Complete - The kitchen remodel (finally!)

If you ask any of our kids, they will tell you, as decision makers, John and I rank between slow and downright tortoise-like.  

Our pending kitchen remodel was no exception.  I started the process in December of last year.  Although, as far as choosing materials, and most of the other details, that stuff went pretty fast.  Getting a bid was a little slower, but that wasn't the problem either.  The problem was a difference of opinion that just couldn't be solved.  I won't go into the gruesome details, but suffice to say, someone isn't entirely happy with the way things ended up, but is choosing to not be bitter, as the rest of it is lovely, and such an improvement over the "before".  

A good representation of the "before".  I'm still wondering what possessed me to choose the green laminate all those years ago!!

"After" - I love it!  Note the new chairs as well.  I love the low profile back.

Here are the countertop and backsplash close up.  We love the skinny tiles, but take note - they are a huge pain to work with.  Especially getting the edges straight for an exposed edge. 

John gets high marks for being the man in the trenches and placing each tile sheet and figuring out the best way to cut the strips.  (I tried that last part and failed miserably.  More proof that Math and I just don't like each other.)  My strong suit was piecing odd stips together, and I did a lot of the grouting.  Although, I did a terrible job of wiping off the first section, and have some SERIOUS tile scraping to do.  That grout isn't coming off without a little elbow grease!  You can imagine those little tile pieces will take forever!!!  Just a note about tiling supplies.  We tried a product called Simple Mat and loved it.  You apply the two-sided, sticky sheets to the wall, and then stick the tile to it.  It worked really well, and was much less messy than the mortar would have been.  There is enough grit left after the grouting - I can't imagine how much of a mess the thin set would have been.  We also used pre-mixed grout, called Simple Grout, which we also highly recommend.  Both products were more expensive, a convenience tax, I suppose, but we felt the extra cost was worth it.  And as for the grit, I have a feeling we'll be dealing with that for at least a week, if not longer.  You think you have it all cleaned up, but the tell-tale scratchy sound comes right back when you set an item down on the counter.  Sigh!!

My other main contribution was being the Home Depot runner, sometimes going twice in one day!  That always makes me a little crazy!  And I have at least one more trip ahead of me to return the leftover materials.  That will be made less painful when I see the credit from Home Depot on my credit card statement.

There was a happy unexpected mama moment during this project.  I put the REO Speedwagon station on Pandora and we worked to LOTS of good late 70's/early 80's music.  That is the music John and I listened to in high school (before we knew each other) and then in college (part of which was when we were dating), two good things, plus, it is such great music!!!  A huge smile come to my face when my teenagers sang along with A LOT of the songs.  They love them also!  Just a little bridge between the generations!  I love it!!!

 I love the countertops.  They are quartz, and remind me of the bottom of a little streambed.  I also do really love the tile, despite the difficulty of installing it.  (Maybe it would have been easier for someone more experienced, and some of our issues came from being tile novices.  Who knows?)  I think when my older girls see it in person, they will say, "Yep, it looks just like something Mom would like", and I do.  

The feel of the kitchen is much warmer than before.  And a little richer.  It's all so good!

And, most important of all - it is finally done!!

For the Beauty of the Earth and a little dog sledding...

“Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

-Thornton Wilder

This quote was in my inbox the day before we left for Yellowstone this month.  We went down for our usual snowmobiling trip with Vision Source.  It was fun.  The weather was good, a little foggy to be able to go to Two Top, but we still had fun, were able to snowmobile a lot, and in a new twist, we both got stuck at different points in the day.  

This quote is from "Our Town", a play by Thornton Wilder.  I imagine Emily is saying it as she looks down on her town after she dies.  She realizes how great the earth is, what she had when she was there, and what she is missing now that she has passed on to the other side.

My first thought when I read this is how beautiful and wondrous the earth is.  I can't help but utter a prayer of Thanksgiving when I am out in Nature.  At times I am close to being overcome by the Earth and her MANY facets.  Each beautiful in its own way.  In fact, one of my favorite instagram accounts is usinterior!  Each day I get at least one amazing photo of this place we call Earth, and the diverse beauty of it.  One of the best examples of our gorgeous world is Yellowstone National Park.  Unfortunately, this year, I really didn't get any good pictures, so I stole from my archives for this post.  The great thing about that is the sights are still there, still breathtaking, and barring some volcano or other natural disaster, will be around for a long time.  

The Snow Giants

The falls of the Firehole River - Yellowstone National Park

One of the many geothermic features at Yellowstone National Park

So, yes Emily, Earth is to wonderful for us to realize...in so many ways!!  I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us so much, He sent His son to create this wonderful planet for us to live on.  Yes, it has its problems, (although, I'd say the majority of those are caused by the inhabitants, and not the planet itself) but, everyday, I am grateful to be here, in such a lovely place to live, to love, and to prove I am up to the challenge of living in such a way so I can return to that same Heavenly Father, whose daughter I am, someday.  That is what life is all about.

