Fun Summer Days

Lennard was asked to come be the guest speaker at the library reading program today.  The theme today was airshow, so they thought it would be fun to have a pilot come talk to the kids.  We didn’t tell Emma and Ben that he was going to be there, so when he walked in to the room they jumped up and were very excited to see their daddy.  Emma kept asking why he was there and couldn’t handle not knowing what was going on.  It was pretty funny.

We borrowed my dad’s model to show the kids what happens when the stick/pedals are moved, etc.  It was a great visual.  Lennard did a great job getting everything to the kids level.  It was fun to have him there for a short while before he had to head back to work.

We spent a couple hours at the pool again in the afternoon.  I looked like a drowned rat by the time we left as the kids thought it would be a good idea to ‘water their flower to see it grow’!  I had more water dumped on my head that at times it was hard to catch a breath!  The kids had a blast though and to be completely honest… so did I.  It has been so nice to have so much one-on-one time with them.  I wish Lennard could come with us!

Lennard called me at about 3:00 and asked what are plans were for the evening.  We didn’t have anything, so he suggested that we take the kids in to Lethbridge to the movies!  He was so tired of being out in the crazy heat all day that he needed a break. 

The kids slept all the way in to Lethbridge and then we woke them up when we got to the mall.  They didn’t know what we were going to do, so when they found out they were pretty excited.  To make it even more fun it was a 3D movie so they got to wear fun glasses.  We were very glad that it wasn’t a packed theatre as they were up and down quite a bit, but they enjoyed the movie and so did we. 

Play Time

Rachel and Cub are staying out at his parent’s cabin for a few days and Rachel invited us to come play for the morning.  The kids were so excited to play with their cousins again, and it made it even better when there was a quad to ride!  I even rounded out my ‘education’ and drove a quad for the first time.  I know, I know… l’m a Southern Alberta born and raised girl and I’ve never driven a quad.  Oh well, that’s been remedied now!

We had eight on the one vehicle and then I took Zach on the quad with me.  We went for a short ride around the property and then stopped at the creek for the kids to throw rocks.  I love seeing all these cousins playing together.  I hope they will always be friends. 

Thanks for letting us come play and visit, Rachel.  It was a fun morning!

On a side note:  The weather has conspired against us.  The wind is way too crazy to work on the roof of the hangar and be safe.  So far everything is still in place though!  We ended up driving in to Lethbridge tonight instead to pick up our trailer.  Thankfully they were able to fix it for a reasonable price instead of the $6000-$7000 price tag of a whole new roof!  Yikes!  It was nice to have a break from the airport.

Raisin’ the Roof!

We did it!  We got the roof on our hangar!  When we woke up this morning it was blowing and raining and Lennard was very frustrated.  He really wanted to get the roof on, especially because Lon (the guy building a hangar next to us) just had his trusses delivered this week and he is planning on coming down to work on them on Saturday!  There isn’t enough room for two sets of trusses where we are, so it was important for ours to get up and out of the way.

Anyways, Lennard got dressed and went to work instead of taking the day off… and then about an hour later he called me and said that he was going out to the airport and start putting the roof on!  The weather had improved drastically, so he was anxious to get going.  I got the kids dressed and got everyone finished with breakfast and then Mike said he would go out to help too (Mike & Melissa are staying with us for the week).  Thankfully, Melissa graciously agreed to watch Emma and Ben for me, so I was able to go out and help too.

When I got out there, they already had the first section on!  So exciting!  It sure changes the look in a hurry. We then got going on getting the other two sections on.  I got there about 9:30ish and by noon we had all three sections and the end truss on!  Amazing!

 

We headed home for a quick lunch and then Mike & Melissa went to go swimming with his family and we headed back out to the airport with the kids.  I put on a movie for them in the pilot’s lounge and Lennard and I got to work strapping the sections together. 

It is an amazing amount of work, especially when you are 14+ feet in the air, climbing ladders, scaling trusses, etc.  Everything takes just that much longer.  We got one and a half sections strapped by about 5:00 and then took the kids home for dinner. 

We put sloppy joes in the crockpot this morning, so it was very nice to walk in and have dinner ready to go.  Lennard stopped to get buns and when he got home he carried in a sleeping Benny!  He’d fallen asleep before Lennard hardly left the airport.  He was so tired!  In fact, he slept right through dinner and hasn’t made a peep yet.  I’m hoping he won’t wake up in the middle of the night now!

Lennard went back out to the airport just before 6:00 and kept working.  He got all the hurricane straps put on on one side and got everything cleaned up. 

We will go out tomorrow night and get the end truss squared up a bit better and tied in properly, we’ll finish strapping the other half section and then cross brace the rest of the roof and then we should be ready to get tin ordered and install the door!

It’s so nice to see so much progress happening!

Progress

Instead of trying to make posts for all the different things we’ve been doing at the airport, I figured that this would be a much easier way to show some of the progress we’ve been making.

