Whew! Time to Catch Up!

Here it is after Thanksgiving and I haven't blogged in such a long time. Remodeling the house and going to school at the same time has proven to be quite a challenge. It has been very busy at our house and I have just finished my last midterm. Construction and midterms should never be going on at the same time! I have just finished midterms and finals are in about two weeks. I will need the winter vacation to recuperate. I really hope the construction is finished by then, or at least by Christmas. We thought it would be finished at the end of September, then by Halloween, and hoped by Thanksgiving, but no such luck. Counter tops are being installed today. They have been the hold up. They were supposed to be installed on November 18, then on the 20Th, then on 23rd and now on the 30Th here we are. We will be able to get the sinks, dishwashers, and cook top installed tonight after they leave. That is very good news. Tomorrow and Wednesday we will have the cabinet manufacturer come and finish them and finish the final touches on the railings and stairs. The carpenter will be here Thursday to finish the moldings. I love how the moldings have turned out. If you need a good carpenter I have one, his name is Jeremy Beck. He actually used to be employed by Premier Vending but left us a few year ago to start his own company. He is doing really well because he does such great work. December 14, brings the shutters and I believe that is the final touch on the room. I am very excited to see it finished and show my friends and family the final product.

Now onto a more fun topic. On August 29, 2009 we attended Oktoberfest at Snowbird again. We went last year and had such a good time that we have decided to make it an annual event. This year we had J.R. and Shyann so it was even more fun. We ate our delicious dinner, J.R. ate caramel popcorn and Shy ate cookies. I know not very nutritious but I am grandma and they can eat whatever they want. Then the big kids, Scott, Brad, Amy, Jacob, and Josie went down the Alpine Slide while the little kids and I watched. It took them a long time to come down so grandma had to do some entertaining while we waited but all in all it was a very fun day. J.R. loved watching the Yo Yo man who is always at Oktoberfest. It is so nice to spend time with my children and grandchildren. I am glad Brad and Amy reminded us that we needed to go or we may have flaked out.

Whitney has been home twice lately to visit. She came home on October 16 which fell at the same time as Josie's Homecoming Dance. We spent Saturday with Josie taking her to get her hair done and a pedicure so that she had fabulous toes for her fabulous new gold sparkly shoes. She looked so cute. She wore a cream and gold dress with her gold shoes and she looked liked a pretty pretty princess. We had such a good time with her. Whitney and I also were able to go to a movie because that is one of the things Whitney misses while away and busy with school. We went to see Couple's Retreat and I don't know if it was funny or Whitney was funny but she laughed loudly and I then laughed at her laughing. It was so fun. She also came home came home for Thanksgiving. She was a little bored this time because I had to work one day and go to school for class and the last midterm. When she comes for Christmas we are going skiing and I will not have work, construction, or school so it should be more fun for her.

Shauntel came to pick up supplies for gift baskets she was making for Banasky Insurance a couple of weeks ago. She brought Shy and we had a good time having a girls day out with Josie, Shauntel, me, and her. We went shopping and to dinner. We, of course talked Shauntel into staying because she was going to go home on Saturday but luckily for us, we had a snow storm that kept her here so we could have the fun girls day out.

Yes, it has been a hectic few months but I have been very blessed this year and love my life. I would like to end this blog with:

10 Things I Am Grateful For...

1. My wonderful husband

2. My fantastic children and grandchildren

3. All my beloved extended family members

4. Great Friends

5. The opportunity to attend the University of Utah

6. Teaching the Sunbeams - they are so cute

7. My health

8. My home and all the comforts and protection I enjoy because of it

9. The blessing of the having the gospel restored here on this earth

10. Most important I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and his willingness to Atone for me so that I can return back to my Heavenly Father

Construction Framing, Done!

I have invited my friends from Face Book to come to my blog to see the progress of our construction site. I thought it would be a good idea to tell the story of how this project came to be. I will post pictures taken since my last post so if you want to know more you can read the earlier posts about the project.

The story starts with me wanting to change the banisters in my house. I wanted to do something different than the other 100 houses in our neighborhood, an exaggeration. We started to get bids and find out what the project would entail so I suggested to Scott that now would be the time to re-due the kitchen as well. I have wanted to redo the kitchen for over six years but when I was in the Relief Society Presidency, the president told how her sister-in-law surprised her husband by paying off their house early as a 50th birthday gift to him. I relayed the story to Scott and he decided that we should do that too and all the money I had saved for the kitchen went to the house payment. After a few years, we were able to pay the house off and so I started to save again. Anyway back to the story. After I suggested the kitchen redo at the same time as the stairway, Scott thought it would be nice to expand the kitchen so that when the kids come home we can all fit comfortably at the table. We talked about how to do this and what would be best for our needs. I had the idea to turn the existing family room into the kitchen and visa versa. If we did this there would be several advantages. First we could knock the room out as far as we wanted. Second, we would be on the same level as the garage and bringing in groceries would be easier. Third and most important to me, we would be on the same level as the swimming pool. When we have parties everyone ends up in the kitchen and so this is really a big deal. No more going through the family room up to kitchen. So that is what we have done.

