Saturday, September 6, 2008

Ahhh, Saturday. We are all doing our favorite things. Mom is cleaning,





















I'm working on a baby quilt,














Dave is watching tennis (the U.S. Open),














the cats are eating,















Sean is napping,















Molly and Tulla are also napping,
















And Penny is napping. Life is good.

Dimple Dell

It's so fun to run in Dimple Dell. Or hike. It's one of our favorite places, because it's so beautiful and we can get there in minutes.





















Penny is our malamute mix. He gets excited about two things in life:

1. Food
2. Running in the gully (Dimple Dell)
   

Tulla is our mama dog. She is a border collie.























Sean is the one puppy of Tulla's that we got to keep. He's half border collie and half australian shepherd.














You have to be quick to get a photo of him before he rolls over to get his belly scratched.















FYI: We recently received photos of three of Tulla's other puppies.



Here's Charlie, now known as Thatch. He's the tricolor one sitting up so straight and smiling for the camera. He's in agility training.















Here's Mikey, who lives with my sister Katie, and her two daughters, Abbie & Emma, with my sister Ellen's daughter Natalie. Mikey gets to hike a lot with them. :)

















And last, but certainly not least, is Seal, now known as Meg. Her new family loves to hike and go on rafting trips. Here she is in the back of a jeep, off to some great adventure, I'm sure.




Scotty's new family lives in Arizona, and although they can't send us photos because they lack a digital camera, they assure us that he is beloved by all, he sleeps in his boy's bed every night, and he can now catch a frisbee in the air!

Unfortunately Molly got given away to some unknown person because she started killing chickens on the llama farm she was originally adopted to, but we're hoping to catch up with her too.

As soon as I get an email address for TJ's new family, we'll find out what's up with him too.

Easter 2008

This year for Easter we all gathered at Liz and Doug's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. As you can see, the snow is finally mostly melted from the neighborhoods in Sandy. Yeah!

The kids all got plenty of loot, too!

The cats are out enjoying the sunshine...

Even a little springtime yawn...

Our daffodils are just about ready to burst...

and our groundcover is in full bloom. In short, it's Spring!

Where Percy Sleeps

Finally Spring!

This week we are finally seeing signs of a Spring thaw! Yeah! I drove home from Heber on Monday evening in a blizzard, but since then the weather has been oh so pleasant.
We got a great sunset last night. This is the vew from our front yard facing west. I also had to get a photo of the awesome Wasatch mountains to the east of us.

I have been sawing up wood scraps this week to make blocks out of them. Can't bear to throw them out, you know? So anyway, my friend Cassie came by while I was sawing on Tuesday evening, and immediately built herself a house out of the blocks.





Progress on the house this week? Well, we got more of the woodwork finished in the bathroom, around the closet opening and up to the tub.

Molly, Seal and Sean demolished a pillow I had put down for them to sleep on,

Dave M. finished the molding around the new door at the base of the stairs and the molding around the study side of Mom's french doors.

We got a much more attractive cover for the attic door,

the old bathroom window is all prepped for installation of the new window tomorrow,

and we got a new doggie gate to keep the puppies out of the great room!

Remodeling progress at the end of January

Here's the new bookcase in the great room. Dave chose the detail on the top. Cool, eh?
The new window seat next to the bookcase. Notice two rolls of paper towels all ready to clean up after errant puppies. Thank goodness for enzyme cleaners.

These are the two bookshelves on either side of the fireplace.

Brian and Annalyn, with some much appreciated help from Annalyn's brother Ben and sister-in-law Renee, finally began tiling the entryway. We are doing a mosaic of the tree of life. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

Detail of the paneling over the staircase.

Ta da! The new banister. I saw a photo in a magazine of one like this, so we ordered the parts from Huetter Mill and Dave M., our carpenter, figured out how to make it!

Looking down the stairs.

Looking up the stairs.

Annalyn designed the modified square opening to the top of the stairs. We had to consult an architect, who consulted an engineer, to make sure it would stand up when it was built, but once again, it was Dave M. who figured out how to build it.

Home Remodeling Progress February 2008

Since we currently have no linen closets, we have to be creative in where we store things. I bought a whole bunch of large storage bins from Costco, but I still don't have room for these blankets and quilts, so they are on the ironing board in the laundry room.




Mom is getting a new closet in her downstairs bedroom.

Here is a view of the great room as you enter the house. Notice the new back door we just put in this week!

The main bathroom got a new door too, plus we removed the door that was on the linen closet you see here, and we are remodeling the closet so it will look good without a door. This is as far as Dave could get today, because now I have to remove everything including the old shelves from the closet. Then we're either going to panel the inside or paint it a fun color before he replaces the old shelves with nice new alder shelves.





Here's Tulla trying out the new see-through door to the basement. Dave wanted to remove the old door entirely, while I wanted to keep it because I use it to hold the dogs where I want them. So we compromised.



Here's a view of the front door (not new yet) and the french doors leading to the master bedroom. Our carpenter, Dave M., just finished building the coat lockers on either side of the french doors.



A closer view of Dave M. and the lockers. They will have coat hooks inside and trays for shoes underneath the seats.

The right-hand locker. Dave M. is waiting for us to decide how long it will be before we can afford a new front door so he knows whether to fill in the paneling between the locker and the door or not. The new front door will be 42 inches wide instead of 36 like it is now.

The new bathroom door from the outside.

Looking down the hall towards the fireplace.

Looking at the end of the hall from the great room. The hall will have family photos all the way down both sides, with a photo of the SLC temple at the end above the wainscoting. Dave M. is going to invent some nice way to panel the opening for the attic in wood. Notice the floor has drywall mud all over it. They assure us it all sands right out.