Matt and I had a really neat date on Valentines and hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day. We went to a Hibachi Grill, and to my total shock Matt actually tried some Sushi and Liked It!! So Val and Lucy, We can totally go to the Sushi Bars now!!!!! I am so excited! If you have never been to a Hibachi Grill you sit with other couples around a grill while the chef cooks in front of you, dazzling his guest with wonderful tricks. We had a very nice evening and met a wonderful couple from Lemore. We also went out for my favorite place for ice cream at Cold Stone, YUM!
Well hope everyone had a Fun Loving Valentines Day!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
First project
We did our first remodeling project this last weekend and it looks so different, we dry walled the garage. Enjoy the before and after shots!
Extreme Sod Makeover!
Let's just say that the guys who lay sod for a living have a whole new level of respect from me! I see it every week on Extreme Home Makeover, when they redo these yards, and now have even higher regards to those who lay sod in cold weather, rain, and heat.
The story goes as follows:
After the Farm Show this last week,we found out that some of the exhibitors sell the sod that they had on the site of their displays. My parents backyard has not had grass on it for at least 15 years because they had leveled it and hadn't re seeded it. So as one of our remodel projects was to landscape the back yard. So I asked around what happens to the sod. Well it turned out it is brought in by different people, and we found one guy and asked him about it and he sold us some that would fill a little over half of the yard, and we thought we would seed after that. The problem is some people tend to walk off with it we were warned so on a rainy Friday my dad and I loaded up just a couple of 6 foot rolls of sod while it was raining. We didn't realize how heavy sod becomes when it is wet (LOL) So any how we decided that we would have to come back the next day (Saturday) and start rolling up the sod and put it in Matt's truck and make several loads. Which was great because it wasn't raining. We had a friend watching the kids, thank heavens, so that we could work and travel back and forth to Tulare.
We got started and learned a few things like if you cut it in small rolls it is easier to handle, and a sharp knife if very great tool. You can't leave it rolled up to long or it rots. So in all of this learning process we learned that we have to work quickly and get all of the sod laid out again. We also found out that we could leave the sod laid out, until we were ready to lay it down, but we still had to hurry, because we didn't want anyone taking the sod we bought.
So back to the story, the stuff we bought we knew would not fill the back yard because it is 75 x 150 and the site only had about 75 x 25. So we came home with the first load and started prepping the ground by rototilling it to get rid of the weeds, and smoothing it out (that took a little bit to figure out too) and that way when we brought the next load home we would be done and we would have a nice section of grass, with the thought of seeding the rest of the yard.
WELLLLL...it didn't quite end up that way. On our next trip back after laying the first load, the site a couple of sections down from where we bought our first sod, we saw several pallets of the same grass and asked if it was for sale also, because wouldn't it be great to just do the whole back yard it would be so much easier and look great. Of course it was, so we made a deal with them and ended up buying 26 pallets of sod!!!!! Now as I mentioned before the sod rots faster if it is folded or rolled up (like in 24 hours) so now we were under the gun. 1. because of the sod needing to be laid as quickly as possible. 2. The farm show grounds closed at 6 and would not be open till Monday (way passed the 24 hour time frame for the sod) and it was 2:00 and we had to hurry. Urgent calls were made to my father to get trailers and trucks so that we could have the fork lifts to put the sod on them. Calls to my mom and sister to help with babysitting, because we promised to have the babysitter home by 5. It worked out, great thanks to all of their help.
We were able to get a large tractor trailer, and my dad's work truck to pull that one. And then my dad's old blue truck (nicknamed mator by my kid's) and the trailer for the sprayrigs we used to haul on it. So now properly equipped we headed back up to Tulare and loaded up the pallets on the trailers. There was so much grass we literally had to drive 25 miles an hour home because they were soooo heavy (not recommended) When the fork lift put the first two pallets on the small trailer I swear you could hear the truck moan!! Your killin' me!
Well as you guessed we figured out that we needed a little more help now because we had a heck of a lot more sod to lay in a short amount of time and also had to prep some more ground. We called in some awesome re-enforcements, and learned a few more things about laying sod from them. We also called my dad in for one more favor, to borrow a fork lift, because after seeing how much sod there was and how many trips we would be making from the front yard to the back with a truck, we got scared! These pieces were sooo heavy because of the rain.
We finished it finally! Took four days to do it,(we were able to do that because we left the other sod we bought on sight laid out on the ground and picked it up when we were ready) a lot of sore muscles, great memories and ended up with more than we needed and ended up doing our friends yard too that had helped us lay our backyard. It was a lot of sod! It is a very hard job, but oh so worth it. The pictures are before and after. The spot where the cars are right now is going to be a RV cement parking, and the L shape is my new garden area.
But like I said, I have a whole new appreciation for sod laying guys!!
