Aaron Family Blog

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Our New Table

Earlier this year, we finally replaced our first table! Our old table was tight with six people around it, and we were ready to sit Joshua up to the table in a booster seat. In fact, we never had room on the old table for the food, just our dishes. For the last several years we have served our food from the counter, buffet-style. Whenever we had company over for dinner, we would have to set up a second table to fit everyone. So it was definitely time for a new and bigger table!

We bought a nearly-new table from a couple who had bought it straight from the Amish in Ohio. It is incredibly solid and well built. It can also accommodate up to four leaves so it can seat 6-12 people. So even though it only came with four chairs (hence the mismatched chair situation), we went for it. Now there are so many colors of wood going on in our house that matching doesn't really matter at this point. :-)

Goblin Valley & Arches

This year's Wilson family reunion was held at Goblin Valley State Park and Arches National Park. Goblin Valley + Arches + July = HOT= lots of water, sunscreen, and breaks! But it was really fun and some great memories. The kids absolutely loved exploring Goblin Valley with their cousins. There were some fun caves for them to explore, tons of formations to climb up and around, and great fodder for the imagination. We camped at the Goblin Valley campground, and then after heading to Moab the next day, checked into a hotel and went for a swim to cool off at the indoor pool.

Joshua absolutely loved going on hikes. He got to the point that he would just see the backpack carrier and get excited. Keeping a hat on him was an impossibility, though.

Emma and Rachel in front of one of the arches. They only lasted so long, then claimed they wanted to be carried. Consequently, our hikes as a family were fairly short.

We loved this hike (can't remember its name) because it was still shady! We started hiking at about 8:30 AM to avoid some of the heat (remember, it's July in southern Utah!).

Matthew, Elizabeth, and Jessica at Goblin Valley

The Wilson cousins exploring a cave

The cousins taking a break for water and licorice at Goblin Valley

Bill and Sam

Rachel and Elizabeth

Sorry about the windblown hair getting into the picture! L to R: Kira, Ashlyn, Rachel, Sam, Jordan, Jessica, Elizabeth, Brent and Joshua.

Jordan and Matthew having a great time

Elizabeth carrying Emma on her back

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Summer!

Dinner almost entirely courtesy of our backyard: Roasted veggies all grown in our garden, zucchini bread, and grilled chicken (no, we don't actually raise chickens, but the grill is out back so I thought that would technically count).

By the way, Brent prepared almost the entire meal by the time I got home one day! He did an amazing job.

My neighbor gave me this mystery iris, and we were pleasantly surprised at the exotic color that it bloomed! Unfortunately, a big windstorm pretty much destroyed it a couple days later.

Ever since Brent and I visited Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia for our 10th anniversary, we have loved Dahlias. This was the first year we'd had any grow successfully, though!

Here's an ultimate summer picture: Rachel, Emma, and Emma's friend Andra made a lovely "peach pit pie". Only, they just called it "peach pie." It does almost look good enough to eat, if you are a bird!

More gorgeous dahlias

Joshua, our neighbor Gracie, Elizabeth, and Emma checking out the swings. Since this picture was taken, the kids have worn away 90% of the grass underneath the swings. They are clearly their favorite feature of the playset, above the slides, clubhouse, firepole, rock wall, monkey bars, or anything else!

Our "Mango" roses, as we like to call them

Friday, July 1, 2011

Backyard Progress!

We expanded our garden area, and I've really enjoyed watching all sorts of veggies growing. The kids have recently been picking peas and they love to eat them fresh, even Joshua. Emma is so cute about asking if she can help water the garden. We also cut down two old fruit trees, and planted two new ones. So now there are two peach, one pear, and two apple trees growing. A couple weeks ago, we planted a bunch of strawberry plants right behind the house, and are hoping to plant some raspberry starts this weekend.

