Hiram had all of last week off, and let me tell you--we made the most of it. I really hate that I can't get this text ABOVE the picture, but I am choosing to deal with my irritation and move on. In the ABOVE picture, Hiram and his brother are burying our electric cable. We now have power trenched TO the house. Hiram has set up lights in our crawl space and rewired our living room. He's making good progress. I am so excited about having our power turned on soon. It will be easier to work at the house if I can put Israel in front of a show or get him playing games on his little laptop Karin bequeathed him when she upgraded.
We desperately want trees on our property. There's not a single living one on our 40 acres. The previous owner had planted quite a few trees and was taking good care of them until he died, and then they all withered. Anyway, we took some cuttings and planted them. They seem to be doing really well, so we're going to plant some more soon.
I just like this picture because it was taken at my favorite time of day of two of my favorite people on the planet.
Hiram's dad helped him bury our septic tank last week and put in our leach line. This wasn't one of the more exciting developments on our property but very necessary and very good to have done.
The boys and I sat in the back of the pickup and monitored they guys' progress. Brigham is such a beautiful child.
You can't tell how cute my butt really is in this picture of me pressure washing the house in preparation for its much anticipated paint-job. Its really cute. I'm still just anticipating. We don't have any idea when our paint guy is going to come get this beast done. I don't have a picture to show for it yet, but I DID paint my front door. It is a beautiful, bright yellow, and I LOVE it. I bought all kinds of wonderful paint colors from a business in town that's just closed. I can't wait to do more.
I feel like all I ever do is just give boring updates. I'm feeling rather discouraged and frustrated with my journaling efforts. I'm not really capturing the little magic moments in my life. The best thing to do is do something about what's bothering me, so I'll share something cute about Israel. My sweet little boy really believes in the power of kisses. Whenever he hurts ANYthing, he's frantic for it to be kissed. (Recently after a spanking, he demanded that I give him a kiss on his little behind.) I'm usually happy to oblige and will kiss him all over until he's satisfied that I got the right spot, but sometimes, like when I'm driving, I find it difficult to fulfill his request. I've found that he'll be semi-appeased if I kiss my own hand and reach back to touch him where it hurts. Just recently, he's taken to kissing his own palms and then patting himself. I like this as it saves me the trouble. The funniest thing was the other day, he was making Hiram play fight with him. Hiram beat him about the ears at one point, and I watched as he retreated a couple steps, brushed a hurried kiss on each palm and touched them to his ears, and then advanced back on his dad with balled fists. Cute little guy.
Another random cute thing-- Israel's talking better all the time. I'm often surprised by what comes out of his mouth. I told you in my last post that I flew with the boys to Vegas. Well, it was just me with them, and though I'd thought I'd packed light, I had a LOT of stuff to carry from where I checked the bags to my gate. I had a stroller to push Israel in, his car seat to put him in on the flight, a backpack to carry Brig in and two carry-ons. When we were deboarding in Vegas, I thought I would get Israel to help me out a little by having him carry his little backpack. At first, he was cooperative enough and allowed me to guide his arms through the straps, but as soon as he felt the weight on his shoulders, he was going to have none of it. He began extracting himself in terror. "I can't. Its too dangerous," he told me.
Well, I do feel a little better now. Nothing like DOING to get me out of a funk. Thanks for reading. Love you all.
