December 3rd through December 9th

December 3^rd through December 9^th:  Monday morning the inspector came and passed the sub-plumbing.  So I went to Home Depot and bought 14-60 lbs bags of concrete and a tub to mix it in. Carrying 60 pound bags of concrete from the garage to the basement is not my kind of fun.  I then filled the trench with dirt and packed the dirt down and then mixed concrete and patched the slab around the plumbing.  I still have to patch under the vanity in our bathroom that I reinstalled so we could have a wash basin, but at least I can keep going on Badger’s bathroom.  

Hand mixing concrete is a lot of work.

My concrete skills are just barely adequate. 

I will finish fixing the slab under the vanity when I demo our bathroom.  I spent the afternoon wiring the new plugs in our kitchen.  I added 4 new dedicated circuits, one for the refrigerator, one for the microwave oven, one for the plugs above the counter, and one for the dishwasher and disposal.  In the evening we went to Jake’s Christmas program at his school.  The third graders certainly have a lot of energy.  

Jake is the blondie on the back row center.

Tuesday I framed the rest of the bathroom, putting up walls at the back of the washer and dryer in our apartment and the walls for Badger’s shower.  I finished wiring his bathroom with 3 can lights, a light above the vanity and a ground fault plug by the vanity.  It is now ready for the plumber to come and rough in the plumbing in the kitchen, washer and dryer, and the new bathroom.  My nephew, Drew, delivered our kitchen cabinets and told me that they were going to discontinue the line of cabinets that I had purchased and that if I wanted any more I had to order then today.  

Badger and John B carried the cabinets down from the garage.

I talked to John and Jill and showed them what our cabinets were going to look like and told them we could get a good deal if they wanted me to figure out a cabinet plan for their main floor.   I spent half a day drawing plans for their kitchen, laundry room, half bath, front room, music/multipurpose room and the kid’s upstairs bathroom.  I emailed the list to Drew and he asked how much we wanted to pay.  I had also added cabinets for our bedroom, 3 rooms in James’ house and a few cabinets for Kate’s bath and laundry room.  I couldn’t get a hold of John or Jill and Drew wanted an answer if we were going to buy more cabinets.  So I said we would take them all for $2,500.  He said that would be great.  Wow, what a blessing.  I had just purchased 18 cabinets for our kitchen for about the same amount of money and that was 30% of what it would have cost if I would have built the cabinets myself.  So we bought 150 cabinets for $2,500.  

We had another snow storm.

Wednesday Jill had a designer come in and go over the cabinet plans for the main floor.  She made a couple of changes, but overall liked what I had drawn.  It was a good thing, because we weren’t going to be able to make a lot of changes.   In the afternoon, I worked on wiring our bedroom with 4 can lights and some new plugs.  I also rented another storage unit and ordered a 26 foot Uhaul truck to move the cabinets we had just ordered.  In the evening, we went to the ward Christmas party and enjoyed a nice evening in our new ward. Two choirs from Bountiful High School provided the entertainment, one the girl’s choir and one boys choir.  

Neighborhood Christmas dinner.

Girls choir from Bountiful High.

Click below to hear the choir.

Girl's choir

Boys choir.  I graduated from Bountiful High.

Everyone brought their favorite picture of Christ.

Thursday I picked up the truck and headed to West Valley to get the cabinets.  It took me all morning to load the truck.  I had to hand stack a lot of the cabinets in order to make enough room for all of them.  These cabinets are very heavy and I was wiped out when I got finished.  I did not have the energy to unload the cabinets into the storage unit so I told U-haul that I would need the truck for another day.  

The truck is loaded and I am exhausted.

The plumber came in the afternoon and rough plumbed the basement.  He did not have everything he needed to run the gas lines for the stove and dryer so he will have to come back next Tuesday.  

The bathroom is looking a little more like it is ready for sheet-rock.

Mom had an interview and got a job as a therapist at Blomquist Hale.  In the evening, we went to Holbrook elementary school to see the 3^rd through 6^th grade choir perform.  We have 3 grandsons in the choir.  

Holbrook children's choir.

Click below to hear the choir

Children's choir

L to R Miles, Luke and Kimball

Friday First thing I made Swedish pancakes for Jake’s birthday and then I went to Home Depot in Salt Lake and got two laborers to help me unload the truck.  It took us till noon to unload and organize all the cabinets.  I took some up to the house for the two bathrooms in the basement and the cabinets that I added for our bedroom.  

The storage unit is organized.

I then went and bought the duct work for the dryer vent and the bathroom fan for Badger’s bath.  I worked on installing that duct work for the rest of the day.  Saturday John B. got up and helped me cut two holes through the brick for the two vents that I have been working on.  We worked till noon and then mom and I went to the dance recital for Abby, Kate’s daughter.  

Abby is in the middle front row.

What a cutie.

We then drove to James’ and delivered some of his cabinets.  We went to dinner with his family and tried to go to a live nativity, but we had the day wrong and it was on Friday night.  

Rigby

Emme

Campbell

Sunday we went to church and then in the late afternoon we all met at Charlotte’s home for dinner and a Christmas gift exchange for all the kids.  We had a Chinese themed dinner and I had made two dishes.  After dinner, we got Ginny, Sam and their girls in California on Facetime for the gift exchange.  It was fun to see the kids so excited for presents.  What a week of activities and work.  At the end of each day my body tells me I have done too much and that I am too old be doing what I am doing.  So I take some Tylenol and go to bed.  I am thankful that in the morning I don’t feel quite so sore and that I can keep going.  We are so blessed and are enjoying our grandkids so much.  

Fun with Poppa.

The Christmas gift exchange begins.

The other day our grandson, Moose, who is 13, told his mom that he liked having Nana and Poppa living with them.  We so hope that we can bless their lives and have a positive influence on them, because they are having a positive influence on us.  For those of you who missed our report and would like to see us, we will be speaking on December 23^rd at the chapel on 18^th avenue (589 East 18th Avenue, Salt Lake City) The time has changed because they are only going to have one meeting.  It will start at 11:30 am.