We're Getting There!!

Well, Here we are.....on the final part of this roofing project.
This weekend we took down the front patio cover. It was rotting just like the back and so this was a good thing.

It actually looks quite good with it gone...We don't know if we will put one back up or not, we can't just yet because we need to finish the roof first. Soooo Tom is taking down the hangers that held up the old deck and getting ready to put up the drip edge and next week we will roof.

Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That is going to be quite a project though!!!!. Yesterday we went to Home Depot to pick up the shingles for the roof and we had to make 2 trips to get them all. They are really heavy and we needed almost 3 pallets. I should have taked a picture of how low the truck and trailer were to the ground when they were loaded down but I forgot. I was just hoping we would make it back to the house.

Next week will be updated with the progress of the roof.........

Birthday Celebration

At our birthday lunch celebration for Sariah, Christa and Erika (who didn't make it) we went to Sweet Tomatoes. It is always yummy to eat as healthy as we can so salads is was. The kids enjoyed Mac and Cheese and muffins and everyone had Ice Cream at the end.
While we were eating Cierra asked me what do you call the meal you eat inbetween lunch and dinner. Brunch is between breakfast and lunch so what is it called between lunch and dinner? Good question Cierra. I just call it supper but if anyone else has a good word for it, we're all ears.

Now for Pears

It's amazing how you can get all these jars of bottled pears
From all these fresh pears
With the help of Kamden, without any major disaster. Kamden would bring me 2 pears at a time so I could peal them before putting them into the jars. He actually did this for about 1/2 hour. Merric helped also but he wouldn't let me take his picture.

Thanks for the help boys. You made my job much easier. I LOVE you!!

Tis the Season

Canning season..........................I do love it. Even though it makes a terrible mess in the kitchen.
My friend Madonna has a pear tree, apple tree and a nectarine tree that are loaded with fruit this year. She let me come a pick two boxes of nectarines.

They were so ripe and juicy that after the big mess I got............................

12 Jars of bottled nectarines, even though there are only 11 here..............................

and 20 jars of nectarine jam....delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Madonna!!!!

Back Patio Cover

We are getting to the end of the big projects on the house in St. George. This past weekend we took off the old back patio cover and put up a new one. It didn't go as fast as it sounds like when you say it like that, took one down put up a new one, nooooooooooooooo it was much more complicated then that!!!!!!!!!!!!1
At first we thought we would be able to use the existing posts but no, as we took down the old cover the old posts just came down with the cover. They were rotted under ground, we hadn't noticed that. So we started from the very beginning.
It is sooooo great that Tom is such a good carpenter!! We also had Tyler and Eliza there for the weekend. Tyler was a great help!! If it had been just Tom and I we would still be there working on it. Anyway, this is a picture of us just starting on it. You will notice that Tom actually cut into the roof line to set the cover so that when we re roof, the weekend of the 4th, it will all blend together.

Little by little things started to come together. Only a few frustrations at this time..........

From time to time Tom and Tyler would stop and have a pow wow on what they needed to do. It was fun to watch. I often say to Tom that when he stops to think about a job like this I can almost imagine the wheels in his head turning as he figures out what to do next.

We took a break on Saturday afternoon to watch some of the Washington and USC football game..Sorry Kenny....USC LOST............................

Then, after much hard work........................................

It was finished and it looks great!!! Good work Tom and Tyler. You did a wonderful job!!

This next summer we will be working on the yard. Just another project to think about.

This next weekend we will be going again to get the front of the house ready for the re roofing job on the 4th. I'll keep posting until we finally get this done.

Remember when you were young?????..... Well when I was younger, I use to think that when I got older things would be so easy.......I'd be able to do whatever I wanted.......LIfe wouldn't be so stressful........I could vacation whenever I wished...............HA HA HA HA HA. I was quite a dreamer .
BUT.....this past weekend we were invited to BEAR LAKE with our great frients the CUNNINGHAM'S and we had a great time!!!!
They had the opportunity to rent a cabin and they invited us and one David and Deanna, and girls, to come spend the weekend with them.
The Cunningham's arrived on Thursday but Tom and I couldn't get away til Friday morning. We were on Tom's Harley and we drove the way of Evenston. It was a really nice day, a little cool starting out but it warmed up quickly. We arrived at Bear Lake aroung lunch time and while Cheryle and I got lunch ready, Tom and Gerry enjoyed visiting and looking around at the nice place we were staying.

After a good lunch we were off the the races..................on their 4 wheelers. WHAT A BLAST!!!!

Cheryle drove and what a fast woman she is. We went along the road for a while to see some on Lake Town and then she saw a dirt road and off we went........................................

We followed the dirt road past a stream, lots of cows and then came to the end of the trail.....

That is dirt on the back of Gerry's shirt. It was dusty. Those cows you see in the background of this picture were standing at a gate that had a sign stating we could go no further because it was now someone's ranch. That Rancher must have had those cows trained because they were blocking the opening and they were not about to move. It was funny...

Tom and Gerry enjoyed a fun yard game later that evening. You throw a rope about a foot long , that has a golf ball attached to each end, around the bars of the white thing they are standing by that is in front of them a ways. Each bar is worth points and the object of the game is to get to 21 without going over. It was fun. They had a good time trying to beat each other. Gerry won 2 out of the 3 games they played.

Friday evening the other family arrived. Her name is Deanna and his name is Dave.

I can't remember their daughters names but they were all nice.

Saturday mid day we went to the lake. Unfortunatelly it was overcast and cool but we all enjoyed hanging around and visiting while the girls took the 4 wheelers for a couple of fun rides along the beach.

