June 17th through June 23rd

June 17th through June 23^rd:  Monday Chris went to work and I laid out the remainder of the can lights and started cutting the holes and fishing the wire for 42 new lights in the entry/hall, kitchen, new bathroom, laundry, and dining room.  With the 34 new lights already installed in the upstairs, the 27 installed in the TV and music/craft room, and the 45 installed in the basement it will be a total of 148 new can lights.   I am getting pretty good at installing can lights.  

The can lights are cut and the wires pulled ready to install the lights.

Hall from the front door to the kitchen.  I had to lower the ceiling to match the entry where I had taken out the pocket door.

I had to cut holes in order to fish the wires from one light to the next.

Tuesday Chris cleaned up for me and then went to work and I continued to install can lights.  

The lights installed and the holes patched.

The lights installed in the dinning room.

Just waiting for the plumbers to come and move the copper pipes up into the joists.

Wednesday we went to our temple shift and had a nice morning in the temple.  The plumber was supposed to come and move the copper pipes that were run on the bottom of the joists for the second floor and move the plumbing for the bath and laundry room, so we stayed home from our paint class  Then he called and said he had gotten tied up on another job and would come first thing Thursday morning.  So I spent the afternoon working on more wiring.  We got invited to Tim and Nancy Fisher’s home for dinner.  They were hosting a dinner for two new mission presidents called from Guatemala, President Dubon and President Cristales.  President Dubon was introduced to the gospel by Tim Fisher when he served in Guatemala as a young man.  President Cristales was one of my shift coordinators in the temple.  He was a stake president when we arrived in Guatemala and when he was released, he and his wife came and were temple workers.  President Dubon worked in the CCM, so we know them both.  We picked up President Cristales and his wife and drove them to Alpine for the BBQ.  The Hursts, Winkfields and Ellingtons were also invited, so it was a mini-reunion of our temple missionaries, at least the ones that live here in Utah.  After dinner, Tim showed me his restored Army Hummer and gave me the keys and said,  "Let’s give the Cristales a ride".  Well, that was a blast.  We had a wonderful evening with so many good friends.  

BBQ at the Fisher's home in Alpine.

L to R President and Sister Dubon, Eldon and Dawn Hrust, Diane George, Mike and Merlene Ellington, Ken and Eve Winkfield, Tim and Nancy Fisher, Me and Chris, President and Sister Cristales.

This really was a lot of fun.

L to R Tim Fisher, President Dubon, President Cristales, Me

Thursday the plumbers came and did their thing.  After they left, I finished the installation of the lights that I could not do because of the copper pipes were in the way and got ready to install the sheetrock on the ceiling.  Bryce and Alex, my two son-in-laws that live here in Bountiful, were going to come over help me install the sheetrock.  As I was finishing up, I realized that I still had to wire 5 new plugs for the kitchen and would have to run the wiring through the ceiling, so I had to delay their coming till Saturday.  

The plumbers replacing the copper pipes with pex piping.

The new bath plumbed.

The laundry room replumbed.  New floor drain added.

This was a fun box to wire.

There wasn’t time for me to do it because President Cristales had invited Chris and me to their setting apart in the Administration Building with Elders Soares and Godoy.  That was such a sweet experience and it was so nice of them to invite us to accompany them. It was wonderful to hear their powerful testimonies and their excitement to serve. Elder Soares was so gracious and he asked who we were and how we knew the Cristales and then thanked us for our service.  

Chris and I at Temple Square, waiting to go to the setting apart of President and Sister Cristales.

Friday I got the rest of the wiring installed and some backing installed for the sheetrock that I had forgotten about.  I went over to Charlotte’s house and put in the transition strips for her new floor.  I also helped her install the wood hooks on the wainscoting I had previously installed.   Chris and I cleaned up and got ready for Bryce and Alex to come Saturday morning for the sheetrock.  

New wood hooks installed for Charlotte.

The new floor turned out great.

In the afternoon, Chris and I went to the wedding of a good friend and missionary companion of ours from Ecuador, Doug Thayne.  We went to lunch a few weeks back and met his new bride Debra Groberg.  It was a beautiful sealing and Lee and Connie Crayk were also there.  When Doug was asked by the sealer who would be present, he said, “Well, there will be one patriarch and two ex-temple presidents present”.  The sealer then said, “Wow, no pressure there.” We then went to their reception and dinner at the Grand America which was an amazing.  Doug and Debra looked like teenagers in love.  They really looked happy to have found each other and their children payed them lovely tributes. 

