Mother's Day and the End of Soccer Season

 Spring time is so beautiful with the trees in bloom

I introduced the kids to some retro Super Mario Bros. games and it was hilarious watching the body movement they incorporated into the games

Lyze checking out the local library box

This is the stump that was left after removing our tree

This is the guy that we hired to remove the stump

This is what it looked like after he was done

Then I had to haul away all the wood chips and dirt

Henry helped me fill it in with new dirt

I have seeded and watered a lot and this is what it looks like today (12 days later)

We enjoyed our tulips while they lasted

The blossoms on this crab apple tree outside of Lyza's window are beautiful

Henry helped Kim plant the garden

Kim and I made it to the temple

Henry had finally graduated from his balance bike to this pedal bike. He LOVES it!

Lyza got to go to a fancy soda shop with Kim

Our library had a Pokemon activity and all the kids, especially Mason, really enjoyed it

We got to go to a Spokane Indians game last weekend and it was lots of fun. The weather was perfect and it was a pretty entertaining game.

Mason loves tormenting the mascot

We saw Nixon's friend from school there so he came and watched with us for a bit

We had soccer the next day and Henry was the best looking on the field

One of Henry's snacks was a cake pop. He didn't want it so Mason got it.

Nixon worked hard through the heat for his game

Lyza attended a stake youth volley ball tournament that afternoon

For a service aspect of that activity the kids made cards for residents in assisted living facilities. This is what Lyza made. Isn't she thoughtful, creative, and funny?

For Mother's Day Mason helped shuck corn for dinner

We made a feast for our queen

Then we celebrated her

We also learned more about her

Then we had Crumbl Cookies for dessert

We all went for a walk on a beautiful day

With warm weather Henry has been playing in the water

Henry and I took Kim out for lunch last week

He thinks he can scare away the humming birds

It is fun watching him concentrate like when he make a fruit loop necklace

Nixon finally got to use his froyo gift card from Christmas

I went on a bike ride this week and saw this building on fire

Hanging out at the beach

We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores on Friday night

Nixon had his last soccer game of the season yesterday

Henry was there to cheer him on

Looking like a model

Nixon showing off his ball handling skills

Henry also had his last game

I asked him if he would score me a goal and he did! Then he scored another for the whole family!

We were so proud of him

He also employed some ferocious defense

Our two soccer stars

Nixon and I kayaked from CDA to our beach. The river still has current since the dam is not closed so it was an enjoyable ride on a gorgeous day

Here is a video of our adventure

Have a great week!

Beautiful Weather and Removing a Dying Tree

 Last Sunday while Kim was at a meeting I took the kids to Falls Park. We checked out the falls. They had lots of water moving through them with the dam fully open.

This is what they looked like with a fast shutter speed

And this is with a slow shutter speed

The kids always like exploring there

It was a beautiful afternoon

Here is a video of the falls

Henry playing in the sand box with his friend

Our neighbors' new puppy

We had some warm days this week

We also had some crazy thunder and lightning storms. I should have tried to get some lightning pictures earlier in the storm when conditions were best but I didn't. This is the best I got.

Henry helped me take some dirt and debris to the dump

Another dog

Nixon made dinner Friday night

Kim got some beautiful flowers this week from a friend

This tree in our front yard has beetles and needed to be removed

We had someone come out bright and early yesterday morning to take it down

Meanwhile Mason was teaching Henry some origami

He climbed up and started dropping the branches

We told him we would take care of all the branches (cutting them up and hauling them to the dump) so we could keep the costs down. There was a lot of looking up in amazement.

Our neighbor Mick helped with his chain saw

Kim borrowed a dump trailer from a friend

We had all the muscle we needed to get the job done

We found out that the tree guy (our first Bishop when we moved to Post Falls) is actually afraid of heights

The most exciting part was when he dropped the top 20 or so feet of the tree with all the branches still on (you can see it in the videos)

Then he had to start dropping the trunk

When those pieces of the trunk hit the ground they hit really hard

This was all the wood that we didn't take to the dump. We put it on Facebook Marketplace for free firewood and it was completely gone in a couple of hours.

Mick also pulled the trailer to the dump because my truck doesn't have trailer brakes and the weight of the empty trailer alone (4,800 lbs) is near the max towing capacity of my truck. We dumped 2,800 pounds of branches at the dump. It was so satisfying pressing a button and seeing it all fall out of the trailer (compared to all the work loading the trailer)

Here is a video of a few clips of the tree removal

Here is the whole process as a timelapse. It took just over three hours to get the trailer loaded and ready to take to the dump. The dump went fast since it was a little rainy.

After that we were exhausted and I took the three boys to see the new Super Mario Brothers movie

Where was Lyza during all of this excitement? She and her Math is Cool team got to go to Moses Lake, WA (2 hours away) for a math competition.

 Her team placed 4th overall. Good job Lyza!

We finished off the day playing a couple games of Monopoly Jr. and Mason CREAMED us!

I am excited for a day of rest. Have a good week.