No more Wallpaper

We have finally done it. This house had wallpaper in every room. It wasn't just one layer but several and some layers even had been painted over (which made it awful to remove.) The kids helped me get the last of it off over the holidays and Daniel and I finished patching and painting this week. It looks so much better that I have to show it off. Rachel and Elaine now are expert wallpaper removers but even Terrell, Sheldon and Daniel helped out too. The painted on stuff sometimes just took brute scraping so extra thanks go to them for their muscles. I never thought I would be a painter but it is amazing the skills you acquire in this life. We sure are happy with it and glad to show it off. :) The paint supplies are still there because I am not done painting. I start on around the kitchen window this week. But at least no more wallpaper to remove.

Big Accomplishment

We finally fixed our side fence. It was sagging and the gate stayed open all the time to prop up the fence but we did it, thanks to all the help.
Roy got one stump out before the Mills got here for Thanksgiving and Sheldon helped get the last one out. Then on to measuring and planning. Sheldon was a huge help with this and even drew up plans so Roy could visualize it. We got the posts put in on Thanksgiving day. Then on Friday Sheldon and Terrell built the fence.
Sat. Terrell and Roy built the gate and hung it. Then the following Sat. Roy finished it up by putting up the final post that the gate latches too. Here is the finished product. :)
It is so nice to have a working gate. I am very happy. I was able to fill in the holes before our big rain. This was a huge project and we couldn't have done it without all the help. Thanks so much Sheldon and Terrell.

Family Pictures

We had a fun week with everyone here and of course we took family pictures. This time Tucker does not need to be pasted in.
Here are some that I liked but you will only get to see here. We all like blue except those Mills just always stand out in some way. We didn't plan colors before hand.
Tucker was pretty good and Sheldon would scoop him up right before the timer went off. It was fun to see how fast he would walk away to where he wanted to go. We had a great week. I will post pictures of our projects when I get a finished picture of the fence.

Summer Project

This is my summer project. It doesn't look like much but it took a lot of work to get it to look this nice. The paneling was dirty and worn. It had a big brown discoloration where they had hung a mirror over the fireplace and now it looks brand new! It took way too much sanding but Roy always helped me finish each step to make it look so good. We had lots of votes to just paint over it but I am stubborn and knew that once we painted there was no going back so I talked them into trying this. The dust went everywhere but it does look better. Next time I will finish before Rachel leaves so she can help clean up since she likes dusting.

September

With Rachel going off to school, she finally got her own phone. She was thrilled to no longer have to share with her mother. So now she has joined the ranks of others her age and is never without her phone in her hand. We only hope it is not all texting because she does have a limit on that. We did have a fun trip to the park with the Mills family. Terrell was even able to come down and spend Sat. with us.

Rachel's birthday is in Sept. and she turns 19. I am having a hard time coming to grips that my baby is 19 and Roy is not any help when he tells me she is now old enough to get married. :( He does miss someone to joke around with. I definitely don't respond the way Rachel does. Of course I may become more like her if he makes more comments like that last one.

More of August

When we took Rachel to BYU we were able to celebrate Tucker's one year birthday (just a week late) with the Mills.

It was very fun to be there with them. Tucker was almost walking and also getting a new tooth so it was busy but good to be there. It was hard to come home because Tucker was just getting to know me and it was fun to have him turn to me because he knew I would walk him around. The trip went very fast and Roy was only able to be there for a day and a half. We got Rachel settled at BYU and Elaine and Tucker were a big help moving in.

August Events

It has been a busy summer for us. Rachel worked for us getting wallpaper off the kitchen walls, washing windows, and cleaning. I was hoping she would help me with my project but she does not like sanding. We enjoyed the help and she still got time to play. In the end she couldn't squeeze in enough trips to Disneyland but she did try (6 trips in 2 weeks!) At the end it was hard to start saying goodbye to everyone. She didn't enjoy that part. Here is a picture with cousins Anna and Kimberly on her last visit to Grandma Weathers house. Packing was also hard when she wasn't sure what she would need (everything?)