Skype on Mother's Day

It was great to see and hear him.  So glad!

Garden Harvest

We have been enjoying carrots, corn, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Let the organization begin...

It may not look like much, but I am glad that the linen closet and the pantry have been organized.

Look what's coming...

Surprise!

Timberrrrrrrrrr

There are a clump of cottonwood trees that migrated into our yard from our neighbor.  The only thing that they do is mess up our yard with ground level roots and with truckloads of leafs in the fall.

 One of the branches of the trees looks like it could break and fall on our neighbor's house when the snows fall, so we figured we need to take the trees out.

 So, armed with a reciprocating saw and testosterone, the boys practiced on the easiest tree.

 No injuries to persons or property- YAY!  Now we just need to borrow a chainsaw and wood chipper to try and take care of the rest.

I' m in a pickle

I tried my hand at canning pickles.  Funny thing- I HATE PICKLES!  I am not a fan, but two of my kids are, so we took from our abundance of cucumbers from the garden and magically turned them into pickles.

A long journey to a NEW bathroom!

Way back in October of 2009( I think) Brad's birthday present to me was " A NEW SHOWER".  October of 2011 we finally started on it.  It has been so long, I cannot find my "before" picture.

 First we took out the ugly green tile, carpet and the toilet.  I was without a toilet for about a month, but I could still use the shower.

 I decided that I wanted to change the cabinets, so I refinished them myself.

 He tiled the floor and added a needed step for getting into the garden tub. Then came the majority of the demolition.

 Everyone helped.  The shower was so dark, and it was too difficult to run any lighting in there, so we decided to put a glass block window in the shower to add some light.

 All hands were helping hands.

 Brad took out the ceiling and the plumbing wall.  Insulation was EVERYWHERE!

 This is the glass block window.

 After all of the demo and prep work, we could finally get started on the shower.  Brad had done the surround for the tub before most of the shower demo.

 This is the shower most of the way finished.  He added a seat and a niche for shampoo.

 Here is the tub mostly finished.  Brad wanted to have the entire bathroom finished before our anniversary trip to Hawaii, but when he injured his back (because of the tiling) the bathroom wasn't complete until the middle of May.

New curtains, lighting, plumbing fixtures, door nobs, linens, decor, sink, countertop, etc..  And one happy wife!  So glad that it is finally done and so proud of Brad and his attention to detail and his talents.  Someday we might even purchase the $200 new faucet for the tub, but for now, we are "happy as pie"!

We wish YOU a Merry Christmas!

We always take a picture by the tree after we decorate it, but this year we had a terrible time...all of the pictures turned out fuzzy. We tried it again a few days later and this was the ONLY one that wasn't all fuzzy! We hope you all have a joyous holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Guess what we are doing this weekend...

Some people at church may have noticed that we have flecks of white or perhaps larger white marks on our arms or faces. That would be from the primer we so generously put on the wall and ceiling in Joshua's and Elijah's rooms. Elijah's room used to be the playroom and didn't have a door or a closet, but Brad fixed both of those problems this summer. Now we are priming and painting so that we can finish up the projects and get on with our otherwise busy life. Isn't Labor Day a holiday when you put in loads of labor around your house? (Don't tell our kids that it is anything less than that!)

The Culprit

Sometime on Saturday our air conditioner stopped working. It took us until Sunday evening to actually figure out that it was pretty hot around here- Oh, and that is why I didn't sleep so well during the night. We called Armand (our AMAZING brother-in-law) and he came on Monday after work to check it out. Brad works from home and his office has always been the hottest room of the house. He had a difficult work day with the temperature above 90 degrees for most of the day. Armand came, figured out and fixed the problem and was gone in about 45 minutes. We are so grateful to have someone willing to come and SAVE us! The problem: this little connector melted and fell from it's designated space taking a wire with it which tripped the breaker and then blew a fuse. Thankfully it is not an expensive fix and we are very grateful for that and for a COOL house to live in.

Sanding

We have put Josh to work sanding the deck to get it ready for a new coat of paint. This kind of sanding is not as relaxing as the kind of sanding we were experiencing a month ago.

Recovery Mode

Well, we have gotten all of the laundry done, but we are still in the recovery mode after the vacation ends. It wouldn't be quite so bad, but all the kids are out of school and they want to be entertained all of the time like they were when we were on vacation. Now I am starting to hear the ever popular "I'm bored" chorus. I think of this as a wonderful, uneventful time before the whirlwind of life begins next week with Oakcrest camp and Cub Scout camp. Too bad the kids don't appreciate the NOT having much to do.

This is the way we wash our clothes...

How did we accumulate so much clothing? I have lost track of how many loads of laundry that I have done since we returned home on Saturday evening. The last I remember was 9, and I know there were more than that.