And then there was more yardwork...

It's actually been fun getting the yard done. We finished up filling the garden boxes and even planted some herbs and vegetables. Memorial Day was mostly spent moving rock. We put decorative rock inside all of the curbing to cover the ground and weed fabric. I really need to take some pictures, but I've been busy trying to get it all done.

Yesterday a bunch of us got together to lay sod for my backyard neighbor. It's amazing the difference an hour of work can make on a yard (especially when that hour is spent covering bare earth with grass). Seth has been working just about everyday for a month to get the ground ready. He couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Well, I'll try to take some photos tonight and post them soon. We just have a few more projects to get done this year and we'll be set.

Garden boxes and our friends adopt

We haven't heard much on the adoption front the last couple of weeks, but there are still some birth moms interested as far as we know. Some friends of ours down the street adopted a little boy last Wednesday. We are very excited for them. Ben and Britney are great parents and this child will have a wonderful home and family to grow up in. This is their third adoption (all boys). The birth parents decided it was important to them to have the boy raised in a family with other kids.

We've been working outside in our yard quite a bit. Between weeding, moving dirt, roto-tilling, hiring someone to put in curbing, planting, building garden boxes and everything else...we've been a little busy. We are getting close.

I thought everyone might like to take a peek at our 2 garden boxes. We built them out of 2" x 6" x 10' lengths of common redwood. Then we treated them with boiled linseed oil to add a little additional weather protection. This picture shows 1 box finished and 1 box before the boiled linseed oil. They are sitting on weed fabric so that the dirt and soil above the ground won't get anything creeping up from below.

We are in the process of filling them with some dirt and garden soil. Dirt we have in abundance. Our neighbor is helping us obtain some garden soil. He has a friend that mixes all the good stuff together and sells it by the yard (cubic yard that is). We should get it all put in by this weekend and plant all the little vegetable and herb plants on Saturday.

SF Volleyball and Yard

This week we had another volleyball tournament. Our Spanish Fork team competed in the middle bracket and took 3rd place. This might be the last year that we do both Spanish Fork and Payson at the same time. It takes quite a bit of time and hopefully we'll have adopted by then. ;-)

Friday was Liberty's 1st birthday party (our niece). She didn't quite know what to do with the presents, but with a little help she started to get the hang of it. She also had a ball with the cake and ice cream. Check out this great shot I took with my phone.

Saturday was spent in the yard. We weeded the area that we are going to put a planter. Weeded all the garden beds around the house. Moved all the excess dirt from the planter area (about 10 wheel barrow loads worth). Planted our peach tree. Transplanted the maple from the front yard to the side yard. Planted 3 bushes and 2 Hosta plants. We even put down weed barrier fabric everywhere that we cleared.

I still haven't painted the shelves in our closet, but I'll try to get that done tonight. Then, tomorrow, we are having our curbing put in our yard. I'll try to get some before and after photos to share with everyone. I wish I would have taken the time Saturday so that everyone could see just how much was done.

Volleyball and weekend

Our Payson volleyball league had the end of season tournament. We ended up losing in the final so we took 2nd place. It was disappointing but it was a ton of fun playing with friends from our old neighborhood. This week we'll have our Spanish Fork tournament with friends from our current neighborhood. We can hardly wait.

Saturday we had several activities. First, Heidi and Trevor came over to watch a movie. We then caulked the new shelves in the master closet to prep them for paint. Finally, we bought a peach tree from Costco. We've been wanting to get our garden going, but it seems to rain each Saturday, but we figured we could at least buy a tree. We didn't get home in time to plant it Saturday, but we'll get it done tonight as part of Family Home Evening.

Edited Photo

Sarah's photographer for the Bridal Pictures and Engagements did me a huge favor today. He took one of my photos and adjusted it to make it have the same feel as the others. His photographs are still much, MUCH better than mine, but this way Sarah could have one photo from her wedding day that was in the style she liked so much. His name is Jimmy and this is his website:

http://www.gideonphoto.com/

I highly recommend him for any occasion.

Sarah's Wedding and Reception

Hello family and friends. Last week was crazy with all the wedding stuff going on, but I thought you might enjoy a few pictures. This first one is from when they came out of the temple. There were some issues with the back panel of the dress (as in it was forgotten at the apartment), but it all worked out in the end.
I thought this shot turned out pretty well. I tried to do a little of the crooked view that Jimmy does so well (their photographer for the engagement and bridal pictures).
This group is all of the bride's maids and groom's men from the wedding party. Alisha, Ashley Alyssa, Natalie and Hailey were the bride's maids. Dane, James, Mitch, Chandler, and I were the groom's men. The two kids are Hannah and Parker (belonging to Chandler and Hailey).
This one is my family. My parents (Jim and Daisy) with Austin, Sarah, Adrienne and I.

