What we did in 2010 (part 3)

In May Adam built the retaining wall for our side yard. Later in the year we again pulled all the weeds, leveled the ground and pulled out a ton of rocks (with the help of my family), put in sprinklers, and planted grass seed (of course Adam did most of the work). It is looking quite nice now. In fact, it is the greenest grass in our whole yard (as of February).

A related and memorable happening last year was when Hyrum was playing with some friends in our yard and picked up one of the large bricks that was left over from building the wall. He put it down on his finger and that wasn't so good for his finger. He came to the door with blood on his clothes and hands and looking and acting like he was in so much pain he might go into shock (not that I know what that would look like exactly). He told me it hurt so much it felt like he was going to die. This was my first experience with a bleeding, frantic child as a mom. Definitely memorable. He wouldn't let me get a good look at it, but the bleeding slowed down soon and then stopped. I still wasn't sure whether he might need stitches because he refused to let me touch it or even see it very well (we did wash it off and put some kind of bandage on it). So after a lot of googling and debating we took him to urgent care just before they closed. He was very brave for them and let them wash it and look at it and then they put some special glue on it followed by a huge bandage. And before too long it was good as new.

On a happier note for Hyrum, last spring he started drawing his first real pictures rather than just scribbles and random shapes. He also started writing his name a little before that and has learned to write all the letters (at least he attempts to write them all). That has been very fun. Here is one of his very first "real" pictures. I didn't realize, but it seems that he just needed some coaching. He didn't think he could draw anything until I broke it into smaller steps for him like draw a big circle for the head, then small circles for the eyes, etc.In the mean time, Annie loved (and loves) toys. I know that's normal, but we weren't so used to it with Hyrum. Even now when we ask her what she did in nursery she usually says "I did toys." Annie has a great imagination and was so cute with her toys, imagining with them and entertaining herself even before her second birthday. And she also came up very cute songs and stories (and still does). Here she is playing with some toys she got for her second birthday. I think Hyrum built the lego building, but she arranged the other toys.

Last spring Adam was called to serve as a leader of the 14-15 year old Young Men in our ward (our church congregation). It has taken a lot of his free time and thoughts. It has been a good growing experience for him and he has had a lot of fun. They decided to do a high adventure hike and spent a lot of time working up to it. Adam wanted to work up to being able to keep up with the boys and help them as needed, but he also wanted to help the boys be prepared.
They went on a couple of preparatory overnight hikes. One was in the mountain just above our house and although it was June, the weather turned out to be very bad. It was drizzling when they left and rained off and on the whole time and the wind howled all night long in one of our big canyon wind storms. I worried all night that they might blow off the mountain. In fact, a giant tree in our neighbor's backyard blew over that night and if I remember right I heard it fall. But they stayed a long sleepless night and made it home the next day in one piece. And Adam felt that they would be prepared for whatever might come their way. I think they were all very happy to be home.
Some more highlights from the beginning of summer: We went to my grandparents' cabin. The kids had a blast on the swing and Adam and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery.





We went to a local 4th of July celebration with my parents and brother. We enjoyed the band (Annie was bouncing all over and shaking her head to the music) and then played with glow sticks my mom brought for the kids until the fireworks started.



The next Sunday we spent some time together with my family as Brian got ready to leave on his mission.




The next Wednesday we dropped off Brian at the Missionary Training Center. It has been really fun to read all of his letters from the MTC and now especially as he tells about his experiences in Italy.