Musings of an Unwanted Roommate

 Remember this post?   Well, the story continues:

I think they thought they were rid of me, but I've been here all along.  There's not much food here, but it's warm.  I wander around the house looking for food: spiders, insects, whatever I can find.  I find a cozy place to sleep . . . and hide.

The other night I found a very warm, soft- oh so soft-green blanket to curl up in.  I was sound asleep when all of a sudden the blanket was moving and shaking and I found myself plopped on the floor!  I was disoriented and not sure where I was.  I saw shelter across the way, under a blanket storage chest.  I headed that way.  Before I could duck under for cover I looked up and saw that Amazon Woman! You remember that one who crushed me in her bare hands.  There she was again, looming over me.  I hurried and scurried under the chest. I stayed for a few minutes, but feeling like I would like more shelter, I came out, headed for under the couch. Suddenly a book came out of the sky and crashed down on me.  The Amazon Woman was out to get me!  Oh baby, this is WAR!  Stunned, but not entirely incapacitated, I scurried under the couch where I knew she couldn't come and nursed my wounds.  I stayed for quite some time.  When the room got dark, I came out, searching for a better place to hide. I knew the woman's husband would look for me under there when it got light. Where could I go?  A shoe.  One of her shoes would be a good place to hide.  Then when she slides her foot in I could lift my tale and give her a good sting.  Or, I know, I could hide under that throw rug in the living room.  Her foot is often near it when she is in her living room chair.  I could come out and sting her good, then scurry back under the rug.  Honestly, though, I think the best place is in her bed, where I first went.  It is soft and warm for me and an excellent place to wait to attack.  When she is sound asleep, I could stretch out and swing my tail and get her good.  This isn't over.  

We are in a battle here, folks, and I intend to win!  I'll keep you posted.

Rain and Flooding

Oh how we have prayed for rain for our dry desert land.  We have been abundantly blessed over the last month.  We have had three big storms making a remarkable difference in our water stores.

 

Unfortunately, it has also caused flooding and property damage.  I have copied a lot of pictures of the flooding from Facebook.

One neighborhood in Hurricane was flooded twice, causing much damage and property loss.

We continue to pray for gentle rain and snow in the mountains.  

 

Kitchen Cabinet Renew

 Our home is 41 years old.  We needed to renew our cabinets in our kitchen.  We had them re-stained about 10 years ago, but they needed it again.  

We hired a local guy to put in slide out drawers in our bottom cabinets.  What a great improvement!  We did lose some space by doing it, but it was nice to get rid of stuff we don't use that much.  We are loving these drawers!  We also had him repair our silverware drawer that hasn't worked right for years.  I sometimes go in the kitchen and just slide it in and out, in and out because it is so nice now!

We then had another company come and take all the cabinet and drawer fronts to stain them.  We had been working toward this for several months.  Ken and I had very different opinions on how to finish them.  I wanted to paint them white.  Ken did not want to cover the beautiful wood.  We both felt pretty strongly about our opinions.  I finally relented.  They pre-stained two of the drawers to choose between.  We chose the lighter, hoping some of the yellow would be darkened.  I was so nervous as I waited to see the final product.

It was quite a job to empty out all of the cabinets and drawers.

They were in our home doing the onsite staining and reattaching the newly stained cabinets on one of the days of our Gabrielsen reunion.  We came home to find this:

We both are very pleased with the result.  We then had the first guy come back and install new shelves in all of the upper cabinets as the shelves were old and worn.  Then we started the process of refilling all of the cabinets.  It actually isn't completely done yet.  We still need to sort the cookbooks and the tablecloth cabinets and a couple of others and put what we keep back in.  It's been quite a project, but we're so happy to have it almost done.

State Mountain Bike Races

 Our Caleb, a junior in high school, qualified for the state mountain biking competition.  It was held here in St. George out in the desert.  It had rained the few days before, so the course was muddy, but on Friday, the day was clear and sunny.  Ken went to support and cheer for him.  He did so well.  He came in third in his heat of 72 riders.  

We are so proud of Caleb and his hard work and determination to improve.  He trained all last summer. But then in August he had a bike wreck and broke his wrist.  He couldn't ride for a couple of months.  It was very disappointing to him and really set him back. But as soon as he got clearance, he was back on the bike, training hard. He was elated with the results of his performance at state.  And so are we!!

Gabrielsen Sibling Reunion

 October 20-24, we had a Gabrielsen Sibling Reunion in St. George.  Patty and Hal's son, Evan, owns a condo here and let us use it.  We had such a fun time together.  

Most everyone arrived on Tuesday.  They came to my Keynote rehearsal on Wednesday morning.  They were such a fun audience and the Keynotes sang well for them.  It meant so much to me that they would come.  Afterward we went to Kneaders for brunch.  The guys were supposed to golf after that, but the courses were closed for flooding and it was raining.  So we went to the condo and visited and caught up on each others' lives.  That evening we went to dinner at Cappeletti's downtown.  It was so delicious.  Ken and I shared a table with John and Cindy and so enjoyed that special time with them.

The next morning we met for brunch at the Bear Paw Cafe.  The food was delicious- again!

Waiting to get in the Bear Paw: Me, Pam, Patty, Cindy, Joan

Again, the golf was rained out, so went back to the condo.

Pam had downloaded a lot of throwback pictures on her Ipad and cast them to the TV in the condo.  It was so fun to see them and reminisce.

Singing together with John playing the guitar upstairs at the Bluebird in Logan.

Visiting Grandma Beena

We had fun identifying everyone in these reunion pictures.

Sitting in the condo watching the pictures.  Shonna, Gabe, and Caleb had just arrived.  Caleb was racing in the State Championship Mountain biking tournament the next day.

They brought Hal a treat to celebrate his 81st birthday.

The guys finally got to golf on Friday morning.  Ken didn't join them because he went to Caleb's race to support him.

That evening, after dinner at Village Baker, we did a sealing session in our Red Cliffs temple.  Ken was the sealer.  It was such a special time together.  It was the highlight of the reunion.

After the temple we went out for Froyo.  We had such a fun time visiting as we enjoyed our treat.

Then we said goodbye as everyone left the next morning.  It was such a lovely time together.  How we love our family!!!