Home for Rent

Since Chris will be staying in Japan a while, he's looking for a good renter for his nice home in a wonderful Bountiful neighborhood (mine!).  Their friends who rented it for the past two years are buying a home here.  It has been a good arrangement.  They loved the home, the ward and the neighborhood.   Sad to see them go.  Pics here.

Home

I know it pretty much looks the same every year but this is the summer 2010 edition of my house. I really love this place, even though it needs work, cleaning and repairs - the joys of home ownership. I feel very blessed to have been guided here and that I was able to buy it. And this year I was sad to be sick for so much of the Spring/Summer. It felt good to finally be feeling well enough to mow and trim. The garden is pathetic and the flower beds in back never go proper attention but at least I am getting better and can appreciate the simple things like being able to do that work.

Habiscus

With illness and other crises taking over my life, my yard has had to be mostly perennial do-it-themselves. My trumpet vine has really taken off this year but no blooms :( Maybe it needs some fertilizer or something.
My habiscus really looks nice though. Glad I got these in when I did so the yard still looks pretty decent even without a lot of TLC.

I'm afraid I fried the little vegetable garden or something. The tomatoes and parsley are alive but the squash and cucumbers didn't make it. I think it had something to do with the special fertilizer/Preen combination. I thought I was doing it right but something killed it. Then, with everything else, I just had to let it go. Trying to say no to a few things...

Some before and afters (Sanchez home)

I realized my memory sometimes is of the more recent rather than the whole picture. This project has been going on for about 10 months now and it's easy to forget the earlier stuff and who all was involved - and in what way.

It's still a work in progress but they have done amazing things already. You can't really see the flowers in this picture but they are building a pathway to the front door and cleaned up the big bush, replaced with a nice flower bed.

Yep, same kitchen. The top photo is looking in from the other direction and the next one is from the same direction as the lower (after).

Fred, Jenn and their kids; Rob, Natalie and their kids; Ken, Jon and Barry have done most of the hard labor with a little help from others (Steve, me - not so much) who contributed in various ways - loaned items and snippets or major blocks of time to volunteer when able. As you can see there was much demolition, many trips to the dump (yuk! - Jon did great with that), wiring. Barry completely rewired the whole house because it was all a disaster. Jon wired it for home theater, network and TV (he also watched kids and loaned his truck when needed, meaning walking to work sometimes). Of course they have had to spend a lot of money too...

It's almost like those Habitat for Humanity projects. Of course this one is taking a little longer and the volunteers are getting burned out...

Labors of Love

Click here for another photoessay of Haiti helpers and victims. And, click here to see how a young girl is helping by using her newly acquired skill of sewing. More about the orphans' exit here. Fixing Haiti here. It's a long-term commitment to help them regain self-sufficiency beyond the emergency assistance they are receiving now. Shelters are being constructed before the April rains come.

Closer to home...
Fred
Fred, Adam & Rob installing cabinets
Grandpa & Emma painting
Emma

Natalie's new haircut after she gave to "Locks of Love"


Jenn and Fred's house project continues
Emma & Avery
Grandpa & Avery
Little helper, Avery
Grandpa, Avery, Emma, Nat, Olivia
Avery

Construction Zone

Progress is not as fast as Jenn and Fred had hoped but it's coming.

The Project

Dinner break in the "habitable" part of the house.
The new walls and custom-made archway (Jenn's dream; Ken's work)

Give a girl a hammer!

The dump crew - ready to take load # 3. The photo is kind of deceptive because under the rug is over 2,000 lbs. of rock, bricks, lumber and rubble. Emma's leaning on the old furnace. Nat and Jon are on the left, I'm on the right with Ashlie, Olivia and Alex in the center.
We're still trying to see Jenn's vision here. So far we're removing everything!

And the work goes on...

Friday's work - Rob and Ken
Ken and Jon
Waiting for further instructions...
Study it out in your mind...
Oh, what a tangled web...
z-z-z-z-a-p-p-p-p (electricity scares me)

Jenn & Fred's house

Getting down to the bones - the dust in the air makes the spots on the photo
Fred
Ken assessing the damage they've been doing - on purpose!
Adam helps too
Jenn has been working every day - she has a vision

The Demo

They had a Family Home Evening service project at Jenn and Fred's place. A "new" fridge is on its way.

The ceiling is braced and exposed with the crumbling brick fireplace coming down. Not exactly ready for the fridge.
Emma's helping
Olivia and Rob
Emma with the "before" stove (and lots of dust in the air)
Underneath it all. Some people might think this was taken after a natural disaster
View from the kitchen
I failed to mention that Ken is the chief contractor and they appreciate lots of help from other family members as well.

Jenn's Moving

I don't think that's an outhouse.

Jenn and Fred closed on their house and started the demolition this week so they're happy. They are basically gutting it and doing tons of work to make it livable. The people had lots of pets and they are very allergic to the house so all the carpeting is coming out, everything that can hold dander, etc. It's a serious fixer-upper. Walls are being rebuilt, wiring, plumbing, roofing, you name it. When they finish it will definitely be theirs. I guess they've been so long without a house to work on they have lots of pent-up energy. I tried to get them to work on my place! The house is in Farmington, just down the street from where I used to live. In fact, the same ward, though boundaries have changed in the last six years since I was there. It comes with a pasture and they're interested in renting that part out to someone with a horse.

So, we'll be calling in the troops again for the move.

A Perfect Fall Day

The snowball bushes are just turning.

I love this maple tree and the colors are so pretty in my back yard. Such a nice time of year.
I'm not crazy about quakies in landscaping, but I do appreciate having trees.
My front yard
Across the back fence