Projects in October

Curtis worked on the fireplace at the beginning of October with Garrett's and Jack's help. It came together pretty quickly for the most part after we received the shiplap. It was exciting to see it come together.

We ordered a new TV on Amazon and didn't notice it had a crack on the screen until after we hung it up and turned it on. Fortunately, we were able to return it easily. 

We bought a new TV locally this time and at Costco. We're happy with how everything turned out!

Curtis still needed to buy some insulation for the fire stove and a fireproof mat, but it was essentially finished at this point. The next order of business was to get curtains for the window, but I didn't want to do that until I had fixed up and painted the windowsill. It had been either chewed up or clawed by the previous owner's dogs. It was also painted blue, and we wanted it white. I used a lot of plastic wood filler to get the windowsill back to looking nice again. I would put some on, let it dry, sand it down, and then do it again in places that still needed it. I think I did this process about 8-10 times. I really wanted it to look good since it was in our living room where a lot of people will see it.

This is what it looked like before. I had already started to add the plastic wood putty when I took this picture. The pink color turns brown when it's dry.

It was scratched up in the center for at least the length of half of the big window, maybe a little more than half.

After having some layers of putty applied and sanded. It still had some bumps to fill.

I finally got it where I was happy with it and got it primed and painted.

Once I finished the window, I decided to work on the stair's banister next. It had been painted white before, but much of it had rubbed off and you could see a lot of brown from the wood. There were some spots that needed some putty here as well, but that didn't take near as long. I did not enjoy painting this banister though. It was long and tedious, as there were lots of curves and places to reach with the paint, but I am glad I got it done. 

It took me a little while to figure out what color of curtains to get for the living room, but I did get some help from ChatGPT on my phone (AI). It had told us to go with a black curtain rod to match the trim work of the fireplace and the ceiling fan. Then to get a lighter color of curtain in a long length. We found one we like, except having had them up for a month now, I think we would like to switch to a type that will keep the sun out better (room darkening), but same color. It's nice to have a lot of sun in, except when we're watching something on TV.  I didn't buy new curtains for our dining room or other sliding door yet, so we might just move the curtains we bought over to those windows.

Got our new curtains and decorations up.

All decorated for Halloween now. YouTube has scenes you can put on your TV that have ambience music playing with it. They have some for Halloween, Fall, and Christmas. (The TV screen was pulled out and turned a little, so that's why it doesn't look quite centered.)

It is so rewarding after working hard on a project to see how it turns out in the end. We are so thrilled with how everything looks. We thought about renting a cabin for Christmas this year but have now decided to stay home and enjoy Christmas in our newly remodeled living room with our new fireplace. Bring on the holidays! 

Garrett's Mission Call and Temple Trip

We finally submitted Garrett's mission papers in September! I was happy for him but also very nervous. He has his heart condition and anxiety. I just had a feeling that if they sent him anywhere, even in the states, that he might get anxiety and have to come right back home. Well, our stake president asked to visit with him and us on Sunday afternoon on September 21st. At this point, Curtis and I were both thinking that they're probably going to have him do a service mission. We went in there and that's exactly what happened. I told Garrett beforehand that I didn't know what the stake president wanted to visit with us about, but I'm sure it was mission related. He got excited. Then when we were in there, after visiting for a few minutes, the stake president asked him if he would be willing to do a service mission and that this is coming straight from an apostle of the Lord. 

Garrett didn't say anything. I could tell that that's not what he was hoping to hear. He had his heart set on hoping to go to Japan. Curtis and I both knew that wouldn't happen, but you could tell Garrett was still hoping and this was a big letdown for him. The stake president talked a little bit about service missions, which are relatively new, and said that there is a couple that is in charge of the service missionaries in our area, and they could come visit us and give more information about it. He said that Garrett could think about it and let him know later what his decision would be. While Garrett and I drove home after that meeting, the only thing I said was "that wasn't what you were hoping to hear was it?". He shook his head and then cried. I decided it would be best to give him some time to think about it and soak it in. He immediately went to his room and cried some more when we got home.

