Other Highlights From the Week

Wednesday, we headed down to Salt Lake to have lunch with Josh and Liz from the Church History Library and to make a quick visit through the 2nd floor of the library.  Oh, how we love that place and it was wonderful to see and to hug so many familiar people who we served with. We even connected with one of the missionaries from our MTC group from March of 2023 who is just about to finish her 23 month service in the library.  And Jena was a popular person with the missionaries and the staff---they wanted her to start doing the mail again.

No pictures,  next time!  We did get a picture of this yummy treat that Josh got us.  We had lunch down in Chinatown on State and 33rd South and he bought these from a nearby grocery store.  It is a place we will go back to.  Friday nights it is supposed to be quite fun with so many Asian shops and restaurants in one place.

These mango (left) and peach (right) ice cream treats are delicious!

Thursday was James' birthday.  It was fun to FaceTime with them and show them around the house in its remolding disarray.

We had a very low key Valentine's Day which is fairly common for us.  Jena had a Valentine's Party for Family Night in her YSA Ward on Monday and another one at her theatre class on Friday, so she was having fun. 

I did order these for Gary---although really in honor of our master bathroom almost being done.

On Saturdays at about the same time Gary leaves for the temple, we head over to Davis Lanes for bowling.  Jena loves bowling and being with her friends.

Getting ready to bowl...

We also had some of the first snow since before Christmas that stayed on the ground for more than a day--both on Thursday and again today.

The first two pictures are from Jessica's house---

These are the crows in the tree across the street from our house today....

And our water chain is in action as it has not been cold enough to freeze it yet.

I taught my first Gospel Doctrine class since being called as a teacher again.  It was nice to prepare all week for just one lesson, but nerve racking to teach!  We all survive and the PowerPoint and screen all worked perfectly.

Gary continues to serve at the Ogden Temple and he was called and set apart as a worker in the Syracuse Temple as I mentioned last week.  You can only serve in one temple and they told him that as soon as he serves his first shift in Syracuse Temple, he can no longer serve in Ogden. We are assuming that will happen the second week of June after the temple is dedicated on June 8 but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

The Week Remodel Highlights

Uhm...much of the past week was the same as the weeks before.  

The remodel continues on the house:

A new back door---with the blinds built into the window:  (This technology was just coming out in 1998, but our builder discouraged us from getting one since people were having problems with them.  The door representative that we are working with said that those problems have been resolved and they should work for the next 20 years at least.---our goal for everything "to work for 20 years.")

They did put up two of the cabinet doors to see what was going to be needed to attach them to our old boxes:

I know that wood cabinets and specifically cherry are not "in trend" or everyone's favorite but I love the diversity of color and lines of wood.

Of course, I can't leave the green totally behind.  It has been the iconic feature of our kitchen.  So the color is being moved from the countertop (hear my children cheering...) to the island cabinets:

The painted drawers and cabinet doors won't be added until after the floors are done and the island is permanent mounted.

But you can see the green that will cover the island when it is done.  It is a personal taste for sure, but I love green and I have loved having green counters for over 25 years.  I couldn't imagine my kitchen without this cheerful color.  However, they don't make quartz this color so it had to move somewhere.

The pantry also got put together this week--

And the pieces for the magnetic showerhead also arrived and got installed.  So we are moved back into our master bathroom and closet which is nice.

Slow and steady wins the race.....

 

A Temple Visit...Alone!

Well, of course there were other people in the temple, but this was the first time that I have gone to the temple without Gary and/or Jena since before Covid.  Before we had kids and Gary was traveling so much, I usually went to the temple by myself.  Then during children raising times when we lived near a temple, Gary and I would go together once a month or so.  When the kids finally were all in school (which for us started after Jessica was in college and Jena started kindergarten), I often went to the temple during the day by myself (not that I was a weekly visitor or anything.  That is a much more recent occurrence.) Anyway, I got into a flow of going to the temple by myself--often planning to get there to have extra time in the chapel before the session as well as time afterwards.  During our missions, we all three went together and since being home, we have tried to go most weeks.  It has been great.  And being with Jena in the temple is like being with someone famous.  She gets so many smiles and waves and hellos as we walk through the temple.

