Smiles :)

"Mommy, come take a picture of us!!!" 

Lego Creations

"Queen Esther's Palace"  :)  

From the Garden

We grew these huge squash in our garden!  The one Dan is holding weighed
a little more than 27 pounds!  

Digging Potatoes!  We had some friends that came over to dig with us too! 

Having Fun at the Playground

Yesterday we all went over to the playground. There was a huge pile of weeds that some kids had gathered, and our kids had fun climbing on it too!

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Shadows!

It's hard to walk in all these stones! 

Making Applesauce

Making the apples into applesauce was a rather big day, and the kids did a great job of helping out!  Hannah told me the night before that she would like to try helping with cutting the apples up this time, and she did really well with that! The others had fun taking turns cranking the applesauce through the food mill. 

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Daniel had been counting down to his birthday for about 2 weeks! It was so sweet - almost every morning we had a conversation that went something like this..... "Hmm....yesterday it was 10 days till my birthday, so today it would be.....9!"  I'm not sure that any of my children has looked forward to their birthday quite as much as Daniel did this year. :)  

We got Daniel a toolbox, and he was thrilled! I don't think he
ever considered the possibility of having his very own toolbox! 

Apple Picking

Some friends asked us if we wanted to come and pick apples, and of course, we were thrilled!  The kids were so excited, and it was amazing how much faster it went than last year, with all of them older and more able to help! 

Even Grace got in on the fun!  

Mr. Young's House

For the past 4 summers, Dan has been working for his boss to build this house.  While many things need to be done, the house could be lived in now.  Those vertical logs are well over 1,000 pounds each.  Just for the record, Mr. Young likes these "beefy" logs and beams.  You'll see them all through the house.

This is the master bathroom.  Dan installed the cabinets and that's about it.  The bathrooms were really the work of Keith Orr, with the exception of the woodwork.

Here is the kitchen... granite counter-tops, back-splash, and island.  Again, Keith's work.  Dan and Michael Butler (the school's music teacher) did the ceiling and the hardwood floors and carried the slabs of granite to their places.

Many hands helped do the rock-work for the chimney, but Randy Archuletta was the one who really made it possible.  When all is done, a full-grown mountain lion shot by Mr. Young will be standing on that mantle, with other hunting trophies on either side of the fire-place and around the room.

Wow!  This staircase is the first thing you see when walking in the front door.  Michael Butler built the staircase, and Keith built the railings.  The wood for the railings was actually cut and milled by Mr. Young some 20 years ago.  When the staircase was set up, Michael and Dan used come-alongs to pull it up, fastening it to a temporary 8 x 8 beam up above.  It took longer to build and secure the beam as it did to put the staircase in place.  

From the great room looking toward the kitchen, staircase, and upstairs.

That ceiling was several weeks of Dan's previous summer, working from scaffolding, ladders, and a lift.  

Here the chinking has been done, so that is the finished look.  This is a guest bedroom.

Dan, Michael, and Randy had a lot of fun working on these dormers and the roofing together.  The cedar shake shingles look great on the dormers, and man, Randy's work on the chimney is great.
It's hard to believe that this project is mostly done after all of these years.  Lots of things can still be finished, but Wes and Joy should be able to move in soon... once Joy gets to do the chinking.