A little while later, after Curtis got home (he stayed to talk to the stake president), Curtis went in to talk to him. I didn't learn this until later, but I guess Garrett told Curtis that he didn't have to go to Japan. That he could go on a proselyting mission anywhere. Curtis talked to him about the pros of serving a service mission and finally Garrett warmed up to the idea. By the end of the night, the service mission advisers, the Mortensen's, called and scheduled to come visit with us the next evening and Garrett was getting a little excited about it. The Mortensen's came over Monday evening. They showed us a video and gave us folders with printed out information about different service opportunities that he'll get to choose from to do in our area. There was also a sample schedule in there and other info. After they left, he texted the stake president that he was ready to meet with him again. The stake president came over Tuesday evening, where Garrett talked to him privately and told him that he would accept the call. The stake president then let the office in Salt Lake know Garrett's decision and by Wednesday afternoon, he received an email letting him know that his official mission call was in his mission portal. They do this in a way that you don't accidentally see the call if you want it to be a surprise for a gathering. Well, I viewed it a little before printing just to make sure it was going to say service mission on it, ha ha. I printed it and then sealed it in a big envelope, so that he could open it just like any other missionary would, even though he already knew what the call was.

At the end of August, Garrett was anxious to get his endowments out at the temple so that he could volunteer before his mission. Our little temple was closed for two weeks in September, and we ultimately decided it would be better to do it at the Meridian, Idaho temple so that more family could be there. My dad and stepmom are also temple workers at the Meridian temple on Saturday mornings. We were able to arrange it to be at 10am and that Dad and Laverne were the officiators for the session, which was scheduled for Saturday the 27th of September. Everything just seemed to work out for that weekend to go to Idaho. The kids didn't have school that Friday, so we could leave earlier. It was also Garrett's birthday weekend and he had to opportunity to go to the BSU game with Stillman and Michelle and cousin Jayden. Not to mention, now that he had his official mission call, it was a perfect time to open it with family while in Idaho. We had a good turnout for his temple session and got some pictures afterwards. He was so excited beforehand and after. 

The weather was beautiful that day!

We had Casey, Gaya, Steve, Tamara, Dad, Stillman, Aunt Diane, Uncle Jess, Laverne, Jenna, Grandma Norton and Great Aunt Joyce. (Aunt Joyce passed away just a couple weeks later at age 97, so it makes this so much more special that she was there with us for Garrett's special day.)

Then we had our friends step in for a picture with the family. Aaron and Allison Chan and Tracy and Heather Ballantyne.

Picture with the grandparents.

Our bishop and his wife (Aaron and Allison Chan) made the trip over to Idaho just to come be with Garrett at the temple. They are so awesome!

After we finished at the temple, we went back to Grandma's house so we could change and have people come over for some pizza and to open Garrett's mission call. We ordered Papa Murphy's that time but next time I think we should just order from somewhere that precooks the pizza for that big of a crowd. We had some issues with the oven, and the pizza was taking a long time to get baked. We needed to hurry because our bishop needed to get back to Kennewick for a ward activity and the group going to the BSU game needed to get going, including Garrett. Finally, we got our bellies filled and then it was mission call time!

I wrote it in pencil, so it's hard to see but it says "Garrett's Mission Call".

The map with everyone's guesses.

Pointing to the Kennewick, Washington mission. Apparently, Curtis had said something to Stillman that basically gave it away earlier that week, so Stillman's guess was Kennewick. Ha ha

After the mission call opening, we sang happy birthday to Garrett and had some cake. The next thing you know, Garrett takes off with Stillman to head to the BSU game and we can relax a little.

BSU buddies - cousin Jayden and Uncle Stillman

With Great Grandma "GG"

With Grandma Vernie and Grandma Butterfield

Garrett at the game, with his friend Trey in the background who was the drum major for Boise State's marching band, Blue Thunder.

We watched the BSU game from Grandma's house but the girls had the opportunity to go visit their friends. Alice visited Sydney and Charlotte visited Ellie.

