The demolition continues...

This was before they brought the dumpster- they cleaned this up the next day- but just to give you an idea of how much came out- just to start...the dumpster is actually full now.

This was our living room...now it's completely gutted. The friendly workers.

Upstair bathroom, hall, and bedroom. Really nice guys doing the work. The man with the mask on the right is from Peru- he served a mission there as well and his family was converted around the time my brother served there- small world! Another side note. The other guy says he may join the LDS Church because the Catholic Church has nothing to offer his family- he's from Mexico City. I told him to call the missionaries- he smiled and said he probably would be soon.

I'll take more pics today- Tyler is coming out to help us rearrange some power (and possibly redesign the downstairs bathroom) while we have the chance and things are torn down to the studs. It also looks like they may have to tear up the kitchen floor to get to some pipes for the plumber- the crawl space isn't big enough- actually, part of it there is no crawl space-WOW WHAT A MESS! I just keep telling myself it will all look like new when they are finished (and then I click my heels together three times ;-)

FLOOD, PESTILENCE, AND .....?

Hopefully not fire...

So, we called our insurance agent- they sent an adjuster out and he felt like there was more than enough damage to make it worth our $500 deductible. They send out a special restoration crew that tests for humidity in the walls and floor, etc. They found plenty-in the living room floor (obviously where the water damage was), but the shocker was in our archway AND upstair the entire bathroom, and they also found moisture in our bedroom. Anyway- long story short- the demolition crew arrived and removed walls, flooring, etc in both bathrooms, upstairs hall, bedroom, and downstairs front entry and living room.

so part of our house is currently being renovated- but that's not all...

We discovered a family of skunks living under our house- basically the kitchen. So Tom has been trapping and "disposing" of them. The last time one let go it's "essense" and the heater sucked it up and sent it through the house! So now the poor house stinks too!

Tom shut the heater off (the workmen have had it on high to dry out the house) and changed the filter, sprayed abunch of deoderizer in it, and it's smelling a TON better. I feel bad for the poor plumber who has to replace all the pipes under the, yup, you guessed it, kitchen. Well, I guess a little bad smell is better than getting sprayed.

Unfortunalety, the skunk smell just attaches itself to everything and after Tom came back to the office, I could smell it there now- and the car... he even threw the clothes he was wearing away-I asked him where he thought he was sleeping that night :-) ... He took a long bath.

I don't even know how to feel at this point-except to find the humor in it all.

The adjustor said that if we have hot water by Christmas they won't pay for a hotel for us to stay in while the center is rented between Christmas and New Years. But even if we do have hot water, there is no where to sleep right now since all the furnishings are moved into the spare bedrooms up stairs and the den downstairs. Not to mention the construction dust, etc.

So we're not sure where we'll be spending New Years...

One good note- the weather has been unseasonably WARM- we have "0" snow on the ground, it was 48 yesterday-this has all helped with the house- but the storms look like they're starting to line up on the west coast- so we may still have a white Christmas.

The Indianola Ward Christmas Party

The Nativity at the party

That's an angel on the rooftop if you can't tell... my camera is not the best.

Well, little did we (the activities committee) know when we started to work on the Christmas Party for the Ward, that this would be our last activity. By now you've all heard that the activities commitees are being done away with in the Church- anyway- we started a couple of months ago preparing for ours.

As I was thinking about what to do, I thought of past Ward parties and what would be more effective. Our Ward is unique in that peple are really spread out- not the typical Utah Ward where one Ward is basically 4 square blocks in a neighborhood. And so it's nice to beable to get together and have time to visit.

We have ALOT of less actives, non-members, etc. that this is the only gathering they come to. I wanted something where the people could all socialize, have a chance to visit and get to know each other better. Also, another concern was the children. I feel like they don't have enough to do & feel involved with at most ward functions and so they just end up running through the halls.
With all this in mind, I researched other Ward Party ideas and let the creative juices flow...talked with the committee and made some suggestions... and wah-lah! Here's what we came up with:

We did a theme on "Christmas in the Olde Towne Square" We had 2 families dress up as carolers and welcome people by singing carols at the entrance to the building.

