Ahh, Ann Arbor!

Home to the prestigious University of Michigan School of Music, Ann Arbor is not exactly at the top of the hot vacation spots for the middle of January, unless of course, you are attending your son's first dissertational recital for his Doctorate in Vocal Performance. We made the trip, the weather Gods were kind and we missed the typical frigid winter weather, and we enjoyed an awesome recital and wonderful visit with Brian.

The highlight of our trip was Brian's recital. As with all his other recitals, Brian put his unique and creative stamp on the performance. Titled "A Novel Approach," Brian sang the words of Goethe, Manzoni, Victor Hugo, and Thomas Hardy in German, Italian, French, and English and poured his heart into the beautiful music of a number of major composers.

We were thrilled to hear him sing. It had been about a year and a half since we last heard him perform. We talked to Brian's voice teacher after the performance and he was thrilled, as well.
What a great joy it is to hear someone of his stature rave about your son!

It was also great to see so many of Brian's friends, Ward members, other Music students, and Brian's past and present voice students who attended the recital.

(Brian and his roommates Seth and Peter)

And, the friends showed up with great food for the refreshments after the recital. A good time was had by all! While in Ann Arbor, which, by the way, is a charming university town, we enjoyed doing Zingerman's famous "Tour de Food" with Brian and earning ourselves a T-shirt that proves that we visited every establishment, checking out "The Big House,"

grabbing bites at some of Brian's favorite eateries, and attending his Student Ward and the Sunday night Mingle at the Institute . We also went with Brian to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
David and I went back to Dearborn by ourselves and toured Ford's Rogue Factory where they were making Ford F 150's and then we took a tour of the Henry Ford Estate. It was a fun day and David was especially captivated by the factory tour.
We thoroughly enjoyed our little Ann Arbor January getaway and it was great having the opportunity to experience a little of Brian's life in Ann Arbor. He loves it there and we could see why. Ahh, Ann Arbor!

Are We Having Fun Yet?

When your home is looking like this for the last month, it is easy to ask yourself this question. But, we are persevering, perfecting the virtue of patience, and learning to live with pervasive dust and disarray, all in the name of home improvement!

As 2010 began, we jumped right in to our own version of "Extreme Makeover." While the TV cameras haven't been rolling, we've been snapping shots all through the process. While we haven't had the good fortune of someone coming in and doing all the work for us, plus paying for the whole thing, we started our kitchen remodel excited to get going, ready to work, and rather unprepared for the reality- the good, the bad, and the ugly- of an extreme makeover.

We began the process many months ago, with bids for re-facing cabinets vs. new cabinetry, granite countertops, appliances, and many other details of the project. One example of the extremes in bids came with the bid for the electrical work. One young "hot-shot" electrician wanted over $5200 for the work, while the other "good ole/old boy" wanted $975 and he threw in some additional work at no charge. After checking on the second guy, it was a "no-brainer," but he was slow and David had to "babysit" him to keep him on task. As we worked on details and decisions, we criss-crossed three counties, visiting showrooms, granite yards, home improvement stores, etc., and found several good deals, especially on appliances. The biggest "piece" was deciding on a cabinetmaker and choosing the wood. Our pick was our neighbor who does gorgeous work, who was in the middle of the bids, but who is notoriously slow. Our bid from him was dated October 12, and the cabinets were supposed to be installed the week after Thanksgiving. Rick was not ready, so we postponed the start of the remodel until the first of January. Thank goodness! Now at three + weeks into the remodel, it is clear that we would have been in a huge mess in the middle of Christmas with the family here.

We started the new year by packing away Christmas and packing up the kitchen and family room. Boxes can be found in many different locations through our home and, very often, items that we need become a search for "a needle in a haystack."

We moved our frig into the living room and covered everything with sheets and towels, in preparation for the dust of demolition.

David and I took the first of the old cabinets down, but things got really interesting when the rest of the cabinets and the soffits in the kitchen came down, ripping out the ceiling, raining down all the insulation we had put in last year, and leaving part of the kitchen open to the roof. I came home from work to a freezing cold kitchen, the air "toxic" with insulation and dust, and David sweeping up, often standing knee deep insulation. (One important note at this point- David has borne the burnt of this remodel, day in and day out, dealing with the ugly and the unexpected and working right along with all the sub-contractors. He is my hero!)

