Whew! Just in time! Now we are ready for the rain!!

September 24

We finally have the roof and it is being installed, hopefully finished before the expected rain this coming weekend!  The first shipment of windows and doors have arrived and front living room, kitchen and all other windows are in!

Ann has had a fun birthday month with lots of lunches and dinners out with family and friends.

The insulation is being put into the house this week and the ramp beside the back deck is almost finished.  Progress!!

Our ramp above and now you can see Mom's ramp to her back door.  The roof was finished before the storm and the insulation is in.  Our worker, Sam, says it sounds like you are talking inside a big pillow now in the house.

Monday, our floor group comes to measure for our floors and blinds, and the sheetrock people come in.  Progress!!

Sheetrock is delivered today and they will start to work tomorrow.  We passed our insulation inspection.  Since we were having our roof done, we decided to order supplies and have them do Mom's roof over the swimming pool area that was never done.  So they are working on that today.

On the road again…

Well, we were on the road again this last week. Our sweet granddaughter Kayla was starting at BYU-Idaho, so we took a quick trip up to get her settled and stopped by the home of each of the boys to say hello.  A special thanks to James and Brandi and Jonathan and Diana for letting us stay overnight.

Boy, Kayla has a really nice apartment.  Much to our surprise, we woke up in Idaho Falls to a 28 degree morning and had to scrape ice off of our windshield!  A little change from the high 90's down here.

The house inspector came today…and we passed except for needing a non-flexible dryer vent tube, and a couple very small things.  Roof should be here on Monday.  Whoo hoo!

So, in our spare time, Mom and I bottled 40 quarts of peaches and 12 jars of peach jam today.  Threw in a couple cobblers and pies, too.  Got to keep the workers happy!

John got called to be the first assistant in the High Priests group in our ward, so we are throwing in a few more meetings and responsibilities.  We're also still working on the ward Christmas dinner/party.

We had a delightful surprise this week when dear friends showed up from the Salt Lake Area.  We knew the Van Keizerswaards from our tour in Germany.  It was so fun to be able to visit with Sybilla, Valerie and Allison and try out the new lunch place up by the old airport.A special thank-you to my dear husband who always wants to start celebrations early.  Happy Birthday to Ann tomorrow!!  Hopefully I will get a new roof!!

Enjoying the journey

Ahhhh, looks like September has arrived.  This last Sunday, we heard encouragement from the pulpit that "Blessed is the life that enjoys the journey".  So, we decided we should just relax and enjoy the ride.  The house will get done when it is done.  

Sam is working on the columns for the porch.  

We decided to put a large patio in the center of the two homes for morning breakfast.
By the end of the day, the columns were up!

Back deck is stained and up.  Still have to connect to Mom's back deck and add a ramp.

The arches still need the electrical in them and then we are ready for an interim inspection.

In the meantime, Fluffy the wolf has come back to live with us.  It is really nice to have her.  She is a great companion and watchdog and gets along well with Flopsy, Mom's dog.

We chose doors and windows today, also.  They will go in soon.  The electrician comes by this afternoon to check everything the guys have done inside.  We made some adjustments for the cabinet maker and the windows and doors.

Ended up making some adjustments for the electrician, too.

And…it's raining again!

My brother, Joe and his wife Karen, came down for the weekend.  He did some work around the condo, visited and then he and Karen took everyone out to dinner at the club at Entrada.  That was so sweet of them.

However, Joe saw the video of the spider outfit on a dog on YouTube that was scaring everyone, so he had to go out and get a giant black widow for himself.  Here it is trying to eat John.  Below is a Wolf Spider.

August 25…wow!

We cannot believe Aug. is almost over!  Thankfully, the hot weather is beginning to disappear, also.  This last Sat. we were able to attend the baptism of our friend, Brandon Lee.  Brilliant pianist and all around wonderful person.

