Beginning the Work

With nothing better to do these days we have begun to do small things in prepration for remodeling our house. It began last week when Logan took down the two trees next to the deck. They were dying and had large seed pods that dropped constantly. The next thing to go will be the deck.

Of couse that lead to locating our property line on the west side of the house and this is what we found. You got to be kidding, Right? 13 feet from the house. We have an acre of land and we are 13' from the property line, unreal. We can't begin to understand why the former owners gave 65' for the driveway to the flag lot behind us. But the neighbors did stop by the past weekend and indicated they would give us some of their driveway property. They do have water and gas lines running through this area, we estimate that we could only take another 10' or so before hitting their water and gas lines. We would trade them this portion for the portion of our backyard that slopes towards their side yard. Hopefully it will be an even trade.
Then as we were standing in the checkout line in the grocery store I picked up a magazine and found this cutest built-in bunkbeds that line the walls and of course that lead to asking Logan if we could incorporate that into the house and then wondering if we had enough head room in the attic. We went up and measured and contiplated and though this room wouldn't look exactly like the picture in the magazine, we could have a fun grandkid room in the attic with a secret staircase and all.
I took some pictures of the front of the house and began to photoshop it to see what the front could look like. We're looking at popping out the front a couple of feet to break up the enormous gable roof, moving the front door over, putting rock on the front and on the basement walls, extending the roof out over the living room area for a porch with pillars. Notice the small attic window. When I figure out the floor plan then I'll decide what size window for the front of the house. We are now accepting donations.

Yes on Proposition 8

In 2000 61% of California's voters voted for marriage to be between a Man and a Woman. The California supreme court overturned Prop 22 calling it unconstitutional. Proposition 8 is on the November ballot to change the California constitution to read: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."

Maggie Gallagher's writes:
"Marriage is a union of husband and wife because marriage has something to do with responsible procreation — bringing together men and women to make and raise the next generation together."

The church has put the push on those members in California to contribute to the ProtectMarriage.com fund and to get out and campaign for a Yes vote on Proposition 8. Last Saturday was our area's start for canvasing and calling on voters in our local areas. Of course our area isn't your typical neighborhood and there is lots of walking in between homes and up and down many long driveways., even the postman stopped and talked to us and talked and talked.

Saturday was pretty successful for us, we only managed 1 street and not completely (that street is a mile long....one way and we have four of them), but we got four commitments to post signs and mostly YES on prop 8. We have found as we got to the smaller homes, not as well maintained, who residents are either single or living together, mid 30's and 40's that are a either opposed or feeling they should follow the crowd. We did notice that those that had a strong opinion in favor of the Proposition could get pretty worked up about it. Monday night when we were out, one neighbor even had Logan come in and talk him through how to put his disposal in. :)

Now if I could just get the courage to pick up the phone to cold call....I almost rather see them face to face than to get answering machines.

Boys and their Tractors

How else do you entertain boys....put them on a tractor. Yesterday Chase was delighted when Grandpa finally came home and he immediately wanted to ride the tractor, so Grandpa used the moment to mow the lawn.

The house being built next door has had this earth moving tractor sitting on their property since May, the boys and I took a walk next door and the boys had tons of fun playing and climbing in and out of the tractor.

Lexie's Blessing

Kevin gave a beautiful blessing I think I heard a up and coming General Authority speaking. Lexie was beautiful and such a good girl during the blessing. She has some pretty strong lungs on her and we were all sure she'd be screaming during the blessing, but she was as calm and quite as could be.

The Williams and their three girls
Peyton never puts her hand in her mouth like that - So she had to start it now? The family - MIA - Greg, Jamie and the twins.

Loving the Pool

Thanks to G & G Williams for having such a lovely home and pool - We were able to spend Saturday night at the pool.

Halli found a frog, which jumped from her hand into the pool, somewhere in all the trama of trying to catch the frog his poor little leg was damaged. Halli and Jill trapped the frog, Peyton looking on, but not getting too close.

Dinner
Halli takes after her mom, such a daredevil.

Having Fun with Grandpa

The girls have so much fun when their grandpa comes to town. Grandpa played with them on the trampoline, had a water balloon toss, chased them through-out the house, watched cartoons, and went swimming with them.