January 21st through January 27th

January 21^st through January 27^th:  Monday I got the shower taped with fiberglass mesh tape and John B. helped me get the concrete floor cut and trenched so we can run an electrical wire for a plug in the kitchen island.  We also got the crown mold installed in the kitchen/dining room.  Mom went to work. 

Shower taped ready for waterproofing.

Concrete cut ready for wiring for plug in island.

Tuesday I got the shower and the floor of the washer and dryer area waterproofed with Red Guard and then I built the island and finished all the wainscoting.  Mom went to work. 

Shower waterproofed.

Washer pan waterproofed.

Island installed and paneling attached.

All the moldings are finally installed.

Wednesday I built and installed the cabinets in the bedroom.  Mom is in charge of puttying all the nail holes. She says it will keep her busy. 

Mom filling nail holes.

Cabinets in the bedroom at the foot of the bed.

Cabinets at the head of the bed.  The 3 cabinets in the middle are for the bathroom.

Thursday We took a break to visit the doctor because I have been having a pain in my side.  Not surprisingly, I have a hernia.  I can finish the apartment and then have surgery.  Chris is delighted that I will have a medically enforced 6 weeks of rest and recovery.  I finished the carpentry in the bedroom and the hall and got another coat of waterproofing on the shower and floor.  Mom will forever be filling nail holes.  Friday I started the tile in the shower.  

Friday 1/2 the shower got tiled.

Saturday Mom started her shift in the temple so we were able to be there together.  It was wonderful to feel the spirit of the ordinances and to be serving again in the House of the Lord.  When we got home, John B. and Alex, our son-in-law, had taken a load of trash to the dump.  I worked till 8:00pm finishing the wall tile in the shower.  I still have the trim pieces to do.  Mom spent the afternoon and evening cleaning up and puttying nail holes.  Sunday was the monthly dinner with all our kids and grandkids that live in Utah.  It was fun to be together.  Mom did a lesson on John and we gave out Red Vines for correct answers to questions about John.  

Some of the Family after Mom's lesson.

This is John B and his family only Jake in not in the picture.

Sunset Sunday night as we ate dinner.

We made some progress on the apartment this week but the list of things to do seem to be getting longer.  We only have 3 weeks till the appliances arrive and we cannot delay them any longer.  So we will have to stay focused and not get distracted.  I don’t think about much of anything except getting the apartment done.  It makes me pretty boring.  I do enjoy going to the temple for my sealing shift on Saturday.  I did my first live sealing of a couple last Saturday and that was really special.  But other than my temple shift, all I do and think about is getting the apartment done.

Badger's bathroom cabinet doors installed.

 

January 14th through January 20th

January 14^th through January 20^th:  Monday mom went to work and I started building the cabinets for the kitchen.  I took a break and went and bought new French doors for the entrance.  This is because I realized that the refrigerator that we had purchased would not fit through the sliding glass doors.  We were always going to have French doors, but we were thinking about waiting until the spring to install them.  Tuesday, John B got up at 4:00am and helped me install the French doors.  I continued working on the cabinets.  Mom helped by puttying holes until she had to go to work.  

The new french doors got installed.

Wednesday Mom helped me cut the material for the wainscoting and I got started installing some of the panels.  

The french doors got trimmed out.

Thursday I finished installing the kitchen.  

The kitchen cabinets got built and installed.

Friday I finished up the wainscoting.  

The wainscoting is all installed.

Saturday I did my shift at the Temple and Chris hosted a Princess Party for 3 of our granddaughters.  She hired Rapunzel to come and help at the party.  They had a great time.  

Mom and Rapunzel with Tilly, Abbie and Emme.

We then took Emme part way home.  Her mom met us at Ikea and we then took the time to find some butcher block for the cabinet-tops in our bedroom.  Sunday we spoke in church and I got in a visit to one of my families.  All in all, it was a good week and we made some progress on the apartment.  We are worried that we will not be ready by the 4^th, so I think we will push back the delivery of the appliances another 2 weeks.  All contractors lie, myself included.  It always takes longer and costs more than they say. 

January 7th through January 13th

January 7^th through January 13^th:  Monday the plumber came and set the toilet and fixtures in Badger’s bathroom.  He also got the pan liner down in our shower.  Chris went to work and had her first full day of clients.  I painted ceilings.  We drove to American Fork in the evening and had a wonderful dinner and visit with our good friends Mike and Merlene Ellington.  It was great to see them and so nice of them to drive up from Mount Pleasant to see us.  Tuesday, I got up and went to my happy place, Home Depot, and bought 4- 80 lbs bags of sand mix for the mortar bed in our shower.  Badger wasn’t feeling well and had stayed home from school.  I convinced him to help me carry the bags down to the basement and to help me mix the concrete.  We did not have enough so we used some concrete mix that I had left over from the repair of the concrete we took out for the new plumbing in Badger’s bathroom.  

This shower is more than twice as big as the last one.

He was a big help and we got done about noon and so I took him to lunch.  I got cleaned up and went for my orientation at the temple with the supervisor over the sealers.  I got my locker key and will have my first shift on Saturday.  In the afternoon, I pulled the toilet in our bath and framed for the larger vanity we need.  Mom went to work in the evening and came home after I was asleep. 

