One of the joys of owning a house in our neighborhood is that every home is in need of “work.” The homes were originally built in the 50’s and 60’s. Some residents in the area are original owners. New owners are set about updating and remodeling. Everyone is in the same boat. Anyone has a story that can top the next guys.

And we have set about on our projects again. I’ve noticed we seem to do projects in great fury when I’m expecting. I’m not sure there’s a correlation. But I do know I DON’T like it. I’m tired and nauseous, and having my house turned upside down with remodeling and updating and finishing projects does not eliminate stress. But I’ve tried to be a good sport. I think Wyatt would say I’ve done a GREAT . . . and I do mean FABULOUS job at being a good sport.

I haven’t taken tons o pictures because nausea makes me avoid my camera. I don’t know why.

So the first project we tackled was our basement. My sweet brother-in-law Jared offered to help us finish it. He works in construction (heating and air) and with the economy & winter being a slow time in construction anyway, he had a lot of down time. We moved everything from the basement upstairs: food storage, baby things in storage, christmas decorations – you know, the things you have in an unfinished basement. Cal’s room was taken over. The living room was taken over. The second bathroom became a storage closet. The linen closet became a storage closet. For about 6 weeks our kitchen was taken over. We were bursting at the seams. Wyatt and Jared worked hard and it’s almost done (it’s down to the painting. HATE painting). But the storage closets have been finished, and I’ve been able to move at least the stuff from my living room and kitchen back downstairs.

Then the weather started warming up. Our sights were turned to our poor, pathetic yard. We’ve planted grass four times: fall, 2006; spring, 2007; fall, 2007, and spring, 2008. Each time we endured a $200 + /month water bill. Still the grass never took. I’ve been threatening bombing the place if we don’t have a yard this summer for me to shoo the kids out to. Wyatt began looking at sod.

And of course, being Wyatt, he found a guy to give us a screaming deal on it. He also found a guy to put in curbing on trade (web design). All that was left was fixing the sprinklers (broken from putting the walk-out basement in last fall). Jared and Wyatt tackled that. Our yard is looking so good. We still have lists and lists of projects to do, but we’re making progress.

Of course, the day after we lay the sod, we had our first flood in our almost finished basement. An undiscovered broken sprinkler flooded a window well and poured a couple inches of water into the two bedrooms (went under the wall into the next room). It wasn’t as bad as it first looked, but didn’t make for a fun morning either. Wyatt helped me clean up as best he could before he had to go to a meeting. “Please wash those baseboards. Don’t let anything distract you from it. We don’t want them ruined. Wash them right away.”

“I will.” I promised. And I did. Until I was distracted by a beautiful snail climbing a leaf out of the flood in the windowsill. Then I had to stop and take a picture. But I got right back to work, and the baseboards are fine.

Five Things About The Heat

• I love it
• It makes it awesome to go inside – air conditioning
• It makes it awesome to go outside and eat popsicles (like 10 times a day)
• I love sitting in it at the side of the pool
• It makes me appreciate that I live in a 4 season part of the world

Five Things About 4th of July Weekend

• The Rodeo
• The Barbecue’s
• Fireworks!
• Playing softball – Wyatt and his brothers playing, the sister-in-laws picking clover in outfield.
• Feeling like SUMMER is here!

Five Things About My Dad

• He let us sled off the roof in the winter, even though it’s not good for the shingles, just because there’s something intuitively great about sleigh riding off the roof.
• He taught me to travel–you know, backpack, change of clothes, and your set. I think the first time I learned that was when he woke me up at 2 in the morning and asked me if I wanted to go to the Olypics at 6 a.m. I didn’t have much of a choice but to pack light. I’ve been doing it ever since. He taught me to look at the horizon, and be open to the possibilites.
• When ever I call his secretary always says that he’s unavailable, or in a meeting, or not there, and then she asks who it is, and I tell her, and then suddenly he is available–he always take my calls.
• He reads. He and my mom taught me to read. And then he gave me good books to read. And he grounded me from reading when I was in 7th grade, which I always thought was wierd, but now I understand–he taught me how to read, but he taught me to have a balance in my life. . .
• He taught me how to serve. I always knew that if there was someone in need, and there was something to be done, my parents would be first in line–the first not to called, but the first to call–they didn’t need someone to tell them to do it–they already had done it!

Five Things I’m Really Bad At

• Answering the phone (I have goals to improve here!)
• Returning phone calls (I have goals to improve here too!)
• Laundry
• Singing
• Remembering details of everything I’m supposed to do

The Last Five Books I’ve Read

• The Chosen
• The Hiding Place
• Pride and Predjudice
• Death Comes to the Archbishop
• Franny and Zoey

Five Chores I Hate

• Laundry
• Vacuuming
• Mopping
• Grocery Shopping
• Cleaning the Stove

Five Things About Leslee

• She is thoughtful – to many examples!
• Let’s be honest, she’s a babe
• Her car is always clean
• She has the best clothes to “borrow” (if only I could still fit in them!)
• She works hard at the things that are truly important in life

Five Things for Summer

• Green grass beneath bare feet
• Wearing White
• Barbeques
• Slushee’s in the evening
• Crickets singing all night long

The ward easter party was today. It was lots of fun, mostly because I didn’t have to plan it. I was temporarily relieved of my duties as ward party person due to nausea. Sweet.

O and Cal had a great time at the Easter egg hunt. Cal did a good job of finding all the eggs. Olivia blew right past most the eggs as she would only pick up the pink ones.