Adam and Heather Hayes

Well, here comes another quick update for posterity sake on what I've been up to. 

Work has been going well and I'm scrambling to keep up. It feels like I just run and run. I just signed up with the new family search and I'm loving it. It is my escape now to search for people. We did a quick trial run and got 3 families ready for the temple and then Heather and I did a whirlwind day of everything for one family from baptisms all the way through to sealings. It was really fun to go through for people that I had gotten from family search and turned in. These next ones will be even cooler because I'll have done the research and finding myself.

I also helped out a buddy of mine that needed another player for his city league softball team. I went to 7 games and we won 5 of the 7. It was a lot of fun. We did a couple of games a week, so it seemed like a lot in a short amount of time. I got to play 1st base the whole time which brought back great memories from childhood.

I fixed the deck, (see the other post for in the middle picture). It seems to be holding up well and we'll see what happens after a year has gone by how they hold up.The stain seems to be working so that is great compared to our first attempt at protecting the deck (the paint wore off within weeks in some spots last time)

I also did a number of days over at another friend's house helping them move some trees (little trees from 1 1/2 feet to 7 feet tall. I'm guessing I helped out with 1500ish trees of the 7500+ they moved. It was fun even though I got sore fingers and a couple of blisters out of it. 

Erith and Tricity helped me the other day go get potatoes and deliver them to a bunch of people. One of the farmer's daughters in our stake did a young women's project and gave away a bunch of potatoes. All you had to do was show up, pick them up, and haul them off. Erith and Tric had fun picking potatoes with a little bit of dirt clod throwing (mostly at me).

All in all it has been a crazy summer and I think we've accomplished a bunch.

I have been canning like crazy since school started.  So far this year I've canned: green beans, carrots, roast beef, cherry juice, apricot juice, apple juice, plum juice, apple butter, peaches, and strawberry-peach jam.  Here is a picture of the last of our garden's carrots.

On the right, you can see why you should thin your carrots.  They grew into some twisted funky looking blobs.  I have 2 rows of potatoes left in the garden and that's about it.  I didn't grow enough tomatoes or onions to do salsa, so I'll skip that this year. Gotta love harvest time!

Well the other day the bottom step of our front deck broke. It has been threatening to break for the past...umm..... 4 years, so I knew this day was coming. Heather and I have a bad habit of not being able to "just fix things". We normally say something like this:

1. You know, while we are at it, we should replace all of the stairs,
   
2. and if we are going to replace all of the stairs, why don't we extend the stairs to be the full length of the deck,
   
3. and since the new stairs are going to need stained, why don't we sand and stain the whole deck while we are at it.

So our simple fix a bottom step turns into quite a large project. However, we are always happy with the results, it just takes longer than a quick fix (just look at our bathroom project to see a similar pattern of just tearing out the carpet to a complete master bathroom makeover.

I just finished sanding the whole deck today and we'll probably be doing the stain tomorrow. The above picture was taken when we finished installing the new stairs but before any sanding began.

We've also done some modifications to our blog. Hopefully pictures from now on should be expandable (horizontal pictures that is) by hovering over them and clicking if a magnifying glass comes up. Let me know if you have any problems with the new feature. :)

Adam has a small assortment of songs he plays on the piano really well.  Our girls alway request "The Charlie Brown Song" and they dance and dance to it. 

Adam set the camera on the piano bench and then started playing it so we could capture this cute pastime.  The dance is different every time, and usually all 4 girls are upstairs, to join in.

For family night the other day we went to feed the ducks in Idaho Falls.  I had quite a collection of old stale things that no one would eat so it was a fun way to get rid of it!  We fed the ducks and shared with a Chinese tourist family the cereal we'd dumped all over the ground.

We went to the temple grounds afterward and talked about how important it is to go to the temple and be sealed together.  It was really hard for Vi to resist picking the pretty flowers.  

Erith and Tricity have started school again.  They are really enjoying it so far.  They have lots of friends on their bus route, and it's the shortest amount of time they've ever had to ride.  

Vi, Clara, and MOM really misses them while they're gone.  Erith and Tricity help so much with the little ones.  When I hear Clara screaming to get down from her highchair, my natural inclination is to say "Erith can you get Clara down from her chair?" But alas, I have to do it.  And when it gets way to quiet I want to say "Tric can you see what Vi and Clara are doing?"  But now, I find them, or just Clara covered in permanent marker plus my front entryway covered in permanent marker, just a few minutes too late.  I should have taken a picture but I was too mad.

