September

Highlights of this month include the arrival of my nephew Mackay for the school year, Don and Helen's visit for the BYU vs Florida football game, Lexie starting school and her homecoming date, and lastly, Todd and my trip to Iowa to see Tim.

Todd and I returned yesterday from our visit with Tim. On our trip, we had a chance to see the wonderful harvest and bounty that our blessed country produces. We got to tour the Hoover's presidential museum, an Amana colony, President Grant's house in Galena, Illinois, and we visited with our good friends the Haugens. As a mom, the best part of the trip was seeing what a good job my son is doing with his life. As a wife, it was spending road trip travel time with my husband. What a wonderful life I have.

August

August was a month full of family. Tara and her two boys popped in and out of our lives through the entire month. We even had the "boys" for two days on our own when Tara and Christian had a little get away. During those fun times when they were visiting, there were lots of toys about and young bodies under foot. It made it very imporant to know where you were stepping. What a wonderful time we had!

My Mom's Birthday

My Mom had her 70th birthday this year. It was my privilege to put together a murder mystery dinner for her with my siblings and their families. We had a grand time celebrating a grand lady. Thanks so much Mom!

A Very Creative Pickett Post

I have not yet figured out how to flip this video. If you know how, please pass on the info. Otherwise, just turn your head to the left and enjoy the show!

Visiting Family

I had a wonderful vacation with my family. I got to see all my children, grandchildren, and their friend. Christian, in case you wondering, you are included in the "children" category. On our first day together we floated and walked the Freedom Trail in Boston. The picture above is on the ferry taking us to Bunker Hill.


I had to include this picture of Daniel sitting next to the last step to the top of the monument at Bunker Hill. He climbed every single one of the 294 step by himself!

The chapel stepel in the background is the North Church Tower where the signal was given that the British were coming. At the church, we heard the real story which is quite different than the famous poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow. Very nice story but the real history is just as good.


Our most adventurous day took us to Maine where we took a tour of the islands off of Portland. The light house is the distance is the second oldest light house in North America.



Our most motivating event was to tour of the church where John, Abigail, John Quincy and Louisa Adams are entombed. John and Abigail were average people who believed in and acted on ideas they felt were right and just. What a heritage of service and a great country they have left for me.

Projects Finished

I finished the last two house projects I had. The storage unit and the plantings around my porch. I would do another landscape project in a heart beat. Thank goodness I will not have to do another storage unit until I move again. Now that my projects are done, I am going to look for some type of work.

The Rat in Lexie's Shower Drain

On Saturday, Joan had complained about her shower turning into a bathtub. So, on Sunday morning, I got out a wire coat hanger and bent it into shape to dig in the drain. Look at the rat that came out! I was so impressed with how life like it looked that I just left it there for Lexie to see when she awoke. I thought for sure I would hear a scream. My reward never happened. I guess Lexie saw it for what it was... a real gross clump of hair, soap and cream rinse.

Leaded Glass

When I lived in Mexico years ago, my house had leaded glass windows throughout the inside of the home. They were beautiful and added a lot of style and character to the home.

Back in the USA, my Provo condo has three sets of round top transom windows. Normally, these windows could be left without windows coverings. However, because my condo sits on the low side of a slope, I need privacy protection for these windows from the public sidewalk and street. As I thought about my privacy options, I was not excited about putting permanent window covering on the windows as the coverings would block out a lot of natural light. Then I got the idea to duplicate the leaded glass from the Mexico house.

I am very pleased with the decision. I have now completed and installed two sets of the windows. I am currently working on the third and last. It has been a fun and rewarding project. I am delighted with how they have turned out.

A Proud Mom Again

I have had two opportunities this week to enjoy the hard work of my daughter Lexie. She performed with both her dance and choir classes in different concerts. I have included below her choir's performance of one of my favorite songs.

Alexander TIM Bell

I have another child that also delights and surprises me. Two nights ago at about 10:30 p.m., Tim called me all excited about a hands-free telephone speaker system he made. To my honor, he told me that I was the first person he called using the system. Tim called again today with a much improved sound quality on the system. He had changed out the microphone. I cannot wait to see a picture of the contraption. Tim said he would post it to his blog. I am looking forward to seeing what I was hearing!

Boston Marathon

My daughter, Tara, finished the Boston Marathon yesterday. This is the second marathon she has run since we trained for and ran the Day's of 47 Marathon together in 2006 --- good memories.

The Next Project

Now that I am free from the rental apartment, I have started another project. It is leaded glass. I am taking a class on how to mark a pattern, cut and solder glass. The tulips are my first try.


Because stained and leaded glass projects use patterns, I thought it would be an art that I could do. Come to find out, cutting glass is a lot like cutting fabric. That is because you need to consider grain. I am now working on making a pattern for three windows in my house. These windows are located above other windows in Lexie's and the spare bedrooms. I decided on leaded glass as I need more privacy but I do not want to block the light. I will post a picture when they are done. Wish me luck.