Debra and Doug Thayne

Saturday I got up early, 4:00am, and got things ready for Bryce and Alex to come at 6:00am to help me get the sheetrock on the ceiling.  Thanks to their help and hard work, the sheet rock got installed.  Thanks Bryce and Alex.  

Bryce and Alex hard at work screwing off the sheetrock.

In the afternoon Chris and I went to the dance performance of two granddaughters, Abbie and Tilda.  They are so cute and adorable.  We love them and enjoyed seeing them dance.  

Abbie at her dance performance.

Daddy daughter dance.  Way to go Bryce and Abbie.

Tilda at her dance performance.

End of the day Saturday

Sunday we went to church and then we went to dinner at Charlotte’s house.  I did not get everything done that I wanted to get done this week, but it is what it is and I think I underestimated the amount of wiring that needed to be done.  We enjoy living in our new apartment and feel that we have more blessings than we deserve. 

June 10th through June 16th

June 10^th through June 16^th:  Monday while Chris was at work I removed the carpet from the dining room off the kitchen and took out the sliding door into the front room/TV room and one that was in the hall. I made a trip to the dump with the carpet and demoed walls in order to prepare a place where we could store the cabinets for the kitchen.  In the afternoon, I worked on installing the moldings on the windows in the front room/TV room and the music/craft room and the cabinets in the TV room.  Monday evening I met John and Jill and Moose at the storage unit and we brought home a truckload of cabinets.  

The the carpet and the pocket door removed between the dining room and the TV room.

Monday's trip to the dump.

Moldings on the window, TV room.

Molding on the window in the music/craft room.

Tuesday I went to see our doctor about my left shoulder.  I have a lot of pain when I try and lift it more than a couple of inches.  He gave me a shot of cortisone and a prescription for physical therapy.  If these don’t help, then he will refer me to a specialist for a MRI.  Chris went to work and I finished the moldings on the windows.  After John finished work, we finished loading the rest of the cabinets for the kitchen and brought them home.  

Molding on the facia of the cabinet and around the windows.

Cabinets all ready to be assembled and installed.

Wednesday we went to our temple shift and had a nice morning in the temple.  We skipped our paint class.  I stayed home and worked on hanging sheetrock in the TV room and in the hall where I removed the sliding door. Chris went to the doctor with Charlotte who is having a lot of back and leg pain.   

Sheet rock back up where I had to tear it out to get the wiring in for the new 3 way switches.

Pocket door removed and new sheet rock installed in the hall.

Thursday I woke up sick and did not have a lot of energy.  I managed to remove the cabinets from the kitchen and start the demo of the soffits and make a trip to the dump. Mom got home from work and we demoed until we had another load for the dump.  She helped me fill the truck and we went to the dump.  

The before demo picture of the kitchen.

Cabinet removed and start of the soffit demo.

More soffit demo.

Thursday's dump run.

Friday I was still not feeling well.  After working on the demo for 3 hours, I went back to bed and slept for 3 hours.  In the afternoon, I finished the demo of the soffits and the wall to the laundry.  Mom helped me fill the truck again and we made another trip to the dump.  John got home and helped me move the washer and dryer so I could demo the laundry.  

End of the day on Friday.

Friday's trip to the dump.

Saturday I started feeling better and had a very productive day.  I demoed the laundry by removing the cabinets and the vinyl floor, a sub floor and then old linoleum.  When I got the baseboards out I could see we had a problem with mold again on the exterior walls.  So I also cut out the sheetrock where the mold was.  While removing the door I realized that originally the room had a pocket door.  So I had to remove that also.  

Mold at the base of the walls.

Mold on the sheetrock.

Had to tear out the sheet rock in the laundry room.

Pocket door to the laundry room coming out.

Mom helped me get up all the old linoleum and load the truck for the 4^th trip to the dump for the week.  We took almost 4000 lbs of construction material to the dump during the week.  Twice while Chris and I were unloading, people offered to help us unload the truck. What nice people there are in Bountiful!   

