Spring Break

March 30-April 6, 2015

Andy had to work part of the day on the 30th and then we headed for TX.  We made it in about 7.5-8 hrs.  It isn't a bad drive.  Most of it is freeway.  We did realize that I had left my purse at home on the bench inside the front door. Andy had his wallet and ID so we were good. :)

Grandpa still had to work, so he left a few jobs for Andy to do during the day.

The first day there he moved a bale of straw from the front to the back yard so the kids could use it to target practice with.

Bradley, Nathan and Daniel were excited to get a ride on the tractor with Dad.

Picking up the bale.

Bringing it down the drive way.

Daniel and Bradley were on gate detail.

Eliza was ready for a ride too!

Eliza got a ride after Dad dropped off the bale.

Daniel was quick to join them as well.

Dad had to switch back to the bucket after he moved the bale of straw.

Daniel and Nathan waiting for another ride.

Daniel, Dad and Nathan

While we were in TX Eliza and I went to get our hair trimmed.  The last time we got our hair done was at the family reunion in UT last July!  They were really nice and gave us drinks.

Eliza liked that. ;)

Eliza getting her hair washed.

Combing through her hair...

The lady who gave us our hair cuts name is Shelly.  She was amazed by the length and thickness of Eliza's hair.  I made sure she knew we just wanted a trim!

Aunt Melissa and her kids were at Grandma's house by the time we got back.

Andy was telling them a really good story.

Hunter was getting a kick out of it.

There were tree frogs all over!

Atlas, Bradley, Guard and Daniel spent hours shooting the bow and arrows.

Atlas was good to keep the kids following the rules so that everyone was safe and had fun!

They got pretty good.

Dad took a few minutes to shoot with the boys.

Nathan wanted a try as well.

Ready...

Aim...fire!  Nathan couldn't do it a lone, but he did try!

While Andy and Hunter were clearing the thistles out in the pasture they came across this cotton mouth.  They made short work of it with the shovel.

Nathan needed to walk out to see the pile of thistles and the dead snake.

Clover

Nathan

Clover, Calais, Nathan, Holden and Eliza in front of the pile of thistles.

Dad is showing us the dead snake.

We had to go find the cows on the way back to the house.

Grandpa does have some good looking beefs!

We brought some Mardi Gras beads to share with our cousins.

Atlas used his creative juices to come up with fun ways to weave them together.

This head band was one of his creations.

Dad and Hunter used the tractor to remove the old clothes line and some trees growing too close to the garage.

Bradley getting a little practice in.

Hunter hooking up the chain.

Pulling the tree out!

Hunter was a great helper!!

Grandpa telling Nathan a story.  I believe it was the Three Little Pigs.

Nathan was mesmerized!

Spring at Grandma's house.

I loved her beautiful tulips.

The slide in back was a favorite spot for all the kids.

Nathan loved it!!

Clover

Nathan

Calais

Eliza

They spent hours playing on the slide.

The boys also got a couple fishing trips in down to the pond.

Boys across the pond.

We had to walk down through the pasture to get to the pond.

Bradley, Hunter, Holden and Guard.

Daniel getting his hook ready to cast out.

Bradley and Holden

Hunter

Eliza, Nathan and Clover

We didn't want to crawl under a fence to get to the other side, so we just got pictures from this side.

There were a couple brush piles that were burned while we were there.

The boys took advantage of the soot and painted their faces with "war" paint!

Bradley and Daniel

There was a tree on the west side of the house that was starting to rot and lean towards the house.

They decided it needed to come down to keep it from doing damage to the house.

They had to get the scaffolding up so that they could cut the tree down without hitting the fence of the house.

They took strategic limbs as they got higher.

Nathan playing a little before having to head in for the night.

Almost all set up...

Eliza, Nathan and Clover checking on the cows.

After cutting down the top we had to do a little pick up.

The trunk of the tree came down pretty easily.

Atlas got the honors of cutting the final pieces off.

He was pretty happy Grandpa and Andy let him help.

Pushing the trunk over.

Finally down!

We also got some eggs colored! 

Grandma was a good sport and sat at the table for over an hour and a half while all the kids rotated through in shifts.

Nathan was excited to paint eggs!

Holden, Daniel, Eliza and Nathan

Bradley and Guard joined as the younger ones finished.

Grandpa wasn't as excited about coloring eggs.

Andy and Melissa went through almost all the dormers upstairs and cleaned them out.

There were things that had been in boxes for over 20 years!  

This is one of Quincy's old toys that Grandma made.

We found the best was to get rid of things was to throw it out the window into the trailer. 

At one point we also had the kids throwing things on the fire.  They loved it!

Grandpa and Atlas were the last to finish up their eggs.

Grandpa's turned out pretty cool!

The Easter Bunny found us in TX.

Nathan was so excited about his basket.

We had boiled eggs for breakfast before conference started.

A couple of the kids were a little bit sad to peal their eggs.  They were delicious.

Happy Easter!

Bradley, Daniel, Eliza, and Nathan

Nathan got into his chocolate chick.

He thought it was pretty tasty.

Between sessions of conference we had an Easter Egg hunt.

Atlas and Hunter were the egg hiders!

The kids were excited to get the hunt under way.

Bradley, Daniel, Eliza, Holden, Calais, Nathan, Guard and Clover 

Clover and Nathan

Eliza and Holden

Calais

Grandpa checking to see if they found all the eggs.

Bradley got quite a few eggs.

The kids were a little bit sad that the plastic eggs were empty.  We didn't want the fire ants to get in the eggs, so we didn't put anything in them.  Grandma had a lot of candy inside, so it was all good!

After conference the kids played on the slide.  They got some great trains going.

Bradley had so much fun that went we finally made him hold still he passed out!

I loved the safety goggles.

We helped Grandma and Grandpa get things organized for a cement driveway.
These are before pictures.

The grease trap.  They had to dig it up and clean it out, so that they contractors would be able to leave an opening for it.

Over the years the water has left big ruts in the driveway.

The construction started on Saturday morning...

Nathan, Andy, Grandpa and Melissa checking in on the progress.

The workers got everything leveled, framed, and tied re bar so they could pour cement.

 

They were suppose to pour the first have of the cement the next day, but it started raining.

It rained for weeks! (They didn't end up finishing until the first of May.)

The finished product!  We are so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa's driveway in person.  We are very excited for them.

We had to head home on Monday April 6th.  Before heading out Andy went with Bradley down to get pictures of the fort the boys helped Atlas build and retrieve the soft air pistols they left down there.  They also brought back some shovels and machetes.

They had to build a perimeter to keep the cows out.

They also build a look out.

It was raining that morning and Andy almost froze walking down there.

Daniel and Nathan played one last round of air hockey before we had to head out.

Nathan loved it!

We had a lot of fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa.  We had so much fun with our TN Mitchell cousins too.  We are so glad they came down to visit.