A visit to Salt Flats

 ... in June...

Chase wanted to walk barefoot until his feet got too tender to keep going

 Salt Crystals

 It was really pretty out there.

 The salt just kept clomping right up on my shoe until I had grown 1/2". Reminded me of the orphanage Santa Clause show.

Working on the yard.

 Buying a foreclosure, we were well aware of some not too major projects we would have to do on the house, and we finally got around to starting on our yard.  We called to have some dirt brought it (you can't believe how horrified I was to find out how much you have to pay for dirt in the city!  There is no shortage of free dirt at Grandpa's house!!)  they asked how much and we did our best guess at how much.... it ended up being more than twice as much as we needed.  Oh well, we needed some for our future garden as well anyways :)

 We were in a hurry to just get it done so the sod had time to get it's roots in before winter sets in so I spent the days while Daniel was at work doing as much as I could with the boys.  Brody is still in the "run straight for the road" stage and can't be left without undivided attention so I would improvise.  I would set him in the dirt while I shoveled and then load him in the wheelbarrow while I pushed it.

 When Daniel got home we still had to do the same.

The boys have NEVER been as dirty as they were that week.

 (We have no idea how much dirt he ate)

Chase fell asleep while I was taking all these pictures so he didn't end up in many, but assure you he got almost as muddy as Brody.

The hardest part was that I had to pull the tomatoes out just as they were really starting to produce.  We had a big hole in our front yard where the previous occupants had pulled a tree or some sort of landscaping out so we used it for a little garden until we got ours in.  We had to rid it of the tomatoes to get sod in it.

 I salvaged all that I could and we are still eating them as they turn red.  My heart will be officially broken when I run out.

And to finish off with my cute little Brody.  (Running straight for the road:)

Brennan's birthday

Brennan had a birthday so we celebrated.  My parents came up, Kyle and boys came up and Brennan and one of his friends from Haiti came down.  We got to taste some delicious Haitian food, which I got the recipe for, but I'm sure I will never be able to even come close to cooking it right.

 I didn't take many pictures and apparently none of my own kids, but I couldn't help snap this picture above while my mom and Bridger struggled keeping the cake on the plate.  I'm pretty sure it fell off 3-4 times.

I also couldn't help taking a picture of Porter wearing my moms sweater.  He looked like a little ghost wandering around in the dark.

Wagon Train

One of Chase's very favorite people is Liam.  Liam is 5 and totally cool and he's not around very much to play with even though he lives just two houses down, and when Liam comes to play his older sisters usually come too.  They just baby Chase and he gets whatever he wants and has the time of his life.  When they play it usually involves pulling Chase around in our wagon or their wagon.

I thought it was pretty creative the other day when I saw the train they made.

Preschool

Chase had his first day of school (ever!) a couple weeks ago.  After finding out how much preschool costs, and realizing that our financial goals would not accommodate it, my neighbor and I decided to do a co-op sort of preschool.  We had three other moms in our neighborhood join us and it has turned out to be great.  I only have to teach one week every month and Chase is absolutely loving it. 

This is really the first time I have had some time away from Chase and he from me.  Today I vacuumed, dusted, and scrubbed the upstairs, without having to find out what trouble Chase was getting into every 2 minutes.  In Chase's defense he really is a pretty good kid.... until I get busy doing something and he finds out I'm not paying attention to what he is doing.  I'm enjoying my time away, and I start missing him just about when it's time to pick him up.