'Da House

We moved into this house in July as part of Don's job. This is the view coming in from the front door with the piano, diningroom, and fireplace to the left. The sliding glass door (going out to the back porch and the pool) is at the center back, with the couches and entertainment center across the room. That's a small secretary desk to the immediate right. Once you come in a few steps and turn right you'll be facing the kitchen. The balcony at the rear above the sliding glass door is part of a separate upstairs office that is entered from the front porch. When you're up there you can open the upstairs sliding glass door and stand there over looking the livingroom.



This is the great room downstairs. At the far side in the corner is a two-story rock fire place with windows on the walls to either side of it. The dining room room table is in from of the fire place. The piano is along the wall going toward the front door. In the foreground is the livingroom furniture facing the other wall which has the entertainment center. The downstairs has windows on every wall except for the one where we put the entertainment center. I had to put blinds and curtains on a toatl of 14 windows and 4 sliding glass doors. I think we really do live in a glass house!

This is the view looking from the entertainment area back at the front door and kitchen. There's a sliding glass door at the far end of the kitchen. To the left is a spare bedroom and bathroom. The stairs go up go to the master bedroom (which is an open loft), a big bathroom, a large walk-in closet, and lots of storage. The kitchen is fairly large and has an island with a gas stove and grill in it.






This is a shot of the ceiling above the master bedroom. The whole ceiling looks like this. We love the wood beams and slats.

The house is bigger than we are used to, and we are enjoying that. The outside area is huge. I'll have to send pics of that some other time. We feel very blessed to have this house to live in.

Trooper has settled into the family well. He and Mia are regular pals, and we're glad for that.


Don's brother, Jonathon, is getting married in about ten days, and we are so happy for him. Don's mom and his sister Cali will be here with us for a few days. We're looking forward to their visit. My mom and Sister Susan will be visiting for a day at the end of this week. Jenna came out for a day last Friday, and Nicole comes over for lunch fairly regularly since she works out here. Nathan and Sarah and the kids are settling into their new home and routine in Germany. We love checking up on them through the blog that Sarah writes.

Today was one of those busy days at Church: I sang in a trio in Sacrament meeting, team taught Sunday School (Marriage and Family Relations Class) with Don, and taught in Relief Society. Next week Don will have a similar Sunday since he will be treaching Priesthhood in addition to Sunday School. We're glad to be able to serve. We love you all!

View Out the Back Sliding Glass Door

There's a fairly wide back porch off of the living room and then the pool area is off of the back porch.

Grandpa Playing Tarzan for the Grandkids

We have several large mesquite trees in the front yard. Don was playing around in them wishing the grandkids could be here playing, too. At least the dogs were entertained by his antics!

He's Our Little Trooper

This week we rescued a 7-month-old male puppy from a guy who has a heavy hand that Jenna knew in her apartment building. We paid him some money and he gave us the dog. As far as I'm concerned, I'd have paid a lot more to get that sweet little puppy out of that house. He's bright, attentive, and a fast learner. Supposedly he's a dalmation-lab mix, but I don't think he's going to get that big. I guess time will tell. We named him Trooper. He follows us everywhere we go and doesn't let us out of his sight. Such a little body guard! He and Mia really like playing with each other, although Mia tires of it before he does :-)

Twice As Long...As Usual

I guess we are just optimistic by nature. And knowing that about ourselves, we have a rule of thumb: However long you think it is going to take, double it! I should have remembered that rule when I said I was going to learn to post pictures this week. I only got half of the job done: I took some pictures. Maybe by next week I'll get them posted. Until then I will just tell you that our lives are BUSY!

In addition to our busy weeks that seem to fly by, our Sundays are packed full. We will begin teaching the Marriage and Family Relations class next week at Church during Sunday School. We are doing our lessons as Power Point presentations and dividing up who does which slide...talk about time consuming! But we're excited about the class. Don is also teaching Priesthood once a month and is the Cub Master. I also teach Relief Society twice a month. No chance for idle hands around this house!

I'll blog about the house, the rental, Don's job, etc. next time around. I just wanted to touch bases tonight. I sure hope I get good at this one of these days! Have a good week, y'all!

Sad Day

This morning our little dog Gidget died. She was blind and nearly deaf, but always happy and cheerful. Good-bye, sweet old girl. We love you so much!

A First Time for Everything!

OK, here it is: my first blog! There's going to be one large learning curve for this endeavor, no doubt, but I'm going to do this just to prove that you CAN teach and old mom new tricks! Actually, my purpose is to have a way to stay in touch with family and friends (especially the branch of the family now living in Germany). I'll learn how to add pics this week, I hope, so that this blog won't be so boring in the weeks to come! Wish me luck!