Crashing Trees and Engineer Brains

 First I want to give a shout-out to my big sister, Charmaine. She's 50 years old today (Sept 6th)!! We have had so many adventures and wonderful times together over the years! I am so lucky to have her as my sister and my friend. I love her so much!!

In 2018, we went to England and France together, hitting all the famous stops along our way, as well as touring several ancestral sites over 14 days. What a grand adventure that was! We've also traveled to Massachusetts and Maine to do some family history back in 2013.  We visited Boston and the Plimoth Plantation, did some family history in Marshfield, and then headed up to Maine for a few days, eating as much lobster as we could along the way! 

I hope we can go on many more adventures together before we get too old to travel, ha ha!!

Monday: Scott started school!! In the Idaho Falls School District, the students will go to school in person Monday - Thursday, and then the students have online work and catching up to do on Fridays. The teachers have office hours on Fridays (to be available if the students need help online), as well as a multitude of meetings throughout the day. 

Here he is at the end of his first school day:

Just before he got home, I was outside with the girls when we discovered a dead bird in the corner of the yard next to their swing set. We were very sad. Gratefully, Scott took care of it for us. 

But Gwen wanted to sing it a song. As she sang, the words gradually morphed into "Let it Go" from Frozen, ha ha. And when she was done singing, she said, "There, now the sunshine is helping him!" 

Here is her song: (click to listen)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fJ6Cc2H91HSLgxzN6

Tuesday: I worked on getting the guest room ready to paint. It used to be Benson's room and has had the same coat of paint for 14 years!! 

The room has also seen its fair share of air soft pellets and brotherly air soft "wars". Oh boys . . . .

So after lots of patching of holes, the walls were ready to paint.

Wednesday: All I got was this for the day. When Scott got home from school, he asked Gwen to help him wash the dishes. She happily obliged. The rest of the day I was just painting and painting in the guest room. :)

Thursday: I got up in the  middle of the night, around 4:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, to use the bathroom. As I was climbing back into the bed, I heard a distinct and loud crashing sound coming from outside. It lasted about 3 seconds long. I immediately thought that maybe the section of fence that Scott had been working on had fallen over, and then I wondered if a prowler was lurking in our back yard. I went from window to window, carefully peering out into the darkness to see if I could see anything or anyone. I didn't see anything out of place and, even though I know I heard something substantial, I eventually decided to give up and try to go back to sleep.

A few hours later, my backyard neighbor, Helma, called to let me know that a huge branch of one of our pine trees had fallen over into their back yard. I immediately went over to see for myself.

Helma noted that the branch fell into "pretty much the perfect spot", narrowly missing their shed and two trees they had recently planted. 

This was the view from our side of the fence. Look at the thick diameter of that branch!!

This was an unusual tree because about halfway up, there were TWO TRUNKS. A two-headed tree!! And this branch that came off was the extra trunk. Now that it has fallen off, the rest of the tree still looks pretty normal as far as the vertical stature goes. 

When Scott got home after school, we attacked that branch with a very powerful chainsaw that Helma's husband, Don Blatter, let us borrow. 

First, Scott worked on removing as many offshoot branches as possible to get some of the weight off.

Then, he shoved it in a rolling fashion to dislodge it from the fence to where he could work on the massive trunk.

He had it all chopped up into firewood chunks in no time! Don arrived home just in time to help hold the last piece of the trunk while Scott cut it into two fat pieces.

Scott finished up the job on Friday by mending the injured fence and it all looks good as new!

Meanwhile, the girls were a little bored on Thursday, so I decided to set up a tent in the back yard for them to play in with their dolls and stuffed animals. 

Friday: In between cleaning the house, menu planning, getting groceries, and getting ready for company, I had a fun conversation with Kylie. 

