Family Christmas Party Highlights

Yesterday, our extended family gathered for the annual family Christmas party. We rejoice as a family each year that we are able to celebrate another Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. This year, they are both 94 years old . . .-but not too old to sit on Santa's knee! In fact, Grandma joined Grandpa and then the great-grandchildren gathered around. What a great memory-maker and it certainly was a "photo op!"We missed a number of family this year. Some were out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend, the big BYU-Utah game claimed another who scored a ticket to the game, David's sister and brother-in-law are serving a mission in Tokyo, Japan (a bit of a commute), and a few others were missing here and there, but it still was a fun time and a chance to visit and do some "catching up." With all of our family living out of state, we just find a family to "adopt" us and this year we had the pleasure of visiting with Mark and Kellie and their family, from Green River, Wyoming. I also had the great joy of holding the newest member of the family, Paige and Dan's adorable son. This picture is especially for Barbara and Rulon . . .David got a chance to talk to Santa.

Then Santa asked the two of us what we wanted for Christmas. That was a "no-brainer!" We told him we wanted to be done with our new bedroom and bathroom and the house back in order and clean!It was a fun party and we appreciate the work that Michael and Marilyn did to prepare for such a large gathering. Just getting to see David's mom and dad with their family was a joyful occasion. That's a big part of what Christmas is about!Have a wonderful Christmas season!

The Tortoise and the Hare

You've heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Our remodel is a little like this story. It seems that the hare is taking lots of time off these days, but the tortoise is plogging along, making good progress. So, who is the hare and who is the tortoise, you may ask. Our contractors show up some days for a while and some days not at all, but David is on the job every day. He is amazingly dedicated. He is painting every day, running around picking things up all over town (I bet he'd like to have a dollar for every trip he's made to Home Depot or Lowes!), working on some part of the project, and enduring it all, although he has said that this remodel is getting really old. I'm at work almost every day, so I haven't been able to help him, but I will be having a few more days off so I can help here and there. Yesterday, I actually got quite a few nail holes filled with spackling compound!

So, for those of you who are wondering how things are going and what's happening, here are a few more shots of our progress. . . .

Supplies such as tile and grout are ready to go.

David has been painting around all the mess. He made sure he got the bathroom painted before they started on the tile. He is also going to paint the hall, entry, and down the stairs. Yesterday he painted inside the double closet in the hall and it looks so bright and clean- it even made him feel great to get that done.
Although its hard to tell from this angle, our room looks much bigger with the lighter walls. The color is "Tea Cookie." Sounds good to me. The crown molding is up and the baseboards are in, as well as some of the trim around doors. The carpet is ordered and the vanity is in boxes in the garage. We're hoping the vanity will be installed tomorrow so that the granite guys can come and template for the countertop.
The floor has been tiled and grouted
and the floor of the shower is almost finished. We hope the shower will be done in the next day or two so the guy can come and measure for the glass and door for the shower.

The best surprise of all was when I came home from work the other night and this is what I saw!

It was so beautiful!! It still needs to be grouted, but we love it! When things turn out this great, it makes the dust and the disarray and the displacement worth it, but we will be happy when we can move back in and enjoy our beautiful new rooms- hopefully, before Christmas!

Another Remodel!

We must be "gluttons for punishment!" Here we are again, in the middle of a major remodel. The house is covered with fine dust, we are living out of boxes and stacked-up drawers, we are sleeping downstairs on a bed that we didn't know made you roll to the middle (two thoughts- 1) we apologize to our kids and their spouses for the bed they've been sleeping on when they visit and 2) it brings back memories of the first bed we shared after getting married), but we are excited about the remodel and know that these things will pass. We have been thinking for some time about combining our room with Brian's old bedroom to make a "master suite." We talked to our contractor guy from the kitchen remodel and he had "a two month window" where he could do the job and we had a "two month window" before the holidays when some of the family will be coming. It also comes at a good time because I am working full-time and that means extra money. . . . So, we decided to "go for it!" We started with a few different sketches and then came up with a plan.

The demolition begins.

This trailer held a ton of debris from our former bathroom, closet, and Brian's room.
David had to put insulation in the attic (where there never was any, we found out. No wonder the closet was always freezing!) He'll still have to blow insulation in the attic to replace all that fell out with the demolition.

First up was the electrical and then the plumbing. This will be our new vanity area.
Then sheetrocking- this will be our new shower.
The sheetrocked vanity area and linen closet.

Our new air jet tub. (Not a jacuzzi.)

This is the extra space added to our room when we took out the toilet and the shower. The doorway leads into the walk-in closet.

The sheetrock gets a first coat of mud.

It has to be mudded and sanded 3 times, hence all the dust. I don't know what we were thinking- we covered all the furniture with the kitchen remodel but didn't this time around. I guess we thought that the dust would be contained behind the canvas that is hanging in the hall to block off the work zone. Wrong! I hit the ottoman in the living room the other day and a cloud of dust arose. We literally will have to clean every nook and cranny of this house when we're all done.

Next up will be painting, after the sheetrocking, and then the tile will be installed. We've bought the paint and will be ordering carpet soon. I really wanted a fireplace in our bedroom and we were thrilled to find a guy who runs a fireplace business out of his garage. We were able to put a fireplace in the bedroom and a gas log insert in our family room for the same price as one fireplace at the retail fireplace stores in the area. This is the insert in the family room . . .
And, (ta da!! ) this is a picture of the awesome fireplace that is in our bedroom!