Now, on to less weighty matters...

The day after snowmobiling, we got to try dog sledding!  That was a great experience!  Definitely a new one!!  There were two rules.  1 - Hang on.  2 - Don't let go!   You have to hang on because the dogs LOVE to run!  They are bred to run.  As soon as they realize it is almost time to go, they bark, they jump, they whine, they can't contain themselves until they get down to the business of pulling the sled!  So, should the driver not be able to step on the brake, they will take off down the trail!

Well just let me say in my defense that it is really hard to steer the sled, and at one point, I leaned hard into the turn, and thought we were going over!!!  I broke rule #2.  Luckily, our guide, Moffet (is that the greatest name for a sled dog guide?) was in the front of the sled and jumped out, and stopped the sled.  Who knows where John would have ended up otherwise??  I ran fast to catch it, but would have been toast if not for Moffet.

John was a much better driver, to say the least.  I was happy to turn over the proverbial reins when we got back to the start, and he had another successful run with the dogs.  He did not break Rule #1 or Rule #2.  He is a good listener!!

At the helm of the dog sled.  (Do you hear the foreboding music???)

It seems that I am not capable of much more than a photo re-cap these days, but here we go again.  A few photos that are a little slice of life these days...

We are sad to see the Papworth's move to Rexburg.  They have been in our ward for about 10 years, and we love them.  Bro. Papworth gave Ashley, Chelsie and Allison their Patriarchial Blessings.  Moving is the best thing for them, so their parting is bittersweet.

This is the label on the back of my shower gel.  If  a person has issues with Gluten, does it really matter if something you put on the outside of your body is Gluten Free?  After I was done scratching my head on that one, I had to just chuckle.

I was cleaning out a box the other day and I ran across this postcard.  Yes, it is an actual postcard, addressed and mailed to someone.  (See below) As a child, seeing the "DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW" tag caused me some serious worry.  What if it accidentally fell off my pillow while I was sleeping, or came off the mattress while I was putting on the fitted sheet?  Well, now I know what would have happened!  :)  I'm glad I never had to receive a postcard like this one!  This will make me smile for a very long time!!!
(Note - I think I must have been a young adult before I read the tag really carefully and realized what it was saying.)

The other side of the above postcard.  Check out that postmark!!  1969??  Crazy. The recipient was my in-laws' neighbor until about 5 years ago.  How in the heck did it end up in a box in our house with children's board books in it?  A great mystery!!

Kristin's "award" from camp.  Amber would be proud to know Kristin received this.

Speaking of Sister Rietz, she ended up getting about 3 stitches in her leg after slicing it open on the sprocket of her bike.  She was thrilled that Sister Moon got to put in one of the stitches.  Apparently, it is the only one that stayed in.  The wound ended up getting infected, and warrented another visit to the Dr.  She loves her mission, and loves Hesperia, the area she is serving in!!!

Kristin and I went to Spokane for one night last week while the boys were at Scout Camp.  All along the way, the wheat fields were either being harvested, or very close to being ready to harvest.  John spent his summer, 30 years ago, in a combine (not a John Deere, but a Gleaner).  He loved doing it.  In fact, he did it the following 2 summers as well.  How do I remember it was 30 years ago?  It was 1984, the summer we got married.  How has it been 30 years???

We took a little detour home, and found Trader Joes!!  Just walking in that store is a happy experience.  Although I really don't know why that is.  We just love that store.  Maybe its because we know we'll walk back out with these tasty little Pretzel Slims in our grocery bag!  :)  Not pictured is some really chewy Pugliese bread that called to us when we walked through the bakery department.

This was a fortune I got about 1 1/2 years ago.  I was amazed to pull it out of my fortune cookie , because I was just starting a pretty overwhelming project involving organizing my digital photographs, and I didn't feel any of the things that I was supposed to prove!  I taped it to my sewing machine so I am reminded of my potential, because, in all seriousness, its good to be reminded of such things.  This fortune has been on my mind lately because I used it as a jumping off point for my Relief Society lesson yesterday.


And finally, two quotes that have been rattling around in my head because I also used them in my lesson.
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
– Lao-Tzu

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."  - Voltaire

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink, or water with, or (insert use)

Well, not "not a drop" but "not enough".  You would think living in a town bordered by two rivers, and not small ones at that, a well would last long enough to fill a family's needs, but alas, it is not so.  Our faithful well, that has served us for 22+ years is diminishing, and there's nothing we can do to save it.  Well, that isn't entirely accurate either.  We could spend an incredibly large amount of money to deepen it, but of course, as with all well-drilling operations, there is no guarantee.  So our solution is to join the local irrigation district and start paying for our water!  Gulp!!  That will be a hard pill for us, who are very spoiled, to swallow!!  Made even harder by the quantities we use during the summer to keep our yard looking so nice.  (Big round of applause to John who works hard to make and keep it looking that way!)  