She had just taken a little side trip by herself to the ocean, about a 50 minute drive. She sent this cute video of their puppy, Mocha, getting more accustomed to being in the water. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/y5X6BXTGZSf9XbJP7

She said the ocean water felt warm like being in a bathtub. :)

After her adventures at the coast, she took Mocha out to Sushi. (ha ha) She ate at a table outdoors, even though it was hot. But she was excited to eat at this restaurant because she doesn't get to eat there nearly enough. She says that Benson has eaten there too many times and is sick of it. Plus he eats so much that their bill was always ridiculously high. But, by her going there to eat by herself (while he's still in England), she has a much lower bill and she gets to eat at a place that she loves! :)

As she drove home, I shared an idea for her garden slugs (based on a couple of family members' suggestions). I told her to put a trail of salt around that grate on the ground where the slugs come out every day and head for her vegetables. The salt has a nasty reaction on slugs and snails, and could potentially cause them to die. At least that could buy her some time until her slug bait arrives . . .

Also, another update: with all the lightning that occurred last week, one of the lightning strikes hit so close to her house that it actually fried one of the electrical cables! That's why she had partial power, but not 100% power. So the electrician is working to get that fixed.

She's doing a GREAT JOB over there all by herself and I'm so proud of her! 17 years old and holding down the fort, taking care of the little family zoo, going on adventures, trying new foods, and all with a beautiful smile on her face! What an amazing daughter she is!

Also on Friday, Amber had a hankering to make some pumpkin butter. She had a small jar of it and, due to its dwindling remainder, she figured she had better make some more. This coming week she wants to make some pumpkin butter chicken in the crockpot. I can't wait! 

Gwen wanted to help her mix all the ingredients together, so Amber had her help with everything BEFORE they turned the burner on. All of this was done with a cold stovetop. :)

And our former foster daughter, and my very dear friend, Jasmine, got married this weekend! (more on that in a minute) She needed my help in making a platter to hold their wedding cake and some cupcakes. 

It needed to be capable of holding a 10 inch cake, plus 24 cupcakes. I had an abundance of sturdy cardboard in the garage, so I did some sketching out and measuring, using props and cupcake liners so that I could see just how big to cut out the circles.

I cut out two big circles, and then added some additional reinforcement in the center. With lots of duct tape! Obviously . . .

Here the two circles are stacked together, with the reinforcement inside, and all taped together.

Her colors were mint and silver, so she said a good covering with foil would be great! I used some of the Texas Tough foil that Amber and Weston brought up to Idaho with them. Worked like a charm!

Here was the final product:

When Scott got home from school Friday, we went on a little date. Our date consisted of getting a huge sandwich at Kneaders and then sharing it at the park. Then we went to Home Depot together for supplies to put in a new fence post and fix our broken fence. Anywhere is wonderful as long as we're together. :)

After painting the guest room walls and baseboards throughout the week, Scott helped me hang up some artwork on the walls as finishing touches before company arrived. 

Late Friday night, Weston arrived from Utah for the weekend, and even later that night Jacob and Hannah finally arrived for the weekend as well. They left Provo around 4:00 and got stuck in various traffic jams (Labor Day weekend) and even some single-lane construction mess between Pocatello and Idaho Falls. It took them 6.5 hours to get to our house!! Normally it takes about 3.5 hours. They were tired, naturally, so we didn't stay up much longer after they arrived. We still went to bed late, though, around 11:30 p.m.

Saturday: Scott got up early to start working on that fence post. Well, mostly to attack the big slab of concrete still in the hole from the old post! We watched several YouTube videos on how to break it up or get it out, none of which were working. And my Dad had a couple of suggestions, too. But what finally did the trick, was to use a High-Lift Jack that our neighbor had, added in with some expertise from the neighbor + Jacob and Weston's brain power all combined, ha ha.

A picture story:

Jacob and Scott are trying to wrap the chain around the cement footing . . .

Trying various positions with the High-Lift Jack . . .

Finally getting it to budge an inch or so, giving everyone a sense of glee . . .

Realizing the initial success, but needing more room, they jacked up the Jack system with blocks and wood from our wood pile so they could have more room between the footing and the wood post to lift the footing upwards . . .

Cranking away . . .

Video of the last moments of success:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SpjNC8iS8UNid5Wo9

Jacob pulling the cement blob out single-handedly, once it was freed and loosened from the dirt.