The electrician (a 60+ guy who took a break to smoke a joint in our front yard) and the sheetrocker (really scary guy, covered with tatoos of skeletons and lots of body piercing) were around for many days and then David rented a machine to blow the insulation back into the attic. It was supposed to be a short, easy project, but the blower kept plugging up and the air was full of insulation dust again. After they were done, David's helper guy stepped through the ceiling, raining down insulation again and we had to bring the sheetrocker back for a couple of days to repair the damage. As the contractors did their work, we worked to take down the wallpaper in the kitchen and family room and we painted just enough to be ready for the cabinets to come. (Memo to myself and anyone I really care about: Don't put up wallpaper if you ever plan to paint 30+ years down the road!)

We took some much needed (and enjoyed!) R&R in Michigan, attending Brian's first dissertational recital for his Doctorate, and then we returned for the delivery of our cabinets. Here's a sneak preview of the cabinets- they're gorgeous!

By the end of this week, the cabinets will be done, the granite will be installed, and the appliances will be delivered. In the meantime, we'll keep painting, snapping pictures, and preparing to answer the question, "Are we having fun yet?" with a resounding "YES!"

A Christmas to Remember

After last year's Christmas by ourselves, we were thrilled to have such a fun holiday this year, with 3 of our 4 children and their families here. Brian came from Michigan, Brad, Emily, Braden, Dallin, and Trevor came from Oregon, and Tom, Amy, Jacob, Allison, and Gideon came from California. It was pretty much non-stop activity and fun.

Here are some highlights from our holidays. . . .

Beginning the Christmas season, the family Christmas party had some excitement-

a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Our tree got a new look this year.
Thanks to Amber, I got this idea for a new wreath from her blog.

The bannister had a new look

and the entry was ready to welcome our family home.

What would Christmas be without a trip to see the lights at Temple Square?

Brian surprised us with a visit from his caroling friends.

Love the gift of beautiful Christmas music! (Brian is the one with the Jazz Santa hat.)Oh the rivalry- BYU vs. Oregon State! A game-watching/pizza party was followed by

a birthday party for Emily- her birthdays are always exciting.

The centerpiece of Christmas this year- snowmobiling into Brad's family's cabin.

So cozy- the perfect place to get everyone involved in making popcorn garlands for the tree.

Ready for the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.

The boys all helped Brad cut the tree.

Grandpa gently drags the tree back to the cabin.

The name of the tree-decorating game is teamwork.

Cookie artists at work. Santa will get a workout finding us at the cabin. He'll need a snack.

Excitement could hardly be contained on Christmas Eve. The Nativity Story was re-enacted with gusto, our favorite Christmases were shared, and Trevor, Braden, and Dallin were too excited (and hot) to sleep. The new jamies were shed until morning.

Can you believe it?! Santa DID find us!

Love the sheer joy!

There were gifts galore.

Yes, there were surprises! (A beautiful CTR ring from David- a surprise because our new kitchen was supposed to be our Christmas- even though now, hopefully, the kitchen will be done in time for Valentine's Day.)

Brad's traditional Christmas paella.

Brian barrels down the awesome sledding hill on Christmas afternoon.

Back in Bountiful, the rest of the family joined us and we had the

excitement of gift-giving all over again.
Gideon meticulously unwraps his present as everyone looks on.

Another round of gift-giving when all the cousins, aunts, and uncles get together.

Reading Mother Goose Rhymes with Gideon, Allison, Jacob and their new friends

After all our family dispersed, we ended the year snowmobiling with friends

at Island Park, Idaho. Fun! Later, David and I snowshoed into Yellowstone Park.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Stay tuned. . . next up, a report on our kitchen remodel.)

Thank Goodness for Rather Large Blessings

We just enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season with Brian, Emily and family, and Amy and family. Needless to say, there was a lot of eating and dishwashing going on as we munched our way through the holidays. Thank goodness for a dishwasher, albeit one that is pretty rusted out. Imagine our surprise when this morning, one week after everyone left, our dishwasher gave up the ghost and just died on us. You would think that it knew it was about to be replaced. (The microwave must have gotten wind of it, too, for it died a couple of months ago. Thank goodness for my mom's old "dinosaur" model that was hanging out in our storage room!) Unfortunately, our new dishwasher will not be delivered until the first part of February, since the kitchen remodel has been delayed again. Guess we'll be doing the dishes by hand until then. We're one day into the new routine and I already have dishwater hands!