Labor Day Weekend - A Weekend of Labor

Our Labor Day weekend was a weekend full of labor, as we got back to work on house projects! We started that Friday (Aug 29th) with removing the remainder of our popcorn ceiling. Garrett, Curtis and I all worked together while the other kids were in school. Curtis took half the day off to be able to do it. We're so excited to finally have ALL of the popcorn ceiling GONE!!!

Garrett and I prepped the rooms with plastic from walls to floors.

Curtis did the spraying and scraping. He's ready in his ty-vex suit to do the dining room. 

Getting ready to do the living room.

Ceilings cleaned off!

 

Saturday (Aug 30th) we concentrated our time on removing the fake rock from the fireplace in the dining room in preparation for a fresh new look. The three boys did the majority of the work this time. I helped hang the curtain barrier and then let them go to work. Sometimes, they would pass rocks out in a bucket, and I would go dump it in the wheelbarrow waiting outside by the front door. At one point all of us (including the girls) formed a line to pass rocks from the fireplace down the stairs and to the wheelbarrow. Then Jack and Curtis would dump the wheelbarrow into the truck. I love these moments when our whole family works together.

Before demolition

Men at work.

Charlotte wanted something to do so I had her removing baseboard trim. She didn't like the loud noise of the tool the boys were using so she got her noise earmuffs on.

Picking up rocks.

There's the curtain I hung up with push pins.

We decided to remove the rock bench as well and buy a new insert for the fireplace.

Clean-up crew.

Curtis realized we didn't need to remove all of the rock at the top because we'll be adding wooden studs for shiplap. They measured and cleaned the spots where the studs would go.

Charlotte having fun mopping the floors at the end of the day. She ended up getting her swimsuit on and slip sliding all over the wet floor. It made me think of "Pippi Longstocking" on floor scrubbing day.

Thankfully, we had Sunday to rest. God knew what he was doing when he created the Sabbath. Our bodies and minds need that rest!

Monday morning Curtis woke up early and started working on the ceiling, cutting out circles for new lighting and a ceiling fan. Then he did some wiring. Next, he hung up studs on the fireplace. The boys got to learn how to do some cutting with the table saw.

We got so much done that weekend! It felt great and we're so excited to finally get this room updated and looking new.

August Highlights

Curtis and I discovered a new fun place to go to here in Kennewick that just opened last spring. It's called Tee Time. The main part of it is a mini golf course. Then they have some other games around, some are free, some you pay extra to play. Corn hole and shuffleboard were free. We only had time to play shuffleboard, and it was fun. They had some arcade games, pool tables, darts, a big screen tv and couches to sit down on to watch. 

This is designed for one of the bridges that connect Kennewick to Pasco.

It was a nice open atmosphere and much better experience than the other mini golf place we tried here in Kennewick. Plus, there were other things to do as well.

Shuffleboard

The reason we didn't have time to do corn hole was because we had decided to go get the kids and take them to a local family-owned ice cream shop before they closed. Jack had found out through a friend that this ice cream shop, "What's the Scoop", was going to have some Harry Potter flavors in honor of Harry's birthday (which was July 31st). I can't remember now what all of the flavors were, but I had gotten "Dirt" and "Butterbeer". I liked both of them. "Dirt" is actually a favorite for a lot of people they said, and it came with gummy worms.

Jack's friend, Phillip. He's the one that told Jack about this place.

Glenna and Don Gale gave us some plums from their tree, and I was finally able to make plum jelly again! I haven't made it since before we moved here. Jack and Garrett love plum jelly.

We also got Garrett's drums set up in the basement after we figured out how to make it fit. We had to move a few things around. I'm glad to get them out of the garage, but I hope he actually uses these more often now. Garrett also got his 3 wisdom teeth removed on August 7th. I didn't take any pictures because he looked miserable afterwards, but he did well with it and healed up. The only issue we dealt with was when he got nauseated while going to the bathroom once. He threw up all over the toilet and even the wall behind. He had just taken meds not long before and ate a chocolate milkshake. I guess his stomach didn't like that. I had to clean it up for him, and it definitely was not fun. I hadn't had to deal with puke in a long time and I'm just glad that's over with now and that at least it wasn't on carpet. It was one step he needed to get done to get his mission papers turned in.

