A Happy Thanksgiving!

 
 
 
 


WOW! Did we have a Thanksgiving! We almost killed ourselves and several workmen trying to get the house ready! With the last coat still to go on the kitchen and pantry floors and some boards to replace and some of the carpet left to be done and no railings on the loft, we had a great, short dinner with only one "accident" as Austin fell through the ice on the little stream across the road and got wet up to his armpits. We really had such a nice time and it was great to have all that help to clean up! We are so grateful for the many people who showed up to help make it possible to have Thanksgiving dinner there! It was so fun to have the Looslis, Eli, Julie and Charity for our big day (and to help us clean up ten tons of dust from the sanding the night before)! All the Carvers came except Tony and Natalie and their little Callie and Nick and Megan and their two boys. We had 39 in all! We are full of Thanks for everyone's love and help!

On Friday morning we flew to AZ and went straight to the "Train Park" (first picture) with the kids and even though it was pretty cold, we loved being together and enjoying seeing the cousins play together with only a fight here and there! It was so fun to have six siblings and 10 grandchildren along with the grand spouses all together! That night we went to an adults only dinner at a Mexican place and had a nice time to talk without a pack of fun little kids.

Saydi and Jeff, Hazel and Charlie had been here for Jeff's 90 year old Grandmother's birthday since last Sunday. It was also so great to be able to be with the St. George Eyres and Aja's family including Teresa, Tyler, Sonna and her husband Sloan and baby Ruthie. Last night we had a barbecue on the roof of Sonna's condo building and had a fabulous view of Phoenix and enjoyed some great hamburgers! Then we went to ZooLights which is a light extravaganza at the Phoenix Zoo! It was so fun (after we found Gracie who immediately got lost in the dark) to see the delighted kids, young and old alike and to hear the Christmas music and watch the kids dance along the way and ride the fun Merry Go Round. Pictures coming...Josh, Shawni and Aja were the photographers!

Shawni and Dave have been such troopers to put up with all our troops! They had about 18 people sleeping at their house one night, even though Dad and I are sleeping at Josh's. After a great Sabbath Day, tonight we watched Hair Spray and then after the kids went to bed we played two truths and a lie. It was fun to hear things we didn't know about our own family and especially Julie, who is just terrific! Hope you three who weren't with us had a great time too. We know Noah and Kristi were in D.C. (hope you're over that horrible cough and pleuresy Kristi) and Tal was with the Buchner Family and Sarah and then he and Sarah went to be with Adrian Dayton today for Adrian's baby's blessing. Saren and Jared have been at our house and visiting with friends and family while we've been gone. We need details when you get a chance. Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever and I am more grateful for you than you can ever know!

Crazy week!

Now that elections are over, we have settled back into a full-time "round up" at the house. Some crazy thing happens every day! I think I told you that Patrick's tarp leaked when he was sawing marble for the fireplace and a large section of the bamboo is warped. The plumbers actually came two days this week! After we waited for them for at least eight hours altogether, they put in two faucets and then told us that the bidet that has been sitting on the bathroom floor for two months doesn't fit the handles we have, so I ran right out to the nearest faucet place and they said the ONLY faucet that fits that bidet costs $1100 and they're ugly! SO we're in the process of finding a new bidet to fit the nice Price Pfister faucets that we already have. In addition to a couple of other Patrick "oops" the curved casings for the huge front and back windows are 18 inches short. A nice guy came all the way to the house to put just those on so we could get rid of the scaffolding and then we discovered that they've got to cut them again (they didn't even follow the contour line) and stain and varnish them again. SOOO we're behind the 8 ball at that one!

We did find a tile guy who is also doing the floors and PROMISES to have them done by next week but he was going to finish the upstairs on Friday and Saturday and we haven't seen him yet. BUT with only four more faucets to hook up and figuring that they can do at least two a week, if the plumbers happen to show up for a few minutes, we'll be almost "hooked up" by Thanksgivng...IF the electrician comes back to hook up the garbage disposals so the dishwashers will work.

