Summer is Here!

it was so fun starting off summer with no school and lots of work and fun things planned! there has been swathing and baling, taking meals to dad and some cattle bought that take a lot of time.  i will get pictures soon!  bentley is the main helper.  he was up this morning at 6am moving pipe and moving calves before day camp.  here he is showing off the big, blow snake they cut up with the header...until it started moving without it's head. creepy!

our friend from the ward came down and sawed up our picnic table.  it was on its last leg, literally.

some relaxing and reading a nancy drew mystery aloud while we had a nice, cool spell in june.  and, while bentley wasn't feeling too great!

cashing in the boys' roaring reader passes!  we spent a whole afternoon at roaring springs and had a wonderful time!  we did have to pay for a babysitter and bridon wasn't quite tall enough for some of the rides, but it was very fun and a great chance to get away for a day and leave our cares behind.  bentley said i did not get mad at him all day!:) many things to work on...slowly.

airplane rides and playing ball and frisbee in the front yard!

our summer checklists.  i print a new one each sunday nite.  it is an attempt to be organized and have the kids be responsible and earn money.  there is a lot to do when everyone is home.  sometimes i feel like the kitchen might blow up and i want to put a 'closed' sign out. :)  but i don't...

the boys used the 'chunks' of picnic table and the shelving material i had been saving (not cool), to build bike ramps.  they had a blast for about a week until they broke the boards all up. oh boys.  we've taken a few family bike rides on sunday when ben is home and the road is not as busy.  occasionally, i'll let the boys stay up late and take them for a quick, fun ride.

slip and slide. this is the girls' favorite.  well, it's emerson's favorite!!  ellee likes to jump and play but not get sprayed by the water.  sometimes ezra gets to come over and play too!

a day on the mil-stak.  it is a stacker ben tried out for a couple days.  it was awesome except for the fact that it seems like shocks were forgotten.  everyone who operated it, got a good whiplashing!

playing in the dirt!  this was the first day of summer!  we also built our own volcano and blew it up in the dirt for one of our science experiments.  i also occupied the boys for a good while having them grind wheat for me on the front porch.  i though it would motivate me to make fresh bread each week but it hasn't...yet.

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and the microwave...while emerson was gone on her vacation, i told the boys they could take apart an old microwave that didn't turn anymore before i threw it in the dumpster.  i gave them screwdrivers and such.  all was well until i discovered the axe out and ben's power tools...holy cow!  i can't leave them for five minutes and they are into something endangering their lives!!  luckily, i don't think anything got broken and bentley only ended up with a small pinch from drilling where he caught his finger before i confiscated all of their tool collection.  too bad they couldn't get the microwave working after all that:)!