It is 11:30 PM and Miss Gracie Rue is still awake in her bed humming Old MacDonald Had a Farm to herself.

We had some VIPs arrive this evening around 7:00PM and we have had a very fun time with them. I will post a few pictures of them soon. 

Also, on Saturday we left our house at 10:00AM and didn't get home until after midnight.  Where did we go all day you wonder?  Well, I will show you soon.

But right now I am tired so off to sleep I go to the tune of Old Mac Donald.

Backyard saga... Part II

Part II of our saga is absolutely fun!!  As most of you guessed it, or already knew, we decided to put up a  pool in our backyard. It is my sweet Dr.'s birthday present to me, as I turn 39 in a few weeks.  Pool or no pool was a really hard decision to make, as we have to put our house on the market to sell in 20 months, and we knew that a random circle in our lawn was not going to help the resale.  But we have nearly 2 years to remedy that!

So twilight last Saturday night was finally the moment we had all been waiting for for over a week.  For days we had been staring at a large box in our family room that contained this little pool before we finally had our ground level enough to put it up.

Jace and Grace were so thrilled when Ryan laid out the pool liner.  Just watching them roll around and play while we assembled the frame ALMOST made all the arduous digging worth it.

 

By dark we had the liner and frame put together, but it was too dark to start filling it.  But on Sunday, when we got home from Church we turned on the hose!  When Christopher Robin learned that swimming on Sunday was not a Sunday activity he was NOT amused.  I think it was the worst news he has received in his life.

But we dragged him off on a road trip to Clinton, Iowa,--90 miles  away to pick up some pool steps I had found on Craigslist.  The family that we got them from turned out to be LDS too!  It was so fun to make that connection.

Ryan and I put in the steps and left the hose running over night.  The next morning an excited little Robin went out to see the filling pool!

The water of course was cold, but it didn't stop him from hiking up his pajama pants and taking a little dip!

That afternoon, when Gracie was down for a nap Jace and I slipped out to have a dip together.  It was too cold, so I figured out how to hook up my  garden hose to our hot water heater and emptied into the pool!  Yes I did!

And then we had a very pleasant swim!

When the Dr. got home to try it out himself he didn't mind one bit that his pool was heated!

 

The saga continues....Part I

Now that it is Thursday, I am finally getting Monday's post posted.  My excuse--I have had a lot of things going on this week! But here are pictures of our continuing backyard saga. 

After the Dr. walked through the door last Friday evening, we let him recover for a few minutes from his 92 hour work week. It is amazing what a 20 minute power nap will do!! Then we put him right to work again!

Digging, painful digging.  I have to say that I can take credit for the part of the circle you see already dug out. I had been getting up and digging in the morning before it got hot for as long as my arms could take the work.

Jace was hard at work until the bitter end of this project.  I was impressed with the ramp he built all himself with boards he found in the garage. 

Look at the hard, dry, clay that had to be chipped out of the ground!  And look at that cute Christopher Robin hauling another load up his ramp to the dumping site!

The Dr. kept at it even after dark.  He is like his Dad. Once they start working, they don't stop 'til the job is done, or they drop from exhaustion!  I could tell he was having fun digging with his boy 

and his girl!

Saturday morning we were to here--still about 4 inches from level on the high(right) side.

Around 7:45AM the dump truck came with our  4 tons of manufactured sand/gravel to fill the hole.

Jace immediately filled his trucks and ran them to the backyard. Ryan had to explain that he couldn't dump the gravel in until it was level.

We had the beef Days Parade at 10:00 so we stopped work and went to the parade.  I wanted to keep at it, but I am glad Ryan hauled us to Solon, Iowa. 

Little Rue with her trademark expression.

The kids had a great time.  They picked up several pounds of candy that was tossed to them.

Gracie loved the horses and Jace loved the big machinery. I loved the Tootsie Rolls they threw at us and Ryan loved being there with his family.

When we came home we saw our looming hole that still needed so much work.  We dug until after 5:00PM.  We ended up digging out a total of 16 inches of dirt on the high side and 4 inches on the low side.

Then Andy-our neighbor- came and helped Ryan haul the sand.

I was so glad to see him arrive.  I did not have it in me to help haul that stuff.

With 2 wheelbarrows and two dump trucks running with gravel/sand, it was all done within 90 minutes.

I smoothed the sand with the rake-which was actually quite hard to do. 

Jace said his favorite part was listening to the gravel fall in the hole when he dumped it out of his dump truck. He is like his Dad and Poppy!  He worked himself to exhaustion.  He loved it.  When he has to help me clean the house, he does not show any enthusiam--mostly just tears, but this kind of work as you can see--right up his alley!!

Tom-Andy's Dad- came over just in time to help Ryan level the sand to perfection.  We had to get everything level with 1 inch.  After they were done, the gravel was smooth as glass. 

