A Big Decision 2013

On March 11th after several months of going back and forth with "should we buy it", or "no we shouldn't", we put an offer on the Larsen's home just a few blocks from our current home.  We have always loved this home and hoped that someday we might be able to buy it.  Four days later we found out that they had accepted our offer.  We were overjoyed and I made the comment that we had just bought the home we would die in.  Other people said maybe we should say, "we just bought the home we would live the rest of our lives in".   I guess that sounds a little bit better.  After all the due diligence and inspections were complete, we signed the contract on April 5th and the home was ours.  It is a beautiful rambler with a wonderful big backyard.  The very next day, Larry our builder and crew began demolition on the things we wanted to remodel.  Here are the pictures of the home as we saw it while trying to decide whether to buy it.  

 Front yard 

 Sunroom, my personal favorite room, although the photo is not the best. 

 Kitchen

 This area is across from the kitchen and we plan to have a large table here.

 Step down into the Living room. 

 Basement kitchen

 Guest bedroom in the basement.

 Big storage room

 Front Entry and stairs to basement.

 Another view of the step down living room.

 We call this the motorhome bathroom.

 Master Bedroom

 Three pictures of the backyard.

Basement family area and fireplace.  Somehow I missed a picture of my favorite room, the big craft room with a full wall of shelves for sewing, painting, and crafting supplies.  Within a week things changed dramatically.  My next post I will should the beginning of the remodeling pictures.  

Park City in March

Dad and I enjoyed a trip to Park City in March.  He wanted to go to the Kimball Arts Center.  We didn't know what to expect, but were intrigued by this artist who used legos as his art medium.  These were not small sculptures, this particular one was 6+ feet tall and life-sized.  Having had legos as a part of our household with all the boys and stepping on them for years, it was fun to see the detail and creativity he put in his art work.  

 All one color block, yet so detailed.  

 The picture on the floor is a self portrait.  

 Another self portrait of the artist.

 After we went to the Olympic Museum near Kimball Junction.  This was set-up for photos.  Dad is holding the Olympic torch.

Cool shot!  Dad skiing down the mountain.

Jamie's Recital

Jamie and Jordan both played a piano solo for the Utah Federation of Music Clubs competition the last week in February.  They both received superior ratings.  Jamie was chosen to play in the "Best of Federation" recital a week later on March 2nd.  Jamie played "The Shark" and did a fantastic job.  I was so impressed.  I throughly enjoyed listening to all 17 students chosen to play.  I have to say it was one of the best recitals I have ever been to.  Great job Jamie and Jordan.  We are proud of you. 

Eden turns 2!

 Yummy birthday cake!

 Eden loves to dress up.  She put on the two dress-up skirts I gave her, and the new dress from her parents.  She got a new doll which she named Sparkle and from that moment on she was totally focused on combing the doll's long blond hair in the beauty parlor chair she got from Grandma Cindy.

I took about 30 pictures and Grandma Cindy and I were talking about what pathetic photographers we were.  I'm sure I'll be lucky if I get one good picture out of this bunch.  I laughed as I tried to find a few good pictures to download on the blog.  So sad, these are as good as it gets.  :(

Kauai continued

My favorite area of the island is the south shore.  Po'ipu is a great beach for snorkeling and swimming.  We always see seals there sunning themselves on the lava rock.  Just down the road is Lawa'i beach and it is the perfect spot to watch the sunset.  If you are lucky you might see a few whales too. 

 Southern shore blowhole

 Ho'opi'i Falls

 On Sunday, it rained all day.  We walked through the golf course and found this beautiful jungle along the cliff.

 A very common site here are the chickens and roosters.  They are so loud very early in the morning.  Most tourists find them very annoying but there is not much anyone can do about it.

 Richard loves these mandrake trees.  

 Kilauea Lighthouse

Kauai Vacation 2013

Our vacation to Kauai started out a little rocky when we arrived at the airport and tried to get our ticket at the self check-in kiosk and it told us to see an agent.  We handed our confirmation to the agent and she typed and typed and typed some more.  That was not a good sign.  Finally she said, "your plane left at 6:00 a.m. this morning.  We had arrived at the airport about 9:00 a.m. for a noon flight.  She typed some more and finally said....I can't get you to L.A. for your flight to Kauai that left from there later in the afternoon.  The best she could finally do was get us on a flight the next morning.  We were not happy to be leaving a day later, but we also realized that finding room on any Hawaii flight at such short notice was a blessing.  We called Jeff back and said, come back and get us.  While we were waiting Richard and I decided to pretend we were on vacation and go home and watch season 6 of the TV series 24.   Finally a day later than planned we arrived in Lihue, Kauai.  The first few days we stayed in Kapa'a on the east shore.  This is the beautiful view from our room.  Oh, I love Hawaii....so beautiful!

 The first day we went to the west side of the island and Waimea Canyon.  They call this the grand canyon of the pacific.  At the very end of the road is the Pu'u o Kilo Lookout.  There is a hike that starts here that we wanted to do the last time we were here but couldn't because of rain.  Today it was beautiful so we decided to hike.  Let's just say....that was a big mistake.  We hiked for 6 hours and it was miserable, muddy, slippery, steep, and the trail was filled with so many obstacles.  Here we are smiling at nearly the beginning of the hike.  We looked quite different at the end.  :(  Oh, we did a first here.  We picked up three hikers and took them up the road.  They were really nice people, but I had to open the car windows because of the smell when they got in the car....never expected that.  I'm sure they hadn't bathed for weeks.

 Wailua Falls

 The second half of the week we moved to Princeville on the north shore.  Our condo there was so spacious and beautiful.  

 A beautiful hike to an out of the way falls called Opaeka'a falls.  I love how the vines grow over everything.

 Outside our Princeville condo.

 We always try to visit every beach on the island.  We found some very beautiful secluded beaches.  Sometimes we were the only people on the beach and we usually had to hike down mountains to get to them.

 I think they do not want you to swim here.   :)

 Pool at our Princeville condo.

 We found this hike to an out of the way beach pretty late but ventured on it anyway.  The locals had put ropes to hold onto to get down the slippery slope.