The Month in Pictures

June has really been packed. But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, I will let the pictures do most of the talking. June 4th:

There were over 400 students in her class. Doesn't she look so happy?

Arden and Kelsey had a few short days between Arden coming and Kelsey leaving. It was also great to see all the cousins that were able to come to Madi's Graduation. Gabe was always trying to be the center of attention, as usual.

John's roses. The red ones have a cinnamon scent. The pink ones are on the huge rose bush in front of the house. The other single roses are along the south side of the house. Each one is a little different from the others.




Here is John's garden. It is small in size, but it's something we can handle. We have potatoes, beans, tomatoes (that we will actually be able to eat), onions, strawberries, and raspberries.



















































Gabe even has 3 sunflowers he started from seed in pre-school. They are even taller today than they were yesterday!

Tomorrow is Arden's birthday party. She turned 15 last Monday, and we took her to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called The Red Iguana. It was realllllllllly good. Leslie was able to go with us and make it a real party!

Gabe running through the fountains at the Gateway. It would be fun to bring Jonas, Hannah, etc. and just let them run and play in the water. Let's talk about a day!



Ok. We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. Bring your appetites: we're having ribs! Hopefully, by our next blog, the kitchen will be complete. We've made progress, but that will come here on another day.

Arden's Birthday

Today Arden turns 15!!! Today we went on a shopping spree for her at the Gateway, and then went to find Leslie. Les was getting close to quitting time, so we all went to dinner at a little place called the Red Igauna. It was delicious! We'll have birthday cake here tomorrow. Anyway, we thought that the easiest thing to do for a family get-together for her is to have it next Saturday. Sara has graciously agreed for us to have this shindig at her house. We thought 5:00 p.m. would be a good time. We will have the cake, ice cream and other food items. We'll let you know what else we need when we've actually thought that far. By the way, Arden seems to wear a Large in shirts, but in pants, she is a 13 junior in pants (11 or 12 in ladies?). I hope this helps. We hope to see everyone on Saturday!

(Pictures will come later)

School's out! My last day of kids was Thursday, and I had to work on Friday. Madi might as well be out -- she only went to 20 minutes of class today, and tomorrow is Senior Sluff Day. Wednesday is Graduation! We went to her Seminary Graduation last night. John is so proud of her. She went to early morning seminary this year in order to get her last year credit. Early morning was at 6:15 a.m.

Well, the month of May was quite busy. John had his tonsils out on the 20th, and would not stay down to recover. He went to Home Depot the next day! And then wondered why he wasn't feeling so well. There is so much to do, though, that he just couldn't stay down. So, last Monday (Memorial Day) we demolished the kitchen and on Tuesday, John demolished the upstairs bathroom. We've had the cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom for the last 18 months. We just needed the time and resources to get them installed. Now we have someone to do the job, and they needed everything out before this week. Here are some pictures of our projects.

(By the way, the basement is DONE!!!! The last of the carpet went down on Saturday!)

The checkered carpet goes down the stairs, the hallway to the bathroom and the computer/tv room. The green carpet is in our bedroom, and really matches our comforter.

Now the pictures of what once was, and what now is:

It's a good thing we have "the other side." Hopefully, this will all be done before summer is over. We look forward to having everyone come see the end results. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I'll have some more to write after Madi's graduation. Arden gets here tomorrow night. We get to have her here for 6 weeks. One of those weeks, though, she will be at camp with Madison. See everyone soon.