We handed out "money" as people came in- even the kids, to spend inside the cultural hall, which we turned into a town square with a Christmas "marketplace" where they could choose what traditional foods and treats they wanted to buy- there was even a "toy store" where their money could buy an old fashioned toy (a top, a spinner, wooden bead bracelet). Some of the different foods we offered were:

Tamales ( Mexican tradition), a cabbage & potato soup (German), Christmas Porridge (rice pudding from Denmark) Dutch treats (YM), sweeet breads (Ginger, pumpkin, & cranberry), pies (what ever the High Preists brought), cookies (Elder's), Wassail (the bishopric served), candies the young women made, and popcorn.

The gym was PACKED! We had people there I had never seen before- and lots of people that weren't even members! You can see the Primary's booth, decorated in the background with giant nutcrackers

The highlight of the evening was the Primary children's two songs, the YMYW did a line dance to Rockin' around the christmas Tree, and then, my personal favorite, the Bishopric sang Silent Night while the Bishop played his guitar. It was beautiful.Sorry my camera shoots dark with the lights down low- Tom's on the right of the Bishop.

I really want to thank my wonderful committee- they all worked so hard to make this happen and I think it was a huge success- the kids LOVED the night- so many parents told me their kids thought it was the best party. And it was so nice to have the kids involved, first "shopping" at all the booths, and then singing their songs. It was fun for the kids- we let them walk under the arch to come into the gym.

Here is a picture diary of the preparation for the evening.The YM/YW learned the line dance at a combined activity in November. Thanks Audrey for coming up with the dance and teaching it to them!The Relief Society ladies made tamales a few days before the party- that was fun to learn how to make them! And boy were they good.

Jerri & Ricky try to decide how to paint the arch.
Here's our "brick maker" a sponge and paint- After the first time I used gloves! Our shop at the center turned into a "construction zone" as we painted cardboard I had been collecting at the local Sears appliance center in Ephraim. They were so great to save it for me every week.Matt & Kami Walker from the committee were so great to help!

Committee members included: Matt & Kami Walker, Heather Pinegar, Dave & Janice Taylor, Jennifer Rigby, Jodi Taufer, Ricky Butrum, and myself- They all worked so hard to make this happen- I wish I had pictures of all of them to post!

Tom & I went up in the mountains and cut down 2 trees to use for the evening- we later sold them to ward members for angel tree money.

Making the soup the day of the party. Thanks to Liza, Tammy, Janice, & Georgia!

Starting to set up the town. Almost done...Tom checks out the entry way under our "clock tower" It was his idea to put the christmas tree in the window of the "building"- I think it looks great! We hung mistletoe at the arch and took pictures of families and couples at the party. Thanks again to all the organizations and committee members that helped make this year's party a great one!

One last note- all the painted cardboard will get used again as it's new home is our town's newly renovated theater with a huge basement for prop storage!

Thanksgiving-now the rest of the story...

So Tom went to the ranch huse after everyone left last night to feed/check on things. He had left the upstairs tub dripping so the pipe wouldn't freeze in these sub-zero temperatures. We had the heat in the house turned up to 40- last year we didn't have any problem when we weren't there with anything freezing at that temp. BUT- when he walked in the door, water was dripping throught the ceiling of the living room. He went upstairs to discover the DRAIN had frozen and the tub was overflowing! So he bucketed water out of the tub through the window to outside.

He turned the heat upto 70. When we got there this morning, even the pipes were froze! In a 70 degree house! So Tom also built a big fire in the insert.

