The Espinoza Family Blog – Page 194 – A life full of faith, hope, love, and laughter.

The path less traveled – part III

Paver project – Day 4:
Isabel and I headed to church that morning while Gino stayed home to finish up using the compactor; that needed to be returned to the rental place by 1:30 pm. After we returned home from church and returned the compactor, we headed over to Lowe’s and purchased 250 pavers. Unfortunetly, we didn’t make it back over to the landscape place to get a load of sand. Which was alright, Gino picked that up on his way home from work the next day.

3 layers of gravel/sand mix compacted to 6 inches.

Pallet of pavers.

Break time from unloading pavers.

Checking on wideth, “feel”, and look. We decided to add a matching border which will be placed along the outside edge about where Gino’s hand is.

Isabel just goofing around on the pavers!

The path less traveled – part II

Paver project – Day 3:
The day was a bit of a disappointment, but that’s the weather in the Pacific Northwest! Gino ended up working outside by himself in the pouring rain. We purchased 3 truck loads of a gravel/sand mix and then rented a compactor to compress the mix between the 3 loads.

Load 1 of gravel/sand mix.

Gravel/sand mix before being compacted.

There was a slight break in the rain so Isabel is helping daddy “compact” gravel/sand mix.

Compacting in progress!

Works so good it looks like concrete!

Load 2 of gravel/sand mix.

Both loads of gravel/sand mix compacted and complete.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow…

The path less traveled – part I

Paver Project – Day 1:
So we have our new door (B.T.W. – Gino did an awesome job!) and now we need a walkway, so we aren’t walking in the mud. Therefore the paver project begins. Some might ask, “Why pavers and not concrete?” Because concrete takes to long to dig out (if you want to do something different later down the road) and pavers you just lift them up and move. No back breaking work there and other reasons too but we won’t go into that…

Gino went out after dinner and began the back breaking job of digging out all the rock to make a nice sloped level base. He dug 6 inches down and 4 feet away from the house and 30 feet long of pathway.

He didn’t get finished this first night.

Paver Project – Day 2:
Since it’s a work day, Gino again headed out after dinner. He actually got all the foundation digging finished this night of the paver project.

Rounded the corner and working toward the back corner of the house.
Almost there!

Isabel just loves playing out here and getting dirty! It was very chilly this day with a breeze, so I made her wear a hood. She didn’t mind and it kept her hair outta her face too.

Jumpin Jack And Jill

This morning Isabel and I had a play date with our friends Jaden and Marica. We drove north to the little town of Sumner, to a place called Jumpin Jack and Jill. An indoor inflatable place for kids and toddlers. Super activity for a very cold and windy day like today! Enjoy! :o)

Thankfully, Marica went up the slides with Isabel.
Later, Isabel was going up the smaller slide all by herself!

Jaden going down the smaller slide on his tummy.

Isabel going down the smaller slide on her side.
She was all smiles the whole time we were there! She had so much fun!

Jaden playing air hockey.

Jaden and Isabel going down the smaller slide together.

Isabel going down the larger slide (14 ft.). The first time she went down her eyes popped outta her head and the second time she went down;
she was laughing and smiling all the way!
Thanks to Marica and Jaden for inviting us; We had a blast! Let’s do it again soon!

National Day Of Prayer

Have you said your prayers today?

I must admit that I have stumbled with this; not so much as saying a prayer but just stepping aside from all distractions and sitting down quietly with God and really talking and opening my heart to him. I stumble with this.

I do, pray all the time, otherwise. Throughout the day I’m saying prayers for people that I know. Something will remind of them or my thoughts will suddenly turn in their direction and I just start praying for them. For instance, if I see the color purple, my friend Sarah likes purple, so do my niece’s. So at that moment I say a prayer for them to let them know that no matter what, the Lord is near and ready to provide their every need. Or if I see a certain item that I know someone collects like: roosters, sunflowers, owls, geese, strawberries, spoons, dogs, motorcycles, or whatever it may be. Then I ask God to watch over them and protect them. It’s just something that I do and have always done. My struggle though, like I mentioned before, is with spending the much needed time alone with God and praying. That’s beginning to all change though…

Isabel is getting us to pray as a family more. Whenever we sit down to eat, whether it be for a meal or snack, she folds her hands and gets our attention! Hey, it’s time to pray! She’s getting really good at it!

At bed time, I was reading simple prayers to her from little prayer bibles and books that she has. Because I had wanted to plant the seed in her mind that prayer is an important thing. Now though, I have found that I can really pray with her without the books. She bows her head and folds her hands and we’ll spend several minutes together praying.

So it seems fitting on this national day of prayer, I should take some time and really step away from all the distractions and really thank God for the truly amazing daughter he placed in our care!

“Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.”
– Author unknown

So thankful for a sunny “warm” day!

We stepped outside for our gorgeous sunny day today! A bit breezy which required the light jackets but otherwise wonderful!

Gino and I were working on the front side yard grass; adding some dirt to the “holes” where Daisy goes potty. Isabel helped out for a little bit but then the dirt pile called and she was gone…