What a week!

Last Tuesday, after feeding the family Zucchini muffins for breakfast, I decided to mow the back yard before the garbage man came to empty our black beauties. Abigail's morning nap is almost the right length of time for the job as well which works nicely. A little over an hour after I started, I came inside only to hear my phone ringing. Who was calling? My father, was asking if today would be a good day for me to start working on the back patio. Not to make myself out to be lazy, but mowing the back yard is generally all the physical exertion I plan for one day!!! But it was an unplanned day, so it would work out well, and father drove down from Cache Valley to help out.
I have some serious Admiration for my father, let me tell you why. When he got out of the truck, he started carrying all his neat tools to the back yard. He brought three wrecking bars in various lengths and weights, 2 types of power saws, a large and small axe and his nifty 18Volt cordless power screwdriver. I can't quite tell you how much I envy some of those tools! I have a 12V screwdriver, and when you have not been blessed with ample arm strength, those extra 6V are a God send!
Dad had put a lot of thought into the demolition of my failing back patio, not only did he figure out how to deconstruct it from the house, but then he led the work on the demolition endlessly even though I was anxiously waiting for him to want to take a break so I could follow suit without guilt. Even with Dads injury to his shoulder last year that left him with very limited use of his shoulder, he was a pro with the wrecking bars and axe. I tried my best to be helpful, I took out screws, held crowbars where he told me too, carried debris to the garbage cans before they were finally emptied early in the afternoon and (annoyingly, I'm sure) kept asking him if he was sure the roof over where he was standing wasn't going to collapse on him.
We were able to do most of the demolition work the first day, and thankfully I had the good sense to put something in the crockpot while Dad was driving down, so we had a lovely warm meal together as a family and slept like rocks.
Wednesday morning, My dad was out working before I had even rubbed the sleeping bugs out of my eyes. By the time I had made the family breakfast and gotten Kolton off to work, Dad had cleaned up the area and was prepped to start working on the back patio again. We needed to rebuild the roofing overhang as well as install a rain gutter. Amazingly the rebuilding process took just as long as the demolition! Abigail was a champ both days. This was one of her naps in her swing while Dad and I were installing the rain gutter. The little girl slept through hammering, sawing, even heavy debris falling to the ground noisily! Bell was also a great little helper measuring all sorts of things, picking up stray screws, climbing ladders to nowhere, and so on. Notice she is barefoot in the picture? She was most of both days. I cannot tell you how many times Father, Khali and I each put shoes on that little girl, but it was obviously not as many times as she took them off! Poor daddy, I remember him telling me to get my shoes on soooo many times when I was little! She did get a little splinter in her toe, but that didn't teach her a thing.




The final outcome of those two days is awesome. I am so thankful for my father's ability to come down and help us out like he did. Kolton and I are now of the opinion that we should have taken off the broken back porch 5 years ago when we first moved in! The big window in the kitchen now filters in natural light making the kitchen much more welcoming. I absolutely love it!

Thursday we had our last clogging practice day and needed to go shopping for two birthdays. Of course Porter got in the car with no shoes other than his clogging shoes, so we was quite noisy as we stopped at Michaels craft on the way home. Atleast I knew where he was in the store at all times. I could hear the Tap Tap Tap, Sliiiiide as he ran and fell wherever he went. Thankfully we got things for both people and could then come home! Friday we had two parties with the latter being a Mom and Daughter night out where we got to watch a Princess movie, do our nails, hair, and eat little sandwiches! It was a welcome break for Abi, Khali and I.
Saturday morning Abigail and I woke up with buggery eyes and stuffy noses. Isabella woke up with 7 bites on her upper back. I'm not sure whether she slept with a spider in her bed, or if she had layed down outside on top of a spider nest the night before? I did know that she has bad reactions so we started on the Benedryl right away with her. Kolton and I had planned another high energy dayas we planned to clean out our Shed in the morning. That involved taking everything out that has been piled in there through the winter, and properly assessing whether it was to keep or to yard sale. I have always been a bit astounded at the Clean Sweep style TV shows where they take the belongings to the yard and spread them out to sort. But it amazed me how much we had put into that little shed! Not too much got thrown in the trash, but it did get reorganized and now fits in there with some extra space to sort to, as we are planning on going through the house room by room doing the same thing.
Thankfully we got that all put away before our friends showed up for 'Uncle' John's Bachelors BBQ and Poker night. I was able to stay and help with the food for our guests before taking the 4 children to the drive in alone. Now that was an interesting experience, but I was proud of myself for being able to handle it.
Sunday was our family recovery day! Man were we tired! Abi and Issy still had runny noses and Isabella's bites were still pretty swollen so we took advantage of the rainy weather and played games inside as a family and watched a movie in blankets on the couch. The whole family was in bed sleeping by 9, including Kolton, Abigail and I.