New Kitchen Day 1

Well . . . it's started! I know, I know. We've talked about it for such a lo-o-ong time, but this is for real. I have pictures! So here goes. No comments about the clutter. It took days to go through all the cupboards. We are clearing things for the electrician who will be here tomorrow morning - 7:30 am to rewire for the new stove, the dishwasher, the disposal, the undercabinet lights, and the overheads. Take a deep breath and say good-bye to most of what you remember about the family kitchen.

Before

Now we've gone through ALL the cabinets (more about that later) and we are ready to remove, demolish, alter, modify. What other verbs would be appropriate?

Matt began by removing the doors. This made it easier to see where things were screwed together.

Then we pried the frames from the soffit.

Once we did one side, we then did the same to the other side.

The next step was to remove the front wallboard all the way around the soffit so

the electrician can see where the wiring comes down from the ceiling. Matt got pretty slick at taking the wallboard down.

Imagine our surprise (not) when we opened it up and the insulation was sitting there. We will have to remove the entire soffit before they will be able to put in the new cabinets. Also imagine our surprise (for real) when we discovered trails in the insulation. Remember the mouse problem we had years ago?

After taking down the upper cabinets, we took out the stove. The dark stain in the right-hand corner is scorch marks?!!!! Don't know when. I do know it wasn't there when the stove was put in. That might explain why the breaker popped.

Dana finally got her chance to wield a sledge hammer.

I think all the renovation shows just fed this desire to destroy something with blunt force. After we took off the countertop, Dana and Matt took a sledge to the cabinet. What fun!

Right Now This Evening! This is what we have. It still seems unreal, but, one thing I know for sure, there's no way to put it back the way it was. We can only go forward!

Kitchen remodeling by the numbers - Part 1

• 18 water bottles - found in the corner cabinet
• 6 kinds of hot sauce - from the cooking spice cabinet
• 2 bottles of bubbles - I don't know where they were hidden. They just appeared.
• 1 unopened package of raisins - expiration date 2006
• 8 half-eaten packages of crackers from the cereal cupboard
• 1 fun-size box of Fiber 1 cereal - unopened. Wonder why?
• 13 boxes of kitchen gear and assorted paraphanalia
• 4 BIG boxes of stuff for DI

We did keep the Barney bowl and the yellow bowls but not the sippy bowls or all the chipped plates.

The new cabinets are supposed to arrive next Monday. We'll see what happens. Definitely interesting times.

Christmas really happened!

It's only a week and a half ago that the last grandchildren and parent left, but it seems longer and shorter depending. Christmas was a wonderful two-week collection of family, food, and fun. Lots of laughter, teasing, games and catching up.

Kristy, Katelyn and Josh arrived Dec 18. I finished up school, Dana worked on her room and we were all involved in helping Grandad with Grandma. Grandma (Lee) broke her ankle Dec 17 and required help moving between chair, wheelchair, and bedroom. Peter arrived Sunday, Dec 21. We did find time to make tamales on Monday with Grandad. Dana's room was finished Tuesday, just in time for Craig, Janessa, Grace and Abby. Craig & Janessa let us know that Craig Jr. will arrive in May. We're excited about that. The more the merrier. Jeff arrived Tuesday evening, just behind the storms that swept through Utah and northern AZ.

We did a pit cook on Wednesday. We also helped move grandparents into an assisted living home while Grandma's ankle heals. The "boys" were great about moving furniture and other essentials. I got to Christmas shop and wrap.


Katie, Michael, Jacob and Rachel arrived Wednesday evening. The luminarios were lit, the outside lights were on and the pile under the tree was growing. We had EVERYONE home for about 20 hours. It was a wonderful, noisy houseful.

Stockings were hung. Christmas jammies were opened. More presents were wrapped. Lots of Mario Cart and computer games.


Christmas morning began about 7pm as small voices began to sound. Stockings first. What treasures for little ones. Then the tree and the ocean of presents under it. We started out slow, watching each present being opened. That gradually changed. Uncle Matt was kind enough to find presents for the grandchildren. The adults were content to watch the children open their presents. They got to their gifts after the children were through and settled playing. One of the simplest gifts that was the most appreciated was Rachel's box of kleenex. Her face was sheer joy as she got to pull out the tissues and no one stopped her.



We took family photos this year, with the help of Matt's tripod and the timer on Mom's camera. Not too bad.


Here's the grandchildren. Won't be six for long with Katie's baby due in March and Janessa's in May.


Kristy and Peter took their small ones off to Idaho for Will's wedding Christmas afternoon. We celebrated Craig's 30th birthday on Friday with a steak fry. Lots of steak and potato cake. Lots of steak sandwiches for the next week. One very intense Uno session. Great fun.


Craig and family left Saturday. Michael flew back to Ohio on Sunday. Jeff stayed until Tuesday. He and Matt worked on projects for Dad, one of which was setting up a board for Dad's train set. Dad and Jacob spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday playing with the trains and eating oranges. We did build gingerbread houses with Jacob and Rachel. Katie and kids left Wednesday evening and we were suddenly back to just four of us. Wow!


