So Where Are We

I haven't written for so long I don't know where I am.

We have been very busy going nowhere it seems. Things have taken so long because of waiting on others to do there job (electrical, heating and cooling system etc.). We have finished the sheet rock, taping, texturing, cutting out basement windows, putting in basement windows and window wells, most of the siding, sofiting, upstairs doors, molding, and new garage.

Upstairs Dinning and Kitchen

Upstairs Living area

Much needed Union Break.

Not only has it taken forever but the weather has been a bear!!! Hot 90 to 100+ degrees and humidity higher then usual. The cooling and heating guy has been off doing other jobs leaving us without air-conditioning. It just hasn't been pleasant. The Dustins are great people but aren't craftsmen so Randall has spent most of his time teaching Elder Dustin what to do, so things have gone slow. Sister Dustin is more receptive and knowledgeable then Elder Dustin. Kinda funny!

We said we would stay another 2 weeks so the couple replacing us could get up to speed since the Dustins wouldn't know what will be needed in the future. So we still have a few weeks left, we are expecting them to come sometime around August 15. I wish we could be here when this house is finished but I do want to go home.

I have gained a great respect for my husband and the things he can do. I always knew he would be able to do anything we needed as a family, but watching him work is amazing. He really should have his own reality TV show. Elder Dustin is an outdoors man and likes to bike, hike and climb. He is put out because he keeps saying he can't keep up with Randall. Between the work and heat we have all been having a hard time! Elder Dustin keeps telling Sister Dustin “I can't keep up, it makes me so mad, I'm in shape and I can't keep up”. Rand kicks butt, even for a younger man, which he's not. Another impressive thing is how he always knows what needs to be done. He can put in a beam to hold up the house and act as bearing wall. He knows how to extend roof-lines, build staircases, cut basement windows, he knows what can be replaced and what can't. The list goes on and on. He gets it done and is 67 yrs old, and works like a 30 yr old. He's amazing to me. I just hope in this heat he doesn't over do it and keel over on me because he is also stubborn and won't stop when he needs to.

I also love my dear sweet children for all they have done for us. Our house has had some major issues since we have been gone and the kids have had to deal with them. I know it's been hard since they live so far away (We had to go through that with my parents). But we have appreciated everything they've done. Gordon had also been wonderful taking care of things while we have been gone. Going on a mission is more than two old people leaving home for awhile. There are so many other things involved, most people aren't even aware of. It will be nice to get home and give everyone a break.

Add on to this going to church and church jobs! But God keeps us going, we would not be doing this if not for him. I think our health would have given out long ago without all his blessings, I have to admit. With him around I can do anything, it may take awhile but I have done things I thought I was way to old for. I have more confidence in myself with the blessings he has given me. My testimony of the gospel and in Heavenly Father has grown since I have been out and of that I'm very thankful.

Love you all, Happy Birthday Ivan! ann

Good Day!

Parents are Parents

We called some of the kids this weekend because Uncle Gordon called and said we needed to start mowing and watering the yard. Gordon has kept a good eye on the place for us and has already mowed the lawn several times. So we called the kids to see if they could turn on the water for the house /yard and get the sprinklers going. Jason and Desiree went up and got things going and mowed the lawn (last Sunday, maybe not the best day but the only day they could). In the process of thanking all the kids over and over again, (without them we could never have come on this mission) we were talking to Ivan and he said it was payback for all we had done for him. We told him we loved him and paying us back for being his parents wasn't necessary.

I remembered when we came on this mission, people would say all the blessings we would get. All I wanted to do was pay back Heavenly Father for the life full of blessing and love he has given me. Being here has made me realize you can't pay him back, he just keeps heaping blessing on. It still bothered me though until I heard Ivan say he was trying to pay us back, and we said he didn't need to it was part of being a parent. Then the Holy Ghost whispered to me and said, “just like Heavenly Father is your parent”. You can't pay parents back. It doesn't work that way. All we can do is try to be the best children we can and follow his commandments. He will always love us and heap on the blessings. I'm so grateful to have my Heavenly Father. How people live without acknowledging his hand in their lives I cannot fathom. Thank you Heavenly Father!