More to come as the work progresses. . . .

Not Fun!

This post is especially for my grandkids. When your moms want to slather you with sunscreen, smile and say, "Thanks, Mom!" I wish my mom had done that when I was little. . . .

I just got back from having Mohs surgery on my face. I had a basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) that was invasive and had to be removed and checked under the microscope before they sewed me up again. Luckily, the doctor got it all the first time. But, I asked him about another place that has been worrying me and my other doctor thought it was not cancer. The doctor today biopsied it and found out that it was a squamous cell carcinoma (also cancer). This was the first one I've had of that type. So, while he was at it, I had him remove that cancer, as well.

So, the lesson is to be vigilant, for those of you who are the moms and dads, and keep slathering sunscreen on the kids!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Take a look at this sleepy guy, only a few hours old. . . .Now, take a look at this alert little guy. . . .

The growth and development of a new little child of God in just one week is nothing short of a miracle!

Summer Potpourri

This summer was fabulous and amazingly busy, with visits (x 2 in each case!) with our daughters and their families and our son in a wide variety of locations and situations, a quick trip to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, a couple of fun trips up to Albion Basin, and an awesome cruise to Alaska, with a number of work days sprinkled in to stay grounded in the real world. Our trips to the Church Historic Sites and the Alaskan cruise both deserve individual blog posts, but this one will be a potpourri of summer adventures.

Tom and Amy and family visited and, among other fun experiences, we accomplished an amazing feat- hiking with 3 kids (ages 6, 4, and 2) and a 7-month pregnant mom on a HOT (95+ degree) summer day up to Timpanogos Cave.

I had forgotten how amazing the cave is, especially through the eyes of a child.
Other favorite activities included slip ‘n sliding and swimming in the hot tub,

Grandpa’s purple cows, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores in the backyard,

hanging out in the water-fall,and visiting Temple Square and the Children’s Exhibit at the Church Museum of History and Art.As if we needed a getaway, we did rather impromptu one with our friends Bruce and Diane, heading down to Cedar City to the Shakespearean Festival. We didn’t do Shakespeare this time but saw 3 great plays, “Great Expectations” (the musical), “The 39 Steps,” which was hilarious, and an awesome production of “Pride and Prejudice.” We enjoyed the greenshows, the seminars, and our great bed and breakfast.

We also took the scenic route home, through Cedar Breaks National Park. A couple of days later, Bruce and Diane called and said that the wildflowers in Albion Basin were supposed to be at their peak over the weekend. The wildflowers did not disappoint!We had a great hike up to Cecret Lake, passing amazing vistas and a huge lounging bull moose, and then shared a picnic dinner “on top of the world.”

David made the comment that he didn’t think that he had ever seen more spectacular scenery anywhere else in the world. I had to totally agree. A few days later, we took our friends Kimball and Terry to see the wildflowers.We got caught in a major thunderstorm, but we made it to the car where we enjoyed our picnic dinner, with the rain adding to the ambience.

Brad and Emily and family spent a couple of days with us at the end of August before they headed up to Brad’s family’s cabin in the Uintas. Highlights of their visit include getting reacquainted with Sam (now 2 ½ months)four- wheeling with Brad up North Canyon and really testing out the Razor on some steep, rocky trails above Bountifuland visiting the Conference Center, Temple Square, and the Church Museum’s Children’s Exhibit. It was a quick visit but very fun. . . . Yes, our summer was crazy busy but, oh, the memories and we loved every minute we were able to spend with our family and friends!

Bookends

This summer has been incredibly packed with adventures- so many that I don't know how I'm going to blog about all the experiences. Emily once created the term "Blogshaustion"- the exhaustion one experiences when there is simply to much to blog about and Brian created the term "Blogbligation" - the feeling that you are obligated to blog about certain events. I'm feeling a little both of these emotions these days since all our fun and adventures have been getting in the way of my blogging.

The chronicle of our summer began and ended with matching bookends. We began June in Portland with the birth of Brad and Emily's Sam and ended in August with the birth of Tom and Amy's Jack. Yes, we have our 12th grandchild!

Jack Bradley Omer was born on Monday, August 30, at 5:26 p.m. in Thousand Oaks, California. Of course, all the little Spirits coming straight from Heavenly Father are big miracles, but there was an additional miracle associated with Jack's birth. Amy was scheduled for a C-section last Friday because Jack was in the breech position. But earlier in the week, he miraculously flipped and then was head down and ready to go. It was a fast delivery and mother and baby are doing great and just came home today.

Here's a peek at Amy and Jack a couple hours after the delivery.
Here's the other half of the equation that produced such a cute little guy- Tom and Jack.
Jacob, Allison, and Gideon were pretty excited to go to the hospital to meet Jack.
Uncle Brian was next in line to hold Jack.

Grandma gave up the camera to have a chance to hold this new little bundle of joy.
We were doing the math earlier today- 5 + 1 = a great family!
Jack looks pretty happy to be home with his family. What a cute addition to the family!
Couldn't resist three last shots . . .

Allison and Jack- She will be a big helper!

Gideon reading to Jack, "What animal this?"

Naptime with a friend.