anyone who reads this on a regular basis knows we spend a lot of time working our booties off to try to make a yard. hauling rock, building walls, hauling more rock...i didn't think we would EVER get to plant grass. well...this is the summer of grass. it's finally looking like a yard instead of a dirt pile.

first though, i have to show you the ferns i inherited from bobbi. i think they are going to like it here. 

front yard, in progress. i did take the black plastic tube off this weekend. i think we are safe from rain washing away our baby grass seed. yay!

ah. see all that grass? love it. we still have tons of work to do. right past the end of the wall where the boys are playing is nothing but dirt still. the husband is building a boardwalk down below by the water, it should be done soon. we made big progress yesterday. all in all, it feels SO GOOD to look back at where we've been and where we are. the husband is da bomb, truly. wait til i show you pictures of his latest project next week :)



you thought my photography skills were bad before...try taking the picture with your phone during the scariest moment of your life!

this is the semi that flipped over right in front of us during freaky tornado-like winds coming home from sioux falls on saturday night. it was just the boys and i and it went down like this:

the sky was blue ahead, but we were under a cloud of black evil. the radio was announcing all kinds of severe weather, but i kept thinking "if i can just get to that blue sky..."

right then, a monster wind came out of nowhere and yanked my car to the side. the boys were yelling that there was a tornado out their window. i looked over, and the clouds were swirling all around and touching the ground...it looked like a tornado was forming right next to our car. i decided to gun it when right in front of me THIS happened.

FLIIIIP.

the semi completely flipped on its side. we were the first car up to it but the tornado/wind was still happening on the right side of the car so i knew we didn't want to stay there. we sat there for a minute trying to decided what to do and when a car behind us drove through the ditch to go around the truck we followed. a couple of people were helping the driver get out and he seemed ok so we just got out of there.

the kids both broke into prayer. the husband was in his truck on the highway about 5 miles behind us with a load of new aspen trees. the boys were worried about him and they were still really scared about us.

long story short (but still kind of long) we all made it home fine. even the trees.

THANK YOU GOD!

this is for mom, because i know you are wondering:

*the husband's face is looking better. still kind of green and black around his eye but much better. doesn't look like he'll have any scars. he is the talk of the town and i've had at least 3 people offer to buy him a bike helmet. save your cash, he still won't wear one.

and now for a story you'll appreciate.

i hate the circus and everything about it. i hate thinking of animals living in boxes and performing for crowds of screaming children every night. we took the kids when they were little and i refused to go back. the husband took them the next year, but after that, i had the boys thoroughly brainwashed into being little animal rights activists with me.

so brainwashed, in fact, that i didn't even question that we would go to the circus this year. i threw their free school tickets away and forgot about it. 

then a friend asked me about taking the boys, and i told her we would not go. her eyes grew wide and i thought she might report me for child abuse. 

so i went home and asked little j if he wanted to go to the circus. he looked down and said, "no. that's ok. we don't have to go."

i told him just because i hate the circus doesn't mean he has to share my views. 

the husband looked over little j's head at me and smiled.

"yeah, i kind of want to go anyway. do you want to go?"

"well, only if you do, dad."

"we should go tomorrow night."

little j jumps up and runs to his backpack, all excited.

"ok, because mom threw my ticket away but i have another one in my backpack!!"

doh. i am glad i thought to ask, poor kid. i always forget he's only eight and likes things like circuses and easter egg hunts.

so dad and little j went off to the circus last night and had a great time. big j and i stuck by our guns and boycotted the whole thing. we went on a bike ride, ate popsicles and read our kindles on the deck.

it was a good night. and a good lesson.

the end.

so i had a few minutes to download photos. the first one goes back to big j's birthday party (in march). the rest of them are from little j's first communion last weekend.

boys are now apparently at the age when smiling for pictures is no longer cool. so, you get to look at a bunch of gangstas instead.

this is little j and a friend from his class at school. and the arm of a girl who had on a really pretty dress but did not want to be pictured anywhere near these two yahoos.

little j and his cousin jenna get photobombed by the hockey goalie. photobombing is also apparently fun for kids this age.

little j on his best behavior for father larry. no photobombers in sight.

little j and his friend kate. bunny ears attempted but averted in the background.