After the demo on Saturday.

Saturday's trip to the dump.

In the afternoon I framed the walls for the new bath and put in a wall where the pocket door used to be.  I got some of the can lights laid out.  I am thinking I have about 35 more lights to install in the front entry, hall, laundry room, new bath, kitchen and dining room.  I know what I will be doing on Monday.  If I am correct and it is 35, that will make a total of 134 new can lights I will have installed.  I did not think that the demo would take 3 days, but for 2 of them I was under the weather and not feeling like myself.  So all in all, I am pleased with the progress made at the end of week 3 of the main floor remodel.  

New bathroom walls installed.

End of work on Saturday.

Sunday we went to the missionary farewell of my nephew, David Norman’s daughter, Ariel Norman.  She is going to the Colorado Fort Collins Mission.  After the meeting, we went to David and Janet’s home to visit with the friends and family of Sister Norman.  They live only a few minutes from our house. 

Ariel and Chris.

Me and my twin brother Van who is 7 years older than I am.

We invited James and Kirstin, their 3 kids, Bryce and Kate, their 3 kids, and Charlotte and Evan, her oldest, to dinner Sunday afternoon.  Alex is in California with their other 3 kids.  Charlotte could not travel with them because of her bad back pain and Evan could not get off work.  He works at Lagoon.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed sitting around and talking after dinner. It was a great week except for the being sick part.

Sunday dinner with Left side- Kate, Stanford, and Bryce and Right side- Kirstin, James and Charlotte

June 3rd through June 9th

June 3^rd through June 9^th: Monday we found some mold on the bottom of the sheetrock on walls of the TV and music rooms.  I had to tear out 1 to 3 feet of sheetrock on the exterior walls and then spray the insulation and the studs with a product that kills the mold and prevents it from returning.  I then had to install new sheetrock and tape the joints.  In the afternoon, I got some of the cabinets for the TV/Front room built.  Mom spent the day at work.  

We found mold on the outside walls.

We had to tear out the moldy sheetrock.

Moldy sheetrock replaced.

Two of my helpers.

Tuesday I made two trips to Clearfield to pick up the moldings.  Mom helped me unload the fist load and then had to go to work.  Badger helped me with the second load.  I finished building the cabinets for the TV/Front room.  

Mouldings ready for installation.

Cabinets built ready for installation.

Wednesday we went to our first early morning shift at the temple.  Mom had to be there dressed and ready to go at 5:00 am.  We had a nice shift.  We went to lunch and then to our painting class.  In the evening, we met Charles and Jennie Bennett for dinner at the Mandarin Restaurant here in Bountiful.  They are dear friends from our home on the avenues.  I was their home teacher for about 15 years.  It was great to see them and hear about their children and grandchildren. They are serving at a branch at the Utah State prison and have invited us to do a Family Home Evening there in July.  

New asphalt on our street.

Stanford got some eyes and some color on his face.

Mom's landscape is almost done.

Thursday morning I got the cabinets in the TV/ Front room installed.  Mom decided that she would work Thursday mornings in addition to Monday and Tuesdays.  In the afternoon we went and moved the last of our things from a big storage unit to a very small one.  

Front room cabinets are installed.

Friday I got the cabinets in the Music/Craft room built.  

Music/Craft room cabinets are ready to be installed.

Saturday I got all but one cabinet in the Music/Craft room installed and the fillers and sub fascia in the TV/Front room installed.  

Cabinets in the Music/Craft room are installed.

Almost done with the install of the cabinets in the Music/Craft room.

Fillers are in and the cabinets are ready for mouldings.

In the afternoon, we picked up Jill Smith, our art teacher in Guatemala, who is now living on the avenues, and took her with us to an art gallery show.  Merritt Stites is one of Chris’ oldest friends and colleagues.  She is also a talented artist and some of her art
friends had the show.   Sunday we went to church and in the afternoon had Charlotte and Alex’s family along with John and Jill’s family to our place for dinner.   John’s family got home late Saturday night, a day early from a river trip near Moab and Charlotte has been in a lot of pain from a pinched nerve in her hip.  We made some good progress on two of the rooms upstairs and this next week we are going to demo the kitchen.