What made the weekend even more special was that was the same weekend that our niece, Ellie, was blessing her new baby.  Like I said, everything was working out for us to be in Idaho that weekend. It was our first time meeting Evelyn and getting to see Melissa's finished house, as they had a little brunch after church. We packed our bags before going over so that we could head straight home to Kennewick from their house. 

Alice was super excited to see Evelyn and held her several times. She can't wait to go back and see her again.

We matched!

Unfortunately, we heard the news Sunday morning that our dear prophet, Russell M. Nelson, passed away the evening before, which was the same day Garrett got his endowments out. It surprised us, but at the same time it didn't because he was 101 years old. I'm going to miss him though. He was a great man and just showed so much love for everyone. You could hear the love in his voice when he spoke. 

Sunday morning was also the same morning of the tragedy that happened in a Michigan LDS church building where a man rammed his truck into the church, started shooting people and set the building on fire. Several lost their lives and others were injured. That was shocking and so incredibly sad. The miracle that came from this is that the members of the church in that area started an online donation to the family of the shooter. The shooter was killed by police and left his wife and son. It wasn't their fault what he did and so it changed their life as well. There were fundraisers already set up for the family of the victims. What a great lesson for all of us. Instead of getting angry and throwing out more hate, these church members did what the Savior would do and helped the family of the shooter. Love is always better than hate!

Paint and Lights!

One day while at church, Charlotte decided to draw a picture of Jesus from looking at a printed picture that she had. I definitely think art talent is running in this family. She did a great job for being only 11 years old! I just had to share it. She later did some other drawings as well.

Her big brother Garrett from looking at his senior picture.

On the other artist side, Garrett and I got busy painting our ceilings and walls after doing all of the prep that needed to be done, such as new texture and filling holes, etc. Curtis did the ceiling texture and most of the retexturing on the walls. I had to do a little of the texturing as well because there were a couple of spots he missed and a hole that he filled later.

After doing a layer of prime on everything, it was time for paint!

Even Alice got in on the action. Those three areas that are taped off in boxes are what Curtis missed. We didn't want to wait, so we painted around. Next time, don't paint on the tape though, because it kind of left a line. I ended up doing texture on those spots later because Curtis was too busy and I didn't want to wait. Thank goodness for spray texture in a can!

After paint, we got lights and a ceiling fan installed! It was exciting!

It's so nice to have a lit-up room finally!

These lights are neat because they have a night light option, plus it can still be dimmed.

In the middle of all of this, our dryer decided to quit on us. I had to take some clothes down the street to dry at least one load of laundry at someone's house from church, the Zimmerman's, until we could get a new one. I have to say though, this dryer was a good dryer. Curtis had to fix it (put a new belt on or something like that) a couple of times over the years, but we've had that dryer ever since we got married. It was finally something Curtis couldn't fix and time to say goodbye, after 23 years. RIP 

Shed and Nikki's Graduation

The very next weekend on the 6th of September, Curtis did some mudding and filling of holes in the ceiling. There was also a bump in the ceiling where the trusses didn't match up exactly because they went different directions. Curtis was able to mud over that gap and make it look nice and smooth. While that was drying, he and the boys went outside to work on building a new shed. They invited Jack's friend, Cam, over to help as well. They only got as far as building the base of the shed. As much as I want a shed, I also wanted our living room fixed up and lights back on, so we're now focusing on just the inside of the house.

In this picture he's working on that bump in the ceiling.

Trying to break that big rock into smaller pieces so they could move it. It didn't work so well, so they just moved it over enough to get out of the way.

Next spring we'll get rid of that chain link fence and build a new wooden one that goes further up the side of the yard and house.

This is as far as we took it, then they covered it with black plastic to protect from the weather.