By then it was around 8:00PM and stage II of our saga began.

End Part I

( I will work on posting part II tonight-I promise)

Used and abused, truck ride and smooches

Right now it is 12:08AM and the Dr. is not home yet. He went to work yesterday at 6:00AM and took call through the night last night and is not home yet tonight. He should have been home several hours ago, around 6:00PM but because of the selfishness of an attending Dr. he is still standing in an OR room doing nothing.  When he called me tonight at 10:35PM when they finally gave him a break for dinner he told me he was doing nothing but standing there, as he could not even see the surgery that was going on. 

To keep a doctor (resident) working on a shift this long is against the law. Right now he is working his 42nd hour.  A 36 hour shift is what the law allows. All I can say when I heard about this abuse is that my anger raged. I hate when I feel so angry and helpless. But there is nothing that can be done.  If Ryan were to stand up to this Dr. then there would be hell to pay for the next 2 years and the price isn't worth it.

After I got off the phone with him I had a scripture pop into my head, "pray for those who despitefully use you."  So I said a little prayer and I can honestly say that my anger lessened. I realized that tonight is just one night. In the next 2 years this will happen again, several times- but I have so much to be grateful for.  We are all healthy and happy at our house.  A young mother in our ward whose husband is also a resident was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.  She has 5 children.  My heart aches for her and her family and their long road ahead. Yes, residency is hard, but I do not have cancer. I am blessed.  

I am secretly planning out in my mind how I am going to toilet paper the heck out of this Dr's house.  Isn't that so childish?  But I really think that before I leave Iowa it might just have to happen.  I would even go so far as to plan it right before a huge nasty rain storm.  I wonder if I could get the Dr in on this.  But if not, who's in with me?  Mom?Dad? Anyone? 

I have only been toilet papering one other time in my life and all I can say is that it was a very wonderful evening!

On a different note, look at my 2 cuties.  Jace is pulling his "load"

and even giving out a few smooches while on the job.  He learned that from his Dad! Gracie thought it was just to funny to return the kiss.  But afterall they are married- remember?

This weekend, if the Dr can recover and find the time, we are going to go over to Solon, Iowa to attend the Beef Day' s Parade then finish digging out our 16 foot hole in the back yard.  Christopher Robin is soooooo excited because a dump truck is coming in the morning with 3.45 tons -yes tons-of manufactured sand to dump in our driveway.  Then all day Saturday me and the Dr. and Jace are going to haul it--wheelbarrow full after wheelbarrow full around to our backyard and fill our hole.  It is just so insane, but fun too!  Afterall, in the years ahead when we look back on residency, you can bet we are going to remember the summer we decided to dig a 16 foot hole in our backyard!

Well now it is 12:53 AM and guess who I heard just pull into my driveway?  Not the mailman!

Ruining our yard

On Saturday we spent the entire day out in the heat digging a 16 foot hole in our backyard. For the moment, it has ruined our yard, and as I am having a nervous breakdown about it, I keep telling myself what Ryan told me all day Saturday, "We are making lasting family memories."

We started early before the sun was hot. We carefully painted a white circle on our grass and then we began the arduous task of removing all the lawn.-  Shovel full, by tedious shovel full.

After an hour of digging Ryan had made one complete pass around the circle.  It left the dirt overturned for earthworm observance by Robin and Rue.

Considering the fact that our circle is around 204 square feet, we had to remove about 200 squarish pieces of sod that we cut out with shovels. Of those 200 pieces we removed, I can probably take credit for about 30!  -And I kept my white shorts pretty clean during the process.

By 1:00 the Dr had made pretty good progress.  Robin and Rue had escaped the heat of the day by retiring to the house and their little swimming pool. But the Dr. kept working!

Around 3:00 when he was about to remove the last piece of sod, we all stood to watch. Even Robin and Rue got out of their swimming pool to observe.  It really was a momentous MOMENT!  Rue kept one eye on her pool though.

After the lawn was all cut up and moved, the fun began -leveling the ground.  This really was Christopher Robin's favorite part of the whole project.

He was out there until the evening hauling dirt

and learning how to level the ground

and learning how to use a shovel.

It was so nice when 6:00PM rolled around and the circle was finally shaded by our house.

 

Well, we left our unfinished project looking like this on Saturday night.  But rest assured, I will let you know what we are planning to do with our 16 foot circle - just as soon as I figure out exactly what to do with it! But the Dr. has promised me it will be worth it.

Do you like how Christopher Robin left all his construction vehicles in a line and the dump truck beds up when he was finished working.  There is a reason why you are supposed to leave the truck beds up, but I can't remember what it is.

So I will go wish I had some Valium to take and try to calm down!!