Family Reunion or Utter Chaos???

One of the main reasons for our trip to Salt Lake in the heat of the summer was to have the first (hopefully of many) Family Reunions with Ben's parents and siblings. The plan was to spend three days working in Ben's parent's back yard. There was an old and non-functioning swimming pool that Ben's parents wanted filled in so that they could finally have a beautiful and useable backyard. We had a few roadblocks in our way, however. Some literal, some figurative.

Roadblock #1- (This one is a figurative roadblock)

Ben's Dad went in for emergency back surgery on Monday. Work was scheduled to begin on Thursday. Work still went on. I mean Ben and his brothers really like to play in the dirt and everything, but it still didn't help that the leader of the Ashton crew was on heavy narcotics and kept saying crazy things that he doesn't remember saying, but that we can never forget.

Roadblock #2- (This one is also figurative)

How do you keep 10 grandkids and a dog out of the dirt? We never did actually figure that one out, by the way.

Roadblock # 3- (This one is a literal roadblock. Seriously)

Ben's grandfather (who originally built the house that Ben's parents now live in) was a stone mason. I have never met him, only heard many great and marvelous things about him. However, based on the 20+ large boulders and concrete up to 12" thick that was EVERYWHERE, I now believe that he was completely in love with stone of all kinds. Good thing the project on the agenda was filling in an old swimming pool or where in the heck would we have put all of that rock and concrete?

The Ashton men accomplished the following:

1. Cutting a hole in the side of the garage to gain access to the back yard- knocking down two un-wanted walls in the process.
2. Moving a dozen "pretty" boulders to be used later in landscaping.
3. Dumping dozens more boulders in the pool.
4. Jackhammering all unwanted concrete.






5. Ripping out yards and yards and yards and yards of concrete and dumping it in the pool.
6. Knocking down a sandstone wall
7. Digging a trench all the way around the pool.
8. Driving a bobcat and excavator for about 30 hours.

The Ashton women accomplished the following:

1. Caring for 10 grandkids.

You decide who had the hardest job.

Well, all in all it was a successful weekend. The demolition of the backyard is well under way. The grandkids had fun with our own little fireworks show and a visit to Thanksgiving Point. Hopefully next year for our Ashton Family Reunion we can just have a BBQ in the completed backyard...