Extreme House Makeover

Those of you not on FaceBook...I am finally sitting down to blog about our two weeks in Nevada helping our kids renovate their new home they bought - it was a 1973 built home that had been foreclosed and sat empty 10 months!

This place needed work. But now that it is almost all done, it will be a beautiful home! It was a four bedroom...but all rooms were only 10 x 12! So the kids knocked out a wall between the master and other bedroom to make a decent master bedroom. I am posting 10 photos. Kind of the highlights. I'll make comments at each picture.

Curtis installed electrical plugs and wiring on the entire bedroom wing. He installed wiring for 3 ceiling fans (installed 2 of them), a new hall light with separate switch, and all the wiring for the new master bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet. In the Family Room there was this back door with a swamp cooler mounted in it! Totally DUMB! We removed the swamp, framed it in, and walled it up!

This shows the wall where the swamp used to be. Once painted...you'll never know!

The entry way had a solid piece of lineoleum that was curled up. We removed it. I primed the floor and then we layed new vinyl squares that look like ceramic tile! Hubby taught the kids "how to do" and they did.

This is the shower off the family room. This is the finished product. I stripped grout and mold off of their three bathrooms and re-grouted and sealed it all.

This is the bathroom off of the family room.

This is part of the family room. I did all the prime painting and triming around doors, plugs, outlets, corners, ceilings...This corner...was a fiasco! I was painting behind the TV area and as I went to stand up, my left thigh caught the lip of the tv stand and paint went flying over my head and hit the wall . See that big splash of paint?!! Well...the rest was all over me. Too bad we didn't have a photo of that! Took the 3 of them with turpentine cleaning up out on that patio you see to the left! It all came out of my clothes!

This is where we are constructing the master walk-in closet. Daughter became the expert in measuring and cutting drywall while the guys screwed the panels to the walls!

This is the master bath before renovation. See the sink in the bedroom and NOT in the bathroom? That sink cabinet is now history, and the wall goes around the entire bathroom. We added a medicine cabinet in the wall. The door to the left of the sink in the photo was the old door way into the master bedroom. That is now a solid wall.

I scrubbed every corner of the inside of the house on my hands and knees. I also 409-ed every wall and door in the house. The garage to laundry room door was black when when I started. Now it looks new! Plus...no germs! I swept around the entire outside of the house with a broom and dustpan. The weeds were so dry that the broom worked like a rake! There are now no bugs or cobwebs anywhere! It truly did a number on my asthma! I should have taken my nebulizer with me.

The kids just have to finish mudding the master walls and painting. The two kids bedrooms had new carpet layed in there on Tuesday this week. So it is coming along. Can't wait to go back and enjoy the house and have fun with the kids and NOT work!

History Personified

I just returned from an amazing law conference for school board members here in Arizona. I learned about the different laws effecting our schools today such as:
1. Employee Discipline: How Board Members Can Keep from Messing it Up!
2. Employee Privacy Issues in the Workplace
3. Employee Email Monitoring
4. The Latest on Educating English Language Learners
5. Student & Employee interactions via the New Technology (this was an education!)

I got to see Ron Rickel who served as Principal of Mt. View HS in Tucson and then in the Marana District years ago...he is now Superintendent of the Mammoth San Manuel Unified School District - which is where I first met him. He taught math in the Junior High there when we lived there! It was great visiting with him.

I think the highlight of the entire event was meeting a man by the name of Clay Jenkinson. He portrayed Thomas Jefferson. He was dressed in period clothing. Spoke in the first person. It was amazing, it was spiritual, it was rivoting! (Did I spell the correctly??) Anyway...I couldn't tell Curtis enough about it last night. Then today, this same man, came back and did a presentation as if he were J. Robert Oppenheimer who invented the Atomic Bomb. I knew nothing about this man...was before my time...but boy I learned a lot listening to him, about him. Mr. Jenkinson is a very talented humanitarian. You can see a presentation on the web if you go to www.jeffersonhour.org
Now I have lots to research as to our curriculum and what we are or are not teaching!

Kissing Hubby

Today was the second day hubby was home. Traveling to work for him now consists of walking from the bedroom at 6:30 a.m. to the Office in our home trying not to stub his toe as he rounds the corner past the family room couch! Every time one of us leaves...we give each other a kiss and say "I'll be back...I love you!" Well...I was the one today out the door several times. Hubby got lots of kisses. I told him..."You are really getting a great deal in this new arrangement of working at home!"