I got asked last minute to go have a girls' night at a concert! I hadn't been to a concert in years. It was for Scotty McCreery, a country singer who was on American Idol. I really enjoyed his music. The gal who had the tickets, Emily, was going to take her two daughters, but didn't realize that the concert was at a casino and that you had to be 18 years or older to attend. I rarely get girls' nights and so it was great to be able to get away for an evening and just have fun.

Me, Jen, Emily

I finally finished my puzzles!! I realized that the big 1000-piece tree puzzle was not going to get done unless I cheated a little. There are letters on the back of the puzzle pieces from A-F. I sectioned them out to each section and then put that section together.  The Mickey Mouse one I started on our trip to Idaho last spring with Whitney. I couldn't bring myself to take it apart until I had finished it, so I packed it carefully to bring it home. It was a difficult puzzle, but I got it done! 

I actually had to use that spy glass to look at some of the pieces. They were small and hard to see.

Milo had his 2nd birthday! We learned how to make a pup cup like what they give out at Dutch Bros. It's basically just whipped topping, and you can throw other little treats in it like banana or dog treats. Charlotte loved being able to give him these. We also took him to Petco and got him more goodies and toys.

Jack joined a music group this summer that learned some songs about Jesus. The director is LDS as well and used the church building next to the temple to practice and have the concert. It was an interdenominational event. Jack was in the symphony and the youth choir. He really enjoyed doing it and we enjoyed the concert. It was fun to see him use his trumpet in a church building, even though it wasn't for church services.

School started at the end of August. Can I just say, I love starting at the END of August instead of the middle (like in Nampa). It's still the hottest time of the year and summertime.  I took the girls shopping the day before school started to get them some new clothes. I knew it was going to be difficult to find something for Charlotte, but after a while she was able to find an outfit that she loves. She's growing up and ready to wear nicer looking clothes, including jeans. I'm excited for that! Her new clothes are outfits I could wear if they were in my size. Although, that green shirt is a size small in womens, so I might be able to borrow it, lol!

Changed schools this year due to boundary changes. Lincoln Elementary this year. 

The weekend that Garrett got his wisdom teeth out was also the weekend that our niece, Ambrey got married. She's the youngest child of Casey and Amber. I wasn't able to attend because of Garrett's appointment, but Curtis did, and he got to see most of his siblings. They even got a sibling photo.

Seven out of eight siblings. Nic, Ricky, Steve, Shauna, Jeanie, Casey, Curtis. They were just missing Russell, who lives on the East Coast now.

July in a Nutshell

I'm going to have to just sum up the month of July in one post, so that I can catch up again. So many things have happened, and I just haven't gotten around to posting about them.

At the beginning of the month my brother Colby and wife Cindy and son Lehi came to visit us for a couple of days. It was their first time coming to our home in Washington. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very good while they were here so we didn't get to do as much as I would have liked. I didn't even feel up to giving them the tour of our house and tell all that we had done on it so far. We also never got in the pool, even though it was hot. While Curtis was at work, I took them to go check out a park in Richland off the river. We did buy a cool treat from some vendors at the park. Then the girls had fun posing for pictures.

We planned to go to Nampa for the 4th of July weekend, so we drove together with Colby and Cindy. Our family, their family, and Stillman's family all stayed at our grandma's house for that weekend. Colby had also brought Stillman's family their new puppy from Utah. Stillman couldn't bring the puppy to Brigitte's house because he needed vaccinations still and Michelle's mom's puppy had had parvo and died the previous year and had been in that yard. Parvo can still be transferred even after that long, so they did not want to take a chance. The adults all met at Top Golf in Meridian on the 3rd to surprise our sister, Melissa for her 50th birthday. That was the first time I had ever been there and it was fun. Colby and Cindy only stayed one night with us at grandma's house before heading home on the 4th of July to be with the rest of their family. They did go see the new Jurassic World movie with us the morning on the 4th before hitting the road. The movie wasn't that great, but it was still fun to all be together to watch it. Tamara's and Stillman's families and grandma were there also.

