Grass!

Our family spent about 8 hours in the sun yesterday laying down sod and working on the yard. The 83 degree weather was perfect . . . for major sunburns and heat stroke . . . and for the yard work.

The difference that grass makes is like putting carpet in a home. Now it is starting to really look like a yard. Bushes also made it look so much homier and better. However, laying sod is HARD work. Mostly just heavy work, lots of lifting and pounding.

Last night Derek started throwing up and most of us noticed our sunburns. I couldn't sleep well because of a throbbing headache throughout my entire head and I couldn't find a comfortable position that didn't cause pain on my lobster red arms. This morning I feel very dizzy, still have the throbbing headache, have heat coming off of my arms like an oven and that is just me.

At least Hryum has no side effects from yesterdays work. He slept in the house in his swing most of the day. Nathan just has the tips of his ears burned. Each of the other kids has some kind of burn or headache and LeRoy is just tan. Of course he has a terrible back ache from all the lifting.

The lesson: sunscreen needs to be applied more than once for an 8 hour job in the sun (or for some should have been applied in the first place), we should have been drinking more water throughout the day, and hats would probably have helped.