Almost finished basement

Sara's big wish this year was to have the unfinished portion of our basement converted into a bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom. After saving and planning and waiting, we are almost there. I hired on my Dad as the contractor, and he did most of the work, though Sara and I chipped in when and where we could. We also hired on a friend to help with the framing. Here are some pictures early on, when the framing was about finished, and some recent pictures of it almost completed. I'm hoping to finish up the trim work before the end of the year. We'll see how that goes.


... a view of the short hallway leading to the bathroom and laundry doorway

the bathroom plumbing

looking from the laundry room into the bathroomthe southeast corner of the office
the northeast corner of the office

the nook in the office where the bed or couch will be

the furnace access from the office

looking from the office into the family room
the closet in the office


the man hard at work

peekaboo

drywall is hung, now on to the floors

painting the walls


laundry room ready for painting

Sara says, "don't mess with the girl with the brush"


new ceiling and lights in the family room too.

looking from the family room into the office. the bifold doors give access to the furnace

bed nook

view of office closet and family room

view of the hallway leading to laundry room and bathroom

laundry room


and the bathroom, ready for use.

Ward Talent Show 2009

For the ward talent show this year we decided to do a bit of a song and dance routine. The song is "7 days of the Week" by They Might Be Giants. The beginning of our act, which got cut off in this video, showed me sitting down at my "desk" to do some paperwork only to have the girls run around playing and making loud noises, to which I yelled, "Quiet, I'm trying to work here."

The girls had a fun time practicing and performing this song. They still sing it from time to time.

Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run 2009

For the last 15 or so years, Columbia has hosted the Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run on July 4th, in commemoration of his escape from the Boone County Jail in Columbia on July 4th, 1839. The race is organized by one of the members of the Columbia Ward. There is a 4 mile race for the more competitive folks, and a 1 mile race for the rest of us. We participated in the event 2 years ago, though Elise rode in the stroller and Emmy rode on my shoulders.

This year Elise graduated from the stroller to Papa's shoulders while Emmy and Eden ran the whole way. Eden placed 1st in the category of 8 & under girls (time of ~9:30); Emmy would have been first if there had been a 6 & under division (her time was ~ 10min). Elise and I were a second or two behind Emmy. It was great fun despite the torrential rain the night before and the light rain during the race. Eden's "trophy" was a painted watermelon. I was proud of both girls for completing the race and doing it so well.

kicked by a horse

On Saturday May 9th, Eden, Emmy, Elise and I went to my friends Chris & Jennifer's house to ride horses. Elise went first and did a fine job. She really enjoyed it, so much so that she was reluctant to leave the horse when it was Emmy's turn. I was leading the horse and Elise was following behind the horse despite my warnings. She came up next to me and then drifted back towards the rear of the horse again, but this time she decided the horse needed a belly rub. I'm not sure if the horse was tickled or irritated, but quick as a whip the horse cow-kicked and Elise was in the mud. This all happened behind my back, though I quickly became aware of it when Elise started crying. My friend Chris saw it happen and came running over to help. Fortunately, the horse only struck her leg; it could have been much worse. Elise was in a great deal of pain and was unable to bear weight on the leg, which was colored with a good sized bruise.

The horse riding session was brought to an early close, and I dropped Eden and Emmy off at home with Sara before taking Elise to the hospital. The news that we were going to the hospital was terrifying to Elise; she did not want to get a shot. She was very nervous when it was time for her leg to be X-rayed, but she survived and we were relieved to find out that nothing was broken. The doctor gave her some ibuprofen and sent us home. The next day she was walking, though with a noticable limp. A couple of days later she was back to normal, though the bruise lasted for some time.

Interestingly, Elise is looking forward to the next horse riding adventure, though I imagine she will be much more respectful of the horse's space next time.

Emmy's birthday #6

We had a small celebration at home last Thursday. Emmy's special dinner request was sloppy joes. When we asked her if she wanted cake or pie for her birthday dessert she replied "ice cream!"

On Saturday she had some friends over for a Barbie birthday party (no boys allowed). They watched a Barbie movie, colored and decorated full-size outlines of their bodies, and busted up a pinata. Emmy had made a special request that one of the activities be cutting Papa's hair (with the clippers, supervised by Sara), but unfortunately (fortunately), they ran out of time for that last activity. Here is a picture of the cake that Sara made for the party.

Creative kids

I'm not exactly sure where the inspiration came from; one day Eden simply decided to create thid diorama. It is a desert scene with a lizard and a snake.

I'm not entirely sure where the inspiration came for this picture either; I went downstairs to find Elise for dinner-time, only to find the startling image of this creature. She said she was a super hero and that her name was Super Elise. I brought her upstairs, but the mask made eating dinner a little difficult, so she was forced to remove her disguise. I think she looks like one of those Lucha Libre wrestlers.

Baby blessing

Beautiful baby. I couldn't be happier. We love Evie.

Baptism day

Eden was baptized February 7, 2009. It was an exciting day, especially since we were all running a little behind schedule, but as you can see from the smiles, we enjoyed the event immensely.















This picture is of Eden in the dress that Nana Roxanne wore when she was baptized. Unfortunately Eden could do little more than model it since the stake's current policy is no dresses for baptismal clothing.

The Guardians of the Driveway

With the heavy snowfall that Utah Valley had the week before Christmas, my Dad commissioned me to sculpt some lions flanking the driveway.

Speed Reader, Speed Reader!

Taken at Stephanie & Carlos' place, the girls showed off their mad reading skills.

It reminded me of the intro to Speed Reader from The Great Space Coaster.