Last week was my first week off from work. We got some things done around the house and got to spend more time with family. In preparation of my parents/visitors coming to our house, we decided we'd better move the rocks from our driveway. We are still in the process of putting them around our house in various places, but in the meantime we wanted more space in the driveway for people to park. Nyles helped Steve load them up and move them to the back patio.
Steve loading rocks in the wheelbarrow, and Nyles loading rocks in his walker. Not only does he use this as his "lawnmower" but also his "wheelbarrow." He loves to do whatever daddy is doing.
Now unloading the rocks.
Thursday, May 26th we got together for Summer's high school graduation. My parent's drove down from Idaho that afternoon and met Rose and the girls downtown at the Church History Museum. They spent a couple hours looking at the exhibits, then we met them for dinner at Chuch-O-Rama (Pauline and her kids too). Ironically there was another high school graduation that had just ended, so many people were coming there for dinner as well. It was crazy busy to say the least. We waited a hour or so just getting in, but once we did it was fine. I guess we caught the big rush of people right at the same time. We then went to the graduation up at the Huntsman's Center at the University of Utah. There were almost 400 students in her graduating class! Quite a bit larger than our 30 something we had in Idaho at Rimrock Jr/Sr High School. After the ceremony, we got a quick picture, then hurried home to get the kids to bed.
Summer w/ her Grandma and Grandpa Hegerhorst (my Dad/Mom). She's the oldest grand-kid.
Dad, Nyles, Mom, Pauline, Ezra, Me, Charlotte, Rose, Sophia, Ava, Ali, and Summer.
(Chris and Steve were taking pictures).
We had my parent's follow us home after the graduation, since they were going to be staying with us. My mom's foot is still healing, so she's still using a wheel/motorized chair to get around. Since we only have a small step to get into our place from the garage, instead of multiple stairs, we figured our place would be the easiest to get into w/ her chair. Steve built a wooden ramp coming in from the garage so she could just come right in w/out any help as well. It worked great! We then borrowed a bed from Dave/Joann and put it in our living room (same floor), so she could sleep there and have access to a bathroom (on the same floor as well). Though she wasn't able to go up to see the rest of the house, she was at least able to get in and out of our house all by herself. She could also go straight out to the patio through the sliding glass doors and get outside whenever she wanted as well. After we got home and got them situated, we all went to bed. It had been a long day for them for sure! Nyles was of course really excited to have Grandma and Grandpa come stay at our house, so he didn't get to bed until we did all did, around 10pm.
The next morning we made some breakfast burritos, then Steve, Nyles and my dad left to run some errands. They took the scooter we brought them back to Dave/Joann's. Since my mom is still in the wheel chair, they figured they probably won't be using it, so decided to return it while they were here. After that they went over to Sportsman's Wearhouse to try and find a few fishing items, but no luck. While they were gone, my mom and I went and looked around at our yard. My mom wheeled out our back patio where I was able to show her the back yard, then we went around the side and over to the front yard. She was then able to get on the grass and come look at our flowers and trees in bloom. The guys came back around lunch time, but then headed out to run a few more errands. We got Nyles some lunch, then put him down for a nap. Steve and my dad went and got gas at Costco, some hot dogs and buns, then went to Home Depot to get a hand rail to put up in our bathroom for my mom.
When they got back, Sherri and Steve Naylor stopped by and visited for a few hours. Pauline showed up around 4pm as well. We decided to have a little BBQ and get together one more time before mom and dad left. Sherri and Steve left to go home, then we got ready for the BBQ. Since it stopped raining, we decided to go outside and have the BBQ on our patio. It worked out perfectly! The weather held out for us the whole time. We brought our small table out to put the food on and put chairs around for people to sit on.
Stacie and Phill came over as well. They wanted my dad to look at their car and see how to fix their luggage carrier. It was sitting just right that it was in front of their mufflers and would get too hot while driving. My dad said he could build an extension so it was raised up and away from their muffler. We invited them to come join our BBQ since they were coming all the way down anyway, plus there was plenty of food. It was nice having them over too.
Rose showed up a little after 6pm, since she had to drop the girls off to go w/ Jared. He was taking them to go to AZ and CA where they were going to Disneyland as part of Summer's graduation gift. After dinner the kids played around the yard and we all visited for a while. Rose and Pauline stayed a little bit longer as well and visited some more. It was a good seeing everyone. Thanks for coming everyone! I guess it was officially our first BBQ in our backyard. It worked great and we'll have to do it again soon!
