Hobbs

 Dave had the day after Thanksgiving off and this is the week that our garbage collectors will take shrubbery that you leave on the street so Dave decided to do some major pruning to the trees in our side yard.

His younger brother Steven brought over the chain saw and they got to work. 

Payton had a blast watching.  She wanted to be outside but it was just to dangerous, the branches coming down were huge.  At one point she said, "I don't want daddy to fall.  I will catch him."  That is when she put her hand out to "catch" him.  It was so cute.

Meet Hobbs.  He was the biggest branch that was cut down.  Dave said that one branch was equivalent to three times what they had already cut down.  He is a bit of an exaggerator.  :)  Even thought Dave got a little chop happy on one of the trees, they look a ton better.

We had one scary point in the day.  I had taken Payton out to watch several times.  Well, we were in the house and I had to go to the bathroom.  While in the restroom I heard the door to the garage open and I yelled to Payton to stay inside and close the door.  Then I heard the door shut and then silence.  I am trying to get dressed as fast as I can calling for Payton at the same time.  When I got out of the bathroom she was not in the house.  I ran out the door and into the garage, she wasn't there.  I ran out to the driveway yelling her name and she is not there either.  I turn to go to where Dave and Steven were working and I didn't see her at first because my eyes went to the two stray dogs in our front yard (a golden retriever and a mutt of some sort) and she was on the other side of them getting ready to step into the street.  I yell "STOP!" and it seems the only things listening to me were the dogs because out she went into the street. I run as fast as I can to her, grab her arm and yank her off the street.  Yikes!  I am so glad the car driving by was going slow because of all the branches.  The whole way back to the house I yelled while having a tight grip on her arm, "Don't ever go outside without mommy or daddy!", "Don't ever go out into the street without mommy and daddy!"  I was so scared.  I couldn't stop yelling.  It took a while for my heart to stop racing.  When we got inside I took a couple of deep breaths, gave her a big hug, told her how much I loved her, and told her that I was sorry for yelling but that she scared me. 

I do hope that she doesn't ever do that again.