Now, on to the progress of house #3. We got the footings done and everything ready to pour the garage floor. Took about a week. The cement truck came and started pouring at about 9:00. I didn't get there until about 9:30, (early for me but I wanted to watch and help if I could). They were about ¾ of the way through and the cement was already starting to set up. On top of that there wasn't enough to finish the job. So we all went to work trying to get a finish on it and by about 10:00 it was to hard to work. So we had a very expensive mess on our hands. Randall was sick, we all were ready to cry.

Out of Cement! Isome, Elder and Sister Dustin, James, George and
Randall hanging on the truck.

Trying to smooth cement. Isome, James, Elder Dustin , Randall's back
and George.

Elder Dustin's opinion of the cement.

Randall called the cement yard owner and told him what had happened. He said he had poured lots of jobs and never had this problem. Randall said he had it now. The owner sent his son out to look at it and his son agreed there was nothing we could have done. So the owner said he would make it right. We still aren't sure what that means?

Sooooo, we then proceeded to rip out all the cement. Keep in mind we had already done this when we tore down the garage. Nothing like doing things twice. Hopefully we wont be going for the best out of three. Anyway, what a job, but we did it, and all in one day. Again, 4 old people rock! The next day we formed it up again and are now-waiting to get it poured. Randall has some ideas this next time he hopes will help. We hope so too, we're all really tiered of picking up big chunks of cement and loading them into the backhoe bucket.

Ripping out the cement again!

We have the upstairs windows of the house put in. The plumber has finished with the plumbing. The heating/air conditioning guys are almost done working on moving the ducts and the furnace. We have found an electrician. Randall and Elder Dustin are building closets in the rooms of the lodge. The rooms had no storage so the Managers decided they needed closets. Life is good. Now what to make for dinner.

Closet in one of the rooms in the Lodge.

Love and miss you all. Happy Birthday Rylie!
Good Day!

Busy Week

This last Sunday was fun. We went to church at the Guymon branch as usual, Jade Wilkins (He's the oldest of the Wilkins kids) Had received his mission call but hadn't opened it. He wanted to wait and invite the branch to his house to share in his excitement. So we went to their house at 6:30 to witness the opening of Jade's mission call and have ice cream sundaes. He was called to the San Jose Mission, in California (Spanish speaking). Almost everyone in the branch showed up. It was so cool because that would not happen in a ward. Everyone in a branch is so close and supportive of each other. They have to be, otherwise the branch would just dry up. We truly do become family. Plus it was Mothers Day! We were able to talk to the kids on the phone. I missed Ivan because we were in the middle of Jade opening his mission call. Sorry Ivan, but I saw your awesome instergram.
.

Jade Wilkins

While we waited at the Walker's apartment till it was time to go to the Wilkin's, we had our usual lunch. Later Elder Walker gave a demonstration of how to play the saw. The younger missionaries had not seen him do this yet. Also one the the little sister missionaries made some wookies for us, they are cookie dough made on a waffle iron. They were really, really good! Cameron, a new convert who always has Sunday lunch with us at the Walkers, birthday was today! Happy Birthday Cameron. It will also be his last Sunday here in Guymon. He is going to get a job elsewhere and go to school at BYU Idaho this fall. When he has been a member long enough to become an Elder and finished a semester he will be going on a mission. You rock Cameron, you will be an awesome missionary!

Wookies, Yum!

This week we have finished the new stairs to house #3, tore out the carpet in the basement, tore out all the old pluming, mowed all the lawns, tore up all the concrete from the garage, steps and sidewalks, went to town three times, and took care of our garden. We have planted several types of tomatoes (Sister Dustin loves tomatoes), crook neck squash, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, tomotios, hot and sweet peppers. We aren't expecting to much with all the rabbits, gophers and weather changes. But it's fun to try and amazing to watch how fast it's growing.

Elder and Sister Dustin laying sub-floor.

Sister Dustin and new stairs.

New stairs!

To top it off, Sister Dustin and I went to quilt club Tuesday. Sister Dustin joined the club, she's really into quilting. She has a long arm quilter at home. Next meeting we will be working on the bull's eye quilt.

Love you, miss you!


Good day!

