SUMMERTIME FUN!

Summertime doesn't get more fun than playing with the grand kids. We took Alex to the fair to see the bull riding. He loves it and so do we. Here he is standing right next to the fence. He's right in front of that dad holding his baby.

We like looking at the 4-H animals, big and small and in this case---weird.

Alex had to check out the #1 thing on Grandpa Jim's wish list.

Kevin and I took Addy and Sophie to the fair also. It looks like they are lovin' this crazy swinging carnival ride, but . . .

. . . a closer look reveals Kevin holding onto his stomach, Sophie has her eyes closed and Addy, of course, texting.

More rides

Summertime gives time for jumping on the trampoline.

We find ways to stay cool---- at the Cool Pool, that's Sophie coming down the slide.

Kelly, Chris and Dylan and Max (dog) came to visit Sat. through Wed. They brought the hot weather with them. Here's Dylan cooling off in our backyard pool.
He had an "accident" in his swim trunks, so we put him in the garage sink to get cleaned off. He has Toy Story swim trunks and he says "Woody" so cute.

We cooled off with a Popsicle, Dylan's favorite way to cool off, I believe.

Cooling off in Grandma's pump fountain.

One of Addy's favorite things to do. Drive around on our property. This was the first time she got to drive the family car.

She's pretty happy with herself.

The main reason Kelly and Chris came was to show the girls their brand new 3 month old puppy named Max. Chris and Kelly didn't tell the girls they got a puppy while the girls were up here in Oregon visiting their dad. Here's how the first meeting went.

They are very excited. Max is a Minature Pincher. He's 8 lbs and will get to be 10-15 pounds. He's way cute!!

We all loved having him here.

Here's the little Max boy.

First family-dog photo.

Jim fell in love with Max, taking him out on daily walks, showing him the turkey nest, talking to him, playing ball, cuddling, napping and lovin' on him. I was getting fearful that our "we are done having pets" stage was going to be upset.

All the grand kids love bathing in our jaquizzi tub. Dylan keeps letting the water out slowly and it makes a funny sound. Watch how insulted he gets when I ask him if he's gassing in the water.

Last day of July, summertime clean up. We pressure washed the house and washed all the windows and screens.

On the last weekend in August, Jim and I will be making a trip to Yuba City to have a grand kids all-in-one-birthday party. 3 grand kids have August birthdays, then Dylan and Owen turn 2 in Sep. and Oct. So we decided we would do 1 trip and 5 birthdays in 1 weekend. So we won't see Payton and Owen till the end of August, but here's a picture of them.

Payton helping her Aunt Courtney will her cow at the fair.

Owen at the park, he loves the outdoors.

GUARDING THE GARDEN

Weather, weeds and wildlife--WOW. Those are the things we have been guarding the garden from. The WEATHER has been outrageous! We got the garden in about the end of April. Then it rained and hailed really hard in June. The plants had just started doing well and after the HARD rain and hail, it literally pulverized several of the plants and I had to replant.
WEEDS are the worst! The picture below reminds me of one of those "Where's Waldo" pictures. Go ahead, just try and find the one viable vegetable in this mess.
So the weeding has commenced. If the rows had been wide enough, I would have considered using a lawnmower for weeding. We have a vegetable garden and a berry patch. Both sections are about 18' x 50'. LOTS of weeds!!

I am hoping the veges and berries will do a little better since they don't have to compete with the weeds for sunlight and water. The bees might actually be able to pollenate the plants.

WILDLIFE munchers. We thought we had a good deer proof garden. We were wrong. They were just waiting for the plants to ripen and get big enough for the "full meal deal". Jim told me the 2 places that were the weak spots in our fence and that is exactly where the deer entered. They ate the tops off of the beans, peas and tomatoes.

Then moved over to the broccoli, pictured below. It was about 18" tall. They ended their smorgasbord by leveling the lettuce.

So I sewed the nets together with twine and fixed the bottom fencing with the bird netting.