Then came the celebratory fist-bumps all around . . .

Job well done!! In the pictures, it doesn't look nearly as big, but it certainly was HEAVY.

Meanwhile, I did the mowing while Scott continued to work on the hole, getting it ready for new concrete. As I came into the back yard, I saw some happy family moments in the hammock and had to pause to take a picture. Weston was snuggling with the girls while they played with their dolls. :)  

In between hanging out with all the family, Scott and I slipped away for a few minutes to visit Jasmine and Brandon after their wedding ceremony. She sent us home with a big chunk of wedding cake for our large group. 

I have known Jasmine since she was 6 years old, when I was her teacher's aide. I have remained very close with her all these years, even taking her in for a few months when her family situation was pretty rough. Now, she's 19 and all grown up! She met Brandon while she was recovering after her horrific car accident last fall. He already had a little boy, Luke, from a previous marriage that didn't work out. Brandon has full custody of Luke, and when Jasmine came into the picture, she fell in love with both Brandon and Luke. Now they are one little happy family together. I am so happy for them!

Also, because of lingering issues and bodily trauma from her accident last fall, the ACL on her right knee is shot. But then her MCL snapped the day before the wedding!! She is waiting a couple of weeks before having surgery to fix it, but has to wear a brace in the meantime. Poor girl!! Here she is with little Luke. He is the cutest little guy!

Meanwhile, Benson sent us a couple pictures from London this weekend. 

(That 'stache . . .)

Buckingham Palace . . .

And when I asked him where this was, as far as what part of London, he answered, "Soho??"

He still has a few more weeks to go before he can get back to Italy and back to his wife, Kylie. Hope it passes quickly, but that he has a wonderful time and learns a lot while he's there!

Sunday: After a beautiful church service in the morning, and Amber and I both shared our testimony during the Sacrament Meeting, we hung out in various groups for the afternoon. Dad and I worked on a some family history together, while I also worked on my blog. Some of us got a nap, most of us didn't, ha ha. 

Later in the afternoon, my sister Melanie and her 3 kids arrived at our house. Melanie flew up from Mesa, Arizona with her two younger kids, Caleb and Mandie. Her oldest daughter, Natalie, drove down from Rexburg to pick them up at the Idaho Falls Airport and bring them over to my house. 

Immediately after dropping off suitcases and backpacks downstairs, Melanie curled up with Abby (and sometimes Gwen - she was busy playing all over and everywhere) to read several stories. 

The rest of us happily hung out on the back patio and visited.

From left to right: Caleb Schwendiman, Weston, Scott, and Natalie Schwendiman

Natalie also has a little puppy named Ollie. He's a Shitzu mix - I think he's got some Jack Russell in him because of his coarse little grey hairs all over. He is SO CUTE!! He's only 3 months old.

Jacob had fun being a horse for Gwen, and Ollie wanted to play too . . .

He patiently sat in the swing long enough for pictures, then he hopped down and scampered off.

Natalie, holding her little guy. His favorite perch is up on her shoulder, nestled into her hair.

Abby, Gwen and Ollie enjoyed chasing bubbles all over the yard . . .

Click for a SUPER CUTE video of Ollie scampering around in the grass:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jzv5W12gwwiCfCeYA

Look at this handsome guy. I love him with all my heart.

After we had genuine Brats (soaked in ginger beer - nonalcoholic of course - and onions), hot dogs, potato salad and fruit, we built a fire so we could make s'mores. Jacob cooked all the brats and dogs for us. 

Mandie had fun being very close to the FIRE and playing with a long stick. 

Gwen and Abby with mouths full of marshmallow.

Ollie. Of course.

Two big boys on the swings: Weston and Jacob.

And two little lovebirds, Jacob and Hannah. :)

Melanie probably would still be in this comfy hammock swing if we hadn't coaxed her out last night. 

With all the overlap of family, we had a total of 12 people at our house last night. I always say, "Pack 'em in like sardines!!" We played games, ate plenty of food, and talked and talked and talked. That's a good weekend!! Family is the best!!

I have even more activities to share in my next blog post . . .