Most of our family, including our dog Milo went over to Melissa's almost finished new house to watch fireworks across the valley. Charlotte and Alice went to Tamara's house to do fireworks with cousins.

Top Golf

Our group

Milo meets Brinkley (Stillman's new pup). They had so much fun.

Jack and Brinkley

Their view is amazing!

Tamara and me

Fireworks with the Floyds for our girls.

Milo and Brinkley. They had fun playing.

The following weekend, the girls and Curtis and I went on a river rafting trip for his company's summer activity with the Clarkston office up north of Clarkston on the Grand Ronde River. There was one spot where the rapids were big, and some people tipped over and even lost their boats (a canoe) and oars. Fortunately, they were able to recover almost every item that was lost. In the end, I think the only things still missing were a couple of croc shoes. We were using the kayaks that my parents gave us this summer and inner tubes. I was on one kayak with Alice tied to a tube behind me. Curtis and Charlotte were tied together. We were lucky enough not to tip over. When we got out of our boats on the shore in the rocks Curtis spotted a baby rattlesnake. He and another lady decided to go ahead and kill it because we didn't want to chance it biting anyone, especially the kids. Things didn't go quite as planned and we ended up going to Stillman's to eat some food instead of doing it at the river, because it was getting late. Not as many people were able to stay so they had a ton of food. We stayed the night at Stillman's house and went home the next day.

The girls enjoyed seeing Brinkley again.

On Tuesday, July 15th, Garrett had his heart catheterization in Spokane. The catheterization was done to get a closer look inside at the blood vessels and get pressures for the blood flow. We drove up the evening before and stayed the night with Curtis's aunt Vicki and her husband Jeff. We started the day with a stress test and then his cath. We were gone the entire day. Everything went well. The doctor did add about 10 tiny coils to close off two collateral vessels to help relieve the pressure of blood flow since his blood pressure was a little higher than they would like to see. After the procedure, he needed to lay flat for about 4 hours and then they wanted him to walk around and make sure he wouldn't bleed out before he could be released. It was after 10pm by the time we got back to Vicki's house. We stayed with them that night and then went home the next morning. He didn't have any bleeding to worry about. They do this procedure about every 10 years, but he hadn't done it since his last surgery at 3 years old. So, we were a little overdo apparently and didn't even know it.

Doing the stress test first.

Ready for the heart catheterization.

The view from the hospital room.

Jack went to FSY in Moscow this year and finally got to be roommates with his cousin Jayden. I drove Jack over to drop him off and Curtis picked him up at the end of the week. They had a great time.

Our friends from Nampa came to visit again, the Hayes' family. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool. The adults got in as well, but Chrystal and I both thought the water was too cold, so we didn't stay in long. I love that we get to see them at least once a year.

We had our activity day swim party, and the girls had a week of swim lessons to finish off the month of July. And during that last week a cat showed up under our back deck. It looked dirty at first and like it had a scratch or something on its eye. I wasn't sure if it could be sick either, because it seemed to have watery eyes as well.  It wouldn't let us get close and would hiss. After giving it some food and walking away, it finally started to realize that we weren't going to harm it. When we got to the point where we could finally pet the cat and pick her up, we took her to our vet. Fortunately, this cat had a chip and they called the family, who was very happy to be reunited with their kitty. We didn't know if it was boy or girl until they scanned the chip. It was a girl. And they didn't live far from us. Just up the street. My girls and even Garrett were secretly hoping that we could have kept the cat. It was a cute cat, but I don't need any more pets! I'm really glad we were able to find her home.

Driving to the vet's office. Charlotte let her out of the kennel, and she got comfortable on her lap.