April Pictures

Catching up on old pictures here...our internet is SOOO slow and I've tried loading them all before. Finally it worked.

 This was our first snake encounter. I found him in the pool. I scooped him out with the net, and then smashed him to death (below) with the metal rim around the net. I didn't really know how else to take care of him, and I certainly didn't want him to live. I thought of the Grinch song, "I wouldn't touch you with a 39 1/2 foot pole" that was pretty much me with this snake.

 2nd snake encounter: Kenny is gone at 7 a.m. to go to church meetings, and then the kids and I leave at 8:30. So he had already left for the morning and I was in the bathroom doing my hair when the kids come running in the bathroom screaming and Brynlee's in tears. I couldn't really understand what they were saying for a minute because they were all shouting and being hysterical. Then I understood there was a snake, a live one, in our house! I followed them out to the living room where they saw it. I guess what happened is Brynlee spotted it first on the floor and Tyler thought it was a fake snake, just a plastic one on the floor. So he nudges it with his foot and it starts to slither. So they both freak out and run to come get me. I watch it for a second, racking my brain trying to figure out how I'm going to get this thing out of my house without touching it. I finally decide on my kitchen tongs. So I grab them and pick up the snake with them, squeezing it harder than necessary to ensure it doesn't slip out and kill me. ;) Then I opened the back door and just swung it out there as far as I could. I was acting brave on the outside, but totally freaking out inside. I shut the door and locked it and said "okay! it's gone! everybody go get ready for church!" Then when we were at church, after Kenny came back and sat down with us after the sacrament the kids all started telling him at the same time, like they were just going to burst if he didn't know right away. "There was a snake in our house!!". He looked at me laughing and he's like, seriously? YES SERIOUSLY. Why is Kenny never home for all the crazy stuff that happens?

Another friend we found in the pool. We let him live :)

 So much rain and flooding since we've been here. This one week was particularly bad. Our driveway seems to be quite a bit lower than everything else because it quickly floods a good 2 inches at least and stays wet for a long time.

 Below: I even had to drain the pool on this day because we were really worried about it flooding over. I was also concerned about the water coming in the house it was getting right up close to our back door.

 These cuties snacking on about 2 pounds of strawberries while I made strawberry freezer jam.

 If Briggs isn't the cutest dang kid in the world, I don't know who is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the pool/yard is pretty much why we bought this house. 

 Kenny was really excited to get his riding lawn mower. It was one of the first things he bought, the same week we moved in. Partially because our lawn needs so much attention and everything grows so darn fast! But I told him it's like watching him step back in time, re-living his glory days of spending hours and hours on his tractor back on his family's wheat farm. While he was mowing, he found a turtle in the ditch part at the front of our yard. He brought it in to show the kids. He even sprayed him off with the hose since he had lots of grass and yuckies stuck to him. Everyone got a chance to touch it (except Madison who stayed far away) and then we set him in the grass and everyone watched him walk slowly away back to the other side of the fence. :) Thanks for the fun visit, Mr. Turtle!

 We love going on morning walks together.

On our anniversary date at the Houston Temple. Some nice lady saw us trying to take a selfie in front of it, and she offered to take our picture instead. Then we returned the favor and took one of her and her husband :).