I went visiting teaching. Met a new lady on my route and what a neat person she is. Can't wait to get to know her better! Then went to the world's best chiropractor to have my neck fixed! Yeah...no more pain after he works his magic! Off to Sprint store. Wonderful son gave me his old NEW wonderful phone (he got Ipod phone) to transfer contacts. I had 129 contacts. I didn't know I talked to so many people! I can hear hubby in my mind saying "Well..I could of told you that!"

Stopped into Sprouts to pick up an item...and found two friends from church there. Small world ... I guess they like Sprouts too!

Back home for lunch with hubby! Then out the door at 1:15 (more kissing) to speak at a school staff meeting and cheer teachers on. It was so fun. I heard some funny stories they shared. One teacher was on the Stratosphere in Las Vegas on a ride. Seat belt would not latch...could have plunged to her death...but held on...and lived!!! I would not do that!!!!

Received a rescue call to go and help a friend. Out the door at 2:45 pm (more kissing) - I took her to a courthouse...then to Motor Vehicle Department (finding the right one...what an adventure!)...and then took her home.

I made it home in time to wolf down hubby's dinner of salad and soup.

Off to HOA meeting for two hours....(more kissing). Gee I think I am going to like him being home! But he says to me...You are never home! I told him...that is true - now you know what my day is like.

Old Journal

Last night I laid in bed wide awake....AGAIN!!! Finally I got up at 2:00 a.m. I read several chapters in my Book of Mormon. I still wasn't tired...so I started looking for something to read. I found all my old journals. I pulled out the one dated 1978. So I sat down and read until 4:30 a.m. I found all kinds of treasurers in there I had forgotten about. Here are the summaries of a few:

Our first baby was only 6 months old at the beginning of this journal. It seems that every entry ended with "I am really tired," or "I am bushed" or "I am pooped"....I got the picture ...I was exhausted. I also noticed that I never made it to bed before 11:30 pm trying to accomplish everything in the day.

This was the time that hubby was Elder's Quorum President and worked shift work at Magma Copper. It was interesting all the different meetings we had, went to, and I served as Mia Maid Advisor.

We certainly had a lot of fundraising for the Ward or Stake Budget. I baked cakes and frosted them for all kinds of events! I took a sewing class this year from the college. Every week I learned a new technique and came home and used it some gift I made for a family member for that upcoming birthday or christmas present!

One sister came up from Tucson to show slides at a fireside one night on her trip to Israel. Curtis and I both felt we had truly been there....was this foreshadowing our own trip???

It was fun reading and finding old friend's names within the pages and how they touched our life in 1978!

Carter and Jaycie Time

Well...I finally remembered to take pictures while I had grandkids this morning. Carter and his little sister, Jaycie. Jaycie is about 3 months old. He loves her. We had about an hour together this morning while Carrie was at the dentist. Now I am off to the County Elections Department in downtown Phoenix. Never a empty moment.

Car Escapades!

Having difficulty with cars is not fun for the pocket book or for your inconvience, but especially when it involves vandalism and robbery! Yesterday we were going to watch our daughter's children so she and her hubby could go out to dinner and celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage! Well, he never showed up at our house...finally she gets a phone call. She is to go the car repair shop! Someone had entered hubby's work parking lot and totally cut off and stole his catelitic converter (sp?) (this is the 2nd one now!!!) again off his vehicle! So to figure out how to borrow another car for hubby to get to work today (Friday) so his vehicle can be repaired. So daughter and I figured out this elaborate stragedy. See if you can follow this: Last night when daughter and hubby came back from dinner they picked up our garage opener and left me a key for their mini-van as I was at Roundtable with my car. This morning at 5:15 am daughter's hubby uses our garage opener to get my vehicle & key so he can get to work leaving mini-van here for me. At 7:20 am I then drive the mini-van back to daughter's house and together we take all 4 kids with us ... we drop of daughter and my granddaughter off at school. The other 3 kids go with me out to Rainbow Valley to pick up a most important package that was delivered yesterday. Back to daughter's house to play with 3 little ones until lunch time. We all load back up in mini-van and go get daughter. Daughter then drives me home where I will be the rest of the day. So...that is how we got daughter's husband to work and me to daughter's house to babysit so daughter could go to her child's class at school. If we would have lived a long time ago, no one would have gotten all of these things done!!! Modern times bring on the modern thinking of strategy. Now let's hope daugther's hubby's vehicle can be repaired by Monday. If not then...more strategy will be in play!

