December 24th through December 30th

December 24^th through December 30^th: Monday Chris got up bright and early to report for her first day at her new job.  She will be working for Blomquist Hale EAP as a therapist.  She was introduced to their computer system and then she saw two clients.  She says she is enjoying doing therapy without having to think about billing, insurance, and scheduling.  I spent the day working on the sheetrock, applying mud and sanding. We had Christmas Eve dinner with Charlotte and Alex and their family and then we read the Christmas story together.  The children wanted to act out the nativity so Tilly was Mary, everyone was an angel, and I was sheep because I kept falling asleep under a white, fluffy blanket.  It is hard to stay awake when I get up at 2:00 am.  Tuesday we headed down to Charlotte’s to see what Santa brought.  We were only 5 minutes away when John B called to say his kids were up and ready to open presents.  We asked him to stall them with breakfast and we continued to Charlotte’s.  Their kids excitedly opened their presents and we hurried back to John’s.  They opened presents and everyone seemed happy.  We then went to Katie’s for another round of presents.  I then took Charlotte and her family to the airport to visit Alex’s family.  We are going to stay at their house and take care of Rico, their dog.  Chris is excited to be out of the construction and sheet rock dust. 

Christmas morning at Charlotte's house.

Christmas morning at John's house.

Christmas morning at Kate's house.

Wednesday was a day of mudding and sanding and more mudding and sanding. Chris helped cleaning up and doing some sanding.  I got the first coat of waterproofing on the walls of the shower.  We went and bought the tile for our bathroom. 

We had another snow storm.  The trees were so beautiful after the storm.

Waterproofing the shower.

Thursday was mostly spent mudding and sanding and we went and picked up the moldings.  In the evening we went to dinner with Kate and her family, John and his family and Ed and Cindy Hansen, Kate's in-laws, all to celebrate Kate's birthday.  

At Kate's birthday dinner.

Friday, I got the second coat of waterproofing on Badger’s shower and now it is ready for tile. I did more mudding and sanding on the sheetrock. In the afternoon I went and picked up the vinyl flooring. 

All the ceilings are textured.

Bathroom ceiling textured.

Hall textured.

Laundry room textured.

Bedroom textured.

Dinning room/front room textured.

Saturday, I got most of the tile set for Badger’s shower and we got the sheet rock sealed and ready for paint. We also went and bought paint, 2 bathroom sinks, a toilet, door-knobs, and a paint sprayer.  We took a break and went to the temple.  

Bathroom is sealed and primed.

Shower tiled.

Sunday we went to church and in the afternoon we picked up my brother, Van and drove to Utah County to see James and visit my other brother Tad and his wife Tove. I have been working a lot of hours trying to get the sheet rock finished.  I can see some light at the end of the tunnel and I hope it is not a train coming at me.  We enjoyed being with some of our kids and grandkids for Christmas.  It has been a long time since we have been able to be with them.  James was in Washington with Kirstin's family and Ginny and Sam stayed home in Pasadena.  Life is good and will be even better once the sheetrock is finished.