Sunrise…sunset…swiftly flow the days…

Yes, some mornings we are up for sunrises.  Always around for sunsets.  Days are going quickly now and beginning to get cooler.  We actually had to put on a sweater this morning!!

The house is now wrapped in black paper and chicken wire ready for the stucco.  What?  They forgot to put the paper under the window frame below the window?  Ok…flunk inspection.  Back to work.

Fans and smoke alarms are up and door frames going on.  All the lights have been purchased and are being installed.  Cabinets and shelving are going up.  No problems there.  We have a great cabinet maker!!  

Floors down in kitchen, living room, baths and office.  What?  Floor installers forgot the spark guard in front of the fireplace??  Get back here!!  Floor trim going on.  What?  The shower pan doesn't hold water?  Flunk!  Plumber…get back here!!

Oh, well…  Regardless of minor setbacks, we are slowly moving forward.  We even dropped off the Highlander at the body shop this morning to get the dent in the driver's door fixed.  How did that happen?
We so appreciate all the help and support of family and friends.  Everyday is a new challenge.  We love the new shirt from the website "Ranger Up"  this morning  It said, "Suck It Up and Drive On"
That's what we are doing.

Sheetrock, ramp and paint…Oh My!

Finally got the sheetrock done and painting is finished.  It took us a whole day to clean up!  The paint looks really beautiful.  The doors are hung and the door trim is up and painted.  

 Bruce and Sam finished the back steps and ramp.  It looks really good and will Never fall apart!!  They also took off the lattice roof on Mom's deck and replaced it with a solid roof.  

We had so much fun last Saturday when Lisa Heath and her daughter Mandy came to visit (with family).  They had just completed a triathlon and were actually walking and smiling!

We also attended another Celebrity concert and heard the Dallas Brass.  Here is Andy with the trumpeter from Costa Rica.  They were absolutely amazing and put on a great show!

Today, we are moving dirt against the side of the house and finishing filling in the front porch and patio preparing for the cement to come.  Also, the flooring people start today and the guys will start on the outside stucco as soon as the dirt is finished moving.  Daylight at the end of the tunnel!!

New week!

We had such fun this week as our Classical concert season began.  Our first performance was by the Utah Symphony at the Cox performing center at Dixie University.  They did Mozart, Schuman and Dvorak.  It was fantastic!!

We had a productive week at the house.  The sheetrock is in, waiting this week for floating and taping.  The doors are all in and the roof finished.  Except, of course, for the tile on the roof above the porch.  But that was delivered and is waiting to go on.




(Looking down the hall from front door to linen closet.)


(Mom in living room)

We also had a visit from Suzanne, Eric Cunningham and family.  Eric ran in the St. George Marathon this morning and then they will head on to Italy for 2 weeks.

Dave will head down to Arizona to watch their kids for the two weeks.  What fun!

(Roofing tile delivery)

Barbecue at Dave and Kris Cunningham's house following the marathon.  Lots of people and celebrating all the Oct. birthdays!

Joe and Karen Cunningham were also here this week and brought friends.  Lots of people at the condo, too.  They took a quick trip to Las Vegas and picked up a 1970 Dodge charger he has bought at auction.  It was beautiful.

Weather is beautiful now.  Looking forward to some progress on the house this week!

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!