Down on the Farm

This week we were able to spend some time out to Ben's parents' house at their farm, so I thought the title applied, but we went toward the end of the week, so I'll get to that in a minute.

At the first of this last week Allen started his AIMS testing. He had a good time and we noticed there were ten times as many students there this year. Home schooling is becoming more and more popular down here, I guess. Allen used to think he was the odd man out for doing online school, but now lost of the other families are doing it too, so he's one of the "trend setters." At least he doesn't whine at me that he's missing out on anything anymore.

With Allen gone in the mornings it was a little quieter around here. I was able to spend more time with the babies.

We had some breakfast... (3-30-09)

and watched a little PBS Kids...Got dressed and watched a little more.

Then Ben helped me finish canning the stuff we didn't get done last weekend. It's nice to have it all put away.

On Tuesday Dayna came over and we worked on her entertainment center that has been waiting for a makeover for a long time. Here is the before picture. 3-31-09

Sanding... And here is the freshly sanded picture.

All ready to stain. We loved those gloves! Thanks Candice!

And finally here's the mostly finished product (and a tired pregnant lady). We'll put clear coat poly on it this week.

When we finished me and the kids went over to catch the end of Allen's last home game.

It was their first loss, but they were good sports and played well. (Allen's the one with giantism)

On Wednesday we ran up to Mesa and back for some doctor's appointments and boy are are legs tired!

Then Thursday morning Charlie and I went out and found that the garden was up! Here's the zucchini! (Cute boy!) 4-2-09

Then that afternoon is when we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Willis' house. Shaelynn ran and found the doggie first thing. She kept trying to give him a hug.

We got to work on the garden right away. Allen hauled some tin roofing to put around the bottom of the fences to keep the critters out.

Grandpa came in the tractor to haul away some big stuff. It scared Shaelynn, but daddy calmed her down.

Allen paused and took lizard catching breaks so often so as not to overwork himself. Whoa, that's a big one!

Planting some seeds.

Grandma Willis staked off the rows so they'd be straight.

Allen planted some more seeds.

Charlie played in the dirt and sprinkled it on the little struggling citrus tree.

Ben and his mom made furrows.

Inside Charlie and Shae took a break and shared some M&Ms.

We stayed the night and worked the next morning. Shaelynn shared her cereal with dad. 4-3-09

Ben tilled until...

The tiller broke. Shae helped me try to fix it, but in the end it needed new parts so the planting came to a screeching halt.

But here's what we did!!

Then Ben and his mom went out to Uncle Gary's farm and talked about starting a goat farm.. It's been Ben's dream for a while to raise goats. We came home Friday afternoon and Ben went back to work.

Saturday between conference sessions Shae was being cute and putting an empty can on her head like a hat, so I had to snap a picture of it. 4-4-09And today during conference she sat on daddy and read him a book.

This afternoon we went on a walk with Candice and her kids and Allen and Sarah were being freaks, so I thought I'd take a picture to blackmail them with later, but it's more fun to just share it with the world!

Well, that's all I can come up with for this week, so till next blog...

ttfn