Memorial Day

Glenn and I were in Utah for Memorial Day.  I love this time of year when we can gather as a family and eat so many yummy and fresh foods!  

The Lehi House Part 3: All Done!

And now the pictures that you've all been waiting for!!

The Lehi House Part 2: The Inside

We determined that if we wanted the house to look it's best, we would need to repaint every wall and put in new carpet.  I went back and forth, trying to decide if I could do it myself--the painting, I mean--but I finally decided that it was worth the money to have professionals take care of it.  We first had to get the walls ready to be painted.  We took off the interesting wall frame that had been put in before we lived there.  I also spent hours and hours scrubbing inside.  We scrubbed every. single. wall!  And that is not exaggerating!  It took a lot of patience to scrub each wall, each cabinet--everywhere!  I listened to General Conference while scrubbing to help the time go by and also to help me keep a good attitude. : D

The Lehi House Part 2: The Outside

I'm sure looking at those "before" pictures was kind of depressing.  But not to worry, I got started on things right away.  The first day that I took pictures, I also had lunch with Paul's mom, his aunt, his brother and his cousin--at delicious Cafe Rio.  Then they all came back to the house with me and helped with yard work.  I feel bad that I didn't get any pictures of them helping--but I sure did appreciate their help!!  Thanks again!

Over the course of two months, I spent a lot of time out in the yard, trying to get it to look presentable.  We determined that the front lawn was pretty much dead and just needed to be ripped out.  I made this sound like it was an easy decision, but it took a lot of debating and wondering and figuring.  Paul and I had had trouble with it when we lived there.  We decided to do what we would've done if we had continued to live there--we would rip out the ugly, rotting railroad ties, the stones and the tree stumps.  We then wanted it grated and smoothed out.  It took a lot of phone calls to see who could help us rip it out and do all this work, but eventually I got it worked out.  We actually had one guy say he could do it--charging several hundred--but then at the last minute he backed out.  Ah!  So I scrambled and found another guy who said he could do it--and charged significantly less and did it in less time.  So that sure was a blessing.

The Lehi House Part 1: The Basement

So I had to continue with the tour of the home and went downstairs.  It looked like a kid had taken a permanent marker and just hit it against the wall with each step.

The Lehi House Part 1: The Upstairs and Garage

Next I ventured inside.  I was slightly hopeful that I wouldn't have to do a ton of cleaning, because the renters had said they hired professional cleaners.  Even from looking at the door, I saw that either they lied to us, or the cleaners came and couldn't get in.  Or the cleaners came and saw how gross it was and decided to not even try.  We didn't contact the renters to find out either way, so we don't know the reason.  But from that first step I knew I would be in Utah a lot longer than I or Paul had thought. :(

The Lehi House Part 1: The Outside

Just after our first family get together, I headed down to Lehi to see what the house looked like (May 20th).  We had gotten word from the renters that they had had it professionally cleaned the day after they moved out. I went down, thinking that I wouldn't have too much work to do--maybe a little bit of yard work here and there, but mostly just a little maintenance.  Boy, was I wrong!

I drove up to the house, saw the dead lawn, the overgrown flower beds, the completely overgrown and neglected garden and fruit trees, trash and junk left everywhere, broken fence gate and slats, broken and ripped out window screens...oh, and that last picture, I'll let you guess what you think it is...

Softball

On Wednesday May 22nd, my sister Kirsta's ward was getting together to play softball: the women verses the young women.  She invited Maren and I to come play with her.  It had been so long since I played and I was so excited to get out there on the field again!

Family Get Together (First of Many)

After our short stay in the Staybridge, Glenn and I flew out to Utah on Saturday May 18th.  Paul "moved" into an apartment here in Austin that same day.  Before we left for Spain--back in March--I met a sister from one of the wards here in Austin.  She had asked if there was anything she could help us with.  I had mentioned that we needed a place to stay during the summer months here in Austin because we would be heading back to Spain.  She talked with a girl and found out that they were looking for someone to take over their apartment lease during the summer.  Perfect!  The timing was so perfect for both of us that we knew it was an answer to both of our prayers!  So that Saturday, Paul moved into their apartment--with their things so we didn't have to take stuff out of storage--and Glenn and I went to Utah.  We had had renters in our Lehi house when we moved to Virginia and then to Texas.  They had moved out in April and I went to Utah to get the house ready to sell.  We didn't really like being landlords, especially from so far away.  And we figured that we wouldn't be moving back, and so the best thing was to sell the home and let another family create wonderful memories there.

That first Sunday that we were in Utah we had a family get together on my Dad's side.  While the adults were eating and visiting, the kids were finding costumes and dressing up.  
They sure were cute!

 Kenzie. Devin. Glenn.

Haircuts

Once we returned from Spain, we went back to the Staybridge hotel.  It was almost like returning home. :D  We were there for almost a week.  The first thing we did, after sleeping through the night of course, was get haircuts.  

Glenn likes to cut Paul's hair.