It's Almost Finished!

Well, it's almost finished. Not much happened the beginning of the week while dad was out of town. Mom went a couple of times and they weren't able to go together until Friday evening. They have changed the locks and didn't leave a key in the lock box. Fortunately they left the small garage door unlocked so we were able to get in. There is a little paint touch up left to do and the final clean up, but, that is just about it. This is the final color for the outside.

The kitchen from the family room.

The hallway to the front door from the family room.

The dining room and patio from the living room.

The family room from the dining room and through the kitchen.

The stairway from the front door.

The master bath

The master bedroom

The southside vegetation

The future strawberry bed

The patio and back side of the house

The completion certificate

We also found a desk at Deseret Industries Thrift Store for dad's office.

If all goes exceptionally well, we will be able to move next weekend. Most likely, we will move the following weekend. The inspections need to take place first and they may take a little longer than we hope. Regardless, anyone that wants to come out and help move, you are welcomed!

Dad was in Denver on Monday and Tuesday and in KC on Wednesday. He was travelling with a visitor from their office in Belgium and only had a day in KC. Mom held down the fort in Portland. It doesn't look like there will be any travelling in August. Nellie comes to Portland the end of August. Just in time to help the final stages of the move and the home decorating!

Your Snow Bunny till Some Bunny Loves You

On Saturday we headed to Mount Hood. We have been here almost nine months and haven't made it over the the biggest (literally) the biggest attraction here. On the way we stopped at an orchard and had some fresh cherries. Wow were they good. So tender and full of flavor. They were called Van's. We ate about two pounds of them over the afternoon. We some some great scenery and found a place to go swimming just below the mountain.

 Mom was so excited she couldn't keep her eyes open!

 Unknown mountain in the background. All of the other photos are of Mt. Hood.

Earlier in the week Kari Burkhardt and her son Gerren came to visit from Oklahoma. They arrived late on Monday and stayed until early Saturday morning. Mom took them to Nikeland (Tuesday), The Chinese Garden (Wednesday), The Columbia River Gorge (Thursday) and the Pacific coast (Friday). It was a very nice time. The Burkhardt’s really appreciated the cooler weather. It was in the mid to upper 70’s all week. On Saturday it did get up to the mid 80’s. We finally turned on the air conditioner but mainly because of allergies and the need to filter the air in the evening. We are only using at night for now.

The house is getting very close to completion. By Friday evening, they had finished the electrical, plumbing, sprinkler system (seems very silly for such a small area), ductwork, sod and trees. The stove, kitchen exhaust fan and dishwasher were also installed. All that is really left is carpeting and painting the outside of the house. The back yard still needs to be landscaped. The sprinkler, sod and trees mentioned earlier are only in the front yard. It should all be completed by Wednesday evening of this week. After that, it is city and county inspections, our inspection, final touchups and fixes and then we take possession. Needless to say, we are very excited.

Dad is out of town this week. He will be in Denver late Sunday thru late Tuesday and then to KC until Thursday afternoon.

Back Home

We departed Caleb's on Monday and arrive back home in Portland late on Monday evening. It was a short night before Dad had to go back to work. On the last day in Rochester, Caleb and Camber took us to Dinosaur Barbecue and had some really good food. As much as we love KC barbecue, the Dinosaur was excellent!

Once we arrived home, we were excited to get to the new house and see what progress had been made. The drywall is complete, the doors and doorways are all installed, the interior painting finished, the vinyl floors are in and the driveway, porch and patio are all poured. Later in the week they installed the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and the countertops are installed. The countertops still need to be grouted.

The new facade!

 The front entryway

 The new patio

The front view

 From upstairs looking down

 The two tone dining room

 Kitchen before the tile

 Upstairs bathroom

 Kitchen after the countertop tile

 Master bathroom

 Masterbath shower and new vinyl

 Master bath counter and tile

 Kitchen with the first lady

 Doesn't it look right at home!

The cool new pantry door in the kitchen

That's all for now. We love and miss all of you and are glad we could see all of you over the past couple of weeks.

It's Vacation Time

Vacation for mom started on June 22nd and for dad on June 25th. Mom brought Hannah back after 4-1/2 weeks in Portland. Becky picked her baby up on the 23 and mom stayed at Hotel Nellie until dad arrived late on his birthday. Once he arrived they stayed at Nellie's on the 25th and then to a hotel for the 26th through the 29th. Work paid for the hotel so we got out of Nellie's way while she went to work. On the 26th we headed to Topeka to see Grandma Marcell and Grandpa and Grandma Fisher. Later that day we headed to St. Mary's, KS and stayed at Hotel Georgie. We were able to see Matt and his family while we were there. We returned to Nellie's on the 27th and stayed at her house until the 6th. While in KC, dad went to Worlds of Fun with Rachel, Dean and Nellie and we all were able to get together for the 4th for our annual family celebration. While at Nellie's we were able to go swimming most every day as the weather was quite warm. See photos below of some of the fun!

Mom and Nellie loved to swim and jumping in the deep end was their favorite.

Nellie learned how to float!

 Cooling off at Worlds of Fun, Rachel is a sour puss!

Taylor with her cast on the 4th

 Zayne getting ready to blow things up!

 Everyone sitting around and eating before the fireworks.

 The son and future pyro!

 Be careful Hannah

 There was also motorcycle riding on the agenda for the 4th. I'm not sure but Gabe may need a bigger trailer for Brody's motorcycle.

 Boom, Boom Boom

While in KC we drove by the Temple site. It has come a long ways.

On the 7th we headed to Rochester to visit Caleb and Camber. That evening we went to the Hill Cummorah Pagent.

On Friday, Dad and Caleb went to the Rochester Redwings game. The Redwings are a AAA Minor League team for the Minnesota Twins. They had a great time and were able to watch the game but also were able to see lots of other entertainment, including Barack Ollama! The game was a Father's Day gift to dad from Rachel. They had a chance at several souvenirs but only one ended up in their hands. A Red Wings Frisbee.

On Saturday we headed to Watkins Glen State Park on the south end of Seneca Lake. It is one of the Finger Lakes. We hiked through the gorge and saw some beautiful water falls. The hike was only 1.5 miles each way but it took us 4 hours to hike it. Mom and Caleb took tons of photos.

We have had a great time. Tomorrow, the 11th, we head back to Portland. It was super hot in Blair, mid 100's, hot in KC, upper 90's, moderate in Rochester, mid 80's, and cool in Portland, mid 70's.

Check out Caleb and Camber's blog site as they will be posting more photos.