Roger's much needed face lift...

When we bought this house we knew we would need to do some serious work to the landscaping. This area has a lot of old railroad ties used for all kinds of different things, and our house had more than it's fair share of those ugly ties. We decided we didn't want to live with it any longer so we hired a landscaping company to come give Roger a face lift. We knew we wanted to get rid of the railroad ties and put in a rock retaining wall instead. The stairs also needed to be redone. It turned out pretty good.

The "before" pictures are all on the left of this post, and the "after" pictures are on the right.


The grass is brand new so it isn't nice and green yet. Once the grass turns green and we get some flowers planted, it will make a huge different color wise. The little trees by the street will also look better once they get some leaves and grow a little. My favorite part is having that brick wall gone at the base of the stairs.

We also removed these 2 huge pine trees. I love being able to see the kids playing outside from the window. Before all I could see was pine tree.

We had them tear down the old wood stairs and put in Trex instead. We love the low maintenance of the Trex.

We also had this dumpy old sandbox area with more of those dang railroad ties in the back. We decided to tear that out and put in a fire pit area. Mike really wanted a fire pit and this spot worked perfectly.

Mike built this fire pit and I think it turned out great! We just need to figure out what kind of seating we want to build up there. I can't wait to make smores and some tinfoil dinners!

We still aren't done with all the little details, but overall we are happy with the new look. I think Roger appreciates it too.

Dehner Family Pictures

At our family reunion last month we got some family pictures taken.

Take a peek.

Summer So Far....

Summer has been flying by. Here's a little of what we've been up to.

Once a week the kids have "creative cousins club". They get together with some of the cousins and they do some kind of fun craft or activity (thanks to my mom who makes up all the crafts!). One week they made snake bubbles and water ball sponges.

We took the kids ice skating for the very first time. They LOVED it!! We finally broke down and joined the rec center so we could go whenever we want.

Here's a little clip of Will and Morgan trying to stay upright. It took us a LONG time to get around the circle, esp since Will refused to have any help. He wanted to do it all by himself.

We went with our fun Duke friends to the splash pad at Gateway. That was a great way to kill a day.

We took the kids to check out Mike's new office at City Creek so we stopped by the mall food court and let them play for a while. They think dad's work is so fun - I wonder why with this play place downstairs.

We've had a few injuries this summer. Nothing too bad, but definitely some scars. This happened when Will fell in the shower and popped his face open. I am so glad Mike was home. I don't do well with lots of blood.

Meg's been great about going with the flow and adjusting to the other kid's schedules. She naps whenever and where ever she can. For Meg's sake I am looking forward to having the big kids in school so she can get back on some kind of schedule. (Not that she's ever really been on one. Welcome to life as the 4th child!)

Lots more summer fun to come....

But isn't it soooo cute??

This morning the kids were out playing in the backyard while I was getting Meg down for her nap. After I put Meg in her crib I came into the kitchen to start loading dishes into the dishwasher. I picked up a cup and saw this inside...

I guess being a mom to 2 boys has changed me because I didn't freak out at all like I would have a few years ago. I just said, "Hey Miles, do you really think putting a dead bird in the kitchen is a good idea?" Then I made the kids wash their hands and we went right outside and threw the bird (and cup too!!) in the dumpster. Miles was so mad. He couldn't understand how something so cute and little could be gross and unsanitary. He knew there was no talking me into keeping it, so we took it out and said goodbye... But not until after we took a picture of course.

RIP little birdie.

Mindy's Wedding

Doesn't my sister make a beautiful bride?

On Saturday my sister got hitched. It was a nice little ceremony with family and a few friends. It was nice to see my sister so happy after all the heartache she's been through over the past few years. She's been dating Matt for a few years now and they finally decided the time was right to merge their lives.

Matt has 3 kids and so does Mindy. Here's their new family unit all together. Mindy finally has a daughter!

Seeing weddings always makes me reflect on my own marriage. I LOVE being married to my man and my love for him only grows deeper as time passes.

Even though kids weren't invited to the wedding, I snuck this little lady in. She was an angel and sat and played with her toys.

Congrats Mindy!! What a great day!

Farmington Half Marathon

I've spent the past 4 months building my running endurance back up. It took me a while after I had Meg to get the desire to work out at all. I always feel that way after I have a baby. I want to just enjoy my baby and the last thing I want to do is wake up early and work out. When Meg turned about 4 months old I finally pulled out of my funk. I slowly started back running a few days a week but was really slow and couldn't go very far. I talked my friend Grace into training with me for a half marathon and that was all I needed to get back on track. After a few months of training we were ready to run the half together.

Here we are before the race looking alive at 5:30 am!

Me on the left, Grace in the middle, and MaryAnn on the right.

Besides one potty stop, we were able to run the entire 13 miles without walking. It was my first race where I didn't time myself - (I left my watch in the car so I wouldn't be temped to look at it the entire time) and I didn't try to get a certain time. It was nice running that way for my first race back. I have another one coming up next month that I'm sure I'll take a totally different approach to. But for now it felt great to be back.

And it felt even better coming around to the finish line and having all these people cheering for us (actually they were all for Grace except Mike and the kids, but still). I had no idea Mike was coming and it a fun surprise. It was super sweet of him to wake the kids up early on a Saturday morning to come cheer me in to the finish.

I'm not sure what he's about to do to my ear in this picture, but he's still sweet!

Way to go ladies. I love you both!

4th of July

I'm a little behind on blogging... Our 4th of July was just so-so this year. Nothing fancy - not even a barbecue of any kind. Kind of sad. But we did however see fireworks. We found our spot (the same spot we sat at last year) and hung out for a couple hours before the fireworks started.

We sat just in front of Jonas from a past season of Survivor. Obviously survivor didn't work out for him - he was selling cotton candy for 2 bucks a bag.

After a while Will started to get a little antsy and we still had a while before the fireworks started... So we gave him the little camera and let him go to town. He was in heaven. I had to delete about 100 pictures of the grass, shoes and total strangers.

Here are some of his better shots.

Happy 4th!!!