Wow!

Can you believe what we woke up to on Thursday morning in the latter half of April? I am not sure now many inches of snow fell. What you see here is just part. Much of the snow melted as it fell. This was also the morning Joan had to be at the airport for her trip to Austin. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Tax

What an awesome day! I had a ball with Lexie at the Tax Tea Party in Salt Lake. I returned to a second one in Provo that evening with Todd.




Our signs were rather generic. Some of the others were quite clever. Read for yourself...

• Obamanomic: Trickle up poverty!
• Over taxation with representation is not good! CONGRESS ARE YOU LISTENING?
• WWJD: What would Jefferson Do?
  
• You work for me! I do not work for you!!!
• Don't make my grandkids fund your greed. Stop the PORK!!!
• Don't tax my kids before they are born!
• TEA: Taxed Enough Already!
• Freedom not Free Dumb! Stop Congressional overspending!!!

Others were actually very good:

• Government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.
• More debt is not the solution... Debt is the problem!
  
• Our Founding Fathers went to war for less than this!
• The best government is that which governs least! Laissez-Faire! (pardon my French)
• "If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson
  

A Lovely Lady and a Gentleman

Our youngest daughter attended her Junior Prom. The picture is of her and her date. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to the promonade which was held on the outdoor steps to the Utah County Courthouse. Yes, it was raining. Todd and I stood out there for nearly two hours to watch Lexie and her date walk down and then back up the steps. It was worth it.

Final Week

I am finally finished with the apartment project. I am very proud of it. I am also delighted to have rented it to a nice couple that are retiring from out of state. They want to try out the apartment lifestyle before committing to a purchase. The motivation for the couple was the Mrs. desire to live within walking distance to the genealogical library. Now for the tour:

Living room.

Dining room. This window has a great view of downtown Main Street, the conference center park on the roof and the temple.


The kitchen.


The den.

The bathroom.

The master bedroom.

The master bath vanity area.

The master bathroom tub and toliet.

Week Three

It has been a fun and long week. The major progress last week was the wall paint. This week it was cutting the paint, the counter tops and the electrical.


This is the second bathroom. It lacks a clean up and new caulking in the shower.

The living room as well as most of the rest of the apartment needs baseboards.


The tile is nearly complete for the new bath.

The big items left for me are some out of wall wiring, baseboards, and cleaning the apartment including the carpets. I must be finished by this Friday!

Week Two

After one more week of working on the apartment project, these are the biggest results:

The bath and tub from the master bedroom was removed and a new tub framed.

The master bathroom vanity area...

The master bedroom...

The kitchen with cabinets and paint but without doors on the cabinets.

A Wonderful Wedding

Friday was a wonderful day! I was able to attend the wedding, luncheon and reception of my neice Amber and her husband Jordon. All three events were full of family and fun. So, who is next?

Week One

After one week of work, the apartment project looks like this...

The livingroom...

The master bath vanity area...


The master bedroom...


The kitchen without cabinets but with new holes in the walls.

Two Projects

I have been working on two projects, one small and the other large. The smaller project is the shelves in my condo. They are finally in. I am still missing the shelf brackets so I have not placed the shelves nor any article on them. Hopefully this weekend. Still, I think they look so nice, I had to show them.

My second and very large project is the condo that we purchased yesterday. It is in Salt Lake. Over the next 3 weeks or so, I have workers coming to remodel the kitchen and part of the bathrooms. I will be painting and locating a renter. I have been reading books to gain a little bit of "know how" on the subject. It should be interesting and challenging but fun. The pictures below are of the view from the front and side windows of the condo.

Who Knows?

In case you do not know what this machine is, it is a nasal irrigation system. I am on this kick to get rid of all of my annoying body aliments. My nose and sinus irritations are one of those aliments. So, I decided to go extreme and I purchased a pulsating nasal irrigation system. It really helps to keep my sinus and nasal cavities clean and clear.

In case you are wondering how it actually work, be assured that I am not going to put a video of me demonstrating it's use on my blog. There is a great demonstration on Youtube. Please copy the link below and enjoy the show. It has real good sound effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I84SYKWeUTg

Happy Birthday!

Today was Todd's birthday. To celebrate, we fixed and served his favorite meal, Stoffer's Lasagna. Later that day, we drove to Salt Lake to have birthday cake with Don and Helen. What a great day to celebrate!

One Last Week

It was nice to prolong many of the good things that surrounded us at Park City--Family. Tara and her two children stayed for another week. During that time we made snowmen, went sledding, ice fishing and swimming.


We did have to do the necessary evils like grocery shopping. Still with visiting grand kids, even that was fun.


At the end of at least one full day, Todd had the privilege of feeling the trust of his young grandchild. Daniel had fallen asleep watching TV with Grandpa.


It was sad when the week came to an end and we had to say good-bye. The house felt so empty when we returned and the little people that had filled our rooms and hearts with laughter and love where not there. Still, we thank you for the memories and look forward to your next visit.