Here's everyone from Sarah's side together. I don't want to name everyone because there's just too many. But we have people there from places spanning from Washington to Pittsburg.I had to include at least one from the reception. It was a great party. Beautiful decorations, good food, and great people. Here's the cake cutting.

Sarah Wedding Updates

Sarah went through the temple yesterday so I thought I would share a couple pictures. The first one was outside beforehand and the second is Sarah and Austin when we came out.

Updates

Jason's parents arrived yesterday afternoon. After Jason and his dad watched the Jazz/Lakers game we headed up to Salt Lake county to have dinner with Sarah, Austin, and the future in-laws. The food was great and it was nice to get to meet the rest of Austin's family. Jason's parents are staying at a hotel in Salt Lake to make sure they are available for anything Sarah needs help for with the wedding.

After dinner, Sarah had all the bride's maids and groomsmen meet to go over instructions and responsibilities. We had to laugh a little because Sarah had a full page of instructions (front AND back) outlining everything that we each had to do. It included responsibilities, assignments, times, dress codes, etc. In the end it will probably be very useful to have that all written down, but every once in a while I still see her as my 11 year-old sister and it weirds me out that she is getting married.

This week will be swamped. Sarah is going through the temple for the first time on Tuesday, we have a family wedding dinner on Wednesday, and Thursday is the wedding itself and reception. I don't know when we'll get to sleep again (probably after it's all done).

We don't have any news to report on the adoption front. Still trying to speak on the phone with the girl out of state and nothing new from the one in state. We'll try to keep everyone updated as we get more information.

Jason's Favorite Story from General Conference

The Story of the Light Bulb, or Losing Sight of What Matters Most - As told by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"On a dark December night 36 years ago, a Lockheed 1011 jumbo jet crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 people. This terrible accident was one of the deadliest crashes in the history of the United States.

"A curious thing about this accident is that all vital parts and systems of the airplane were functioning perfectly—the plane could have easily landed safely at its destination in Miami, only 20 miles away.

"During the final approach, however, the crew noticed that one green light had failed to illuminate—a light that indicates whether or not the nose landing gear has extended successfully. The pilots discontinued the approach, set the aircraft into a circling holding pattern over the pitch-black Everglades, and turned their attention toward investigating the problem.

"They became so preoccupied with their search that they failed to realize the plane was gradually descending closer and closer toward the dark swamp below. By the time someone noticed what was happening, it was too late to avoid the disaster.

"After the accident, investigators tried to determine the cause. The landing gear had indeed lowered properly. The plane was in perfect mechanical condition. Everything was working properly—all except one thing: a single burned-out light bulb. That tiny bulb—worth about 20 cents—started the chain of events that ultimately led to the tragic deaths of over 100 people.

"Of course, the malfunctioning light bulb didn't cause the accident; it happened because the crew placed its focus on something that seemed to matter at the moment while losing sight of what mattered most."

This was just a small part of the talk he gave during General Conference. There is a really good lesson to be learned from this. How many times in life do we get focused on things that might seem important in the moment and lose sight of those things that matter most?

We haven't posted much about adoption recently, so I think that it is a good time for an update. We are currently being considered by two different birth moms. We don't know much about either one, but have hope that something will work out. We'll post more information when it is available and appropriate to share. All we know at this point is that one is in state and one is out of state.

Friday night we went to the BYU/UC Irvine Volleyball. It is always amazing to see the ability level that college athletes achieve. We got there over an hour early so that we could get good seats. We were just a couple rows from the front (as you can see in the picture I took with my phone). We lost the game, but it was close. UC Irvine is #1 in the country but BYU is #6.

Much of the weekend was spent in meetings for the LDS semi-annual General Conference.

Saturday, before the first meeting, some neighbors and I rented an aerator and did our lawns Saturday morning. We were hoping for clear weather, but it snowed overnight and snowed the whole time we did the lawns. The irony is that the weather cleared up later in the day.

Sunday, aslo befoer the first meeting, we had our neighbors (Seth, Jill, and their 3 little girls) over for breakfast before General Conference. We also had Heidi and Trevor come by. We had pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit, juice, and even hash browns. Just a great breakfast with good friends and family. I'll pick a favorite talk from General Conference to review later this week.