It was a wonderful time. It was long anticipated and I believe the reality lived up to the expectations. Everyone was willing to share bedrooms, bathrooms, car seats, and vehicles. We are very blessed and grateful for family. My only regret is that we can't do this more often. Every two or three years seems too long to wait.

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year!

I love a parade!

Grandad and Matt have all the fun! They got to ride on a float in the Junior Parada in Florence last Saturday. They got to wear hats, bandanas, and wave at the crowd. Matt got the best job. He got to throw candy to the crowd. Can't beat that.

Check these two handsome dudes out. Make sure you catch the sign. Grandad was the guest of honor for the CAC float.

Does it bring back memories? Check out the Shriners cars.

If you recall, the parade lasts all of fifteen minutes. But it's fun and nobody is taking themselves seriously.

Messiah spirit

It has happened once again. At least once during all the practices for our community presentation of the Messiah, the Spirit bears witness that the words we are singing are true. It's never with the same song and never at the same time, but you can count on having the experience sometime.

It is a testimony to me of the power of music and the inspiration Handel enjoyed as he created this series of moving pieces.

She's gone!

She came into our lives one April evening in 1995. She disappeared one night about two weeks ago. I'm talking about "Momma Cat". She hadn't looked well for a couple of weeks. She was slowing down. She wasn't as spry. We figured it was old age. Then on a Saturday, she looked so bad we took her to the vet. She was dehydrated and you could feel her ribs. They drew blood and sent us home with our own container of Ringers lactated IV solution and sufficient needles to give her an IV twice a day until she began to eat and drink again. We did this for a couple of days and she began to look better. (Did you know that animal skin will pull away from the muscle when they're dehydrated. You can give an IV subcutaneously and the bubble of fluid will absorb into the muscle.) For about a week everything was normal and then she began to fade. We had a couple of days where she didn't move from her spot in the ivy, even to eat. When we checked on her one evening she was gone. We looked all over the yard, the neighbors yard, across the street. No cat. She never came back. So she's gone, after 13 years, 3 kittens and countless doves and lizards.

I'm glad to finally have NO ANIMALS to care for for the first time in what seems like forever. Dana's glad she didn't have to watch the cat die. Dad's a little disappointed we didn't get to add her remains to the collection under the apricot tree.

Labor Day at the wash

We have made our annual trek to the Park Wash for the Reidhead reunion. This year was a minimal wash experience. No tents, no s'mores, no sitting around the fire at night, no stars. But, we got to visit with Craig, Janessa and the girls and we were able to help Grandad get to Sacrament Meeting so it was successful. I don't know if there were any wild grapes this year. We didn't even look.

We arrived at the cabin late Friday night. Craig and his family were already there. Saturday am, after Grandad's wonderful sourdough biscuits for breakfast, we loaded up the water cans and headed to the wash. We set up a tarp and unloaded the chairs and ice chest. Dad was ramrodding a branding activity so he took off. Nothing too crazy. He has a small branding iron with John Reidhead's brand that he would heat up and then anyone who wanted to could brand a slice of juniper for their very own. Grace was very interested in just what Grandad was doing.

There were several games for the kids this year. A balloon toss, a three-legged race (which we did NOT get involved with) and others. The best was the Easter egg hunt. It was divided by age groups and there were LOTS of eggs. The girls made quite a haul.

The Craig Gibson's headed to Albuquerque about noon and we just vegged in camp until it was time to cook Dutch oven potatoes for dinner. We had enough coals and time left over, so Dana sweet-talked her dad into cooking a batch of biscuits. It was great.

The weather was cool all day Saturday with lots of clouds. We went back to the cabin that night. Sunday morning, it rained . . . and rained . . . and rained. It was wonderful! Dad and Grandad went to church while Dana and I stayed with Grandma. Lunch was hamburgers with tomatoes from the garden and sweet corn.

We always enjoy the wash and all the people and friends and food. This year was different, but still fun.

He's Home!

It's not a dream. It's for real, as was so quietly murmured today about noon. Matt has returned home from Arcadia, California. He looks and sounds great. The baptism on Sunday that he and his companion participated in was a wonderful way to end his mission. We're excited to have him home and now it's full steam ahead, after a couple of days adjusting to heat, no 24-hour shadow, being able to take off your shoes, and listening to music other than Tab choir.



Check out the luggage that came home. The front part is Matt's name. Across the back of both is a sticker that give the "no other success" quote in Mandarin symbols.


Dana took Matt off to Institute tonight. We'll see how that goes. And yes, to silence all the speculation, Matt has a bedroom with a bed, made up and ready to sleep in, a closet with hangers, and an empty chest-of-drawers to fill.





Matt is scheduled to speak in Sacrament Meeting on the 14th and all are invited. Our meeting begins at 11 pm. We're looking forward to it. He promises to speak longer than 4 minutes.