The Founders Would Have Had a Good Time

The 4th-of-July weekend was great fun. We did the founding fathers proud.

The Hastings came down on Friday to stay over and we went to dinner with the Ensigns at Terra Mia. They gave it weak reviews. They said the pizza is comparably-priced with Colton's but not nearly as good. I agree. After dinner we finally broke in our fire pit (more accurately, a brazier) by roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. On the morning of the 4th we caught a bit of the balloon launch from the front yard, ate breakfast, the kids went to the parade, and Kris and I did laundry. I am not a fan of the parade as I have explained in previous posts. The afternoon was spent in Emily's pool. When everyone gathered around 5:00, we grilled and ate. The evening was filled with a tribute Michael Jackson by the binkers, traditional foot races, and a spririted game of red rover. Emily served delicious homemade ice cream with Kris's chocolate-chip bars and cookies. The jets flew over (one of my favorite bits) and Phillip and Emily provided pyrotechnics. It sounds exactly like last year and most years before, but obviously we love it that way - at least for the time being. One can never be sure when a new wrinkle will be inserted into long-standing tradition; ten years ago, the present tradition was non-existent.

Robert did the honors

Excellent fire, dude

S'mores coming right up

Clara and Anna enjoying the balloon launch

Pop Pop's pancakes and/or Grammy's sweet rolls
don't sound all that healthy, but they are good

Lucy, Anders, Tucker, and Clara ready for the Parade

They enjoyed the water

Patient Uncle Phillip tossed the cousins endlessly

The food included satay this year

Anders featured prominently in the MJ tribute, though
his costume was always somewhat of a mystery

The traditional foot races

Red rover, red rover, send Tucker right over

A great finish to a great day

We missed Katy Kathryn who is in Houston, the Youngs who were in Arizona, and the Taylors who were in North Carolina. We hope everyone had a nice day.

OXO

D.

Tripartite Patio Saga

When we moved into our "new" home, we wanted to install pavers on the back patio. However, funds were tight and we opted for gravel as a temporary measure. It actually looked nice, but we wanted something more permanent. So we hired some guys to lay a stone patio. It was so expensive we could only do the south half. The stone turned out to be very uneven and the installation was really poor; we weren't happy.

Last year, Stephen had a chap expanding his patio and we invited him over to see our mess. He said he could redo the whole thing for the price of installing the second half. We liked what he did for Stephen and so we hired him. As you may remember, he started the project in the very early spring and then went incommunicado. He did return, however, and finished the project. It is now complete and we are happy with the outcome. Here is the whole saga in pictures:

Anders, Finn, and Maren watching the delivery
of the gravel for the first iteration

The gravel was poured over a weed membrane

The finished gravel patio was fairly nice

The arrival of the sand and stone for round two

This is the only photo I have of the completed south
half of the wonky stone patio

This year Andrew removed all the gravel and wonky stone

The area stripped bare

The arrival of the new stone for round three

We opted for cement pavers on the
garbage/recycling area because it makes it
easier to manage the dumpsters

Andrew creating the new stone patio

The completed north end

The completed south end

New planting pockets with lavender

So, for those who have been asking for pictures, there ya go. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

The First Half of June

Way back on Friday, 5 June, the uncles-dinner group joined Rod and Vic for supper at Terra Mia, a new Italian restaurant in Orem (next to the new Cinemark and 5 Guys). The pizza was really good, and they have tasty gelato.

Katy, Vicki, and Rod ejoying their meal while Kris waits for hers

Stephen, Ann, Jeff, Amy, Tom, and Katy enjoying
their meal (while Kris waits)

Post-dinner inspection of the unfinished coop

On Monday, the Timp-Lodge "group" held its first summer picnic at a park next to the Provo River. The Boyntons are traveling, the Christophersons are in Brazil, and Phil was taking care of a sick baby. Otherwise, everyone was there, including some of the 2nd and 3rd generation.

The "group" picnic

A beautiful, cool, rainy, summer evening

The Provo River is running full with runoff
and all the rain

Early June also saw the completion of the chicken coop at Millie's. There are now chickens in the coop and as soon as they mature, there most certainly should be eggs. Ain't we got fun?

Steve, Joseph (P712 pastry chef), Colton, Millie, and
Uncle Stephen shortly after we hoisted the roof onto the coop

In case you were unaware, June in Utah has been very wet, cold, and rainy. It must be one of the wettest Junes in a very long time. It is the kind of weather I love as does Katy Kathryn. So everything is copacetic in the weather department.

A photo snapped during a very large thunder storm as
I sat on the porch reading, enjoying the rain

Yesterday, Sunday, the family gathered for Sunday dinner and we celebrated Rob's birthday. You can't put anything over on the children and they noticed there were only 17 candles, which they were sure, was quite short of the accurate number.

Clara won't pass up a chance to blow out candles

Phillip and Rob, post-dinner, discussing applications
for their iPod touches

After dinner when all the parents had left, Katy hosted a fantastic sleepover for all of the binkers who are in the area (Ollie and Meg are in Hawaii, and Finn and Harry are in Arizona). They watched Willow, read stories, laughed, shouted, and slept. We pushed back all the furniture so they could watch movies and sleep on an enormous sea of inflatable mattresses. This morning I made a HUGE batch of pancakes, which they devoured. The morning was spent playing at the park and making s'mores in the microwave. Katy and I just returned from SLC where we dropped the Hastings kids.

They finished the movie at midnight and still
managed eight hours of sleep

The pancakes are almost ready

Voila

The happy sleepover crew - nice work
Auntie Katy

June has been a good month so far, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.

Ander's Birthday and More

Last week was the last day of school at Wasatch School and Emily invited me to the dance program. It was as good as ever and Lizzy was thrilled to see me in the audience. When I caught her eye, she smiled and mouthed, "Pop Pop!" That couldn't help but warm the cockles of my heart. Max made it through the stick dance unharmed and a good time was had by all.

Lizzie reviewing her memory book from
Mrs. Werner's kindergarten class

Max looking pleased to be finished for the year

Holden and Clara posing after Sunday dinner

The chicken coop in Millie's back yard takes shape

Yesterday, 3 June, was Anders' birthday and we met in SLC for a showing of Up at Jordan Landing, dinner at Cafe Rio, and presents and cake and ice cream at the Hastings. The movie was excellent, the dinner was tasty, and the party was great fun. Happy birthday Anders. Everybody loves you.

Disney.Pixar strikes again

Clara and Pop Pop waiting for the show to start

After the movie at Jordan Landing

The Hastings at Cafe Rio

Auntie Katy administers a birthday spanking

I wonder how this will be spent?

Clara was absolutely certain the cake was for her
so, of course, she helped blow out the candles

It has been a fun week, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.