When we god back from the lake we roasted hotdogs and ate dinner and then................

We took the ATV's to Merlyn's hamberger joint for some raspberry shakes..............

Sunday we all helped clean up and we were off. We came home over the Cach Forrest and we stopped a couple of times just to look at the beautiful view. It was a wonderful ride.

We had a wonderful weekend!!!!!! Thanks so much to the Cunningham's for inviting us and providing so many fun things to do. The food was great the the company was even better.

We love you both so much!!!! It is wonderful to have good friends who help make those dreams you had when you were younger come true.

Well, Summer is almost over and it feels like it just bagan. It has been an interesting summer. We haven't done a ton of stuff with the family but we did have a family swim party at the club house where Rodney and Lyn live. It was fun!!

As usual the grandkids had a blast with grandpa. They love him so much!!

I was able to take Carolyn's kids to the zoo. We had a great time. They enjoyed getting their picture taken with the Bald Eagle. I took Kamden and Merric on a different day but I forgot my camera. Sorry Guys!!

Tom and I have spent a lot of time in St. George getting the house ready for mom and dad this winter. Tom finished painting in at the seams because I am not very good at it. When he got done it looked great!!

He also finished mudding the kitchen and dining room walls.................
When he was done mudding the walls, I taped everything off and sprayed texture over all the repaired areas......................................Then I painted and even did the cutting in at the edges. It turned out ok................

Tom got the dining room floors done and

then he spent a while getting a new garage door opener installed. The old garage door made it a little harder then he would have liked but at last it was working.

We decided to take a day off from working and we rode our Harleys down to the North end of the Grand Canyon. What a beautiful ride it was!!! We enjoyed hiking and seeing the beautiful landscape. The fire behind us in this picture was one of those controlled fires. I think it was only controlled when they lit it because soon it was out of control and the roads were closed and there was much smoke!!

We had lunch in the Lodge on the North Rim. It was good and had a beautiful view!!!

It was a beautiful day................................

Before we went to St. George we went to Vernal and participated in the Blessing of Annabelle. She is her fathers child in looks but boy oh boy she is such a mellow and quiet little girl.

Her sister Bianca looks more like her mother but acts more like her father. Lots of energy and has a loud voice......................

Rodney and Laralyn had beautiful Kaylee on the 18th of June. She is so beautiful with all this long dark hair and her dark eyebrows. She is so sweet. She is now 2 months old and she is so full of smiles and she is making those wonderful baby sounds as she discovers her own voice. I love that stage!!!

St. George House

Well, the house in St. George is coming along..... It has been quite a bit more work then we hoped for but that is how it usually is. We couldn't get the paint off these cabinets so............

we just took them out and started from scratch..........................................................

And we are now waiting for the counter tops so we can put in a sink and use the kitchen. Looks pretty good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Tom for all your hard work!!!!!!
We arrived in St. George on Thursday and we did nothing but work so on Sunday we went for a ride to our favorite place, Zion National Park, and we took a hike to relax. It was beautiful!!!

We hiked to the emerald pools and then back to the visitor center area where we had parked. We hadn't planned on hiking, just riding, but when Tom wanted to hike I said ok and did it in my motorcycle boots. Interesting experience....

Hopefully the house will be done soon so we can actually relax and enjoy the place down there.

Mom and dad are sure excited to be able to spend the winters where it isn't quite so cold.

MEMORIAL DAY FUN 2009

SLIP AND SLID........................................................

HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU HAD A SLIP AND SLIDE IN YOUR YARD???

FOR US IT HAS BEEN MANY MANY YEARS.

THIS YEAR WE DECIDED TO PUT ONE UP FOR THE GRANDKIDS WHEN WE ALL GOT TOGETHER FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.

WHAT A BLAST.

MOST OF THE GRANDKIDS LIKED IT. IT WAS A LITTLE COOL THAT DAY BUT NOT TOO BAD.

AS YOU CAN SEE JAMES HAD FUN.....

AND MERRIC, YES MERRIC!!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIM FOR TRYING IT. HE DIDN'T SLIDE DOWN BUT HE RAN DOW THE SLIDE AND HAD A GREAT TIME!!!

CIERRA TRIED IT AND HAD A BLAST!!....................

BREEIN THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT.......................

BROCK WAS ANOTHER RUNNER DOWN THE SLIDE................

AND ROZZIE WOULD ONLY TEST THE WATER. SHE HAD FUN WATCHING.

Tommy needed a little encouragement and didn't exactly think it was the greatest so Carolyn thought she'd show them how it was done. GO CAROLYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

BUT WHEN THE KIDS WERE ALL PRETTY WELL DONE THEY ENJOYED WATCHING THE BIG PEOPLE TAKE THEIR TURN!!!!

Carolyn started it for the adults. She was playing with the kids and just decided to try it herself..Hyrum made a great splash...just like a fish coming out of water ( all the kids said)..

Erika gave it a whirl .....
Tom even gave it a try which led into a contest so see who could get the farthest. He didn't win..

Rodney went farther....
but with all the hair on Steve's chest and stomach he won. He went clear to the kids swing set.

Yah Steve!!!!

Brant went pretty far also but then he tried it on his knees... We women didn't travel as far. Eliza did pretty good

but Sariah tried her skill at sliding on her feet.... we can see how that went. When I went they didn't take a picture they recorded it.



All in all we had a great day.. We had manti chicken, hot dogs, salad, baked beans, rice crispy treats, chips and a veggie tray, and a cake great grandma made.....Yummmmmmmmmmm

We even got a couple of good family pictures. Here we all are.

WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!!

Most of this is in pictures