Monday, August 17, 2009

Our new sunroom/trips we could have taken

Our new sunroom was finished about a week ago. It's beautiful. It is built like a real room, no curved glass and metal windows, no choking heat, no leaks in heavy rainstorms. It was a nice room while it lasted but it just wasn't pleasant anymore. Our neighbor Jordan was our contractor and did a superb job. He stressed about wrong windows and getting behind on his promised time of one month, but it was fine. We even saved some money because of the window problem.

The ceiling is higher than the rest of the house and has three skylights, one that opens. The big picture window frames our aspens outside. There are real doors with blinds on the inside of the glass, a woman's invention, I'm sure. Since we had to pick paint for the new room we went ahead and had the living room and hallways painted too - a beautiful, soft yellow that really livens up the whole house. And new carpet throughout most of the top floor! Of all the man-made items in the world, new carpet that looks nice and feels soft on your toes is a joy to behold. Yes, I love the carpet.

Besides the new room and new carpet we had a new roof put on. We loved our old cedar shakes but they were causing leaks and the roof had outlived its life. So we have a nice new asphalt roof as well. And new insulation in the attic. We've never done this much to a house before. Our Austin house only got a new roof once, and the deck and a used hot tub, but this house is the one we'll be in for a long time so it needed the TLC. I kept thinking about all the trips we could take with the amount of money we were spending on the new construction and decided it's worth it to have this new room over several trips. It's wonderful to sit in and when we do go on a trip, it will be wonderful to come home to.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

It's amazing what a long nap will do

I got back from camp today - five days of high mountain fun and spirituality. OK, four. I left Thursday morning to come home to work and go to a wedding reception, but it felt like five anyway.

I was in charge of the whole she-bang last year as stake camp director. What a difference a year makes! I loved both years - last year the planning and seeing through of a zillion details, this year - just being there, walking the camp without a huge load on my shoulders, visiting with camps and pitching in where needed. Some things I always come home grateful for: sweet, mature leaders who don't gripe, cute girls who get along and help each other, wards that feed us delicious food, the smell of the pines and aspens, wonderful ward and stake friends, good weather (although it was 32 degrees this morning - there was ice on my car ...) and a renewed testimony of my love for the beautiful things Heavenly Father has created just for our enjoyment and knowledge.

I didn't sleep well this week so this afternoon my bed beckoned. It was lovely to catch up on some well-earned zzzzzz for a few hours. Yes, I have laundry and grocery shopping to do but it's good to get back to normal life. And I have a new house! The sunroom is done, the paint on the walls is soft yellow, the roof is complete and we have lovely, soft new carpet! It's like walking into someone else's house but it's all mine!

I missed my family. I haven't seen Andrea, Jason or Brandy for five days. I saw Riley and Amy on Thursday while I was home for a bit and Riley came up to camp last night as part of the bishopric who brought pizza to the 10th ward.

Life is good.