Congratulations Kendra!

Josh and Kendra

On Thursday night Scott and I attended Kendra's high school graduation. I took this picture before we left for the ceremony. Upon arrival to the school it began to rain and I began to freeze. I was not prepared as I only wore a light skirt, top and sandals expecting to be drenched from sweating in the hot AZ desert.

Proud Father with Kendra

The picture above was taken after the ceremony and we were all recovering from being rained on. Kendra was very appreciative of all the gifts and wishes she received from all the family, it was more than she expected in tough economic times.

Our Daily Walk is Turning Green

On Sunday after all of our projects, Scott and I took Millie on an extra long walk. Since Sparky is not in the best shape we take her a short distance and then Scott turns around and takes her back to the house and Millie and I wait at the park for him to return.
We have lived in this awesome community for two years now and are still amazed at how beautiful it is. There is only one house between ours and the entrance to more than 70 miles of Highlands Ranch trails that covers over 2,000 acres.
In the picture above Millie and I turned off on another trail and were waiting for Scott to catch up to us.
In this picture I stopped to take a picture and Millie looked back to make sure I was still following.
We absolutely love taking these beautiful walks everyday and actually experiencing the four seasons for the first time since we were young children. However, the allergies are brutal!

Spring Weekend Projects

Scott and I had a super busy weekend, working on outside projects the last 7 snowy/rainy weekends would not allow. The first project was to install a solar powered attic fan. We bought the fan through Costco.com for $319 and we are hoping it will help make our house more comfortable this summer as we have opted for another summer without AC in our house. This will be our third summer here and it seems as if July and August are the only hot months and the house is only hot from about 1 pm - 4pm. Nights are always cool and we can open the windows to cool down the house. The attic fan is free to run and should reduce the temperature about 10 degrees and increase the life of our roof too. I'm sure we won't regard this purchase.
The next project involved working in the garden, and cleaning up the yard. So far we planted strawberries, cucumber, zucchini, tomato varieties, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and kale.

I took this picture of our clean front yard as we were getting ready to take our daily walk. I tried to walk hard enough to get real hot and sweaty so I could come home and take a cold shower, since our brand new water heater is still not working. Well that did not work, the cold water felt like frozen needles stabby me. Scott walked down to the rec center and showered there. I still haven't picked up my free membership card (I know I have lived here 2 years), so I did not want to go down and say "can I get my picture taken" when I haven't had a shower in two days. Gross!

Big Plans for Next Week

Next Thursday we will be in Arizona attending Kendra's high school graduation. We are so proud of Kendra and how she has grown into an intelligent, sensible and beautiful young woman. For each of our children we have purchased a laptop for their high school graduation that they can take with them to college. Kendra is the last of Scott's children to graduate and that means and end to the court ordered child support he has been paying for 18 years, every month without a single missed payment. When I met Scott that was one thing I really admired about him. He put his children first above everything else. There were times when we worked together (before we dated) that everyone in the office went out to lunch and Scott would not be able to because his ex-wife called and needed grocery money, so he would send her his grocery money because he did not want his kids to go without. There was another time a group of us went to the mall for lunch and Scott came along to buy a winter coat for his daughter, because her mom could not afford to. I could not believe how much he sacrificed to make sure his kids were taken care of. Once we began dating, many of our dates included driving three hours one way to pick up his kids in Heber and take them to Show Low to go bowling, to movies, to get hair cuts and anything else they might need. We took the kids on trips to Disneyland and Sedona and I really got to know what great kids they are. I can't believe they are all grown up now.

February 2009: Chelsea and Kendra

After we see Kendra graduate on Thursday, I will spend Friday preparing for Chelsea's baby shower that Whitney and I are giving on Saturday. We had to plan the shower for the same weekend because Scott and I will already be in town and can't afford to come back again. I know this is frustrating for some of our family to have a graduation and a baby shower in one weekend and I apologize for that. I can't believe the baby is coming so soon and I will be a grandmother! Where does all the time go? Chelsea, make sure you enjoy every moment because before you know it you will be saying this same statement to your own daughter.