It is so nice that the soil in this yard is pretty decent, which would translate to "incredibly amazing" if compared with our "clay-embedded-with-river-rocks-soil" in Spanish Fork. To give you an idea, when Brent was digging holes for the new trees, he could sink his shovel into the soil without too much exertion (without needing a pickaxe, digging bar, lots of time and sweat, or creating sparks from hitting rocks!) It's going to make it so much easier and more motivating to work in the yard!

Brent put up this shed on the side of the house, freeing up some space in our cramped garage. Uncluttered garage= happy homeowners (especially me!)

We also had some concrete poured: a pad for the shed; the area above, which is for our trash cans and a future "bike port" to store all the kids' bikes and such; and a larger back patio.

The expanded back patio. You can see the original patio in the middle.

We brought this playset from our house in Spanish Fork almost two years ago, so the kids were very anxious to get it up again! Daddy was a big hero this summer, putting the playset up in only about 3 days!

We are planning to make it a little more level, then fill the area with play chips.

We are finally making some progress on yard projects. When we bought this house, it had been a rental for about 9 years, so the yard was not in great shape. But we have big plans to improve it, a little at a time. We are so excited about the progress that we've made so far. It makes the yard a lot more enjoyable and usable!

Guess who's joined the club...

The glasses club, that is! Joshua got glasses about a week and a half ago. He's already been to three appointments with the eye specialist that my other kids go to, Dr. Larson. We found out that he is farsighted and has an astigmatism, and knew that he would need glasses eventually. But at his checkup a couple of months ago, the doctor discovered that his eyes are now crossing, as well. He said that we'd be putting him in danger if we didn't get him in glasses now. Danger, in this case, means that if we don't get the eye crossing corrected with glasses, he could need surgery like Matthew had. It took a while for the glasses to come in since they were on back order, but here they are. Now that he has them, he looks so much like Matthew at that age!

I remember so vividly how hard it was having Rachel and Matthew in glasses as babies (at 13 and 10 months of age). So I was a little nervous this time, but knew that it was inevitable. Somehow every one of my kids has inherited poor vision, and four of them have cross eye! (My vision is perfect. Hmm...) Luckily, Joshua took to the glasses very well. He had earned an A+ from his mother by the end of the first day because he did so well with them! Although he often tries to look over the top of them, he does keep them on for the most part. This is a big relief for me.

Another milestone Joshua just hit was starting nursery a couple of weeks ago, since he is 18 months old. This has been another huge relief for both Brent and I, because we both serve in Primary callings. I am the primary pianist, so Brent had been taking Joshua with him to teach the 10-year-olds, and sometimes Joshua was quite a handful. He has already adjusted to going to nursery pretty well, with just a few tears at the beginning.

May-June 2011

Joshua has never been into pacifiers or thumb-sucking. But he has adopted his favorite blanket, which has a satin edge that he sucks on. It's gotten to the point where he won't willingly go to sleep without it!

Emma with her hair curled. She definitely hasn't inherited my curly hair!

Joshua with our cat, Prince Phillip. All our kids adore the cat, so he gets plenty of attention. He is very sweet and patient with them.

Rachel

Emma lost one of her top baby teeth! She is starting to look like a six-year-old (wait, she is a six-year-old!). I will definitely miss those cute baby teeth.

Joshua has the sweetest big brown eyes!

Rachel has inherited my curly hair. She woke up one morning after a bath the night before, and voila! Adorable curly-tails!

On one of the first days of summer break, the kids played in the water in the backyard. Joshua was loving sitting in the pool while Matthew squirted him.

Easter

This year, we tried a new recipe for easter: Bunny Buns, an orange roll recipe from the Friend magazine. They were sooo heavenly. It made easter breakfast special.

Spring Tulips! When Brent heads to work each morning, he passes in front of the house, where the kids are all gathered in front of a window to wave and blow kisses to him. This has been a tradition of theirs since they were tiny in Spanish Fork. They also like to notice the flowers blooming outside while watching for him.

Joshua's first Easter egg hunt in the backyard. We had Lisa & Steve and their family for Easter dinner, then did the hunt afterwards. It was a great day.