A Day with Hubby

Saturday was a great day! We spent the entire day together doing stuff...not separately...but together! We started off by going to the temple and after a session, we sealed my grandma to her parents. Totally great spirit with them all! It was great seeing old friends on our session...Missy & Corby Gardiner!!! We are definitely going to re-connect with them in a few weeks! Curtis was his counselor in the Bishopric in Tucson. We also saw Stephanie Walker's mom! She asked us to keep taking care of her kids! We do...we love them!!!

Went to Seagull book to pick up the latest copy of Gerald Lund's book "The Undaunted"!!!! When he was called as a 70, I thought to myself..."Oh no...does that mean he won't be writing great historical novels any more?" Once he was released...he was back to writing. I love reading his books. I learn so much more about the history when you add personal feelings to it!

We then tracked down an Office Max in Mesa for hubby to get special pens. He is so particular what kind he carries in his pockets and use. But...we FOUND the ones he wanted.

Off to Trader Joe's. Oh how I miss having Trader Joe's so close to where we lived in Tucson. Now they are a half hour drive away...so we tracked down the one in Mesa while in that neck of the woods. We had this awesome Havest Grain rice blend at Serina's in-laws in May. Oh....sooo good. So I bought 4 packages for the pantry. Each bag was only $2.69! You cook it in chicken broth and it is yummy!

Since hubby's office is closing here shortly...we went to Things Remembered to find special gifts and have them engraved for his "special employees". I told him he should buy himself a PARTING gift...but he wouldn't.

We then went and had a very nice romantic lunch at the Legacy Suites (our local time share). They have a great restaurant (and we have free coupons!!!). So it gives us a relaxing time together.

Then home...to write out bill payments, plan the week, and we watched an old movie with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funacello "How to Stuff a Wild Bikinii". Old movies were so much safer to watch than today!!!

I certainly enjoy days where we can be together. You would think with no kids at home that would be the norm....NOT. So I LOVE it when it happens!

Fun with some Grandkids

Saturday, Aug 1st, Heidi had invited Grandpa Curtis and Grandma Sandi (me) to go to the Childrens' Museum in Phoenix. We were there from 9am when it opened until about noon. We had some fun with Heidi's family and Jason's family. Haven and Carter were great play mates in what I call the "Pinewood Derby" area. They kept getting these little cars and launching them down the track, I would lift them down, they would run to see the cars cross the finish line and then return. They were sooo cute!! Curtis was with the older kids...I hardly saw him during the morning. Here are some photos he took to document the event:

Haley driving Christian and Carter on the trike through this little carwash.

Christian, Haley, and Jaren would pick these plastic flowers and then re-plant them.

Grandma Sandi with Haven driving and Carter hanging on.

They pretended they were going F - A - S - T !!!!

Carter, Jaren and Jason with the cars.

What a fun day. I got to hold Jaycie and Noelle a bit...they mostly slept in their strollers! Had great visits with them all. We left about lunch time. Once we got home...we slept for 2 hours!! But we are ready for the next adventure!

Special Luncheon Date

Patti and Ashley (my sister and niece) Prodromides were driving back from Las Vegas this morning from seeing Steve & Emily's new baby Wyatt. They gave me a phone call to see if I'd be home today at noon. You bet. Nothing on today's schedule. So they stopped in for lunch and a really nice visit. I miss being closer (in miles!) to them. They showed me photos of new baby Wyatt and how cute he is. We yaked for about 1 1/2 hours and then they finally had to head down the road to Tucson.

Bus Tour of School District

This morning I got to have a lot of fun! As most of you know, I am the President of the Littleton Elementary School District here in Avondale, Arizona. Today we had induction of our new teachers to our district. It was fun meeting them at breakfast and finding out where they came from and now which school and grade/subject they will be teaching. After breakfast at one of our schools, we loaded up a yellow air conditioned bus and hit the road. I got to be the tour guide! It was so fun!! I shared info about the original days of Avondale being called "Coldwater" and about the founder Billy Moore. History about each of our schools, who they were named after, when they were built. I pointed out landmarks like....Fry's, Bank of America, Phoenix International Raceway...Cashion...post offices, etc... You get the idea!

A yellow school bus, similar to what we took this morning.
This is Estrella Vista Elementary School.
It is in my subdivision. This is one of 8 schools in our District area.