The story goes as follows:
After the Farm Show this last week,we found out that some of the exhibitors sell the sod that they had on the site of their displays. My parents backyard has not had grass on it for at least 15 years because they had leveled it and hadn't re seeded it. So as one of our remodel projects was to landscape the back yard. So I asked around what happens to the sod. Well it turned out it is brought in by different people, and we found one guy and asked him about it and he sold us some that would fill a little over half of the yard, and we thought we would seed after that. The problem is some people tend to walk off with it we were warned so on a rainy Friday my dad and I loaded up just a couple of 6 foot rolls of sod while it was raining. We didn't realize how heavy sod becomes when it is wet (LOL) So any how we decided that we would have to come back the next day (Saturday) and start rolling up the sod and put it in Matt's truck and make several loads. Which was great because it wasn't raining. We had a friend watching the kids, thank heavens, so that we could work and travel back and forth to Tulare.
We got started and learned a few things like if you cut it in small rolls it is easier to handle, and a sharp knife if very great tool. You can't leave it rolled up to long or it rots. So in all of this learning process we learned that we have to work quickly and get all of the sod laid out again. We also found out that we could leave the sod laid out, until we were ready to lay it down, but we still had to hurry, because we didn't want anyone taking the sod we bought.
So back to the story, the stuff we bought we knew would not fill the back yard because it is 75 x 150 and the site only had about 75 x 25. So we came home with the first load and started prepping the ground by rototilling it to get rid of the weeds, and smoothing it out (that took a little bit to figure out too) and that way when we brought the next load home we would be done and we would have a nice section of grass, with the thought of seeding the rest of the yard.
WELLLLL...it didn't quite end up that way. On our next trip back after laying the first load, the site a couple of sections down from where we bought our first sod, we saw several pallets of the same grass and asked if it was for sale also, because wouldn't it be great to just do the whole back yard it would be so much easier and look great. Of course it was, so we made a deal with them and ended up buying 26 pallets of sod!!!!! Now as I mentioned before the sod rots faster if it is folded or rolled up (like in 24 hours) so now we were under the gun. 1. because of the sod needing to be laid as quickly as possible. 2. The farm show grounds closed at 6 and would not be open till Monday (way passed the 24 hour time frame for the sod) and it was 2:00 and we had to hurry. Urgent calls were made to my father to get trailers and trucks so that we could have the fork lifts to put the sod on them. Calls to my mom and sister to help with babysitting, because we promised to have the babysitter home by 5. It worked out, great thanks to all of their help.
We were able to get a large tractor trailer, and my dad's work truck to pull that one. And then my dad's old blue truck (nicknamed mator by my kid's) and the trailer for the sprayrigs we used to haul on it. So now properly equipped we headed back up to Tulare and loaded up the pallets on the trailers. There was so much grass we literally had to drive 25 miles an hour home because they were soooo heavy (not recommended) When the fork lift put the first two pallets on the small trailer I swear you could hear the truck moan!! Your killin' me!
Well as you guessed we figured out that we needed a little more help now because we had a heck of a lot more sod to lay in a short amount of time and also had to prep some more ground. We called in some awesome re-enforcements, and learned a few more things about laying sod from them. We also called my dad in for one more favor, to borrow a fork lift, because after seeing how much sod there was and how many trips we would be making from the front yard to the back with a truck, we got scared! These pieces were sooo heavy because of the rain.
We finished it finally! Took four days to do it,(we were able to do that because we left the other sod we bought on sight laid out on the ground and picked it up when we were ready) a lot of sore muscles, great memories and ended up with more than we needed and ended up doing our friends yard too that had helped us lay our backyard. It was a lot of sod! It is a very hard job, but oh so worth it. The pictures are before and after. The spot where the cars are right now is going to be a RV cement parking, and the L shape is my new garden area.
But like I said, I have a whole new appreciation for sod laying guys!!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Farm Show, Tulare Ca
We are gearing up for the Farm Show which is next week and it is going to be really fun too, because the webelos are going for an hour one day and then we are going to the Tractor pull after that. It is really cool. You can look it up under www.worldagexpo.com It is an awsome farming trade show.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
What a whirlwind!
Well life has up'd it a notch around here and things are blowin' and goin'. The business in Texas has come to life and it is thrilling to see that happen for Uncle Bryon, Mom and Dad. It is going to be so neat to watch it grow. The home health care business is quite a niche for Bryon and I think he will do great in it.
What has been going on around here is that we have been given some callings and it has become quite adventurous for Matt and I. Matt is the new Cub Master and I am the Webelos Den leader. Sue one of my great friends in Texas was the Webelos and always came up with such awesome ideas and Val (Matt's other brother) was the Cub Master so we really now totally thank you guys for all of the stuff you did!!!
