Beetle's Tree House Slide

Beetles tree house slide project began early spring of 2013. We had been shopping for slides for about a month and when we saw how much brand new slides were we decided to look on ksl for a used one. Beetle called me and said he found a really good deal. "It's kinda big but its only one hundred bucks." "How big?" I asked. "Well I think we will need Palameno Thunder (Danny's truck) to transport it." I told him we should keep shopping around. He convinced me that we weren't going to get a better deal and he was on his way to pick it up.

 I am really sad I didn't get a pic of Beetle pulling up in palameno with the slide hanging half way out of the bed of the truck. I couldn't believe he made it from Riverton to Orem on the FREEWAY with out getting pulled over. It did not look safe!

                                              Rangi chose a good weekend to be in town.

                   
                           This slide would still be in the driveway if it weren't for Danny and Rangi.

                                                                 
                                                                       And Myself(;
                                                                     

 Beetle had worked so hard building our fence, I was worried they would have to take it apart to get the slide in the back yard.

   Nope! These three lifted it over the fence, or should I say threw it over the fence! I was pretty impressed.

                                             
                                                 Beetle went to work building the tree house.

            With a pretty cute little helper! I cant even believe how little Simon looks in these pictures.

                                                   This is the first floor of the tree house.

               
                            The next phase was another phase we couldn't believe worked out so well.

 Beetle and I were both crossing our fingers this would work out. It wasn't looking good for a while.

Ricker, Roman and Danny were there to help for this phase. Ricker was so proud of the good deal Beetle got on this slide. "Can you believe you got a twelve hundred dollar slide for a hundred bucks?! Your kids are gonna have so much fun on this slide!"

Dang, we miss him! I hope he knows how much we miss him. He was so much fun to have around especially with projects like this. He knows so much about doing any project and any time Beetle starts one he is telling me he wishes his Dad was here to talk to him about it.  Beetle is so handy and I know it is because of Ricker.

                                                                  The slide is up!

                                                     Ricker was right, our kids do love it!

  and so do our neighbor kids(:

and cute Pearl Girl

                                               Part 2 of the tree house coming soon (I hope)

Super Fly Hugs

    This is what greets Beetle at the door when he is home on his lunch break or home from work.

Beetle started it. It used to just be "Super Hugs", where they would run and jump into Beetle's arms as fast as they could. Now Beetle turned it into "Super Fly Hugs" where they run and see how high they can jump into Beetles arms.

             
             I'm just waiting for the day when Beetle and a child go pummeling out our front door.

                                          Suy Guy is the biggest fan of Super Fly Hugs right now.

Beetle's Front Room Front Flip

Annabelle organized a Talent Show last night, Beetle's front flip didn't disappoint. Excuse my man voice.

 

Our Latest Project

The bushes had to go.

                                      Beetle was more than happy to take a chain saw to them.

                   

After we cleared out the bushes Beetle tried burning the leftovers. The fire dept. showed up about a half hour in to it. Turns out you need a permit to burn! Beetle was disappointed, we all know he loves an excuse to play with fire.

I thought clearing out the bushes would be the hardest part. Oh no, these bushes had stumps! Two of them, and they were beasts. This picture doesn't do them justice. We axed them ALL DAY LONG! I haven't used an ax much but while Beetle took a truck load of bushes to the dump, I decided I could chip away at the roots for a while. It was a great experience, and a wonderful stress reliever. I noticed Maxwell staring at me while I was swinging my most powerful swings, He yelled....."HEY, Mom's aren't supposed to use Axes!" "Oh YES they are!" I yelled back.

The come-along got a dang good work out and so did Beetle. I am so glad he never gave up on the stumps, I thought he was going to when he would ax for a few hours and they wouldn't budge. 

Before

After

This ended up taking us about two weeks but it was worth it! We couldn't believe all the space under those ugly bushes. Beetle ended up pulling out 4 other trees with the come along and he is going to add a birdhouse to the tip of one of the tree trunks. Eventually we will take out these trees and plant a Maple tree that we have been trying to grow. I also think we need to move our poor little peach tree.
Can you spy Brigadoon?

Preschool Graduate

 Our Preschool Graduate! Maxwell will be Kindergarten bound in the fall. Since Max has a late Birthday I feel like he has been by my side for a long time (a plus side to fall birthdays). He always wants a plan for our days. "What we doin' today Mom."  As long as I add enthusiasm to my reply, he is satisfied. I love it. I also love that he can always sense when it's time for Annabelle and Benson to get home. "Mom, isn't it time to pick up the kiddees?" He is going to love Kindergarten and all the socialization that comes along with it. He loves playing with other kids and can make friends with anyone. Thank goodness Kindergarten is a half day because I am not ready to go all day with out seeing this cute face.

Maxwell's teachers. I asked him what their names were, "Um...I dunn know, I think one is Miss Michelle?"

                                                          
                                                               Baby Brig looking cute.

               I wore two different flip flops to Maxwell's Graduation. I am sure everyone noticed.(;

                                                                Way to Go Maxwell!

What we have been up to....

Our fine motor skills

Annabelle's "Spanish Ladies & Gentlemen" History of Utah performance.The highlight of my night was watching Annabelle dance her first dance with Jorge. Her and Beetle also stole the dance floor dancing the Virginia Reel.

 Notice all the girls admiring Annabelle's Spanish Spirit? Too bad they all don't have an Aunt Rachel to hook them up(;

 Lots of Snow and COLD weather! Beetle still refuses to wear pants on his days off work... even if it is 4 degrees outside.

A lot of inside time. Which means A LOT of Lego building for Benson. He came upstairs explaining his creation. "look at my billboard...you know those things you see on the freeway, it's advertising Star Wars."  Very observant, this boy is.

A lot of SICK time. Luckily only Annabelle, Simon and I have experienced the flu thus far. I don't know how Beetle, Benson, Brigham and Maxwell escaped it, but I am sure thankful. Simon is now just getting over the croup too. Today I made banana bread and Simon saw it coming out of the oven, I don't know if he thought it was meatloaf or what but he ran to the fridge and said " I wan kessup". I tried telling him we don't eat ketchup with banana bread but he wasn't buying it. He had a craving and he wanted to satisfy. I know he gets his ketchup taste buds from me, so I let him be. Beetle won't like this picture, I know it.

Fall Soccer 2012

I am feeling like I have lots of time on my hands now that Soccer has ended.

Having two kids in soccer isn't as easy as you would think. This is what our weekly schedule looked like

M, W, TH- Practice

T, W-Games

SAT-Games

I'm telling ya that's ALOT of stroller, carseat, chair, and kid haulin!

I learned quick on the nights that Beetle had Young Mens that the double stroller was too big for me to manuever in the long grass, so I made my own double stroller.

 

Sure, the Lightning Mcqueen Stroller's frame may be a little bent but we have definitely got our $19 dollars worth!

Beetle taught me that I need to utilize all my children, make them haul their own chairs.

 And this guy was happy to do it, even though he only sat in his chair barely long enough for me to snap a picture.

                                   We may have had a few melt downs but we made it through!

                                                See you in the Spring Red Ninjas and Sharks!