Since I don’t work on Friday’s we occasionally decide to go out and have some fun as a family. Yesterday was one of those days.

When Jake got home from school we jumped in the van and headed to Sandy. This weekend is the Festival of Trees. It is a fundraiser for Primary Children’s Hospital. People donate the trees and then they auction off the trees. The trees they have there are amazing. My favorite trees were the BYU tree and the Utah Jazz tree. Emily liked any trees that looked like something was exploding out of the top of it. You may not be able to see it in the picture.

After the kids got sick of walking around looking at trees we decided we would go have dinner at In-and-Out in Draper. Well, the line was too long. We decided to flip around and go to Wendy’s instead but instead of trying to turn left on State Street I decided to just rap around the back streets. Well, I got myself turned around and we ended up at Del Taco. I prefer Taco Bell.

Once we finally finished dinner we headed to Thanksgiving Point to have some fun at the dinosaur museum. We got there at 7:30 and it closed at 8:00. We hurried through to the boys favorite parts. You can see Matt next to the dinosaur leg. He has a long way to grow.

We finally rolled in at home around 8:50 last night and the kids were tired. They head straight to bed and Matt was nice enough to sleep in until 7:00 this morning. I enjoy having my Friday’s off. I also had a chance to go volunteer in Jake’s class yesterday. I always enjoy doing that.

We are really enjoying owning our own home. We love the fact we can do what ever we want whenever we want. The downside is the amount of money it takes to do what you want with a house. So, Emily and I have talked about what we should do. We decided we would start with our backyard. It was in some pretty bad shape. Not absolutely horrible but not the prettiest yard you’ve ever seen.

We started the new backyard with a couple of trees. In the fall we planted a peach tree and a honey locust. Those two trees were a nice addition to the yard. The second thing we added was a sandbox for the boys. I don’t mind the sandbox except when the boys come in from the sandbox and get in my bed. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a big fan of sand and especially when it is in my bed. The boys absolutely love the sandbox and spend a lot of time in it.

The next thing we did this spring was plant our garden. You can see part of it in the first picture. It is a large garden so we are planning on not having to buy any vegetables this summer. Just those three things (trees, sandbox and garden) made us feel quite accomplished but those were only the minor jobs. Today was started phase two. Phase two involves turning the backyard into a big dirt pit as you can see from the pictures. We pulled up all the old grass so we could get rid of all the rodent holes and prepare the yard for new grass. We plan on laying sod in the next week or so. We are excited that we will soon have a yard that we put together and can be proud of and enjoy.

I think that is enough for today. I’m going to go and join the fam!

Last weekend we realized that we were running out of space in Jake and Andrew’s room. Especially since we plan on eventually putting Isaac in the room with them. So, we finally bit the bullet and bought a bunk bed. As you can see in the photos, Jake and Andrew helped me put the bed together. We had a lot of fun. However, Jake and Andrew eventually got bored with it so I was left to finish putting the bed together by myself.

Of course the best part came when the bed was all together and we put a mattress up on the top bunk. Jake immediately headed for the top. The funny thing is that the whole time we were setting up the bed we went over the rules of the bunk bed. Number one, no standing or walking on the top bunk. Number two, no leaning over the rail on the top bunk. Well, as soon as Jake go on the top bunk he stood up and leaned over the rail. Over the past week Jake has learned that he does not need to stand on the top bunk

The first time Andrew tried to get on the top bunk he fell of the ladder. He quickly decided that he was not interested in falling again so he never tried again until Friday night. He decided it was time to try again and he succeeded. He also got down by himself without a problem.

So at this point the boys still love the bunk beds. Isaac wishes he could play on them with the big boys but I’m afraid if Isaac did make it on to the top bunk, Jake and Andrew would try to throw him overboard.

Yesterday we decided to go check out Home Depot since we had heard that had activities for kids on Saturday mornings. We didn’t anticipate it would be as cool as it was. When you first go they give each of your children a Home Depot apron with their name on it. Then they have something for the kids to build. In the picture you can see that they built castle banks yesterday. Once they finish the little project they give them a pin to put on their apron. Jake, Andrew and Isaac almost had as much fun as I did. I think Emily even enjoyed it!

So if you want something fun to do with your family on a Saturday morning, just head down to Home Depot from 9am – noon and enjoy something free. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it is all free! This happens at every Home Depot and I know most people have a Home Depot around.