OK, So it started like this....

Just before Christmas we noticed 3 things,  moldy smell, baseboards moving away from the wall, and the sound of water running.  Hum what could it be?  A leaky pipe maybe?   So Shaun & his Dad took the cupboard off the wall and found mold behind it.  They then tore into the sheet rock and found it very damp along with all the insulation. It was wet floor to ceiling, and on the other side of the wall is the tub & shower head.  So after 3 different plumbers came out, the conclusion was this;  there was a leak in the pipe that goes from the water heater under the ground (beneath the concrete slab) and up to a junction behind where the cupboard.  It was most likely caused by expansion & contraction of the pipe ( it was the hot water pipe) against the rocks in the ground. ( The pipe is supposed to be surrounded by sand not ROCKS!)  The hot water was leaking out and the steam was coming up through a hole in the slab by the tub which was causing all the wetness in the wall and insulation.  resulting in the mold and moving baseboards.  So the plumber came Dec.23 and rerouted the pipe through the laundry room, on the outside of the wall. In Jan. sometime he came back and put it inside the wall.  Last weekend Shaun closed up the hole.  So here is a picture of where it all occurred. sorry I didn't get a picture of the hole.

We had to empty and move the cupboard and desk to many times to count, and this is what our kitchen looked like for a while.
Then I got this crazy idea. Lets make make rolling shelves for the cupboard!  So here is what the shelves with the dividers look like
Shaun is doing such a great job!!  ( can you see the generators from the ice storm, we are storing them for the stake until they are all returned and can be moved to a new location)

It worked, it is so exciting. My Dad would be proud.

Doesn't it look all neat and organized. Now for the rest of the kitchen.

My Crazy Valentines

Just for fun and because we love you.
Dressing up the dog.  The dog does NOT like playing dress up.  But they sure had fun doing it.

Happy Craftin' Mama

Nothing makes a mama happier than when her daughter is interested in the same thing as she is.    Well maybe there are a few other things that might make her a little happier like making good choices, being kind, etc.  But this is pretty close. 

Sarah has wanted to learn to crochet, She started with a granny square and was going to make a blanket, but I think she got tired of it.  So I found this pattern for a heart and thought it would be a quick, simple project that she could finish.
Well she finished it and now we are both proud of the accomplishment.

An Extraordinary Week !

When we watch the weather and they tell us there is a storm coming through it is usually not as bad as they say it is. Well this time they were right on the money!  Monday afternoon it started raining and just starting to freeze, they let the kids out of school early.  It really wasn't bad until Tuesday. School was canceled, and our power went out about 9:30 a.m.  As the day progressed we watched as the ice built up and by afternoon we were hearing trees pop and crack all over, it was an eerie sound.  

Tuesday was also Shaun's 39th Birthday and since we had no power we couldn't make him a special treat. Little blessings pop up in the oddest ways. It so happened that when checking on one of our neighbors and finding that all they needed was toilet paper Shaun promptly took some over, and as a token of their appreciation they gave him a pan of brownies. Which we in turn used as a birthday cake. It was a memorable birthday to say the least.

Wednesday the power was still out, but we have a fireplace, gas stove, gas water heater, & a generator so we were fine.  There were several families in our ward who weren't so fine, so we had 2 of them come stay warm at our place.  We had 7 (and for 2 days 8) extra children around, It was like having family at Christmas. The kids all had a good time playing together, we pooled all our food and made some good meals, no one went hungry.  The men were (and still are) kept busy cutting up trees.   Our power finally came on Thursday night. (It is amazing how excited you can get over a garbage disposal.)  One of our families got their power late Saturday afternoon, and the other family Sunday around noon.  It was interesting that their were some people in our ward that never really lost power, some lost it, had it a day or so and lost it again, and some are without power still.

THE BACK

Here is a progression of pictures of the ice buildup.  This is Tuesday morning you can see the trees starting to bend a little.  This is at the back of our property.

Here they are bent a little more and one has snapped.

You can really see how far the have bent.

All these trees you see have broken limbs.

THE FRONT

The trees don't look to bad, I thought they were going to weather it ok. (HA!)

The ice started pulling the branches down. A few snaps are heard.

Oh it looks so sad!

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

A little view of the ice build up.

This was kind of funny looking, the sun had melted the south side of this tree and it bounced back up but the north side remained weighed down.

This is why so many people were without electricity.  Do you see the little notch? that is where the electrical wire was.

Here is the front view of the electrical wire ice. Can you see the grove where the wire was?

Last but definitely not least, my friend Jeannie picked up this ice chunk and saw a little stick sticking out, She pulled it and out came this frail weed. What a comparison!

Needless to say we have had quite an eventful week.