We then headed down the road to where the pasture is I'm keeping a few horses in. A neighbor had pasture that needed to be eaten down and there is a ditch that runs through it for water- so the ponies and Frankie have been there since October. Anyway- we needed to break the ice in the ditch so they could drink. This time I took some buckets and bucketed some water out for the horses, to see how thirsty they were. They were thirsty- I don't think they had drank since the day before. We left them with 2 full buckets of water and a large hole they can drink out of at least until tonight when it freezes again.

Thanksgiving week and the "Storm"

Well, we were looking so forward to Thanksgiving and having a house full here. I had done TONS of food shopping (basically spent the month's food budget) and we got lots of work done at the office so we could actually relax for a few days. But, alas, it was not meant to be...

First, my parents call (Grandpa Don & Grandma Char). My Mom has had problems with vertigo- and naseau as a result, not to mention horrible headaches for the past several weeks- she has spent the last week in and out of doctors trying to figure out what's happening. Not feeling up to it, the car drive was out.

Then, the report of a HUGE storm coming made us all nervous- It really slammed Idaho- where Alex & Marie were coming from- closing down the interstate. We spent a few hours gathering lamps, securing the animals, etc. in preparation for the "storm of the century" on Tuesday.

I have to admit that, as a storm, it was basically a flop. I don't think it made it south of Salt Lake as even the kids in Utah County said they barely got anything. We got about 2". But boy is it COLD now!!

So, we were down to just our local kids- minus Kelli & Jason, who were spending it with Jason's family this year. Then the day before, Cari calls- her kids were up all night "loosing their cookies" - So our group of 17 is now 5. Oh well, the turkey and ham were already thawed, food bought, so we just decided to go ahead- but luckily...

Cari's kids bounced back really fast and woke up Thanksgiving morning ready to "par-te"- so they did come! What's Thanksgiving without some cute grandkids around to:

Play football with (in the center-too cold for outside)

Ryan was so good at tossing and catching the ball!

Play Uno with:

Kyle won all three games-sorry Ryan and Grandpa!

and take dress-up pictures of:

Kaylee found my leather Aussie hat and was so cute taking it off and putting it on. She then found my cowboy boots- that was pretty funny- but I didn't get a picture. But I did get one of her wearing my famous turkey apron-it was so long on her- Cari tied it up so she wouldn't trip on it.

Just before cleaning up started- I forgot to take a picture of the spread before we ate- I'm always so focused on getting everyone gathered and prayer said so we can eat before it get's cold.

Afterward- the fire burning, football on the TV-food digesting-

when do we get pie?

I got so busy i didn't finish my "Business" post...

Re-roofing the barn
Unscrewing the old rotten fiberboard- you can see the new roof on the cottage that Derek and Tyler came and helped with when Tom first broke his rib.

Tearing off remaining old shingles (after the wind took most of them), unscrewing the rotten wood, ripping it off/out and removing, screwing in new wood, laying tar paper, cutting metal roofing panels, cutting a hole in the old tin roof to tuck tar paper and flashing into it, laying metal roofing panels down, tucking under flashing, and finally, securing with screws!
Tom replacing the old rotten fiberboard with new fiberboard that will hold screws :-)

This has been our life for the past 2 weeks- trying to catch every minute of time after we get done with office work and on Saturdays- before the rain and snow comes.

This side we shingled...

Finished just in time!

Yesterday we worked from 7:30 AM until we finished, just before dark at 5:30 PM (Except for the 1 1/2 hour break Tom got when he conducted the Ward Baptism at 11 AM).

So we got all this free metal roofing- which was great, we just had to go pick it up 2 hours away- then cut it to the right lengths.

We have been so lucky to have GREAT friends like Jim Noorlander, who's profession is roofing. He got us a great deal on the shingles we used on the south side, lent us his nail gun, gave us some tar paper leftovers he had so we didn't have to buy a bunch, AND helped us lay the shingles!!! He also advised us on how to do the metal side- Thanks so much JIM! Also, Tom's other buddy Abe- without his help ripping off the old rotten fiberboard, I don't think we could have done it! And finally, yesterday when it got down to putting in hundreds of screws, Tom and I were so tired and trying to beat the sun going down, when our friends, (my chiropractor, Chip Howard, and his 2 teenage sons, Cache and Colin, whom I've taught to ride) showed up and took over putting the screws in! I was then able to go scrape/clean out the corrals, something I alwalys need to do before winter.