We have the pinewood derby coming up and getting ALL of the cars ready for that. We will post pics as soon after the event. It is unbelievable how involved the event is and hopefully a lot of people show up!! The other thing that is unbelievable is the amount of classes and training you have to go through, but it is really good.
I also have another calling which is right up my alley, enrichment activities chair. Love planning events and activities so hopefully I do good at this. So this is a long enough updates. Hope everyone is doing well!!
What has been going on around here is that we have been given some callings and it has become quite adventurous for Matt and I. Matt is the new Cub Master and I am the Webelos Den leader. Sue one of my great friends in Texas was the Webelos and always came up with such awesome ideas and Val (Matt's other brother) was the Cub Master so we really now totally thank you guys for all of the stuff you did!!!
We have the pinewood derby coming up and getting ALL of the cars ready for that. We will post pics as soon after the event. It is unbelievable how involved the event is and hopefully a lot of people show up!! The other thing that is unbelievable is the amount of classes and training you have to go through, but it is really good.
I also have another calling which is right up my alley, enrichment activities chair. Love planning events and activities so hopefully I do good at this. So this is a long enough updates. Hope everyone is doing well!!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Texas Christmas
Well we are getting ready to leave tomorrow back to "sunny" California. We were hoping for a "White" or at least "Cold" Christmas here. Ha Ha Ha! It ended up being summer weather with a warm 75 degree day on Christmas and a thunderstorm a few days later and then nice warm breezes till today!! Only in Texas right?
Christmas was wonderful, we had a great spiritual Christmas and fun opening gifts and watching the kids reaction to everything. I love this holiday for so many reasons and enjoy looking forward to it all year. (I even play music during the year just to boost my spirits)
We did a lot of things and one of the highlights was a surprise Birthday/Anniversary Party for Grandma and Grandpa Poole on Friday night. It was quite an event trying to keep it a secret, even up to the last minute trying to figure out how to get Grandma there dressed up. The ploy was a temple trip with all of the adults. It was a brilliant plan...and Matt made it more believable (with his sisters and sister-in-law giving him looks that could kill) when he realized that our recommends expired on the 31st of December and we had only gotten one half of our interviews done with the bishop and we were missing the signature from the stake president. (I was laying down at the time because I had a headache so I am only envisioning this conversation) But things were remedied with some supposed phone calls to our stake president, ha ha ha. Then another kink in the plan came the next night trying to get Matt and Dad back in time to go to the "temple", because of our silly tv from the van, trying to get it fixed before we left on Saturday. They finally had to just leave, and they barely made it back in time. Well needless to say it went off beautifully. Grandma was totally surprised!Marcus, Anna, and Marie made some great food for the party (Michael particularly like the flower sandwiches, he ate 5 of them!) Marcy finished an awesome slide show of the last 40 years and had that playing during the party. We had a replica of the cake and flowers made for them. The cake topper was the original from the wedding cake so that was totally fun to do. We had a great time.
The kids and I also made a quick visit to Oklahoma on Saturday. We weren't able to see everyone like I had hoped. We just didn't have the time. I hope this summer we can get to see everyone and spend some time hanging out there. I am glad we did get to see Titia and her family. We had a really good visit and I think Mike and Dan got their Erin Elzeabet fix and Tyler fix, and Steph got her Mike fix. LOL! We drove through town and reminisced and looked at the Christmas lights on the main street. Stopped by Kaja's for a brief moment and then had to head back to Texas. We met up with the Brooks in Moore and drove home with them. We brought home some of the cold weather with us that was blowing in (yeah)
We got to also visit with our dog Gabbie. She is doing great, and has adapted VERY well to her new owner Terri, which is Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor. So every time we come to visit we get to see her too. We really miss her, but she absolutely loves playing with all of the other dogs and is totally spoiled rotten!
Well we will be off tomorrow back to California pending anymore technical delays (TV issues)!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Christmas was wonderful, we had a great spiritual Christmas and fun opening gifts and watching the kids reaction to everything. I love this holiday for so many reasons and enjoy looking forward to it all year. (I even play music during the year just to boost my spirits)
We did a lot of things and one of the highlights was a surprise Birthday/Anniversary Party for Grandma and Grandpa Poole on Friday night. It was quite an event trying to keep it a secret, even up to the last minute trying to figure out how to get Grandma there dressed up. The ploy was a temple trip with all of the adults. It was a brilliant plan...and Matt made it more believable (with his sisters and sister-in-law giving him looks that could kill) when he realized that our recommends expired on the 31st of December and we had only gotten one half of our interviews done with the bishop and we were missing the signature from the stake president. (I was laying down at the time because I had a headache so I am only envisioning this conversation) But things were remedied with some supposed phone calls to our stake president, ha ha ha. Then another kink in the plan came the next night trying to get Matt and Dad back in time to go to the "temple", because of our silly tv from the van, trying to get it fixed before we left on Saturday. They finally had to just leave, and they barely made it back in time. Well needless to say it went off beautifully. Grandma was totally surprised!Marcus, Anna, and Marie made some great food for the party (Michael particularly like the flower sandwiches, he ate 5 of them!) Marcy finished an awesome slide show of the last 40 years and had that playing during the party. We had a replica of the cake and flowers made for them. The cake topper was the original from the wedding cake so that was totally fun to do. We had a great time.