Badger's new shower.  Chris got the tile sealed.

Floor grouted.

Wednesday I added two can lights in our bathroom and installed the bathroom accessories in Badger’s bath-- towel bar, toilet paper holder, mirror and so on, including the finish carpentry. Thursday I cut the hardi board for our shower and installed the sheetrock in our bathroom.  We took Charlotte and Alex to lunch for Charlotte’s birthday.  We also ended up going to dinner with their family.  Charlotte’s present to herself is not to cook on her birthday.  

Happy Birthday Charlotte

Vanity, hardware and medicine cabinet installed in Badger's new bathroom.
Doors to vanity will come later.

Friday I got the sheetrock taped and all the ceilings got their last coat of paint so I installed all the lights in the 40 cans.  

Sheet rock is up--vanity goes on the left, toilet on the right.

Badger's new bathroom with the mouldings installed.

We have plenty of light!

Saturday John B. finished installing the Hardi board in our shower.  

Our shower is ready for taping, waterproofing, and then tile.

I went to the temple for my first sealing shift.  I really enjoyed being back in the temple.  We went to dinner with our good friends, Paul and Liz Belnap,  and enjoyed catching up.  I came home and did finish carpentry until 11:00 pm.  Being at the temple must have given me added endurance.  So I got my 10 hours of work in.  Sunday we went to church and then we had a great pot roast dinner.  The apartment is progressing, just not as fast as I would like.  We pushed back the delivery of our appliances two weeks and we hope we will be ready now by the 4^th of February.  This next week I will concentrate on the finish carpentry and the cabinets.  Life is good and we are very blessed. 

December 31st through January 6th 2019

December 31^st through January 6^th 2019:  Monday  Mom went into work for 4 hours.  I finished the sheet rock.  Hurray! I also got help from Badger and Moose and we carried the moldings and flooring down from the garage.  The 16 foot material takes up a lot of floor space.  The 19 boxes of flooring are really heavy and we all needed to take a break after carrying everything down and so we all went to Chick filet for lunch. 

Mouldings ready to install.

Flooring has to wait his turn. It will be a few weeks.

I laid the shower floor in the afternoon and started hanging doors. I went to bed by 9:00 pm, no staying up late for this guy.  

Doors are getting hung.

Tuesday I celebrated the New Year by working.  John B. had the day off and helped me finish hanging the doors. We also laid the tile in the Badger’s bathroom.  

Bathroom tile laid, check.

Wednesday I grouted the shower floor and finished the trim tile for the shower. I got the bathroom primed with Kills, a primer. Our beautiful granddaughter, Abigail, turned 6.  She was so excited.  

This is Abbie who turned 6 this last week.

Kate invited us to dinner, but at the last minute I couldn’t go.  I got word that President Nelson approved my activation to be a sealer in the Bountiful temple and I was invited to a meeting for all the sealers Wednesday evening.  I start on Saturday the 12^th 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.  I am excited to be able to be back in the temple for more than a session a week. Thursday I demoed the shower in our bathroom and removed the walls we needed to get rid of in order to have a larger vanity.  It feels like we are starting over.  

This is our shower as I started the demo.

This is our shower when I got done.

This is what we found when it was all cleaned up.

The shower is reframed and larger.  

I also got the new shower grouted.  John B. grouted the bathroom floor and got a coat of paint on the walls.  

New shower grouted.

We also had a visit from Oscar and Clara Flohr, our dear friends from Guatemala.  They served as a counselor and assistant matron with us in the temple.  They are here visiting their son who lives in West Valley.  It was so fun to visit with them for a few minutes.  

The Flohr's visiting us.  We were both in our work clothes.

Friday I framed the new shower and poured the concrete around the drain.  I also got started on the casings around the doors.  

I got the concrete poured.

Doors with casings installed.

Saturday I got the bedroom and kitchen primed.  We took a load of trash to the dump.  I got most of the Hardi board cut and installed in our new shower.  I got the vanity and top installed in Badger’s bathroom.  

Bedroom primed.

Kitchen primed.

Vanity and top installed.

John B. got a second coat of paint on Badger’s bathroom. Mom took 4 of our grandkids to Jurassic Quest. 

Mom with L to R Jake, Kimball, Rigby and Stanford.

The boys seemed to enjoy the activity.

She then went to the leadership meeting for stake conference.  She has been called as the Relief Society secretary.  We went to the adult session in the evening.  Sunday we went to stake conference and it started snowing just before we left.  President Eyring was in attendance and spoke briefly. We live in his stake.  The visiting authority was Elder Holzapfel, an area seventy.  It was a great conference.  When we came out there was about 5 inches of snow and more as we climbed up the hill to John’s house.  Badger got out of the car and started up the snow blower.  He did not have a coat on and he was in his Sunday shoes.  He is such a teenager. 

Clearing the driveway and sidewalks is a lot of work.  Jake and John B. shoveling snow off the sidewalk. 

This week was work, work, and more work. I feel blessed that I can still do this kind of work.  My body rebels once in awhile and lets me know of the aches and pains I am creating.  So I often go to bed sore and with some discomfort, but usually in the morning I am ready to go at it again.  We are so blessed to enjoy good health and have this opportunity to live with John and Jill and their family.  We just need to get this apartment done.