So, I am relearning to shut the bathroom doors all day long so I'm not cleaning up toilet water, and not leaving things on the kitchen table that a 16 month old can easily pull a chair up to and make a mess in.  I am determined to buy some child proofing devices.  My old rubber band-it-shut trick doesn't work on this trouble maker!

Vi has grown up enough that she's okay passing on the trouble maker mantle to Clara.  Vi has bonded with a kitten this summer and they spend a lot of time together.  The kitten just lets her pack her around, arms around the tummy, squishing her quite hard at times.  I keep asking Vi what the kitten's name is and she always says "Baby Kitten."

Oh, and no, I don't let my kids outside in their pajamas...

The day before Adam's sister Sarah got married, I was in my bedroom reading a book when I saw out of the corner of my eye, Viola in the bathroom.  I distinctly heard the sound of scissors cutting something.

I said "Vi did you just cut your hair?" She bends over and starts picking up pieces of hair in a hurry and putting them in the garbage can.  "I didn't cut anything."  It took me a few minutes to find the lucky spot on her head.  If I part her hair to the side, there's enough on top to hide the short hair nubs underneath. 

Just in time for lots of family pictures at Sarah and Logan's wedding.  Oh well, at least the bride and groom looked gorgeous!

We had a lovely week of family fun last month.  I forgot to take pictures, so I'll try to tell our story the best I can with words.  Well, we do have a few pictures.

Adam's family stayed with us at a cozy A-frame cabin in Island Park from Monday evening to Thursday morning.  We started with a big crowd Monday night and slowly shrank in number by Thursday.

We went on a rafting trip from Big Springs to Mack's Inn.  I failed to take the camera, which is a shame.  It is a slowww float and we saw a moose and got sunburned!  There was another rafting group who kept "racing" us, it was fun even though we lost.  (They only had 1 adult and 3 youth, we had 5 adults 3 youth, HEAVY RAFT!)

Mostly we ATE a lot and played Super Nintendo and board games. The cabin had cable, indoor plumbing, and 2 bedrooms and a loft which you can see above. So now you know how much we were "roughing it!"

We toasted marshmallows in the fire pit one night, but alas I have no pictures of that.

After we left the cabin Thursday, we went to Mesa Falls.  My dad told us about this place on the way were you can feed the fish.  Once they know you're there they just jump like crazy for the bread or chex or the fish food you can buy in a vending machine.

While we were feeding the fish we shared some chex with a retired marine from California and he told the girls he would give them a special coin if they promised to be very good little girls forever.  So they promised and they got these unique coins with his name, rank, awards, and a little map of where he served in Vietnam. You can see one of the coins in Tricity's hand below.  He followed a few minutes behind us to the lower falls and then up to the upper falls.

Of course I didn't get a picture of him with our camera but we took one of him and his friend with his camera at the lower.  It is a beautiful place.  I can't believe it took me 27 years of living in Idaho before I went to see these beautiful landmarks in my own backyard.

We did remember to take pictures here. There are lots of BIG pictures of us at Mesa Falls in the Image Gallery under 2009 Vacation.

We ate cold cereal at Mesa Falls for lunch and then headed to Aspen Acres for my Quinn family reunion.  Camp was all set up when we got there and everyone was playing games and doing puzzles while the rest of us showed up.

We had to set up our new tent for the first time (in the scorching sun) and then we joined in the fun too.

We were literally right on the golf course.  The one time I went golfing a ball rolled under my aunt and uncles tent! It was a fun course, as long as I could hit the ball, right Adam and Ranae!?

We made the cutest cards one day and threw goldfish crackers on people's shaving creamed heads for a prize, and made eclairs over the fire and if you want to see any pictures of any of this fun stuff you'll have to go to my cousin Camillle's blog, because unlike me, she takes pictures of everything going on!

Saturday, the last day, my wonderful aunt and grandparents watched my kids so Adam and I could go to the Playmill with my parents and siblings in West Yellowstone.  We saw Guys and Dolls, and it was so funny!  I highly recommend it.  Here we are with some of the actors afterward.

You can see why I don't take pictures, Blurry!  We took Bethany's boyfriend with us and afterward we took him to Mesa Falls!  So here Adam is looking like a hottie.

and that was our vacation!