Computers and Bugs

We live in the modern age of computers where you just can't live without them! Emailing, checking weather reports, news, staying in contact with friends on Facebook, etc... Well..our computer on Sunday morning got a virus! Called msa.exe. Let me tell you...it is one bad problem. So finally last night after dinner we were tired of having all of these little pop ups from the internet! Sometimes there would be 15 of them on the screen. Someone figured out a way to get into the computer and took control. We have Norton Symantec service. So I get on the technical chat on line help with them (so great...not holding a phone to your ear for hours!) ... we were able to type back and forth about the problem. Well after $99.99 the technician could go in and repair the problem for us. So when his name pops up on the screen as to whom I am typing with....it was a long one. I recognized it as an "indian" name from India (not native american). So I asked...are you in India? Yes, he was. But after an hour and 20 minutes he had cleaned out the insides of our computer and removed that terrible bug and reinstalled Internet Explorer for us. So today we are bug free and not getting any more anoying pop ups. So my advice to all...be careful what email you open! I accidentally hit open instead of delete and hence our problem.

Wicked

Sat, July 20th we went to see the broadway play Wicked at Gammage Theater on ASU campus. Here is a photo of Sandi and Heidi at intermission. We had a great time. The message of the play was very good. It basically lets you know how all the characters from Wizard of Oz knew each other or were related and how they came to be viewed by others for either good or bad even if it wasn't true. The biggest message was "be yourself" and not let others label you. It was an emotional play. The audience was carried with every emotion from laughter to tears. It was the only play Curtis and I had ever seen where at the end when the two main characters "Glinda (the Good) and Elfiba (The Wicked Witch)" came to take their bows...the entire theater in breath stood on their feet and cheered! All these characters did a superb job in acting. Three of them were the understudies. I was impressed at how well it was done. Curtis was busy analyzing the entire play from a Bishop's point of view. He had a hard time with it but did like the ending.

Sandi & Heidi at Wicked

Camp LoMia near Pine, Arizona

I finally have time to post a few photos after being sick with Asthma for several weeks. Curtis spent a week at Girls' Camp for our stake near Pine, Arizona. The Camp is called Camp LoMia. It would be interesting to find out how that name came to be...if anyone knows, please share. Anyway...I was with my mom and dad during the time of Girls' Camp, however on Sunday I went and spent from 2:30 pm to 10:00 pm with the girls. The following photos were taken before the testimony meeting at the Ward cabin.

Sandi & Curtis (Bishop Nielson)

Becky Phelps, Cherish Parker, Callie Brown and Stephanie Walker.

L-R around the table:

Susan Walker, Morgan Fuller, Kassandra Smith, Kami Finlayson, Mackenzie Davies, Ericka Davies, Rhiannon McBride, Raeana White, Raeana's cousin, and Megan Burgess

Peter passed his Pharmacy Boards

Great news! Peter flew to Albuquerque, NM to take his National Pharmacy Boards and then the next day took his Arizona Law Board. He got word that he passed both. So he is OFFICIAL. He is just waiting for his Arizona License to come in the mail. They are now busy house hunting in the east valley. Peter we are proud of you for doing so well...and to you Meggan...Yeah it is over!

Rough Week and a Half

One never enjoys being sick! Two Sundays ago I joined Curtis at Girls' camp for the rest of the sabbath activities in the dirt and trees. Apparently the dust and pollen really came crashing down on my Phoenix induced Asthma! I go months with no problem and then it hits really hard. So as I started having problems I thought it was just allergies or a minor cold. Well after not being able to talk since last Wednesday, July 1st...and not breathing on Sun, July 5th evening...it was time to see the doctor. So first thing Monday morning I was in my doctor's office. Brian Hawkins is a wonderful MD. Come to find out my asthmas was out of control. I ended up on 8 different prescriptions (not the Over the Counter stuff) when I left. At noon I just wanted to die, ever feel like that you'll never get better? But by 6:00 pm that same evening...drugs working their miracle in my poor body...I finally felt like it was okay to live. Then Tuesday morning, I awoke with energy I hadn't had in weeks! I cleaned house, baked cookies, ran a few errands, and even got in a nap. I am so blessed to live in a day where modern medicine can work hand in hand with priesthood blessings and bring about much Miracles! I just have a minor cough lingering...hopefully gone by the end of the week!

Saturday Fun in the Mountains

Yesterday, Saturday, we did a lot of hiking. We'd hike during the day and then again in the afternoon. This picture below was our scenery! It may be hard to see from this photo but the mountains in the distance are the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is 57 miles from where we are camped.

San Francscio Peaks Mountain Range

Mom and I are hiking...this is a self-taken picture of us by some rock formations.