The following weekend of the 13th was Nikki's art college graduation from Northwest College of Art and Design. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in motion design and media arts. Basically, 3D and animation. Curtis took Friday off so we could drive over early and do some activities, however, I had been sick that week and was still not feeling well and feeling very weak. Tuesday night I had had chills and a fever. We did leave on Friday, just not as early as we hoped. Curtis had wanted to go golfing with me, but I don't really like to golf, and I definitely was not going to do it the way I was feeling. We checked into our hotel and rested for a bit before meeting up with Nikki to get dinner at The Olive Garden. It was good but we ordered way too much food and so we sent our leftovers with Nikki. I was careful not to give her portions with any of my germs on them. 

It turns out that her roommate, Cyrus, was also sick with fever that day and wasn't feeling good the day of graduation. I guess it was just going around. He stuck around as little as possible and I don't blame him. We were able to get a couple of pictures before the graduation started, but the lighting was terrible. The building we were in had glass walls and the sun was coming right through. I had planned to get more pictures after the graduation in better lighting, but Nikki was in a hurry to leave and take off her cap and gown, so that didn't happen.

The graduates. There were about 40 total.

The graduation was at 10am and by the time it finished, it was time for lunch. First, I wanted to go change my clothes and then we walked across the street from the convention center where there was a food truck and got food there and ate outside. The grilled cheese sandwich with pulled pork was pretty good, but the mac and cheese was just okay.

After finishing our lunch, we hit the road to do some fun things up in Seattle. It's about an hour drive from Tacoma. Our two main activities were doing the Seattle Underground Tour and going for a sailboat ride. When we had some time to kill, we walked around the piers.

We walked by this street performer and stopped to watch. He was juggling different things like tasers that were on. Then he would throw an apple into the mix and take a bite out of it a couple of times. It was entertaining.

Ferris wheel right by the water.

Looking from the water back towards the city and seeing the new playground. Nikki said it wasn't there the last time she was there.

Walking around the town and saw these lights strung up across the street. They look like bubbles.

The beginning of the Underground Tour. He was talking about the Indian chief in the big picture. He was who the city of Seattle was name after, and it was the only picture he ever allowed to be taken in his life. His eyes were purposefully closed in the picture, and he took off as quick as he could after they snapped the picture.

Some of the underground that used to be the main level of Seattle.

Sometimes they found old items to display on the tour. This is an electric box.

After the tour, we walked around and got something to eat. Then Nikki and I went to this toy store where she found a plush pigeon that she really wanted, so I bought it for her. She loves pigeons.

Our sailboat ride was scheduled for the evening and so we walked around the pier some more while we waited for our time. The ship we sailed in was called "Bay Lady". They were in need of some passengers to help with the sails and so Curtis and Nikki both volunteered. It was a beautiful ride and nice to relax. 

Pulling the ropes.

There's Seattle and the Space Needle is on the far-left side.

The colors in the clouds were so pretty.

Mt. Rainier in the background. It almost looked like it was erupting because of the clouds above it.

Sunset

Looking up at the sails and the American flag.

We saw a couple of seals swimming.

I love this shot of Seattle at nighttime.

We got us some fish and chips at Ivar's and then took a picture with the statue of Ivar feeding the birds French fries. It was pretty good.

It was a great day overall and we were exhausted at the end. We drove Nikki back to her apartment in Tacoma and then we drove to our hotel in Auburn. It was too late to drive all the way back to our home, but we wanted to make a small dent in our drive and didn't want to stay in Tacoma again, so we drove about 30 minutes or so to Auburn. We woke kind of late the next morning and barely got something to eat before they closed the breakfast bar. Note to self, double check the hours of the breakfast the night before. Anyway, it was a good trip and we're so proud of Nikki for sticking it out and finishing her schooling. It was hard with her mental health and introvert challenges, but she did it! The difficult part will be trying to find a good job in her field. For now, she's just going to get a job wherever she can to pay the bills and hopefully something will come up later on. 

She was able to hire on with Home Depot bringing in the carts from the parking lot and keeping it cleaned up. She started the week after graduation. The first week wasn't great just because she had to call in sick for 2 or 3 days. But now that she's well again, things are going really well and she's enjoying it. The only problem is that it's going into the slow season and she's not going to get the hours she needs, so she might have to get two jobs for now. After 6 months at Home Depot, she can apply for higher/different positions.