Shop Progress

The shop has also been materializing out there before our very eyes. Prior to the San Antonio trip, we got the footings dug, the foundation prepared:





and the concrete poured and finished.



Since coming back, we've had framers working for a couple of weeks,



and as of last Saturday, the entire Phase 1 (80' x 40') is framed in and sheeted.





Next steps? Approval of the permit for Phase 2 (20' x 40'), framing in that phase and then stucco-ing and roofing the whole thing.

It's crazy to look back there and see that huge building where nothing was a few short months ago..

Pool Progress

The weekend before we left for San Antonio, Chad and I spent all of Saturday installing the fencing around the pool. I think it came out looking awesome, and I'm SO excited that the backyard is now safe for children of all ages..

We still have the spa to go, but it's a little harder to get to (at least for Zach at the moment) so we have some time...

San Antonio

We spent 10 days of March in sunny San Antonio visiting Chad's sister, Sharon and their family.

It was a beautifully relaxing time and while we were there we were able to take in some of the sites:

We went to a 'drive through safari' where the animals come right up to (and sometimes into) your car. They give you food to feed them, and they pretty much eat right out of your hand. We saw longhorns, buffalo, ostrich, emu, zebra, antelope, a whole bunch of African animals I can't ever remember the names of, etc. Zach loved waving at all of them out of the window and, aside from the ostriches, which were a tad on the aggressive side, the animals were all pretty gentle.



Once we were done driving through the animals, we stopped and fed the goats. Even Zach got into feeding them, although he 'sample' the pellets at least once.






Zach and I then flew to Dallas and spent a couple of days with Joni. We pretty much just hung out, but we did go for a beautiful walk and were able to feed some ducks




Toward the end of the week, Chad, Angela, Lindsey and I went to the Natural Bridge Caverns.

They were pretty amazing and we had fun hanging out with the girls.





Chad and I also got a chance to go see some of the sites in downtown San Antonio including the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Greg was our tour guide and we had a great time exploring.






On Saturday we tried to go to the Zoo, which was totally packed. So.. not wanting to fight the crowds, we rode the train through the park instead.



It was a fun trip, but mostly we enjoyed just hanging out with the family and Zach LOVED playing with all his cousins.



Being around all of them even inspired him to take his first few steps:




Needless to say, we were a little sad to come home, and unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it), he hasn't seen much need to walk since we got here..

Spring Projects

This seems to be the Spring for Projects at the Reed house. We have three pretty major ones in the works at the moment:

#1. Installing Pool Fencing (hopefully before Zach walks)
#2. Building / Planting a garden
#3. Building a shop in the back part of the property (a fairly large one -- 40' x 80')

So.. in order to document these projects, I've taken some 'before' pictures which will (hopefully) be followed be 'after' pictures.

Our Pool/Spa in their current, un-fenced status:




The future site of the garden:



The semi-leveled ground that will soon support the shop:




It's definitely going to be a busy spring..

Wish us luck!

Look Who's One!!

I can't believe that it has been a year, but here we are!! Zach turned one on Feb 24th. To celebrate, we had the family over on the 26th for dinner, cake and presents. I'm not sure he had a clue what was going on, but we all had fun.

Bicycles

Since Zach is almost one, we decided to invest in a bicycle seat so we could go riding again as a family. We recieved it, installed it and took him on his first bike ride. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but by about 10 minutes in, he was smiling and laughing and having a great time.

It was tons of fun and it felt great to ride again.. I'm now looking forward to many more family bicycle adventures. :-)

The Last 5 Months..

OK.. I know I've been a total slacker, but I really really want to be better in 2011.. but first I have to play a little catch up. So.. here's a brief summary of our lives since last you heard from me. Over Labor Day, we loaded up the RV and headed up to the Sierra Mountains just outside Fresno. We stayed up there for 10 days and did some 4-Wheeling, hiking and just plain enjoying the mountains. Zach loved it and traveled like a champ.



The first weekend in October, we headed up to Monterey to hang out with my niece Meesa, her husband Trevor and their three adorable children. Meesa was running the San Jose half marathon that weekend and we crammed every possible sightseeing adventure in the two days we were all there: Beach, Tidepools, Giant Sequoias, Apple.. yep.. we did it all.



For Halloween, our little munchkin was a terribly cute dragon. I was going to make the rest of us matching costumes (knight & princess) until I found out we weren't having a Ward Party and Halloween was on a Sunday.. but we dressed Zach up to go 'trick or treating' on Saturday night at Grandma's house.



In early November we went up to Monterey where Sam was kind enough to take our family pictures.. and we got to hang out again for a bit, get some Christmas shopping done and generally get away from it all.



We were in Phoenix for Thanksgiving.. we drove there stopping in Kingman to see Grandma and Grandpa Johnston and then went onto Pinetop where we stayed in a friend's cabin for a couple of days and then drove on into Phoenix, making a small pitstop in Prescott. Whew.. We saw most of Northern AZ in that week and poor Zach thought his new home was his carseat. BUT.. we had loads of fun in every place and enjoyed being home with the family for Thanksgiving.

Zach turned 9 months old during our trip to Phoenix. It's amazing to think it's already been 9 months.. sheesh. Here is his 9-month 'portrait' (actually.. photo by Dad, photoshop by Mom).



At nine months he was starting to get into everything and had his patented 'swim crawl' down



I know.. I know.. it's terribly inefficient, and although he had actually crawled correctly, he preferred this method for months..

Right before Christmas, Chad's sister Sharon and her family flew in from Texas and we all headed up to a cabin in Big Bear to spend a couple of days enjoying the snow. It was so beautiful up there and just the thing we needed to get in the Christmas Spirit.

We had a lovely Christmas here at home in Lancaster. Zach LOVES to tear paper, so he was definitely into the whole gift opening thing. He also loved all his new toys.. and actually played with them instead of the wrapping or the boxes.. so I think we can definitely count it as a success.



Since Christmas, we've been lying low and trying to recover from the craziness of the holidays.

Somewhere about mid-December Zach finally figured out that if he crawled correctly he could get.. well anywhere FAST. He continues to be a happy little guy.. making friends everywhere he goes. It's hard to believe that in one short month he'll turn 1!! Where has the time gone?? (Obviously not to writing on the blog, eh?)

OK.. caught up we are.. and now we start afresh.. wish me luck.