Later after dinner, Lauren (my niece came up yesterday), and my mom went up to the fire pit for a fun evening of S'mores! Lauren and I drove over to the little store at Clint's well and bought $4 box of graham crackers, $2.25 for 3 bars of hershey, and $2.00 bag of marshmellows...therefore $8 S'mores!!! Once we started eating them....it was worth the expense!

Here is Lauren cooking the first 2 marshmellows.

This was our finished product. Ohhhh they were yummy. It was the first time I was able to make S'mores and not have to manage children or clean up messes. It was a real treat! We ate and ate. Now on to dietiing again today!

Time in Happy Jack

I arrived at Sunrise Resort between Happy Jack and Clint's Well, AZ yesterday. Curtis dropped me off at my parent's motorhome. We had lunch and listened to the afternoon rain before he left for girls' camp in Pine, AZ. I get to hang out with my mom and dad for 5 days! I have taken a photo diary of the area. This is a great summer get-a-way.

This is the TINY cute post office here.
This is the little LDS branch house where my mom attends up here.
It has a chapel, primary room and relief society room,
Branch Pres. office, library, store room
and restrooms. The organ is a casio electric piano/organ.

This is the local cafe. Boy...all home cooking and inexpensive! Enough food to share an order.
We ate there last night.

This morning we made a trip to Payson, AZ. This is taken inside the Beeline Cafe.

We had a great breakfast there this morning before we hit the super Wal-mart!

Once we were back to the motor home. I laid in the hammock and read!

The little black square piece laying by my head is my dad's MP3...playing music!

Mom and I also took a long hike up trails into the hills for over an hour. Fun day...so far.

I just made two loaves of zuchinni bread for my dad (zuchinni from our garden). He

thinks I am a great cook.

Our 34th Wedding Anniversary

We have had a very fun two days as we celebrated our 34th wedding annivesary! We were married on June 20, 1975 in the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Wow! That seems like forever ago. We have had a great life...so far...together. We have covered the globe and enjoyed life with family and friends. Last night we went to a dinner and theatrical play of "Bye Bye Birdie". It was great! I remember seeing the movie in 1963 or 1964 when I was a little girl in Newfoundland, Canada. Apparently the movie was based on the stage play. I have always liked the fun movie. Some scenes are re-arranged in the movie. It was good to laugh!

Then we went to the Mesa Arizona Temple this morning. We spent several hours there doing a variety of things. Saw the Lundstrom's from Tucson there! Matt was getting his endowments! Then we went to lunch at Legacy Suites Resort and sat on the patio of the golf club and listened to great oldies while we ate.

This is what we look like today! 2009

This is what we looked like on our wedding day. It rained! So all my curls left, and Curtis' got more so. This photo was taken just before our reception which was held at the Kaysville Stake Center in Utah. Same building I was baptized in only 3 years prior. I sure love this man I married!

Celebrating Peter

Friday evening of June 12th 15 of us went to Carrabas' Italian Restaurant in Avondale to celebrate Peter's great accomplishment. Jason and Carrie had to leave early (hence no photos of them) so their babysitter could go to his own birthday party! We all had a great time visiting and eating!

Sandi & Curtis

Stephen Wallgren (of Tolleson Ward) and another waiter sang
"Best Wishes to You" in Italian.

Heidi & Jace Larkin and baby Noelle

L-R Vanessa & Dale Berg, Connie & Wayne George, Gavin Berg, Warren & Megan Grantham

This is the George Family. I didn't get Lauren in the photo

Meggan and Peter celebrating with their ice cream!

Look at Peter's smile!!! He never stopped smiling all day!

Peter Nielson, PharmD - Our Son!

Friday, June 12th, 2009 has got to be one of the highlights of 2009! As I mentioned before, this is the year of Vacations of Graduations for Curtis and I. Peter, our son, finally Pharmacy school. He graduated as a Doctor of Pharmacy!! Way too go Peter!!! We are so proud of you!

Meggan & Peter right after Graduation.

This is the school he attended in Glendale, Arizona - Midwestern University

This is Peter walking up to get his Doctor hood attached to his robes and receiving his Diploma!

Everyone who came to the Graduation!

Meggan's parents (Gene & Suzanne Lines) and siblings, Warren & Megan Grantham (cousins), Heidi & Jace Larkin (sister), and Peter's grandparents Larry & Betty Gibb, plus some babies.

Our two Pharmacists in the family!

Jace Larkin (Heidi's husband) and Peter Nielson

Peter with his official Diploma. Now to get it framed!