Alyssa's Birthday

We were in Utah for Josh and Hayley's wedding at the same time of Alyssa's birthday. Since the official day was a bad day to celebrate due to the wedding, we went out to eat on Thursday night. It's a China Buffet Alyssa likes. You can see that she really likes the Blue Tooth earpiece. It's in the photos of Alyssa and Ben for the next few days.

House is ready - almost

Most of what we want to have done for the open house is almost done. Just a few minor things and cleanup left to do before the big day.

We've only lived here since 1991 with no shades on the kitchen or dining room. NOW mom thinks we need privacy. Go figure!!

The door is almost done. The strip across the top is in the garage, painted, and now just needs to be nailed on. This picture doesn't show the beauty of the leaded glass look very well. This project was much more work than expected, but it all turned out nice.

More work/Mom's lipsink

Mom & Michelle were in charge of the talent show. The activities performed the opening act with an Hawaiian Elvis. They had a good time. Good event for all.

This is an attempt at using my digital camera to make a video. Not very good quality - but you get the feel of the moment.

This is the Relief Society Presidency. From L to R: Scollick, Lambourne, Lamb and the lead singer is Hales.

Front Door done

We finally installed the front door. I wanted to paint it with latex in the interior but it didn't give the right look. So I used an oil base enamel on Thursday. Problem with oil is that it takes longer to dry. The weather has been over cast so it didn't dry in all places. Some of the edges got smudged when installing on Saturday. Installing was a pain too. I measures the door openning wrong. We went to put the frame in place and found we were 1/2" short. We had to take the frame apart and cut it, with the door down by 3/4". My neighbor, Bud, came over and was a bit help. I will finish the trim this week. Still not sure whether to go with black or white. In all, it was a much bigger,more difficult project than expected.

During the day, it adds considerable light in the entryway.

I moved the old handles from the front to the back.

Shutters are ordered.

We planted more color (more to come) and mulched the flower beds too. Jarrod power washed the concrete.

The Christensen's invited Jarrod to spend the week with them at Brianhead. They invited us but we had too much to do at home. He said the conditions were great. They went tubing too.

Door painting/Bday

We got so frustrated with shopping for front doors, we decided to create a "unique" front door look. I called it a raccoon door. It does have that hillbilly look.


This is the back door. Mom really likes the look. The smoke is from the BBQ- not the house burning down.

This is the real front door when we were painting it. This is the primer coat. It's easier to darken the primer when painting over with black. Even with 2 primer and 3 color coats, I will probably be repainting every few years.

This is the final product. We don't have the hardware yet so I will be looking to install it next weekend.

The big 51. Getting very old!

House painting/Lonya wedding

House painting is almost done. Needs shutters and black front door. The current door is pretty much shot. We don't know if we can get a new one in time so we may just need to paint it black and replace it later. A few images below is a PhotoShop image of what think it will look like.


Back door white or black????

This is the PhotoShop image with the shutters and black door added.

Lonya and Jeremy were married on Sat AM. Mom, Michelle and Sandy did the food.

Nathan & Jen's visit

Katelynn came with Nathan & Jennifer to Dan's homecoming talk. They came in Sat AM and leave Monday night. Quick visit but we are glad they were here.

You can see, she really likes her grandpa's piano playing. Good thing she hasn't heard him sing!

Two beautiful girls!!

She was eyeing the rootbeer floats! Not quite yet but soon you'll be snarfing them down at mutual or on a date!!

For now, baby food will have to do.

Steph & Gary's Visit/House painting

Stephanie and Gary visited us the last few days. They went to Disneyland for several days. It been fabulous weather for them. We had Santa Ana winds (hot dry winds from the desert) that kept it in the 80's. Last night we took them to Balboa (Newport) Beach for a campfire with hotdogs. Today, we had dinner with them. Their kids were well behaved. Great houseguests.

We also started painting the house. I started on Fri but the winds were too strong to finish without taking the chance of over spray on the neighbors. Saturday had winds too. So we painted the trim. Rick Christensen and Adam came over to help Jarrod and Rick. They were a great help. Of course, Rick C took the high spots as he is not atlitude challenged like the Wilburs.

President Day projects

We spent Saturday prepping the house to paint on Monday. We got it scraped and primed. Of course it rained Sunday night with an 80% thread of rain on Monday. So we will paint another day. This is the test area of color it will be.
With the concern of rain, we painted inside. We wanted to do the upstairs bath in a 2 tone. The photo doesn't show the color well.

We also bought a new light for the front entry. I wanted the replace the old one for years. Of course, when doing home improvement, Murphy's law always applies. The existing wire was too short for the new light. I had to pull the siding off the front of the house to run new wire from the switch to the fixture. But it's done!!