It's been 3 days since we've had a deer in the garden. I hope we finally have it sealed off OR they are just waiting for things to grow back OR they are waiting until the weeding is done and then they can find their favorite things more easily. Happy Gardening to you and if you don't have a garden, we may see each other at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.

BOUNCING FUN

We got a trampoline at the end of last summer. We didn't get the area cleared to put it down until this year. Trying to find a 15' FLAT square piece of ground on this 10 acres in such a challenge.(Actually finding a 15" flat square piece of ground is a challenge) Anyway, we finally got it up and asked Sophia to spend the night. I picked her up at her dad's house. It began to hail thumbnail size hail. They were huge. By the time I got home, there was hail on the ground and no electricity. So we drove back into town, had dinner and came home. Sophia took bath towels out and dried off the trampoline and talked Grandpa Jim into jumping with her. They had fun.

Sophia enjoyed being the FIRST grandchild to jump on the new trampoline.

Can't wait to get the other grandkids out here. Maybe the weather will cooperate better.

BYE BYE BISHOP COVERSTONE

We had an interesting Sunday last week, June 13th. Jim was released from being the Bishop of our Ward. He served for 5 years and a few months. He was extremely busy, but he loved doing it. He usually doesn't get home from doing his Bishop duties until about 2 or 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Last Sunday, I got home about 12:30. He jumped out into the living room, with his jeans on and said, "HAH, I beat you home!!!" Then he ate lunch, read the Sunday paper and went on the patio and just sat there for about 45 minutes. It is bitter sweet, he loved serving, but he felt a big burden lifted, upon being released.
Today, June 20th is Father's Day. Jim and I drove to church in the same car and sat together in church. It was nice to be together again on Sunday. Yesterday, I went to the local fruit stand for the first time this season, to get some strawberries. Check our this huge one. We have had the rainiest spring in 50 years and the coldest spring in 60 years. All the crops are late, but the batch of strawberries I got were worth waiting for, mmmmmmmmmmmgood!!!

I made Jim salmon and deviled eggs, 2 of his favorites for Father's day. Plus angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. You can tell by the smile on his face, he's delighted about the dessert.

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers. Hope your day was special! jim and kathy

ADDY GETS HER 8TH GRADE PROMOTION

Jim and I got to go see the kids and grandkids from May 31 to June 5th. Our main focus for going was to attend Addy's 8th grade graduation. She is really growing up. Here's our 6 sweet grandkids below.

Graduation day began with getting Addy's hair fixed. It was Chris and Kelly's gift to Addy. This is the before picture.

the during picture

And taaa daaa, All finished and beautiful!

Addy got fake nails for her first time.

Here's the whole family on graduation night.

This is the only picture I have of Ryan and Crystal's family. I didn't notice that Alex was being so silly.

Addy's friend, Victoria

Addy with the anticipated promotion certificate, Congratulations Addison Taylor!!

While we were in CA, we did some other fun things with the grandkids. Grandpa is giving Dylan an impromptu xylophone lesson

and piano lesson

We went to Payton's ballet class. I know this sounds a little prejudice, but she does the best job in the whole class of getting on her tippy toes.

Check out her flexibility.

We had some backyard fun with the squirt guns. Owen and Dylan are finally starting to play together and enjoy each other's company. There's a couple of cute videos at the end of this post.

It looks like Dylan has Owen in a choke hold, but he's just hugging him goodbye.

We went to Funderland. All the rides are suited for little kids. They can ride them all by themselves. The best part of the day was seeing the looks on their faces when they would go by us. It's like they knew they were being "big kids".

Grandpa really got into the roller coaster ride.

They must have rode this car at least a dozen times.

At the end our trip, we brought Sophie back with us, so she could spend the summer with her dad. Addy will be up in about a week. Also Alex will come spend the summer with his dad at the end of June. Sophia is such a good traveler, she was a pleasure to have with us.

That's about it. Congratulations to Addy again. Thanks to Chris and Kelly for letting us stay with you. We love ya all, mom and dad