Ah Spring!

The snow seems to have really gone. Now things are growing. I'm including this picture to show the sparse vegetation in our side yard. All of those lovely green tufts are NOT grass, though. They are chives. They are all over this 1/2 acre plot! We could claim to have a chive farm! Here I am trying to replace the chives on part of the front yard that I have re-graded with genuine grass. I was waiting for it to start raining so I could put it down without having to drag out the hose.
This side of the house used to have scraggly bushes which were at some point in the last 100 years probably very lovely. We removed them, along with all of the stumps and roots, because they weren't lovely any more. I am re-grading the soil, putting down weed mat, and covering it with marble chips. Eventually I plan to plant dwarf lilacs, which will probably need to be cut down in another 100 years because they will get awkward and scraggly and someone will want something else.
I haven't yet completed all of the drainage issues but I'm working on it. The water doesn't come into the basement as much as it did, in fact, not at all lately. I look forward to not having mud.

What it's like

The little branch of our church here in Dayton is now up to 5 active families plus 4 couples (including Russ and me) that officially live within the branch boundaries. We have a family and 3 couples from other wards that have been assigned to participate here in order to keep things going. We have 6 single older men and 6 older women who regularly attend as well. Often when we have a branch activity(about 4 or 5 times a year), we get quite a few people to show up who don't regularly attend church meetings. We have 4 missionaries assigned here, 2 of which are Spanish speaking. Sacrament meeting attendance generally runs about 50 but that often includes people who are visiting from the stake or who have been invited here to speak. There are 3 active young men (one in the family that was assigned to attend here) and 2 young women who are sisters. Most of the members have major health issues that interfere with their regular attendance so we are often juggling people around to cover for absentees. Since I'm not in the ward council, I don't know what our actual budget is but I'm sure it can't be much. It is definitely VERY different from the ward we just left in North Logan, Utah. We are doing what we can to help and support but try not to have expectations that are high enough to make us discouraged. The active members here are real troupers. There is rarely much of a silent pause in fast and testimony meetings. Programs here are pretty simple and basic. It's enough. But Russ and I are really looking forward to watching conference and plan to see all sessions on our computer. What a great blessing technology can be!

Another before and after

This is part way through working on our bedroom, which we are making out of what was formerly two small bedrooms. The problem was that we either would have to divide our bedroom furniture into two bedrooms and our clothes into two closets, or tear out a wall and make more of a "suite" with a larger closet. We have worked on it, with Russ wracking his brain to figure out how to hold up the third floor safely after taking out studs in the closet walls, for several months. The part of the "suite" where we sleep is pretty well done, with the exception of some details. Russ has put in new light fixtures, rebuilt walls, and Mary has done plastering, sanding, and we have both painted. The floor is yet to be finished and will require some skillful woodwork to make it all look good. Russ is going to wait until my dad, Clayt Bowker, is here in May to advise and possibly help with the details.
I am including a couple of pictures to show the detail work on the windowsills. This is a window in the downstairs living room I have not yet refinished. We will be keeping the old wood sash and there are storm windows on the outside.
This is one of our bedroom windows which is in the back of the house so it doesn't have as much impact on the outside appearance. We chose to install new window units which are more airtight and clean. It also means less refinishing for me. Yay!

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday

For once we were very pleased that the "weatherman" was wrong. Easter Sunday was supposed to start out cold but sunny then go to clouds and rain. It stayed cool all day but never got to the cloudy part until fairly late and didn't rain! So we were able to have a pleasant family celebration including an outside Easter egg hunt, dinner, birthday cake, and presents for Kadon who turned 3. Kadon chose his favorite place to sit, on Grandpa's lap. Angela enjoys every opportunity to hold a girl since she was blessed with only boys. Brooklyn is still very tiny for her age but is continuing to develop well and is totally adored by the whole family!
We had found some plastic eggs which were labelled "hard to find" and were in a form to look like grass, dirt, and stone. The effect just wasn't going to be the same if we had to hide them indoors! So we were thrilled that the weather cooperated. The kids all had a good time and the adults were happy, too. We were all completely stuffed by the time we went our separate ways.

It could have been worse

Last weekend we were reminded that winter isn't over until it's over. The Dayton area got around a foot of snow in about 24 hours. Just about everything shut down, except for the desperate crowds at the grocery store as the storm began in earnest and they realized that this time the weather man wasn't wrong! We were glad we had purchased a snow blower just before leaving Utah even though we only got to use it part of one winter there.
But now the snow is all melted and we're getting spring rain, and mud.............

Our lovely foyer

I finally succeeded in getting the pictures uploaded to the blogspot! Here are the photos of our completed foyer.
It's only done to the landing of the stairs. We will have to replace the stair treads from there up because they are too damaged to try to just refinish. Also, we may have to tear out all of the plaster (UGH- such a mess!) on one of the walls because we may not be able to repair it. It goes up about 10 feet so even putting sheetrock in is going to be a major hassle. One step at a time....

More before and after

We have finished the foyer. I posted this picture earlier but this is the before................ and this is what the foyer looks like with a new coat of paint and all the repairs done.