Maybe I should have bought a tankless?

Right before my dad and I left on our road trip I noticed our water heater was leaking. At the time it was a slow drip that appeared to be coming from the drain valve. So I put a bowl under it and took off. Of coarse Grandma scared the crap out of me when she said someone in AZ had one launch like a rocket out of their house. When I returned home Scott went down to drain the tank and replace the valve only to discover the leak was coming from the tank. So I did some online research on water heaters and the possibility of solar or tankless. Solar could have cost about $5,000 and tankless about $1000 not including installation. I was told first time installation could be very costly. With the government rebates and energy saving costs we could have made up the extra money after a few years however, I am still unemployed and in times like these we could loose the house before recouping the money. So I decided to buy a Kenmore Energy Efficient tank and arranged for installation today. The tank was about $500 and installation $229.
The plumber shows up and points out all the code violations and worn piping. So I approved that new yellow tube, the green gas shut off valve and other piping. Once the system was hooked up the plumber discovered it was defective, and I had to call Sears for approval for the plumber to exchange. Later two other plumbers showed up at the door with another unit and were laughing because I had three plumbers and three water heaters in my living room. They said they have never seen this particular problem and maybe I had bad luck. (I often wonder). So after all the chaos I end up paying (charging) almost $900.

What next? Well I waited a couple of hours, took Millie on a nice walk and began to make an Easy Mac. When I turned on the hot water it was spitting and eventually ran out. I thought maybe the pipe was clogged with sediment so I tried other faucets throughout the house and nothing but a gas smell. I went down to the basement to look at and listen to the water heater. Nothing, so I tried turning the cold water valve and what do you know the tank started to fill with water and crazy, spooky noises came and I ran quickly upstairs to call Scott. The gas was on in the empty tank for three hours before I noticed and turned on the water.

I am so spooked about the whole gas thing and frustrated we had to spend so much money. At least this unit is top rated and warrantied to last 12 years. How annoying, I wonder in this economy if we would be better off renting?

Spring Flowers are Blooming in my Front Yard

When we moved into our house we wanted to plant some bulbs in this area but never actually did. However last spring flowers began to pop up and display their beauty, without any effort on our part. Sadly, they do not last long as I discovered as well last year. So this year I made sure to take a few pictures before they disappeared.
I am really enjoying spring this year in Colorado, it would be nice to have the comfort of a job, but as long as I am unemployed I might as well enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery.

Iowa road trip: Back to where it all began

Dad and I spent the past weekend in Iowa sightseeing and enjoying time with family. Dad had a strict agenda that included visiting all the landmarks of his youth, his parents grave site and hunting down Iowa Hawkeyes stuff. There was little time for rest.

I took the picture above as dad drooled over the University of Iowa stadium, wishing it was football season.
The picture above was taken in our home town of Davenport looking towards the Mississippi River.

Dad took me all over town reminiscing, some buildings were remodeled, some destroyed, some abandoned. Dad showed me the house he lived in as a little boy, the house where we lived when I was born, the building downtown where his dad owned and ran a shop and most importantly (to my siblings and I) the building above. Dad was shocked to see the building still there and named the Coliseum after more than forty years since he met my mother there.
We took this picture at my cousin Bob's house on Sunday night as we said goodbye to our family who were so fun and hospitable during our visit. My home is always open to any of you to come and visit Colorado. Thank you for everything!

Dad's Visit - Unexpected Surprises

Sean and Dad showed up on Sunday night with a few light rain showers and Monday morning woke up to 5 inches of snow. Dad was so excited to see snow, especially the nice wet snowball snow. I told dad the snow would melt away the same day and it was melted by 3 pm that day and we took Millie for a walk. (Sparky could not go she was still hurting from the walk before)

Dad never thought his car would be in snow?

Like I expected, we have seen two movies and visited Red Rocks. As we pulled out of the Red Rock park my dad spotted deer on the side of the road. At first he thought no way they can't be real, then he noticed one move. So Sean snapped a couple of great pictures for me.

Deer accross from the Red Rocks entrance 4/28/2009