Keeping Busy

What a week! Elder and Sister Gardner left for the rest of their mission in Promontory,Utah. They will be ranch sitting for the summer. The cows are all hauled off to greener pastures during the summer so they will fix things up and make sure the ranch survives. We're going to miss them, they are great people.  Elder (Al) and Sister (Marilyn) Dustin have come to replace the Gardners. The Dustins will be here until October. They will be replacing us. We don't know if anyone will come to help them when we leave. We hope so because we will be in the beginning/ending of house #2. Hopefully we will be done with house #3 when we leave.

House #3 is moving right along. We've gutted it, torn off the stucco and demolished the garage. Sister Dustin is amazing she has been acting as Randall's secretary. She has been calling around to get bids for electrical for house #2 and #3, as well as someone to do the cement work for the basement of house #2 and the slab for the new garage of house #3. She has taken a load off of Randall. They are both amazing workers. They get out there with Randall at 8:00 and keep going all day long.

Randall cutting the last piece holding the
Garage to the house.

Garage demolished! Yes! Score one for our side!

Sister Dustin and I have just planted a small garden. How I wish my Son-in-law Jason was here. He's the best gardener in the world! As I was digging, I dug up a little toad. He was really cute and fat. I can't believe I didn't cut him in half with the shovel. If our garden does nothing else, it should feed our bunnies. We have two baby bunnies living under our front step! They are so cute. I hope they don't move out.

Our garden!

One of the baby bunnies under our porch. Is he not the cutest?

 I went to Dillon's market, or my Dilly Billys market (Dillon's has the most beautiful produce, Walmart's is absolutely disgusting), and they had artichokes for under a $2.00 dollars. I have a deal with myself, if I find artichokes for under $2.00 dollars I can buy them. OK, so they were $1.99 it still fits the deal. They were wonderful!

Are these beautiful or what!

Our branch in Guymon, has started a Book of Mormon 90 day challenge. You can read it, have it read to you, listen to it, anyway you want as long as it's finished in 90 days. So Randall and I are listening to it at lunch time. It's been fun because we can talk about it as it goes and it has helped me understand some parts of it better. We should be done by the first of August. The Wilkins will have a BBQ at the conclusion. The Wilkins are the best little family, really love them and their kids. I hope we will still be here. We are suppose to leave the first part of August, can't believe it.

Is anyone interested in this chandelier? It is an original from house #3.  I think I even have all the crystals to go with it. Let me know I can bring it home, other wise I'm stripping the crystals and D.I it. I've seen cute things done with these on Pinterest.

It needs some work, but it is all there, I think.

Love you, Miss you!

Happy Birthday Dilly, Allison and Price!

Good Day!

Messed Up Weekend

This last weekend was nasty.We had snow and wind something awful. It snowed about 1 foot and blew around 30-40 mph. We had drifts 3-4 foot high. The results were closed roads, downed branches, and no electricity. We were the lucky ones though because we didn't have trees close to our trailers but we were still protected from the worst of the wind and our electricity wasn't affected.

From our trailer. You can't really see how hard the wind is blowing.
It's supper wet snow. It started melting when you walked on it.

Look at the trees, you can see how hard it is blowing. This is looking from the trailer.
It was blowing so hard we almost couldn't open the trailer door. Once it was open it was hard to get out
or in without being smashed.

Church was canceled so we stayed home and had fun together. We brought all our food to the Lodge and had a nice lunch. The rest of the day we relaxed. It was really good for the Gardners and Isome, they had been asked to give talks Sunday, needless to say they smiled all day long.

Randall, Elder and Sister Gardner and Isome having Sunday lunch together. Isome
is the Ranch intern he lives in the Lodge. (in case I haven't mentioned him before)

Monday we had to go into town to buy things for the job and the devastation was horrible. Tree branches everywhere, deep snow, it was a mess. I felt bad for the homeowners, their yards were destroyed. They had tree branches down the size of my thigh (pretty good sized). They had smashed fences, houses, shrubs. Plus the amount of water running everywhere was incredible. The Arkansas River even had water in it, it's like the Big Lost River (always dry), but the Arkansas runs even less often.

Garden City Snow plowed off the streets.

Arkansas River with water in it. I'll bet there are people who have lived
here for years and not seen water  in this river. Happy to have been
here to see this.

Elder Gardner walking to the Lodge the next day. See the drifts?
Beautiful Day!

