The Drywallers are Here

Now that the basement is all framed and wired, the drywallers have arrived. It is amazing to think two men can hang 100 sheets of drywall in a day! But they are well on their way! The picture has spots all over from the dust in the air. You can't see it, but the camera  flash reflects off it!

One of the men did his work on stilts all day. It gives him sort of an ominous look. (Don't mess with a drywall man!) The regular contractors will return on Wednesday to start tiling the bathroom!

Car and Coda

Ed and John worked on the Pinewood Derby car again yesterday. It weighed in at 4.8 ounces.

Celeste came along for the fun of it, and enjoyed getting out into nature and helping me pick up more rocks for my stream bed. Isaiah couldn't really get into the spirit of rock collecting two weeks in a row.

Coda chased some deer into the forest and we lost her for about 45 minutes. She was walking with Ed and John, when 7 deer jumped across the street. She strained so hard at her leash that she broke it!

Fortunately, some nice neighbors found her when she tired out, and they called us. We were glad to get her back. We've gotten pretty attached to her.

The car turned out great, and is ready for the big race on Tuesday!

Stream Bed and Dog Wire

I was pretty proud of my new stream bed, which I worked on this afternoon. I lined it with the rocks we picked up last weekend. It looked so nice, and I decided to make one more small change at the beginning of the bed. 

Oops! That was where the wire for the invisible fence was. If you look carefully you can see the cut wire in the front of this picture. Ed has a little repair job for the weekend now! The trick is to get it fixed before Coda realizes the world is her playground!

The Worth of Souls

We had a Relief Society dinner and activity last night. Kaylene was in charge of the food (taco salad). She made 50 taco bowls!

The Committee was so efficient that we had time to sit around while we waited for the party to begin. I was in charge of the table decorations. We had pictures of shoes (many of them by Van Gogh) and as well vases with daisies.

Ed was nice and volunteered for the nursery. He gave a lesson, drew pictures on the whiteboard and sang a lot of songs. Here he is singing Bingo was a Dog! Bishop Sheppard brought the treats and hid kids in the closet which seemed to really entertain them! Ed had fun the first hour, but seemed to be ready for the ladies to wrap things up long before we actually did!

Brickin' in the Rain

The work goes on, despite some intermittent drizzle today. We have added another worker, Santos (front). He is also from El Salvador, and ALSO plays the guitar and sings! How lucky can we get? Alex and Roberto also worked on the bricks today.

Henry worked on the wiring inside. Here he is putting in the light over the pool table.

Michael finished up the framing and ran some wires for the cable TV.

Here are our pretty new arches, one in the front, and one behind it. We're hoping to be ready for the dry wall by Friday!

Skyping with Lissy

I Skyped Lissy this afternoon. Ed calls her my Skype pen-pal. She is my German friend that I met through my friend Coreen, who is living in Germany. Lissy is so patient with me and speaks German to me very slowly so I can understand her well. She is fluent in English, so she can translate words that I haven't learned (or just can't remember).

Lissy might not like these fuzzy Skype pictures, but I think she looks great even with blurry edges. You can see the enthusiasm in her face, can't you?

Last time I had a German tutor, I chose a name from a list of German teachers at the University of Colorado. The teacher's name was Jan. When we met in person, I was surprised to find out Jan was a boy. I hadn't accounted for the fact that Jan is a boy's name in German!

Jan was a good teacher and a very nice boy, but I'm feeling extra lucky to have my new friend Lissy. When we finish talking about ourselves, our husbands and our daughters we can move on and talk about Coreen and her family. There is plenty of fodder for conversation!

Nigerian Memorial Service

Ed now has something in common with Brittany. He got to speak at an African memorial service!

Brother Iroanya passed away a year ago, and as is the tradition in Nigeria, the family had a memorial service for him today. Ed was asked to speak at it, and I played the organ. It was very touching, and we got to hear a lot of the family friends speak. We felt bad that we never met Brother Iroanya before he passed away. We got our picture taken with Iffy in her festive outfit. I want a party hat like that! They are so colorful and beautiful!