July 4 – Lennard took the afternoon off work and we got the rest of the cross bracing done on the walls and the inside king board installed.

July 12 – Trusses were delivered last night, so we were at the airport bright and early to get started building roof sections!  Ben and Emma loved getting to go for tractor rides, although after a few we had to call it quits.  It was too hard to negotiate stuff with a kid on Lennard’s lap!  They enjoyed the air conditioned pilot’s lounge with a movie on instead.

 

We were excited to get all three sections upright and secured enough that they won’t blow down.  We were thankful for help from one of Lennard’s co-workers.  It made it go so much faster.

 

July 14 – We spent another FHE (Family Hangar Evening) at the airport.  James came out and helped and we were able to get two sections pretty well strapped. 

July 15 – Another evening at the airport.  Ben found a good spot to have a rest.  They have been so amazing to play and let us work.  It has been very hot and we were all melting tonight.

July 21 – After a nice ‘long’ weekend, we got back to work and got the back section of the roof completed and the dropped truss put together and strapped.

 

We should have the roof sections completed tonight and have them ready to swing onto the roof this week!  That will be an exciting day! So there you go… that’s what our life has consisted of!

Together Forever

It seems like ever since we took the kids to see their Grandma Nichols grave that Emma has been obsessed with death.  Not really obsessed per se, but she has a LOT of questions.  Every single day it has been:

Emma:  I miss Grandma Nichols.  When can we see her again?
Me:  When we die, we will go live with Heavenly Father again and we will see grandma!
Emma: But I don't want to die!  I want to stay in this country!  What will happen to our home?
Me:  You don't need to worry about dying right now.  You can live in our home for a long time.  But after we die, we can live with all of our family again.  We were sealed in the temple so that we can be together forever and ever!
Emma:  But what will happen to my bed?  After we go to heaven, can we come back to this country?

The questions go on and on.  I'm not sure what I can do to help relieve her concerns except continue to answer her questions as best as I can.  It's a huge concept and I hope she will eventually understand how amazing it will be to be able to be together as a family for all eternity.  She will get the chance to know her Grandma Nichols as well as so many others that love her and watch over her.

I am so thankful that I know we are sealed as a family.  I can't imagine being without her or Ben or Lennard.

The Things You Do and Say

I came in to Ben’s room this evening and found him like this… under the bed in just his underwear.  We had sent him in to get his pajamas on, so I was glad to see that he was at least half way there.  I laughed and asked, “Ben, what are you doing?”  He replied in a very serious little voice, “I’m fixing my car!”

Love you, Benny boy!

Sunday Afternoon Walk

After a lazy afternoon, we decided to go for a walk and get out of the house.  We started walking and ended up at the temple.  The kids did great, until we got to the other side of the temple and then they decided that they were tired and thirsty!  We managed to keep them going around the block and took a bit of a break on the temple lawn.  I attempted to take a picture of us, but almost every picture had Ben sticking his tongue out.  We finally told him he couldn’t have a drink if he did it again (mean parents)… and this is what we got!

I love living so close to the temple.  I take it for granted way too often and need to do better in remembering how blessed we really are.

We played for a bit on the lawn chasing the kids and then made our way to Town Square.  Of course, the first two water fountains we came to weren’t working.  I’m sure the kids thought they would die, but we finally found one that worked.  The kids were so thirsty that they wouldn’t take turns and just took a drink together.  I just about melted from cuteness!  It looks like they are trying to kiss each other!

We finally made it home and were even more thankful to walk into an air conditioned home! 

Oh, Ben.

“I hurt my sprinkle!”

Lineman Rodeo

We’ve said for a number of years that we would go down to the Montana Lineman Rodeo, but every year we’ve ended up with other commitments.  Well, this year, we put it on the calendar first and booked everything else around it! 

We left on Thursday afternoon and got to Great Falls.  We had booked ahead at the KOA and found that it was on the other end of town, but it was still worth the drive.  The campsite is beautiful.  Unfortunately, as we were pulling in to our campsite, one side had a large rock with the site number on it and the other was a tree… we were paying attention to the large rock and the tree won.  It ripped the rubber roof on the trailer.  To say that Lennard was upset would be an understatement.  We managed to find a RV dealership and bought a patch for it so that it would be protected for the weekend at least.

The rest of the evening went well.  We went over to Golden Corral for dinner and met some ‘interesting’ people.  One lady was intrigued with Emma – and the whole restaurant knew it.  I don’t think anyone ever taught her to talk quietly.  She was sure that Emma was six and that she was SO tall for her age… we weren’t sad to see her leave so that we could actually eat our meal!

When we got back to the campsite, the kids were excited to find that it had a large water/spray park.  We got into our swim suits and went to try it out.  I found it extremely cold, but Emma got right in to it, found some friends to follow around and had a blast.  Ben stood and shivered half the time, but eventually played on a borrowed floatie.  It got a little crazy after a while with older kids racing around, so we called it quits and went back to the trailer.  The kids were very upset about leaving, so we put on a movie and popped some popcorn and that made everything better!