We continue to work on the house. Randall is making a new stairway and Elder Gardner has been working on new back windows and doors. I have been tearing out all the molding and ceiling tile metal thingys downstairs.

Elder Gardner making new window in kitchen.

The other hole is for the new stairs.

Hole where the new stairs will be.

In our tearing out we have found many, many unpleasant things. Good thing is the house will be much better without them. I only took one picture of the yuck and am posting it just for remembrance. So if you don't want to see the type of yuck skim past the next picture.

Dead Rat.

Well that's it for now. Love all of you!

Good Day!

Moving On

The McKinnons are gone. Their time was up so they have gone home. Randall and I are sad because we both really liked them. They will be missed. They have been replaced by the Gardner's. Super nice people. Both are hard workers, I can't keep up. They will only be here for about a month until the Dustin's get here. Elder Gardner (Bob) is 70 and is a retired army helicopter pilot/engineer. Sister Gardner (Leslie) is 69 and is a retired lawyer. Short story about Sister Gardner and me, when I found out she was a lawyer (me being so smart) said, “Cool I don't know any lawyers”. Well later I was telling Randall what I had said and he looked at me like I was out of my mind. Then he said, “What do you think Karl is (My Bother In-Law)? “Oh”, I said (how smart can I get, right) then he said, “What about Elder Walker (The senior couple from Gymon branch)? OK, proven, once again, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

We are done with the Lodge!

New Kitchen with Island and stove. Beautiful! Don't you agree?

New bathroom and laundry room and the Island with it's new stove. Nice!

New finished bathroom. We got to order the cool
shower curtain because it is a hunting lodge!

Now on to house #3. We have torn out the walls upstairs and the ceilings upstairs and down stairs.The bathroom and kitchen have also been striped. So we are down to the studs again except for the downstairs. We don't need to tear out the sheet rock in the basement, it's in good shape. The basement bathroom will need to be totally gutted though and we have only started that. Randall is going to have to do some fancy foot work with the roof because of sagging and moving. I'll let him explain in his Tidbit section. We tore all the stucco off the outside of the house. Randall was so proud of us, we did it in 1 and 1/2 days. Really hard work, especially carrying the pieces to the dumpster, they were supper heavy. Going to show you lots of pictures of what's been going on so far.

Ann carrying out insulation. See only studs.

Elder Gardner ripping out the ceiling. You don't even want to
know what was up there.

Front of house before.

Randall cutting the stucco.

Front of house after. Messy!

Back of house before.

Back of house after.

Elder and Sister Gardner, Randall, and James one of the ranch hands.
Having a well deserved break.

We have also gotten the house wrapped. Windows ordered, cabinet layout and mowed/watered the lawns all in one week. We are AWESOME old people!

Elder Gardner and Randall wrapping the house.

Elder and Sister Gardner and Randall wrapping the house.

Randall and Armondo (Head Manager of the whole thing, feed yard and ranch).
We love Armondo!

We've been busy and it feels good. Love you! Happy Birthday Abby Abby!

Good Day!

Still on the Lodge

Sorry for the huge gaps from one post to the next. Our internet hasn't been the same since we had our computer go down. There is still another blog post after this one that I've written ready to post. Aghhhh! I will survive and conqueror!

We are still working on the Office/Lodge. I'm painting, staining and varnishing. The boys are tearing things out and building them back. They decided to put in an island for the stove and it looks great! Biggest problem we are having is everything was tiled before so we've had a hard time matching the tiles the original builders used. I think what Randall has found will work in just fine.

Ann painting laundry room at the lodge.

Randall is letting me take the plastic off of the windows. Yahooo! I guess this means he feels spring is officially here. I need to start mowing the lawns/weeds and the weeds need to be sprayed. Randall is going to see if we can get a weed sprayer to pull behind the lawn mower, won't that be fun? Along with all the fun stuff, we'll have the hot humid weather to deal with, that's not fun. We will live.

Plastic on.

Plastic off.

We had General Conference and watched it on the big screen in the lodge. It was very uplifting. I realize I need to look at people in the way Jesus did. He looked past what showed on the outside into their souls. When you can do that you can see not only who a person is but what they can be if given the chance. He hated the sin, not the sinner. It's going to be a hard thing for me to do, if I ever can.

Love you,

Good day!