The Baltzly Bed & Breakfast

Swingset

Sorting all the parts! Close to 100 UNLABELED!!

Laine helping daddy with the rock wall feature.

My dear Gpa Cowley (in his 80's) ON HIS KNEES working with putting this swingset together! We couldn't have done it without him. It's definitely a "two man" project and I wouldn't have been ANY help whatsoever. My grandparents just so happen to be in town here visiting from Iowa and it was a PERFECT project for them to work on! It took one afternoon just sorting and labeling parts, then another day to put most of what you see above together, plus the extra parts like the slide, etc. Then just today they finished carrying it out to the yard and putting the swing beam up and finished setting everything up.

Gpa Cowley up on the swingset getting some bolts put in.

Laine got to take all the pieces of tape off the swingset! He was very proud of his job. And it was a very valuable job. He did a great job!

HAD to take this picture. Here is Ezra out in our grass with his brother Laine's coat on. Laine wore this coat to our house in Oskaloosa, the very first time we EVER met Laine! It has a very special meaning to us. And, of course, he has his big brothers shoes on. That's his newest fetish.

Getting it set up with the beam.

The two brave men that put this together!
Thank you, sweetie and THANK YOU, Grandpa!

Gpa finishing the hanging of the swings and glider.

Ezra at the picnic table. He got himself up there and said, "Eat!?!? Eat?"

I showed him ONCE and he was a pro! That's all it took!

The RIGHT way to slide down the slide. Just like we do the steps. Oma tried showing him the sitting straight forward idea and he ended up biting his tongue. He wouldn't touch the slide again! Hoping he gets over that phobia.

Oma showing him how to sit and hold on to the swing like a big boy!

His favorite! :) The glider!

Mommy & Ezra swinging! He was so excited he could hardly stay on! So sweet!

Big boy, hanging on all by himself.

Laine was still at school, so I didn't get any pictures of him on the new playset, so I'll post again with some of him in them! :)

Now, anyone here in Maricopa interested in coming over to play!? :) Do I have any bids?! Any takers!? :)

Backyard is FINISHED!!!!

Curbing

Our own creative idea! Planters around the poles.

Trenching for the water lines. Underground sprinkler system.

Here are the piles of rock and sod in front of our driveway.

Look at that sod! BEAUTIFUL!

Gluing all the pipes together.

Filling in with rock! Plants and trees have been planted now also.

The crowd INSIDE watching the yard get finished! It was very interesting. I made Taco Pizza for everyone and we watched from the inside! It was fabulous.

Laine watching intently by the door. Wishing SO BAD he could go out there and help.

Beginning of the sod getting laid.

Laine finally got to go outside and help with the sod. He was as happy as could be.

Hard worker! Look how muddy he got! :)

Testing out the sprinkler system.

Our yard, looking from one side wall to the other.

Benjamin will be planting a beautiful garden here soon! Can't WAIT for fresh produce from our very own garden again! I miss that SO BAD! Last garden we had was Oskaloosa.

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!?

One of our rose bushes is already blooming! GORGEOUS.

An apple a day........keeps the doctor away!

Ezra eating his apple for the day.

Happy boy!

Ezra's finished apple.

Our dear sweet Ezra LOVES apples! He can't get enough apples. It's crazy. He literally eats one apple EVERY day. We need to get an apple tree! But it's the sweetest thing. He HAS to have it whole, you cannot cut it up or he'll have nothing to do with it. He then sits and chews and eats every bite until there's almost nothing left. Look at his finished apple. The only other dear person in my life that I've seen eat an apple this close to the core is Mr. Flamm! I think of you every day, Mr Flamm, when I see Ezra eat his apple! Thanks for the sweet memory!

Chavalah is SIX months old.

Mommy & Chavie

Silly girl!

She LOVES this toy!

Well, our sweet Chavalah is SIX MONTHS OLD already! Can hardly believe it! She's growing WAY TOO FAST! But we are just praising the Lord for her health!!! She's doing GREAT!

Still no teeth, but drooling TONS. She's rolling over now!!!! That's our biggest deal lately. We go for her well child check on Monday, so we'll see how much she's grown. I bet she's in the 13 pound range now! That's my guess, but we'll see if I'm right. Still the tiniest, most petite little doll! She smiles ALL THE TIME! Sleeps through the night! She's just so sweet! We love her SO MUCH!

Horseback Riding

We girls decided it'd be nice to get out and do something together so we looked up horseback riding in the area. Marliyn grew up with a horse for a bit so was very familiar with riding, and Elizabeth has ridden numerous times and I was the "untrained" rider. I have ridden a few times in the last few years, so I was "OK" with the idea. Marilyn found the coolest place, quite close to us actually ON the Indian Reservation and an hour and a half later we were getting off our horses. It was so peaceful and a GREAT ride. You coolest thing about it was that you didn't have to ride tail to tail. Your horses could be "random." So neat!