Father's Day Feasting

I had a great Father's Day this year. Did you see the pic of the new grill? It cooks with In fared - seriously oozing with manly awesomeness. The day began with a french toast-smothered-in-strawberries and home-made cinnamon syrup breakfast in bed delivered to me by Beau - who then stayed to cuddle. Church was uneventful, which is actually a great thing. No serious crying or threats were even required. The last four weeks I've either had to teach or speak and there was none of that this week either. We all did a bit of lounging together afterward, and it was capped off by Marta making delicious pulled pork and coleslaw sandwiches to go along with the famous chocolate cake. I'm not going to have too much problem eating leftovers for lunches these next couple of days. Bar was set pretty high in 2011.

The Backyard is Done!

Last August, I posted Marta's new backyard plan, and it has been a very busy few months this spring as we've put it all together. We changed the layout, redid the sprinklers, built and painted a pergola, wired it for lights, planted 5 or so trees and a ton of other stuff, built a fountain, planted a garden, moved a few tons of gravel and bark chips, more sprinkler work, and poured some concrete counter tops for an outdoor kitchen. We got it all done just in time for an Elder's Quorum BBQ (gotta love putting those deadlines on projects).

It was a ton of work, and with all the hazards in the yard during these weeks I'm still surprised we got it done without having to take anyone to the emergency room. The goal was to create different outdoor spaces with shade, so in about 10 years when all the trees are big and the wisteria grows up over the pergola - we'll be set.

Big Box = Fort

Our family has literally spent each dry moment of the month of May in our backyard. The boys playing, riding bikes, jumping off of things and Marta and I working on the new backyard plan. We've made a ton of progress and are now finally starting to feel like we're getting there.

We got a new grill as part of it all which means a big box that - even before the grill was unpacked - was earmarked as a fort. Next came the creation of windows, escape hatches, weapon holders, and who knows what else. Hours of entertainment in a box.