Weekend Dump...

Friday night we sacked movie night.  It was great weather and with sunset being so late, we opted for some yard work and time together that way.

BEFORE

Saturday morning we took out a tree.  I say we, but it was actually one of our neighbors...then turned into most of our neighbors.  We have someone in our ward who has a huge chain saw and loves to use it.  As we have been hacking away at the overgrowth in our yard, he will often stop by and finish the job in one swipe.  We have greatly appreciated his faster methods and willingness to help.  This tree was pretty big.  I had a "plant friend" come look at it and she said it's the kind of tree that grows really fast.  Since it grew so quickly, it isn't a strong tree and with is being so close to the house and our neighbor's fence, we opted to cut it down now while we have the control of which direction it will go.

The process was pretty crazy to watch.  It took some time to figure it out, but our neighbor did awesome.  One by one our neighbors came out to watch.  I wonder if part was in worry of the tree being so close to their houses, but the other part of curiosity, fun, support...?  I'm not sure.  They decided it best to trim off two large branches that would be most likely to hit the neighbor's fence.  I was out of the room, but everyone filled me in later how crazy the second branch was.  It was headed for his fence, then they said it was like it was picked up and set back down in a place out of the way.  After they were gone, it was time to hook a rope around the trunk and branches and hitch the rope to his truck.  His wife stood on alert while he angled the saw to send the tree safely away from any structures.  They did an incredible job timing it all perfectly.  Just as the tree started to tip, she floored it and guided it into the middle of the road.  By the time the tree hit the ground, I was almost in tears.  Everyone cheered.  I can't exactly put into words what I felt, but gratitude for these people who are becoming dear.  It really is starting to feel more and more like home here.

New view from the west of our house.

Hauling the wood took the rest of the morning.  We borrowed 3 trucks to do the job and after 5 truckloads, we still have some stumps out front waiting for another neighbor to come pick up for firewood.  The kids were troopers.  We celebrated with root beer floats.

After we rested and cooled off, Mark headed out to do more yard work and I turned my attention on preparing our home for the Sabbath.  Our sprinklers have been flooding inside the box.  Since this is the first time turning them on, we have no idea what is the "baseline."  We have asked around and researched and coming up with it not being normal.  He worked some more to dig and cut away tree roots.  He seemed to have found the problem for one of the boxes and will get it finished up this week.

Gavin is the king of the stump...

and so is Sennika!

We had a quiet Sabbath.  We played games together in the morning.  I was able to attend Gospel Doctrine with the shift in my new calling (Primary is combined, so it is only a 1-hour calling on Sundays).  I have been teaching the kids "Praise to the Man," Hymn #27.  It has been wonderful to share my testimony of Jospeh Smith and has strengthened my gratitude for him.  I was curious how well they would remember what we learned last week.  To my amazement, they sang out strong.  It's been tricky to find a method that covers all learning styles plus takes into account that we have children ranging from ages 3-12 in primary at one time.  As we learn a new song, it needs to be helpful to both young and older children.  I think it's working!

Gavin made an arcade.  Here Daddy and Leland are trying it out.

Leland doing puzzles

Shipton doing puzzles

After church we had a "linger longer" and enjoyed dinner with our ward family.  Next time we won't go home to change before.  We missed quite a bit of the visiting time and food, but we were happy for what we did catch.