Father's Day and Summer Is Here

Well, Father's Day was a delightful event this year, Dad got exactly what he wanted, calls and visits from all the kids... and a log splitter! He was so happy to hear from Jon and Tiff and Mark in Calgary, it seems that Mark goes to Jon's every Sunday for dinner, so they shared the call. Cam and D called from Phoenix, and Dad loved catching up with them as well. But the real highlight was being able to say hello to Brooklyn and Ava, it is so wonderful that they are both old enough now to talk with Grandpa! Doug is certainly the best Dad and Grandpa in the whole world!

We had several friends over for dinner along with Lindsay and James and Grandma. We had a fun BBQ, and the weather was perfect. It was great day and we topped it by going out to Grandpa Stringham's grave and putting some flowers there for Father's Day. It was a very special day for all of us!

Later in the week, dad had some fun showing off his new log splitter to Lindsay and Mark. it really is amazing how powerful it is, 22 tons! He will make good use of that with all the new logs at the cabin!

This past week we made another big mess at the cabin, we cleaned out all the fallen brush from a little ravine next to our cabin, two big loads to the dump!! I am so excited to be cleaning up this area, it has had old growth plus new brambles from our recent tree cutting experience in there. I am calling it my 'beautification' project. It will look beautiful now as it begins to grow up in there, I am certainly more excited about this project than Doug is, but it will be worth it.

We also managed to finally hire a man with a stump grinder to come in on Saturday and grind up all the stumps that were still there from our tree removal. Oh my goodness, what a lot of sawdust, amazing how much sawdust comes from one large tree stump! Our next project is to clean up all the sawdust, bring in new sod to fill in the holes, and plant new grass!

So much work, I said to Doug on Saturday, " We're keeping this place for a long time"! We have really grown to love our little cabin, it is such a great retreat for us, and the more we do to fix it up the more we love it.

It was a busy weekend for us, we also put in a new dock with the help of Lindsay and James. Our old one was breaking down, so we put in the new dock and floated the old one away. Rachel had to be the first one to try it out our new dock! It was fun and the weather was beautiful!

Today was also a wonderful Sunday! We had friends over for waffles, ice cream, and fresh raspberries, a great Sunday meal! Then a monopoly game with the kids and Mark. Mark has finished his teaching job in Calgary and will be staying with us in Edmonton for a few more days until he starts a summer job in Calgary. It's fun having him visiting us, even if it's just for a few days!

 

Angels and a Long Log Fence

After much careful planning and scheduling we were able to get eight strong men (really they were angels) out to the cabin last Saturday. As we all worked together, we managed to move hundreds of logs in about seven hours! Thank goodness Lindsay's husband James has so many brothers...three of his brothers came and helped us out, Daniel (15), Zach (18), and Eli (21). James also brought his good friend, Evan, and we also had Mark, Jon and Doug. We had a good crew, and they were all like 'mountain men' - truly in their element, chopping, and hauling trees!

I was the designated truck driver. They would fill up the trailer that was hooked to the truck, with all the loose branches and wood, and I would drive it over to the dump and unload it. It took six trips to the dump to clear away all that bush!! First trip I went by myself, but got slapped in the head by a big branch as I was unloading, so each trip after that I took one of the guys with me.

Some of the logs were so big and heavy that it took two guys to lift and move them...and then they would carefully execute the drop off - to position the log perfectly onto the log fence. They were truly masterful fence builders, and Ava loved her log 'princess chair'! Many of us came away with 'battle wounds', but it was so worth it, and we were so grateful for the help!!

Tiffany, Ava and Josh came out in the afternoon and cheered us on, it was so fun having them there! We had hot dogs for lunch and Tiffy made us a great dinner of hamburgers, french fries and salad for dinner.

This was the cabin yard in the morning before we started, it looked like a tornado had gone through there!

However, after the hard work of our 'angels', the yard now looks fantastic!

Now, the next big job it to get our tree cutter to come and clean out all the stumps with his 'stump grinder'. Luckily he needs a crown and Doug is going to exchange the stump grinding for some dental work. That's a pretty good exchange for us!!

On Sunday, Doug smoked a pork roast for us in his 'smoker', which he absolutely loves! I'm not very keen on smoked meat, but this was delicious. Jon and Tiffy stayed over, and we enjoyed another day together, grandpa and Ava had a chance to enjoy some time together in the hammock.

Lindsay and James came over for the smoked meat, and brought another one of James's brothers, Sam. He just finished his mission last Fall. They had alot of fun throwing Josh in the air, but Josh never seemed to get tired of it.

We worked in the temple again on Friday night. It was a real treat to have Jon, Tiff and Mark go through a session while we were there working. Dad was able to go to the same session with them, as that happened to be his assignment during that time. I didn't get to the whole session but was able to join them near the end of the session as a worker.

We are so grateful for this opportunity to work in the temple, it truly strengthens our testimony of the gospel and how important the temple is in our lives! We can feel the sweet spirit of the temple linger with us all week, a real blessing!