we're sad to see them go!


This morning Ethan got a pen from the computer desk while I was paying bills and he started chomping on it. I told him not to put it in his mouth because it could crack and break off in his mouth and he might choke on it. He acted all sly about it and snuck into our room, like I didn't know what he was trying to do. Then he sat down at the foot of our bed and kept peeking at me to see if I was looking. I just acted like I was only paying attention to the computer, though I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He kept chewing on the pen and I kept watching, hearing the pen crack. I finally told him to quit and then he wanted to know how I knew what he was doing. I told him I knew everything to which he responded "Uh-uh!" and he ran out of the room, pen in hand. When he came closer, I saw that he had turned the pen around and had marked his face without even knowing it! I had him go look in the mirror after I took a few pictures and he thought it was pretty funny!