We started the planning back in February and March. The architect finished the plans in April. The engineer had them a week or so, so we are now in May. The plans then went to the city for permits and they had them over three weeks. We did not start construction until the middle of June. This was not a good thing because I wanted the project to be finished by the time I went back to school. The framers took the longest time to finish. They actually just finished on Monday, August 24. The plumber finished all that he could do until walls are put up, and the electricians finished all they can do for now today, August 26.

It has been a test in patience but I think Scott and I have done really well. Especially during the days the air conditioner was turned off. That was miserable and made me very cranky.

We now move into the stage of pouring the patio pad and sheet rocking the inside. Appliances have been purchased and cabinets have been ordered. We still have to pick out the granite for the counter tops and the travertine for the floor. Work will continue to progress and we hope to be finished by Thanksgiving. Won't that be great to have all my family home with enough room to be together without bumping into one another. We also hope to have my brother-in-law and his family come because he is a great cook and loves to do it so between him and my son-in-law dinner would be fantastic.

The moral of this story is this is one expensive banister. :)

Shy helping Grandpa

J.R. wants to help too - he was actually first

Tearing the porch apart

Crane comes to lift the steel beam into place



Framers doing their job - they took such a long time

Heating and Air Conditioning Guys

Getting ready to destroy - Josie and friend Devon

Destroying

More destruction

Success - wall comes down

Josie's war wound

Getting ready to install can lights - The tarp was the tool to help keep the rain out of basement. Yes we flooded on the Saturday with heavy rain.

Scott installing the lights

Brad was a great help

Framing finally finished - inside

Outside view of finished framing

Another view

Life Saver

Road Trip!!!

Well it happened. Another chick has flown the coop, again. Whitney was accepted to medical school in Milwaukee, and has moved and started school. Shauntel and she were going to move her themselves but Josie decided she wanted to join the party and so they let her come along. I was happy to let them take the trip and was content with staying at home while they had their adventure, but Whitney did not have a set place to move into and no lease signed when she got there, so I decided to join the party as well. A mother has to know that her child is going to be okay and settled or there is no peace. I was glad I went. Whitney really wanted me to come and we didn't tell Shauntel until I got into the car to go. Shauntel was so surprised! It was so much fun to travel across the country with my girls. We laughed, we cried, we yelled, we changed a flat tire, well we called the police to do it, we slept, we drove, we got lost, we ate, and we moved Whitney into her hard sought after apartment.


We left on Sunday, August 2, 2009 and arrived in Milwaukee on Tuesday, August 4. Not bad, right? We spent Tuesday finding Whitney a place to move into. As it turns out there were several rental units and Whitney decided to live in a one bedroom apartment. Wednesday was left to getting her settled and buy a new couch because the one brought from Utah would not fit into the apartment. We then returned the needed but annoying U-Haul trailer and went into Chicago to sight see and have dinner. Thursday was the flight home for the three of us and I have to say that leaving my girl alone so far away was heart breaking. I did pretty good with the tears and kept them away from the girls as much as possible, because Whits was nervous and stressed and didn't need an emotional mother, but it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. That being said, it was one of the best experience that I have had with my girls and I will treasure the memories forever.

End Of Summer

I can't believe summer is over. I returned back to school yesterday, August 25, 2009. Summer went by so quickly. I enjoyed returning back to class but I truly enjoyed my summer this year. We of course had construction going on but there was also fun with my husband, children, and grandchildren. We started the summer off with going to pickup Jake from his mission, as posted earlier, and then celebrated his homecoming with family and friends on July 19, 2009.

We spent time with Whitney who took off the summer to play before leaving for med school in the fall, more information on this event to follow. She would get a bit bored and want to take hike in the mountains. There are so many hiking trails that I was not even aware of in Utah. We took a hike above Brighton Ski Resort to two lakes, Lake Mary and Lake Catherine, well we all made it to Lake Mary but only Whit and I went on to Lake Catherine. It was beautiful and nice to spend time with Scott, Josie and Whitney. It sure beat the weeding we were doing before the hike, and we met many friendly people and animals along the way.

We had a little help with pigeon control during the summer. They like to use our house as a nesting spot, and make such a mess, so my son-in-law stood guard and scared them away. It seemed to work because we have not had any return to disrupt the construction or make any new messes.



We also had the grandchildren visit a lot this summer. Shauntel and Ryan are so generous with their family and I am truly grateful to both of them for bringing the children so often. I talk with friends and they don't get to see their grandchildren nearly as often as we do and their grandchildren live in the area. One of the fun activities we did this summer, in July, was had a marshmallow roast in the back yard with the whole family minus Ryan. We had the foundation of the addition poured and I guess J.R. thought is was a giant fire pit because he wanted the roast. He went around the yard in the morning to gather wood for the fire and later that night we started it and roasted the mellows and made Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Smores. They were delicious. It was a lot of fun. Jacob also brought his new girlfriend, Felicia, over to spend some time with us. She was still very shy but has warmed up to us since then. Of course there were smoke bombs because J.R. loves them and Uncle Brad makes sure he has some to light. What a great night.











All in all, it was a great summer and I had a great time not taking any classes and relaxing instead. I just need to figure out how I can take the whole summer off work and school then that would be heaven.