H2O: two parts heart, one part obsession

When we lived in our last house in Nashville, we had an in-ground pool. When we bought the house, it had been unoccupied for a couple of years, and there were dead animals floating in the pool!!

 But after a lot of work by a handyman that we hired, it wasn’t too bad! 

Heidi, Dylan, Ingrid

When we moved to Kansas, the pool was probably the hardest thing for Randy to leave.

So, he has wanted a pool ever since. The area that we live in now is very rocky and it isn’t cost-effective to have an in-ground pool. But with Randy’s neuropathy, we decided that even a small above-ground one was worth the effort. So, he has been working (after his day job) for the past couple of weeks on getting one in our back yard. Here’s a play-by-play through pictures:

We had our kids that live in Utah and their families over for Memorial Day and we had a barbeque with swimming. It was wonderful.

The Times, They Are a-Changin'

Mother's Day was wonderful. There's something about being able to talk to a missionary that makes it complete! We used to talk on Skype, but we all had to be in the same room for that to work. Since Jesse is in Texas, and Heidi has to work on Sundays, it made it hard. So, we discovered Google Hangout - it works the same, but we can see people in various places. We have used it the last couple of times that we have talked to Dylan. Heidi took a screen-shot.

Our grandson, Kalvin, finally got to celebrate his 2^nd birthday – about a month late. Ingrid wanted to wait until they were in their new house. So, we went up there for it, and also got a tour of their new place. It is perfect for them now, and has room for them to grow.

Randy has painted the kitchen and family room gray. I really liked the green that was on the walls before, but I was getting tired of it. Plus we got a new fridge that is black and our dishwasher is on its last legs and we will get a new black one soon. So, gray seemed like a good choice. We also got a stainless steel sink. I still have some more to do, but it’s almost there.   

Hall Before

Hall & Family Room After

 

Kitchen Walls Before

Kitchen Walls After

Kitchen Sink Before

Kitchen Sink After

Fireplace Before

Fireplace After (but before wall paint)

We got new countertops in our kitchen and 3 bathrooms. We got a surface that is just painted onto what is already there, instead of having to replace the whole thing. So, they’re not REAL granite – just look-a-likes.

Kitchen counters Before

Kitchen counters After

Master bathroom counter Before

Master Bathroom counter After

Before

After

 More to come . . .

Spring Has Sprung

I am SO ready for warmer weather! I mowed the lawn last week and was freezing – even in 2 sweatshirts. The weather has gone up and down on the temperature gauge, but should get warmer each week. The grass is turning green and now my sprinklers are on, the flowers are blooming, I’ve already filled my hummingbird feeder twice, and I’ve started riding my outside bike again.  I am grateful for the extra moisture we’ve received with rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains – but I guess I’m just a California girl at heart: bring on the sun!!!

Randy’s health is continuing to be pretty good. He says he still wants to lose 10 pounds. (don’t we all??!!) His band played a gig last weekend and he’s working on another CD project. He goes to Atlanta for a Safety Conference next month.

Jesse and Amanda closed on their house in Texas at the end of March. Jesse has been working to make it ‘theirs.’ He fixed the fence in the backyard so that their dogs can’t get out. Since they not only have those 2 dogs, but also 2 cats, he has been ripping up the carpet and installing vinyl flooring throughout the house. He has several other projects he plans to do. He will send me ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures when he’s done.

Tyler graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from college. My first child to do so (Heidi has an Associates degree). He has been working on a website for a company and when he’s done with that, he will look for a job. He says there are a lot of jobs out there for someone with a degree in computer graphics since so many people and companies are doing websites nowadays.

Heidi is still a policewoman at the U of U and her shifts as a security officer at the zoo have started up again. She is also doing security police work at a hospital. She has been golfing several times lately and actually took Randy to play for his birthday.

Ingrid and Jeff closed on their house last week and moved on Friday – Jeff’s day off. They had been SO looking forward to it. I’m sure they are eager to have their own space, and Ingrid is so creative that I’m sure she will keep busy for quite awhile making their house a home. Bad news – mice got into their storage unit and she is still finding mice as she goes through boxes in their garage!

Dylan has less than 4 months left on his mission – I’m sure it will go really fast! He says that the Mission President doesn’t really want parents to come and pick up their kids because they are still missionaries until they get released by their Stake President. So, we will not be going back there to get him. We get to talk to him next week on Mother’s Day.

 I have a bunch of projects around here that I am anxious to get going on. I’ll be blogging about them this spring/summer.