The only other problem this week was that the cushions on the back of the window seat were too tall but that can be fixed with some extra money! Wow, can you tell how much fun we're having??? Actually it was fun to work with Eli up there on Saturday while Dad took the horses to Cedar and visited with the Southern Utah contingents. He put up the mirrors and tried to figure out how to trim the rest of the barkgrass without a scaffolding which Dad and Patrick took outside to put up the headers. He is still just getting things started at the office in Provo so we're grateful for every hour we have him to help at the house. This week lots of things need to happen to get ready for Thanksgiving. We did find a welder to get the posts done but we're not going to have the balcony in so after a quick tour, we're going to have to close off the upstairs for little kids. We'll have dinner and then go to the Carvers to watch football. We'll see what this week brings. They want $529 to clean the windows and after trying to do two or three of them myself this week, I'm thinking they will certainly earn their money! They are a MESS!

We ARE having fun but we're kind of excited to be done! Probably won't be selling this house for a while. The market has dropped like a rock! So fun to talk to most of you this week, even for just a minute!

Sure love you,
Mom/Linda/Grammie

P.S. Sorry the only pictures I took this week were the too tall cushions. I'll send some next week!

A Week to Remember!

 
 
 

We will be very glad when this voucher election is over on Tuesday! Dad has kind of been having fun at the debates though because he is a born debater! We think we're going to lose big time at the polls (which we assumed all along) because the UEA are really well organized and will get out their vote. Someone after the last debate said that she went to the UEA Convention last weekend and there was no teacher training or talk about kids or education, just ways to defeat the Referendem and organization to get out the vote. BUT we have a least had some help from the Governor, Mitt Romney, Orrin Hatch etc. and Larry Miller even bought an entire page ad in the Tribune and Deseret News today supporting vouchers but I don't think it's going to be enough to pull this out. We were down 15% in the polls last week.

We have received some pretty spicy emails but that's just part of the darn political process. Several have insisted we were only in it for the money, and one said that she was throwing away all our books. Funny, funny people! The funniest one was a little old lady who wrote to the committee after she first saw the cookie an and said, "What are those people thinking? There were a LOT more than 30 checkers on that table...or dominoes...or black people....or whatever they were!" It was worth the whole thing for just that one comment!

Tonight we had a BIG surprise when we heard the doorbell ring at about 5:00 and it was Ashton, Isaac and Eliza grinning from ear to ear! The twins and parents followed and we had a fun hour with the Looslis who had come for Aaron and Michelle's baby blessing and were on their way home. The twins got the energy going around here and it was so fun to visit for a few minutes before they took off for home...in the dark at 6 o'clock. Wow, going off daylight saving's time lets us wake up to light in the morning but it sure gets dark early. We're only 7 weeks away from the shortest day of the year...and Christmas...and then it's Charity's farewell. I am looking forward to the dream of having all our kids in the prayer circle at the temple and am hoping we can do that on that last weekend of December just before the farewell. We've got to figure out how to make that happen!

I better go read my book of Mormon. Without a flight this week, I'm 35 pages behind. I love having a deadline though. I'll be caught up by midnight! Chris and Hedy came for a while yesterday after the NAC at BYU to see the house and hang out until their plane left at about 5 o'clock yesterday. They're always fun to talk to!

Eli and his friends are definately the best things going for us at the house. The ceiling is really looking spectacular! Other that that we have the normal disasters...Patrick's tarp leaked where he had set up a water saw to do the marble on the Great Room fireplace and the raw bamboo is warped underneath. We left a fan on it over the weekend and hope it lays down in time to sand next week. They say they are sanding floors upstairs tomorrow. Patrick is plugging along on the kiddie spa and the master bath but it seems forever since he started. The upstairs fireplace is done and they're about half done with the backsplash in the kitchen. It seems that it takes forever for every little job. Still no plumber, no gas and a few electrical issues, tons of casing to do before the floors on the main floor get sanded next week..hopefully. Beadboard and casing in the pantry still needs a carpenter. People just keep flaking out! How can it be this hard? The guy who is doing the floors and guarantees to have them done by Thanksgiving also is doing the glass backsplashes which he said he's have done in one day on Friday and they're still not done so who knows? WHATEVER!

Sure loved seeing all those adorable kids in Halloween costumes!!! I've got to find time to have them printed for the fridge...and to send out belated birthday cards. Aja, Noah and Lucy, I haven't forgotten you! Charity is babysitting at the Pothiers and we can't wait to hear the exciting details of that and of the very fun and cold camping trip that Tal organized for Noah's birthday to the Catskills on Friday. Noah, Kristi, McKay, Tal and Sarah apparently had a weekend to remember!