The yard

The theme this year has been house projects.  One of the really big ones was the backyard.  There were tons of trees (these pictures were taken after most of the trees had already been removed).  There were posts from an old fence (probably built about 100 years ago) as well as chain link fence that trees and groups of trees were growing through.  We took these out by hand (and thought in hindsight that we should have just rented a backhoe).

 Austin, Scott--the kids would help us throwing things away, digging holes, then would just play.

Ty crawled around and got very filthy.

One of the posts we dug out.  You can't tell very well, but at the bottom, that is solid concrete with the concrete about 12 in diameter and about 30 in long. They were beasts.

Shelves in the garage

We had no shelves and desperately needed some.  Jeff went ahead and built them (with a tiny bit of help from me)  They turned out really nice, stored a lot, and are very sturdy.  We've since built a few more, we love them!

Jeff was very excited--to the point that he smiled and gave an A-dorable pose!

Early Spring Happenings

Scott (left) and Austin (right) love playing together.  They are playing anything and everything, wooden trains are ranking high right now.

Kate is at school for lunch, so here are our 3 cute boys, Scott, Austin, Ty

Ty seems to love getting stuck in silly places.  Kate and Ty are buddies.  You can also get a view of Kate's bangs.  She decided one day she wanted them and took matters into her own hands.

Zac and Melissa came down for the weekend to help us with our electrical.  The kids had so much fun playing together!!  Ty and Ellie are little buddies, it's so cute.

Yep, still holding Ty and his bottle for feeding time.  

We got a few nice days so we could play outside.

Also to the Castle Park

Scott and Austin

Austin pushing Scott

Ty loves this and uses it as a jungle gym.  He also uses it to climb on tables.

Austin and his puppy

Kate also loves putting Ty in precarious situations--like the laundry basket.  Austin on the right.

Family walk...Scott, Ty, Kate, Austin

Framing the basement

Grandpa Durtschi called us on the phone one day and said, "Let's frame that basement."  He came down shortly after, stayed at our house for a week (in the laundry room) and helped us get the basement framed.  It was very complicated because of the many fur-downs and things that needed to be framed around.

Dad also took the week off work and learned how to frame.

This is a view from the game room back through the bedrooms.

Putting a wall together.

Dad ran the saw.  Every single piece of wood had to be cut down.

 Austin orange, Scott blue

We are so grateful to Grandpa for helping, we never could have done it without you!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

The kids all made nice cards for the big 31.

Kate

Kate has been a very giggly girl lately.  She loves to laugh, have a good time, stay up late, help, and do big girl stuff.  Kate and Mom had a girls' night when the boys went to Monster Truck Rally.  We watched a movie and painted our nails.  It was really fun.  We love our special Katie girl.

Jungle Jims and Monster Truck

Austin and Scott had their first birthday party this year--they invited 3 friends and went to Jungle Jims.

Austin Birdsall, Scott, Austin, Kate

They all had so much fun (Scott is wearing the shirt with blue on top, white below, Austin is wearing the gray)

Lindi, Austin, Scott, Jaxon, Kate, Austin Birdsall

We had a great time!

Also, as part of their birthday, Austin and Scott got to go on a date with Dad to the Monster Truck Show.  They loved it.  Both boys loved the motorcycles and the tricks they did best.  (Scott left, Dad, Austin)