So, that brings us to today's project - Dig a hole around the area where our well connects to our house and get it ready for the water people to connect us.  The area is in a flower bed at the side of our house, so there was a little plant rescue involved, but not too much, as most of the plants affected by the digging were plants that had spread a little (or a lot) farther than I wanted them to, so they were easily disposed of.  Trevor and John did the lion's share of the work, while I mainly took a turn here or there, and Kristin spent more time than me helping.  It took a large part of the day, and Trev and John are both spent.  Kristin and I recovered pretty quickly!  :)  

We are ready for the next step which involves a trencher, some plumbing knowledge and several valves, etc.  We called in a professional to take it from here.  (We know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em!)

John and I both thought this part of the day looked like a little "government work"!

Rarely does Trev turn down a chance to run the tractor.

Sadly, this blurry picture is the only one I took of Kristin doing her part.  (It does show her very cool bun, though.)

You can't see it in this picture, but along with the dirt on his face and neck creases, he also had dirt in his "belly button crease".  He deserved every drop of the precious water he used for his shower!

Yellowstone take 2

 In 2011, John and I went to Yellowstone National Park to snowmobile with the Vision Source group from Southern Idaho.  They have adopted us, and invite us each year, so we left Thursday and made our way to West Yellowstone, Montana to begin this year's adventure.  Here are a few pictures to document our weekend.  The weather was perfect the day we went snowmobiling.  It was also pretty nice the day we went into the park - not freezing but just cold enough to remind a person why there is still snow on the ground.

On top of the mountain.  When I saw this picture, I caught a glimpse of my little girl self in my face.  That was kind of a weird moment.

I love this picture of the snow giants.  See that brilliant blue sky?  Beautiful!!  When I see this picture, the phrase "I think to myself, what a wonderful world" immediately comes to mind.

This was the picture hanging above our bed in the hotel.  It cracked me up!  The caption reads, "Always willing to help".  I'm so glad I didn't have to wear hose and a hat to see the attractions of Yellowstone!!

We saw more than our share of bison.  It is really hard to believe they were so close to being wiped out at one point.  Its also hard to imagine them covering the plains prior to their near-extinction.  

This coyote had his chance to have goose for dinner, but seemed more interested in just exploring the land.  The geese were pretty worried though.

Our destination was Old Faithful.  We pulled into the parking lot of the visitor's center about 10 minutes before it was supposed to erupt.  It kept us guessing and was even a few minutes past its 10 minute +/- time frame.  I got a kick out of the snowmen welcoming us to the geyser.  I only thought of the "song" (you know which one I mean) for a few minutes and was grateful it didn't stick in my head.  

Our guide told us it usually tops out at about 135 feet, and the eruption we saw went up to 140 feet.  I guess that extra time helped build up the pressure.

I think my favorite part of the tour was seeing the geothermic features. Part of our tour included the Fountain Paint Pot tour.   This picture is of Silex Spring.  Its beautiful color is a result of the minerals found in the spring, namely Silica.

Red Spouter is a bubbling mud pot.  

The Fountain Paint Pots

The Firehole River Falls.  This was another favorite spot.  The river never freezes because of the hot water from the geothermal features that feed it.

John and I took advantage of a popular photo spot in front of the falls.  (Here is a funny thing.  As you can see from the other Yellowstone blog post John and I are wearing the same coats in it!  I guess we both really like our winter coats!!)

And because we seldom take a really good picture together, I included this one.  Not the best picture, but look how much fun we are having!!  ;)

In other family news, congrats to Kristin who qualified for Deca Nationals this weekend.  She has decided she won't go this year, but what a great thing to qualify your first year!  Congrats to her!!

Fifty and goin' strong

Too bad about the only rhyme that goes with turning fifty is the one that starts with "nifty, nifty..." - I've never liked that one. When someone turns 50 you really want a catch phrase, but I'm apparently not clever enough to come up with one, so we'll just go with "John turned 50 this year!" Catchy - I know!

But, as he could really care less about a lot of fanfare, just let me say we're glad he's still going strong. He is a wonderful provider for our family; he presides in our home; and he protects us from the seen and unseen dangers in the world. As the song goes..."We're very glad that he's our dad, and we know he loves us too."

The weekend after his birthday, his brother, Kip, showed up in Walla Walla, so we climbed in the car for a quick visit before Kip heads off to Afghanistan for a year. (Safe journey, Uncle Kip.) I was happy for the photo op. The last chance I had for a picture of the two of them was about 6 years ago!So, I realize that they look basically the same 6 years later, but its nice to have two photos of the both of them. Who knows how long it will take to get the next one?