The kids and I also made a quick visit to Oklahoma on Saturday. We weren't able to see everyone like I had hoped. We just didn't have the time. I hope this summer we can get to see everyone and spend some time hanging out there. I am glad we did get to see Titia and her family. We had a really good visit and I think Mike and Dan got their Erin Elzeabet fix and Tyler fix, and Steph got her Mike fix. LOL! We drove through town and reminisced and looked at the Christmas lights on the main street. Stopped by Kaja's for a brief moment and then had to head back to Texas. We met up with the Brooks in Moore and drove home with them. We brought home some of the cold weather with us that was blowing in (yeah)
We got to also visit with our dog Gabbie. She is doing great, and has adapted VERY well to her new owner Terri, which is Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor. So every time we come to visit we get to see her too. We really miss her, but she absolutely loves playing with all of the other dogs and is totally spoiled rotten!
Well we will be off tomorrow back to California pending anymore technical delays (TV issues)!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Pretty much moved in
Well last week I unpacked the final box in our latest move. We fit quite well, with a little room to spare. That is because we have our office furniture, the boys train table, my rocker and about 15 boxes in storage which should come out as soon as we finish a few of the remodeling projects here. We still have to put the shelves into place and put up our camping stuff and Matt's tools. That is a task for this weekend. We started some remodeling, but hit a snag when I messed with the main breaker of the house, and found out there was too much stuff on the breaker we were adding the plugs to, to put up the Christmas lights. So as you can see we are excited to be able to start this project and hopefully when we get the new main in things will go a little better. LOL.
We are getting ready for our trip next week and hoping the weather will cooperate with us next week. The kids have been on foggy delay schedule or school canceled due to the fog all week long. It has been soooooo nice to sleep in a little. It has been fun to watch the kids look out side to see how much the visibility is. We usually start out in the morning barely able to see across the street, and by the afternoon we can see about 2 blocks and then night fall it starts to come back in.
On Tuesday was Erin and Erik's Christmas Choir Concert and pictures. They did really well and sang great. The kids looked like they were having so much fun too. The kids were also able to visit their old classes and teachers. Erik came up with a great idea of becoming the class pen pal, so it is going to be really neat to keep up with his class.
Both Matt and I have new callings in our ward and we will be spending a lot more time together. Matt is the Cub Master and I am the Webelos leader. Erik is almost done with his Bear and should have that before his birthday. He really loves being a cubscout. We are waiting till we get back to sign him up for gymnastics in Visalia because we are going to be gone for till then. He is thrilled to have another boy in his primary class that does gymnastics too. They are always doing tricks together. Erin is really enjoying Achievement Day's and has also signed up to play basketball at school. Mike is thrilled to be going to all day kindergarten. He feels like a big kid now. Danny is absolutely loving it at home all by himself and in January he is starting speech once a week.
Sorry this is a long one but I haven't blogged in forever and just wanted to catch everyone up on the goings on around here. So I will stop here and probably add more tomorrow to catch up on more things going on. :)
We are getting ready for our trip next week and hoping the weather will cooperate with us next week. The kids have been on foggy delay schedule or school canceled due to the fog all week long. It has been soooooo nice to sleep in a little. It has been fun to watch the kids look out side to see how much the visibility is. We usually start out in the morning barely able to see across the street, and by the afternoon we can see about 2 blocks and then night fall it starts to come back in.
On Tuesday was Erin and Erik's Christmas Choir Concert and pictures. They did really well and sang great. The kids looked like they were having so much fun too. The kids were also able to visit their old classes and teachers. Erik came up with a great idea of becoming the class pen pal, so it is going to be really neat to keep up with his class.
Both Matt and I have new callings in our ward and we will be spending a lot more time together. Matt is the Cub Master and I am the Webelos leader. Erik is almost done with his Bear and should have that before his birthday. He really loves being a cubscout. We are waiting till we get back to sign him up for gymnastics in Visalia because we are going to be gone for till then. He is thrilled to have another boy in his primary class that does gymnastics too. They are always doing tricks together. Erin is really enjoying Achievement Day's and has also signed up to play basketball at school. Mike is thrilled to be going to all day kindergarten. He feels like a big kid now. Danny is absolutely loving it at home all by himself and in January he is starting speech once a week.
Sorry this is a long one but I haven't blogged in forever and just wanted to catch everyone up on the goings on around here. So I will stop here and probably add more tomorrow to catch up on more things going on. :)
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