Catching up. Yet again.

Man, Have we been busy!
Both Lyn and I have been working some seriously crazy hours this summer trying make this venture (grounded) be successful. And so far, it is being very successful. We are currently scheduled out till Dec. 16th on our installations. And we have more promising work that will fill up January. February already has a large project starting that should last about 5 weeks. then March picks up the season again. This will be the first year that I will have been able to work year-round. The best thing I have learned from starting my own company is that it is better to act than be acted upon. I simply got tired of everybody else screwing up my plans, income, future, etc. Only now that I have taken things into my own hands have I found a morticum of success. Of course I would be negligent if I did not credit God with the blessing and support, and blessings of support of my friends and colleagues.

We have done some really cool projects. Most of our projects have been in the $15-40K range! That just was not happening at my previous employer. We have been blessed.
We now have 2 newer trucks and 12' enclosed trailer. We rent yard space where we stage all of our equipment and materials. 2 employees.

As far as the family goes we are all well and happy.
My Brother Logan and his family came over for a couple of days to help harvest the extremely bountiful blackberry crop there was this year. Here are the kids loaded into the truck to head down to the swimming hole.
















Then we had a fun camping trip. well as fun as you can have car-camping. Since we don't have an SUV this year we were confined to campgrounds which are not our favorite thing. It's almost not worth going camping. Almost. But we had a fun time.
















Here is Henry after I dunked his nose in some hot chocolate. We found this great restaurant called Kit Carson's. Very tasty.














Then in Sept we had Fern's 5th B-day. We had it at the church ranch with her cousins. She wanted a Hello Kitty cake. (heck, she pretty much wants everything Hello Kitty) But the cake turned out nice thanks to Lyn who is both an amazing cook and baker.





















Then Henry and I and my dad, brother, and his boy went on a guys trip. We went to the Sawtooth Mtns in Idaho/Montana. We spent 3 days traversing a primitive road crossing the mtn range. We camped every night and had some great adventures . Especially the night we got caught in an electrical storm. We jumped in the Suburban and watched huge lightning and thunder for over 45 minutes. Fun! We had fun playing in the rivers and playing with fire too.
















































Then here's a pic of Fern in the barn. There was a whole litter of cute little kittens over there this summer and the kids would go over for over an hour at a time to play with them. We are so happy that our kids have a barn with hay and kittens and stuff to play with. Sure beats having them glued to the tube.




Isn't this girl cute or what?! I think that I will probably have to beat the boys back with a stick when she's a teenager.
Funny sign I saw "Guns don't kill people. Dads with pretty daughters do!"
Maybe I'll be polishing my shotgun when a date comes to the door.


We took family pics. This next pic is from that session. The official Family Picture will be released at Christmas time.












That's all for now.
We will have Autumn and Halloween pics up shortly. Now that work is slowing down below an utterly insane pace we will try to be more diligent about posting blogs.
Love ya guys.

June & July: happenings

Welcome back! It's been a long time since you've seen us. We have been super busy working on Caleb's new company, which up to a couple weeks ago was going very well, but since everyone is trying to finish up their summer, they haven't been interested in their landscape. So anyhow, we just wanted to update you all quickly via photos.
One day we had very low tides, so we went to West Seattle to explore the tidepools for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we discovered a lot of wildlife.

Our garden has been growing great and the kids like to help out. Fern is a great rhubarb assistant by cutting off the leaves. Having a garden is so much fun. It's nice to walk through the garden and select what you are going to eat for dinner that night.
Fern loves Daddy Daughter Dates. No sooner have they got back from one, and she starts discussing what to do for the next one. In the above picture, Caleb & Fern went out to eat at a cool eatery with couches and a record player and they played around taking fun pictures. This one turned out nice.

Sometimes when the kids are quiet, this is what is happening--what a great fort!

Other times.....

Why "chip sealed" roads really suck--Caleb watched Fern trip on her "flippers" (flip-flop sandals). She got really tore up, but Doctor Dad was able to make it all better.

When we were visiting Utah our kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Here is Fern & Sedona hiking.

For Henry Day (AKA half b-day) we gave Henry the option of going to the Children's Museum or go hiking. The choice is obvious--he chose hiking. We found a cool trail system in the Coal Creek area. It used to be a huge coal mine 100 years ago. For his bday dinner he wanted fish & chips (minus the chips of course since he is allergic to potatoes).

This is the cake he requested, with some penguin embellishments of his own.

Henry had been saving his money and working hard in order to purchase this, but thanks to Aunt Zoe & the cousins Schnebly, he got it for his birthday. It says for ages 9-12, but he's been able to do it all by himself. He has quite the technical mind. Isn't this cool?

Blueberries! The first blueberries from our bushes--wait--those are MY bushes that my thoughtful husband bought me for mother's day :) (or was it really because he wants more blueberry muffins?)

