A Few More Visits and Good-Bye

Before Glenn and I flew back to Texas, we made a few last visits to other family members in Utah.  Our first visit was with Paul's Gramma J.  She shared some snacks with us as we played a really fun game of Sleeping Queens.  

Extra Pictures from July

Here are a few more pictures that were taken in July.  

Glenn loved playing at Grandma's house.  He also loved watching shows on their big TV.  I like the 'throne' he built for himself to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Ian's Baptism

Remember the family gathering for my cousin Ian's birthday?  Well it was a special one because he turned 8.  And as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8 is when you can get baptized.  Ian chose to be baptized and we were so happy we were in Utah still to witness it and be a part of his special day. 

Devin's Injury

After Independence Day, Kirsta and Maren went to a friend's wedding in Wyoming, so Kirsta's kids stayed with us at Grandma Esther's.  We were enjoying a late afternoon rainstorm and the boys were having fun going out in the rain and being goofy.  

Independence Day

We gathered together as a family to celebrate Independence Day.  We also celebrated my sister Kirsta's birthday and my brother-in-law--Spencer's birthday.  They are all close, and since I had finally finished up with the Lehi house and it was on the market, Glenn and I were getting ready to head back to Texas to be with Paul.  We were glad to get together again before leaving.

Fun with Jasper and Freya

At the beginning of July, we had a playdate with cousins Jasper and Freya.

They played inside and outside and had so much fun!

After playing outside in the heat, they came back in, in need of water.  

They drank lots and then played with the rest.

Being a kid is such fun!

Girl's Lunch

At the end of June we decided that a girl's gathering was in order.  We weren't able to get everyone there unfortunately, but we did have a good time with those that came.  My extended Jensen family has a lot of boys in it and so we like to gather as girls when we can.  My immediate family takes up more than half of us that were there. :D  

 Sirie.Kirsta.Mom.Aunt Suzanne.Grandma Joy.Emily.Maren.

We missed Aunt Kirsten, Meg, Aunt Carolyn, Gaby, Aunt Jenny, and Ingrid.

I love all of these women so much!

Swimming at Layton's Surf-n-Swim

My parents' ward up in Layton has a yearly activity at the Surf-n-Swim.  It was a lot of fun.

Symphony at the Park

Another time when we were hanging out with the Jardine's, we went to a symphony in the park.

Ian's Birthday/Harrison's Homecoming

My little cousin Ian turned 8 while we were there in Utah.  My other cousin Harrison returned from his mission around the same time.  So we had another extended family get together to celebrate.

Fun at Grandma Esther's

Even though most of my days were spent down in Lehi working on the house, I did have a few days when I was in Layton with Glenn and my mom.  And we tried to have as much fun as we could on those days.

Don't be fooled by this seemingly harmless laundry basket just sitting in the foyer.  It was a fast little guy and hard to capture.

Fun with Lorenzo

I had another opportunity to play softball while in Utah.  Glenn and I were staying with our best friends, the Jardine's.  Kyle and Emmeline were part of a softball team and they had a game while we were there.  Emmeline said I would be able to play in place of her and she would watch the boys, Glenn and Lorenzo.

We didn't take any pictures during the game because it was super windy and I hadn't brought the camera out from the car.  But it was so much fun to play again.  I did take pictures of the boys (and a video) of them being silly in the car.  In the video you can hear Kyle and Emmeline talking about an awesome hit I had.  Goodness, it felt so good to play again!

Play Time with Cousins

Glenn loved being in Utah and close to his cousins.  He had many opportunities to play with them, especially when I was working on the house.  One time though I was able to watch Kirsta's kids while she and Morian had a fun date.  

Our day together started off with a sort of game/puzzle we had bought recently.  It's all about shapes and how they can fit together to make other shapes.  The kids had fun with them, especially Devin.

The Return of Sunnye

So I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Glenn left his favorite stuffed animal, Sunnye, in Portugal.

Sunnye (and yes, that is the spelling.  We asked Glenn how to spell it, and that's what he said.) had traveled to many different places with us.  He was a good travel companion for Glenn.  I was amazed that with all of our comings and goings that he always managed to be with us at the end of the day.

Until one day...

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. :(