But this past week, Jena was sick and we decided to have Gary stay home with her (because she was not liking all of the things she was missing because of her cold.)  So I went by myself and I remembered some of the things I love about that as well and I had two very sweet and spiritual moments there in the middle of the whole experience of being in the House of the Lord.  

Gary has been going to the temple by himself--both to serve and to do sessions (and to study) over the past six weeks.  I think I might start going by myself from time to time as well. After all of these years, I can truly say that I love to be in the temple.  What a blessing for us!

In other news, they have announced the Dedication date for our Syracuse Temple (June 8) and the Open House to be held starting May 10.  You are all invited to join us for the open house.

In more "other news", Gary was called and set apart as a Syracuse Temple worker.  He will be serving on Saturdays from 5:30-10:30 pm!!!  Can you believe how late they will be open?

We also found out that our former (and well-beloved) stake president, Jim Brandt and his wife have been called to serve as 1st counselor and assistant matron of the Syracuse Temple.  They are perfect for that job and I look forward to seeing them in the temple.

The Work Continues

Yes, we are still in the basement and the remodel continues.  A little here, a little there. Each thing that is completed makes us happy and look forward to the next thing.  I am so glad that Gary and I both are relaxed about things and don't feel a great rush or pressure for things to hurry and get done.  It is helpful that we have been able to still access kitchen appliances and to have a bit of counter upstairs to use as needed.  We can also use one bathroom upstairs as well.  I guess getting older means that we understand that "this too will pass."

So in the past few weeks, we have gotten some sheet rock and taping done, more caulking on the library wall, and the master bathroom is almost completely done.  It is only lacking a shower fixture (that the plumbers convinced us to change) and a faucet that had been boxed without a key piece.  Hopefully, both of those will come in this week and get installed.

master closet light

Below is one of the lights that our designer had found for our bathroom.  Although almost everything else in our bathroom was changed from that original design--this was a must!  I love quirky lights! Perhaps you already figured that out by the master closet light I chose.

Over the tub

You can see the missing pieces in these two pictures--the faucet and the hand held showerhead for the shower head.  The plumber suggested that the magnetic one was much better than the one with a hook we had ordered.

Our frameless shower door did require
a top piece because of how we decided to
have the door open.  It is so beautiful, I don't
want anyone to shower in it.

Here is what the completed faucet look like.

We kept the same look of a frameless mirror
that we have always had even though it is not
"in fashion." It is practical.  This one is bigger than
our prior one.

And the bathtub faucet and safety hand rail.  One of our goals in the remodel is to make the house more suitable to age in place so we added handrails at the tub and in the shower.  Small things but hopefully, helpful if needed.

In the kitchen, they have started putting together the new cabinets which are replacing our desk area.  This will be a bank of cabinets with a full freezer....part of that aging in place focus.

When they repainted the master bedroom, we realized that there was a definite aging of the light switches, so Gary has gone through and begun replacing the switches and the outlet covers throughout the master bedroom, bathroom, and now in the kitchen area.  We had not put that into the bid for the remodel, so I appreciate the skills and willingness Gary has to do this work for our house.  He also installed the lights in the bathroom to save us some money there. too.  My mom told me to marry someone who could fix things---Gary certainly met that criteria (and many others.)  

When all of the kitchen doors were removed, I started noticing some of the aged and stained parts of the inside of the cabinets and I was wondering if I made a mistake in not replacing them all with completely new cabinets.  However, last week, I spent some serious time cleaning them and am very proud of the result.  They aren't perfect, but they are sturdy and well-built and they will last us another 20 years. And it feels good for the environment not to discard them yet.  A win-win!