The next day we drove to Butte.  We got there in the early afternoon, got set up and then headed out to do some grocery shopping.  We got a few things that we were needing and by then the kids were getting anxious to go play.  We put their swimsuits on again and headed to a spray park.  I thought that they would have a lot of fun, but we had to convince them to get in the water.  Emma eventually did, but Ben never really did much than wander around the edges.  The water was extremely cold though, so I don’t blame them.  We were only there for about ten minutes before they both wanted to leave.  We got them dried off and headed over to the playground instead.  They both enjoyed the playground way more than the spray park.

We had a very relaxing evening and watched another movie together.  Such a nice option!  Especially when it is so hot outside and we could turn on the air conditioner and be comfortable!

Saturday morning we got up early, got breakfast and then headed out to where the Lineman Rodeo was being held.  We got there just as the competitions were starting.  We couldn’t find any kind of program to know what was going on, so we just wandered.  Lennard and the kids got to go for a ride in a bucket truck, which they thought was great.  The rest of the time the kids weren’t overly impressed.  Ben wanted to be carried and didn’t like the scrub grass on his legs.  Emma was bored and played in the dirt.  It was interesting to watch, but definitely not up to kid standards. 

Thankfully, they eventually had some demonstrations about electricity for the kids to show them what would happen if they touched a wire (hot dog), ran over a wire with their bike or a car, etc.  It was good for the kids to see how dangerous it is.  Then they blew up a big bouncy castle and the kids loved that.  Unfortunately, there was a huge lineup and it took a while to get in.  Once they were in it was great, but when the turn ended it wasn’t a good moment.

   

There was a Backhoe Rodeo on the one side of the grounds that anyone could sign up for, so Lennard decided to give it a try.  It was crazy some of the things they had them doing – playing pool and soccer, doing puzzles, and pouring sand into cups, etc.  It was fun to watch.  Lennard enjoyed himself too!

 

We decided to call it a day around noon and headed back to the trailer to get packed up.  We stopped at Wendy’s and had lunch so that we wouldn’t have to clean up that later too.  We were on the road by 1:15, but the road home seemed never ending.  The kids were so loud and silly that it was a bit overwhelming at times.  We were glad when they fell asleep, but it didn’t last nearly long enough.  We had to stop a couple times to fuel up as we were fighting a head wind most of the time.  We had an early dinner in Great Falls, but we really should have just kept driving.  The kids hardly ate a thing and the food wasn’t wonderful.

We were very glad to get home and get the kids in bed… although it took us a while to get them calmed down. Being trapped in a truck for six hours will do that to you!  Wish we could have stayed a bit longer, so that the drive back was broken up a bit, but we both had to be back for Sunday.

Improvement

We went for another eye appointment for Ben today.  Thankfully, after a few months of patching his eye, we are seeing improvement!  It’s nice knowing that things are getting better.  We still have to patch for another month and then we will taper off. 

Unfortunately, we discovered that Ben has allergies like Lennard.  At least the doctor was able to give us a prescription for some drops that will hopefully help.  His eyes have been so itchy and red that he’s been miserable.

Happy Canada Day!

We spent the morning in Raymond watching the parade.  The kids were SO excited for the parade to start, so it was nice to have two of my sisters and their families set up next to us.  It distracted the kids for a bit!

We even managed to get a family picture taken!  It took us a few tries to get this one, but considering how good Ben is with getting pictures taken lately, this was amazing.

Here’s a few pictures of the ‘clan’ waiting for the parade to start.

 

Some of the family was more cooperative at getting their pictures taken than others…

 

I love seeing how excited they were for the parade.  Ben was jumping up and down and doing a little dance (to the amusement of the rest of us!).

Some of the floats.  It was a fun morning. 

When we got home, I worked on getting stuff cleaned up while Lennard took Ben and went to work on the hangar.  Emma chattered and played the whole afternoon.  I finally went and got Ben from the airport and got ready for the clan (Shauna’s & Mindy’s families) to come to our house for dinner.  We barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers and the kids played outside.  Ben decided to turn on the water hose and ended up soaking a bunch of kids… oops!  We were going to all go down to the Party in the Park, but the kids were playing so nicely and we were enjoying just sitting and visiting that we didn’t end up going. 

Everyone left around 8:00ish and we got the kids in bed.  Lennard and I were both tired, but we stayed up and watched a movie.  Just before 11:00 we woke the kids up, loaded them into the truck and headed down to watch the fireworks.  Emma was okay watching them for the first 5-10 minutes but then wanted to go home.  Ben was hilarious!  Last year he sat in my lap and was scared of the noise, but tonight was so fun.  He hung out the window and yelled, “Come on!  Do it again!”  and then when another would go off he would yell, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”  It was so funny!  After half an hour of fireworks ended, we headed home, put them back in bed and didn’t hear a sound out of them.  So nice!