Fun New Stuff

We have just finished a couple of small projects in our kitchen/dining room. We have replaced the Coke-bottle-green glass tiles of our backsplash with white clear glass tiles. They have a more blue-gray cast to them and work much better with the counter tops. We also have had three pendant lights installed over the dining table. They are the same fixtures that hang over the island. The dining table always seemed too dark, and dinner now sparkles under the small halogen floods. In the pictures you can see Johnny installing the luminaires and the new glass tile.



You can see the finished lighting scheme in use. Colton created a wonderful meal of stirfry and rice, salad, and edamame.

You can also see in the final photo that Will is visiting from North Carolina.

We are off to Phoenix to visit the Youngs and G'mother Boynton. We will also fly from there to Houston for Hilary Gibbs' wedding. I don't know if I will be clever enough to blog from their computers. If not I'll share the trip when we return in a couple of weeks.

OXO to you all.

We're Back

So, when Google offered an updated and improved version of Blogger, I accepted but had to open a gmail account. I had to choose a new ID and password but promtly forgot them. Consequently, I have been unable to add new posts or comment on anyone else's blog. With Emily's help we created a new blog tonight and added all the old posts in almost the exact same form in which the were originally posted. That Emily is a whiz! Merci bien, Eileen!

There has been a lot of water under the bridge since the last post, so I will just jump in fresh.



We are in the midst of finishing a few last projects on the house. We finally had a fence installed in the back yard. When we bought the house we were aware that the neighbor's fence was falling down and that their house was not the best looking thing in the neighborhood. So we had a 3 foot block wall installed at the back of the property and created a raised bed against the wall. There was method in our madness because Provo City only allows a 6 foot fence, which would have done nothing to hide the neighbor's house. But we intended to install the fence in the raised bed which would give us an additional 2 feet. Well, as it turns out, the fence guys said they could build the fence on TOP of the wall, which gives us an additional 3 feet. The finished fence is 9 feet tall! Wahoo. It is TREX, which is made from recycled milk bottles and wood byproducts and it never needs to be stained or painted. We are pleased with the color that makes such a nice foil for plants and flowers.

We are also replacing the tile in the kitchen. We were never happy with the color and the installation was wonkey. I will post photos when it is completed. We have also installed pendant lights over the dining table. I will post photos of those later too.



Another happy thing in our lives was the Mothers Day call from Hermana Katy in Warden WA. She is doing so well and has settled in beautifully. Those who have read her letters/journals will know that homesickness was a problem in the beginning. I asked her if she was still homesick, and she replied that of course she was, but it isn't that sick kind of thing where you might chop of part of your foot so they would send you home. She just misses the family and knows it will be nice to be reunited in a few months. The photo is courtesy of Katy and shows her with a chicken foot that was hidden in her bag by the fun-loving elders.

New Babies!

We have some new babies in the family. Really, one new baby and a two-month-old. Maren and Gavin had Harrison David Young on the 11th of January, and Anna and Rob had Clara Ivy Hastings on the 14th of March. Fun times!

A Morning Call From Italia

As we sat finishing breakfast and completing today's Priesthood lesson, the phone rang. The ID of the caller was unavailable, but Kris answered anyway. When she said "buon giorno" with great excitement I knew who it was. Rod and Vic were calling from Opera. Vicki needed a recipe for dilly bread, something less sweet to share with her neighbors.



What a happy surprise! It was so good to visit for a while. It is as if they have never been away. We miss them and look forward to their return in just a few months.

Ciao

Photos by Katy Kathryn

American Gothic

This is a contemporary "American Gothic" taken in mid-October by Uncle Stephen on the occasion of the completion of our front walkway. It took several hours of back-straining effort, but we are pleased to have finished the project. We are chuffed about the informal character of the pathways, but wonder how snow shoveling will be. We will let you know how that works out when winter fully arrives.

Some people are suckers for an alley of trees.

Boy this blog thing is fun. I am almost up to speed (with Emily's help). Here we go down a beautiful allee d'arbres. The photo was taken by Katy Kathryn at Versailles during the summer of 2004. Note the ubiquitous green umbrella in my back pocket.

We wish we were in Italy again.

David and Kris high above Como, Italy during the summer of 2004. The photo was taken in Brunate by Katy Kathryn.