FEBRUARY 2019

I am late getting this out...we are consumed with HOUSE STUFF both old and new.

We had a great February though.  This is a Home Evening activity with a COOK OFF that we had a group at our house...and yes, our group WON!

Scott and I spent a weekend in AZ for his work.  President Nelson did a huge devotional there in State Farm Stadium, a local landmark!

We got to go in before the devotional and this is how huge it is...and how empty.

Then this is what it was like on Sunday during the devotional.  Packed.

 They had the youth sit in the floor seating which was cool.

Sheri Dew was sick and did not come down so I sorta used her pass to get out of the arena with Scott afterwards...

We got to hike 2 times while we were there.

The first day we went to South Mountain to a trail called "Mormon Trail"

It was a little chilly and most of the time I was actually wearing my jacket.









We were hiking with Rex, a Church News videographer and he was taking DRONE SHOTS which was really cool to watch.




And, he even took our first DRONIE (like a selfie, but with a drone)

We went over to the Gilbert Temple at dusk and it was so pretty...see the drone in the front of the photo?

Then we met the Janulis and Kings and some of the news guys at our favorite local dive called CHINO BANDIDOS.

A shot of the news guys with the big panda.

Saturday we hiked at Thunderbird Conservation area.

This overlooks the Phoenix Temple

So we drove there after so Rex could drone that temple too.

We noticed a big bird up on the top on the spire...

So I walked around and got a close up to see that it was a RED TAILED HAWK.







We then went to a lunch with a bunch of our local OFFICE MISSION COUPLES who we love so much.

Then we went back to the stadium and got a behind the scenes look at even the bathrooms that had been transformed into something nice for President and Sister Nelson.
It was some of our old friends from our ward there who did this.

And I loved the use of local flowers and greenery for the podium florals.
And I loved the use of local flowers and greenery for the podium florals.

We had a Get-together at WALDO'S TACOS with some Returned Missionaries in the area that was so fun!

The Waldo family.

The taco truck...such great food!

When we got back to Provo, we were delighted to have a visit from Allie and Lee Cooper and their kids.  Allie ran with Jenna at BYU and was nice enough to come say hello!

We went to the temple with another RM Caleb and met up with yet another, Prescott and his wife Alissa while we were there...

...so we invited them to join us with another couple RMs for dinner the next Sunday.

A highlight this month was having dinner and the Jazz game with our dear MTC friends the Dunns and Warners.  Made our night to be with them!

And, it was so fun to have courtside seats too!

It was even better when we met up with Richard Tripp, another RM who also works for Vivent and was there in the Vivent Loge.

You can see how close we were to the action.

OK...the all consuming HOUSE!



Front got painted...

Front door got painted...
then it got too cold again so we worked inside.

Got countertops and backsplash this month...

Got all doors and drawers put on and hardware.

Got downstairs kitchen hung by our carpenter and we put on all the doors and drawers.

The bathtub is in our bedroom right now and this is the plumbers daughter hanging out.

Got the BYU wall painted.

Got Breanna's SUNSHINE WALLS painted... THANK BRE for helping!!!

Got photos of our house all times of day and night so we can...

...put it on the market...DONE!  Jennifer is our realtor so away we go!

JANUARY 2019

CLICK ON THIS LINE IF YOU WANT TO SEE ALL THE ORNAMENTS AND OTHER PHOTOS FROM THIS MONTH
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
One of our New Year plans was to photograph our entire collection of HERSHEY COLLECTIBLE ORNAMENTS so our kids can know what they are fighting over when we die )

We happened to start buying them annually beginning the very first year they came out so we have a complete set...21 years worth!
You can see them in the link above.

We have another house to clean...and it is bigger.

We got our vinyl plank flooring installed the beginning of January and we really love it!  It was SO DIRTY after all the workers installed it that I was attempting to clean it up before it got covered with paper the next day.

The highlight of our month was getting to have Jenna and Klay and Cassidy come spend a week with us!


Klay was a great little buddy and we went all over while he was here!




We stopped by the Provo Temple because he wanted to see the fountain!
He was so excited he got to throw in a dime we had just found.

And this "monster face" will be seen a lot in upcoming photos!

See what I mean?
We took Braden and McKenna and Jenna to lunch at Costa Vida and then I took Klay and Cassidy to the museum while Jenna got a haircut.
He loved the giraffes!