The next morning my parent's headed out the door before 8am. They went and stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Buhler's grave, and also stopped by Anna's place in Jerome to visit before getting home.
That afternoon we went and rented a tile steam cleaner from Home Depot. I've been wanting to do it since we moved it, but of course we've had many other projects to work on. Since we aren't replacing the tile in the kitchen at the moment, I at least wanted to sanitize/clean it. I saw the machined there when Nyles and I returned the nail gun for the wood floor we rented back when we first moved in, and have been wanting to use it since. Well, we finally did and it worked great! Of course it took longer than we expected, but the results were fantastic! Like everything in this house you wonder the last time it was actually cleaned, so it could probably be done again, but it is definitely progress from what it was before. It was awesome too since no chemicals were used, so I didn't have to worry about being exposed to it. You just put water in the machine, let it heat it up, then the steam sanitizes the grout. It was kind of gross how dirty the tile was, but at the same time we're not too surprised anymore w/ what we find in this house.
The tile before, and Steve working hard to get it cleaned.
Here is a pic showing the before on the left and the after on the right next to each other. Gross eh?
And the floor after. Finally a clean floor!!!
We rented it for 4 hours, but since the machine took a while to heat up, then cool down before you could add more water to go again, we knew it was going to take longer than expected, so we decided to just rent it for the day. We then took a break and went fishing for an hour or so before Nyles had to go to bed. Supposedly they had just stocked the pond, but we didn't even see any fish, let alone catch any. I'm sure we'll be back though.... It was nice to go enjoy the outdoors for a while too.
Steve pulling Nyles in the wagon.
Steve helping Nyles get his line ready.
All set now.
Waiting for a fish to bite. A windmill Nyles thought was pretty cool by the pond.
We tried for a while on this side of the pond, but kept getting the lines full of cottonwood fuzzies, so we went to the other side on the dock. We didn't have any luck of there either though.
Sunday evening we had another family dinner/get together. Since Carrie and Ryan were moving the next day to Colorado, we thought it would be a good opportunity to be together one more time. After church we had a nap, then went to the Draper Park to let Nyles ride his bike for a while. Since we live really close to Melanie and Brandon (where the dinner was held), we were able to go to the park, then come back and grab the watermelon, then go over to their place, all w/in a few minutes.
Nyles riding his bike. He's getting really fast on it.
Nyles and Lynsie jumping on the trampoline together.
It stopped raining for a little bit, so we decided to have a fire to make s'mores.
Steve helped the Lake boys get some kindling in order the start the fire.
Lynsie and Olivia pulling Uncle Ryan on the Zip-line.
Now Nyles pulling Olivia.
S'mores time!
Ryan and Steve testing out the strength of the swing.
Rob, Brandon, Steve and Chandler still outside even though the rain picked up.
Nyles and Olivia playing downstairs w/ toy mice.
Nyles enjoying a berry smoothie we made.
Notice how his "mustache" gets bigger. He thought it was pretty funny!
We also got a new dishwasher finally. The other one was pretty old and didn't work the best. After some adjusting and replacing the water line (used to be the old copper ones), we have a nice new working up-to-date dishwasher! Yeah!
New dishwasher vs the old one (notice a turn dial on the dishwasher, nich eh?)
We decided to get one w/ the controls covered, that way the kids can't be pushing buttons.
Yesterday, Nyles also had his Preschool Graduation. They sang some songs that they had learned and his teacher gave them all a diploma which they filled out. Nyles did a great job! Joann came for the ceremony part, which was great. We then went outside, played on the playground for a while and had a snack. Nyles has done a great job and learned a lot. He's excited for a break this Summer, which we'll get to spend together, then he'll go again this Fall. We're going through our school district again, but since we moved, he'll be attending an elementary that is closer to us next time.
Nyles singing the songs he learned.
"Going on a bear hunt"
Singing "Little Miss Muffet"
Waiting for his turn. Nyles, Steve and Joann.
Nyles getting his certificate w/ his teacher Michael Haycock.
As you can see....Nyles is a little excited to be a big brother :)
Family picture and w/ Grandma McGrath.
Playing outside, enjoying the swings!
Well, a week from now we'll have a baby, if not sooner. Hope all is well w/ everyone. It's going to be hot this week so stay cool. Love ya!