Met up with a couple other familiar faces from Logan at the baptism and then spent a lovely dinner with Karla, Bonnie and Carolyn.

Had to laugh when I walked into the house the other morning and saw the wall.  Sure!  We are ready for inspection!  No…Sam said he was measuring and had not nailed them yet.  (yeah, sure)

Our niece, Alyssa, came  to work this week in her husbands place.  He had injured his knee over the weekend.  She worked hard and was a marvelous addition to the work crew.

My husband keeps telling me that this whole house project is a work of love.  He found the proof this week on our shipment of plywood.  Thanks, honey!

We have had a wonderful weekend.  Jonathan, Diana and the boys came down for a quick visit to bring us some furniture and Fluffy the Wolf.  She is retiring to the farm with us and we are delighted to have her.  The photo below shows Simon ready for breakfast.  Wow!





Well, it is Labor Day and our crew is off.
Our cabinet maker stopped by on Friday for a
walk-through, and today we measured to order windows and doors.  Hopefully this week we can make some real progress.

Sam swimming and having a tug of war with Harley over a pirate sword!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Years ago in Alabama, while stationed at Ft. Rucker, we were privileged to know Joseph Reed and his angel wife, Darla.  After Joe's untimely death in a helicopter crash, we kept in touch and have watched JR, Jessica and Jasmine grow to be the most wonderful, amazing, loving people.  JR was even with us in Africa when we served our mission.  He was called to Ghana too.  Anyway, Darla and the girls stopped by on their way to deliver Jessica to college in Provo.  It was so great to see them for a moment.

The guys started our beautiful deck outside our backdoor.  Who is that guy hanging out the office window?

The boss, Bruce, and our house full of water in the huge surprise rainstorm we had this week!  2" of rain in an hour.  Crazy!

Our new wood burning fireplace arrived.  It is so pretty.  The door opens into the living room and the master bedroom.  It might come in handy if we have another winter down here like they did last year.

The plumber finished up under the house and the cooling/heating team is almost done, too.

Had cement delivered today for the front porch arches and we are ready for the inspection.  It has been a good week. :)

Dirt, plumbing and music

We had our little dirt mover back this week to pile up the dirt for our front porch.  It is so much more convenient to just walk in the front door of the house rather than climb in by ladder!  

Not sure if Bruce is running from the little machine or just surprised to see me before 10 AM!

The guys are now constructing the retaining wall for the dirt.  It will come across and join up with Mom's wall.
The plumber is also here today roughing out the plumbing under the house.

We rented an auger to drill the holes for the porch columns.  Then they will fill with cement to build the arch columns.

They have also put in all the basic electrical and we are waiting for our satellite/tv guy to come this afternoon to put in all the internet and tv wires etc before the sheetrock goes up.

We took a break on Sat. evening and went with Dave and Kristine up to Zions Natl Park.  The Utah Symphony was there on the #5 stop of their National Park Tour.  It was outside at the OC Tanner amphitheater and although a little warm, it was an incredible evening, even stopping for dinner beforehand.

The music was fantastic, the scenery breathtaking, and the company delightful.  Thanks to Dave and Kris!

                                                                      Traveling…

We had such a wonderful time this last week traveling up to Logan again.  We celebrated our friend, Brenda's birthday (a couple times), participated in a funeral of a friend, blessed our baby Jackson, and sang with the American Festival Chorus and the Utah Festival Opera in an evening of the "Best of Beethoven".  We had a wonderful time.

A special "Thank-you" to James and Brandi who let us bunk with them for a loooonnnnggg time!

We actually caught up with Angelina and the kids again in Logan and lunched with everyone at Angies.  Just before we left St. George, we were able to go to Tuacahn and see the "Wizard of Oz"

The house is coming along.  The West wall is up and the roof is on.  Doors and windows are cut out.  (Gabe is decorating one)
We also have the framing for the inside walls and looking for electricity and plumbing this week.
Slowly but surely…step by step!