And, of course Derek and Tyler helped us a month a go when we started the project with roofing the cottage! THANKS EVERYONE!!!!

Also, the day was very busy for me, because while Tom was at the Baptism, I was giving horse instructions to Jigsaw's new owners. I have gone back and forth about whether to keep Jigsaw or not. I love having him around for the grandkids to ride and he's been a great lesson pony for the neighborhood kids, but when I decide to get the Welsh pony mares to breed, Tom was gently asking, "how many ponies do we need?" Making the point that I could train the mares to ride and they can also have the foals I want for my breeding program. So, with a very heavy heart, I placed an ad in KSL.com and got no calls.

Jigsaw's new famly, the Hoopes, from Burley Idaho.

Then, a few days ago the PERFECT family called from Burley Idaho! First the Grandpa called, he owns horses and knew what questions to ask. Then his daughter, Angela, called and we made the arrangements. Her and her husband left at 6 AM with their kids to get here in time for a couple of hours of lessons for their kids and to get acquainted with Jigsaw before they took him home. I suggested they get back home before the sun goes down so Jigsaw could see his new home in the light.

I have to say I feel so good about his new home. The kids are respectful, smart, and kind. The parents are very involved and the first thing the Mom said they would do on Monday is to go to the library and get some books on horses. I know Jigsaw will get a lot more use there. It was hard to load him in the trailer and say good-bye to him. All I could think of was the hundreds of rides he's given family, neighbors, and friends, and all the kids that had their first ride on a cute pony named Jigsaw!

I also sold the rest of the new baby goats to a really nice family with VERY excited kids (no pun intended)- 2 boys, ages 2 and 4! It's always nice to make some money to pay for the winter hay.

OCTOBER "BUSY-NESS"

It has been a while since I last posted- due in part to busy-ness and businss.

The past month has been crazy to say the least- and while I won't share all of the "details" here- someday you can read about it in my journal...
But here are some pictures to help explain...

Caught Kyle at his last soccer game of the season- he was very enthusiastic. That's him getting ready to kick the ball in.

Kaylee was not happy that Ryan had a game to play and she didn't. So I distracted her with an orange cone-hat, which, being a girl, she liked!

We had some returning guests at the Retreat Center over UEA- their little girl jumped out of the car and ran straight back to see Patches- who was already back at the ranch for the winter. She was so upset that Tom and I told her we'd go home and get her for the weekend so she could play with her. We got home and discovered a very good reason why Patches could not go back to the Center

Patches, not to be outdone by Bitzie, decided October was also a fine time to have babies...One blue-eyed buck and a brown eyed doe. Arn't they cute?

So we invited the family out to the ranch- which they enjoyed even more because all the kids got to pet the ponies as well as hold the new baby goats!

Bitzie's pair think they look good as garden ornaments...

With the threat of winter looming- I decided Ace was growing too fast and getting too big and if I didn't make some progress in his training this Fall, by Spring he may be that much bigger and harder to work with. So-

I introduced him to the saddle pad...

Which he thought was a great toy to chew on...
But I did get it on his back with no trouble- and dragged it over his head and shook it at him- just to make sure it wasn't a scary thing to him- which it wasn't :-) I also walked him down the road- cars ARE a scary thing for him- so we'll need to spend more time doing that before the snow flies.
Moved the ponies to new pasture.

October means gettin ready for winter-

Tom went up in the mountains and got a load of wood to cut and split.

He cuts and splits- I load up the tractor bucket and drive it over and dump it on the porch and then stack it.

More pictures next post...