This is our favorite part about living here & about not having television. Our kids will spend hours a day out reading and playing out in the yard without problems. We feel truly blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place & have such amazing kids.

Well, that's it for now.

Henry Day

FYI: Henry Day is arriving soon. It is Henry's b-day celebration. Since his full birthday is so close to Christmas, we decided to celebrate on his half birthday. That means no cake and presents in December. (Although since this December will be his baptism, there will probably be a little something.) Anyhow, IF you wanted to do something for Henry on his birthday, you should do it for June 16th.

Also, we would encourage you not to send a gift, but to send the equivalent $ amount, as he is trying to save up for a VERY special Lego set. You should see his eyes light up with pure innocent joy when he sees pictures of this set... He has been working with Caleb and other odd jobs to add to his life savings. Secretly we will help pay for it, but we want him to work and save to be able to purchase it, not just ask and have it gifted.

Also, birthday wish phone calls will be great that day too. :)

Thank you very much.

Musings from Lyn

Garden gloves. To think that was all that really stood between me and loving gardening.

I remember as a child dreading weeding, raking out the big rocks, and working in the garden in general. A couple years back I got some gloves and I have discovered that I LOVE being outside working in the earth. When it is cold and rainy, I really find myself longing to find some more long forgotten plants around our house to weed around and check on the garden. I love seeing the potato plants emerge from the ground and see the little beet and carrot tops come up. My lovely 14+ rhubarb plants are lots of fun to tend (thinning, deciding which stalk to pull next, picking off slugs to throw to the anxious chickens). Our garden is double the size of last year’s and I’m excited for some more sun so everything will grow! PLEEAASSEEE let this summer be nice and warm—I really want some tomatoes—last year they all molded...

Anyway, funny how time (and gloves) change what you enjoy.

It has been a cold and rainy spring up here in Seattle. It has been the coldest since 1948 as measured by days over 55 deg. Lots of rain. But every once in a while the clouds break and we get some really beautiful skies like this. this is just up the road from our home.
Any how I, we have been working alot. some weeks hit 70 hrs. I just finished my largest project ever. It was a good growth opp. And we proved to ourselves that we are a great team. I really have great workers, and love my job. Here is a before and after of the project.All three of these are from approximately the same viewpoint. We did 180 ft of wall. We removed 110 cu. yds of soil. We made a beautiful and functional space that was not there before.
That's it for now.

We're still here :)

Well life has never been busier for me, us. Nor has life been better for many years now. We have had some dark and trying times, but now it seems as though we have made it through and life is brilliantly wonderful right now.
As you know I started my own design firm last May, and have been achieving moderate success thru it. I would design the landscape and then manage the installation of it for the homeowner by hiring all the different contractors. That got to be very confusing and tedious. So at the prompting of my wonderful business coach I started a new division on Grounded: we now do all of our own construction 'in-house'! I have 2 great employees and am working on purchasing trucks for the company.
I am currently running a very large job that entails about 170 feet of retaining wall with a high-end block coming out of So.Cal. Removing approx 100 cu yds of soil and bringing in a 15 ft Nurse Log.
It's been a lot of fun.
The phone has been ringing off the hook. I had 9 new appts last week and signed 4 of them. I do no advertising, all new customers are word of mouth referrals. I have spent a long time working on building a great network of friends and colleagues that pass my name around.
I am having the time of my life.
So many people from my past have told me that I am not good enough, smart enough, do not fit in, have no talent, whatever. It's been a tough road. I almost gave up on my dream of being a designer, at points even those closest to me said that I should give it up.
But I didn't.
And now that I have taken the reigns of my future and success in my own hands, and doing what I love , and am doing it my way, I am having a lot of success.
I am good, smart, talented enough.
I am finding great success.
Life is so great.
I thank God daily for the blessings that He has given me.

Lyn has been my beautiful assistant, taking care of the bookkeeping and what not. and I have been working 12-14 hr days.
The kids are great. I love watching them grow and learn. Henry has such an aptitude for machinery and building. I wonder what he will do with it?
Anyhow, Lyn had her B-dayThen I had mine
( I have no idea who those goofballs are)
Then on Saturday the 26th we had our Spring Bunny Celebration. We decided that the Easter Bunny was too much in competition with Jesus so we asked him to move his Easter egg antics to the first Saturday after spring equinox. We dyed our own farm eggs. And even the brown ones dyed up well.
We got flooded again this weekend, but only very minimally.
We are looking forward to summer. We have doubled the garden space from last year. Now it is nearly 1000 sq ft! We are looking forward to swimming in the river, camping, hiking. And we are looking forward to visits from our beloved family members.
Life is sweet and we thank all of you for helping us thru the times when it was not.
We love you and send out big hugs thru the air to reach you as you read this.