We had lots of creative time at home and I was happy to see him playing with some of my new toys.
Very cool magnetic building set!

And, he took a picture of me!

The next day, he got to come to school all day with me!
He was the perfect little student!

I let the kids re-create our TOWER OF GROCERIES so Klay could participate in that with them!

We danced to ROCK AND ROLL FREEZE and he was into that!

Our theme that day was CANDY STORE (yes, I chose it by design)  and we had so much fun graphing M&Ms before we ate them!

Jenna had a little get-together with old high school friends at the house and that was a lot of fun to see them grown up and some with kids.

Friday Klay got to go with Grandpa to work in SLC for a while.  He had been looking forward to this train ride for months!
See the open mouth again???

And again???

So exciting to be on the train!

He got spoiled at Grandpas work with treats and toys and had a great time!

They took a little walk over to Temple Square and visited Jesus.

And the Salt Lake Temple.

Then we picked up Scott and Klay at the train station in Lehi and went to the DINOSAUR MUSEUM...another of his requests for the visit.

We had a wonderful time exploring and letting him see and do what he wanted.

Then we visited Grandpa James and Carolyn.

He loved the creepy SPIDER PUPPET there!

Jenna and I did some BOW SHOPPING for all the little girl bling you can find easier here in Utah.

We made a trip to BYU BOOKSTORE for Jenna to get some shirts for the boys who did not get to come on this trip.

Some Auntie Breanna time!

And, on Saturday, we made a visit to show Jenna and Breanna the progress on the house.

My cute girls!!!

And our little explorer Klay found out what drywall dust looks like!

We loved getting together with FAMILY!

Saturday it was with JAMES FAMILY

Here are Cassidy and Lucas getting to know each other.

 Cassidy checking out Great Grandpa James

And the Jensens with Gpa and Carolyn

And Cassidy with Gpa Taylor

Nathan and Daniel love babies and were entranced by Cassidy!
















Sunday night we got together with TAYLOR FAMILY at Loris and Klay loved Vivian and Violet so much!

Cassidy with Grandpa again.

With Braden and McKenna

And Klay with Collin and Lilly.

We just could not get enough grandkid time!

Klay with his puppy friends and Lori

Cassidy with Great Grandma Olsen

Bre and Elliot with silly Klay

Jensens with Gma Olsen

And with Gpa Scott too
It was such a wonderful week having the house full of kids for a change!  And a great excuse to get together with both sides of our family to celebrate!

The following Sunday we hosted a ARIZONA PHOENIX MISSION dinner with some great kids!
Our Mission Family is growing to include lots of grandkids!

OK...here is the latest progress on our new house.

This month we installed the kitchen cabinets and got cover panels installed and built drawers and put on doors.

Our painter painted all interior doors.

Then he painted all the trim, ceilings and walls.
In this photo you can maybe see the light gray tone we chose for the walls.  We love it!

The hall bath has white shiplap on one wall and the rest is the gray.  Hard to tell from the photo, but it is really nice!

And, on a few warmer days the very end of the month, our painter was able to get outside and start the exterior paint.


Here he is doing trim and the white porch posts.

This is after all the white trim on the front.

The shower door was installed this past week too.  So pretty!

And, we have made MULTIPLE trips to IKEA to get parts for the kitchen or furniture using coupons...whatever the excuse, we head to IKEA!

And, MY labor was to paint my kitchen island.
This is with the gray primer...and caulked.

Here it is after a couple coats of the navy blue paint.
It was 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of navy blue and 3 coats of polyurethane water base varnish.

I wish I could say it was easy, but it was hours and hours of work and lots down on the ground in the dust!
Then, lots of effort to get up the tape and trim that all up and do all the touch-up there.

But, I was under deadline to get it done because COUNTERTOPS are coming Monday morning!

And, Beto was able to get the front of the house done in the two-tone gray we chose.
It is really coming to life!

Thought the grandkids might like a video of him painting with a spray gun.  Where was this when I was painting all those cabinet doors and the island!!

So, the front of the house is completely painted now.  He has removed the plastic but it has been so cloudy and dark that we have not taken a photo so you can see how great the navy front door looks...this photo is bad, from inside my car with glare, but it is an idea of how it looks.
I will try to add a photo so you can see the white trim with all this done...it looks great!