I know we're really in trouble with most of you because we haven't taken the time to update
everyone in a very, very long while.
We are attempting to repent as we are finally beginning to
see the light at the end of the tunnel of what has turned out to be an incredibly eventful and interesting year so far!
When you hear what we've been up to we're hoping that we will be forgiven!!!!
As most of you know we followed the arrival of Garrett (NEW Pictures on "Garrett's Page"!) late last year with remodeling
our home which, as most of you wont be surprised, turned out to be no small task as the project just kept getting bigger and
bigger and ever more so never-ending! It took almost two months but we are really pleased with the results as we added about
300 square feet of living area upstairs and increased storage space downstairs by adding a large and small pantry and a built
in bookshelf.
We are now a complete two story home
We were originally only going to rip out the stairs to the loft and put a spiral into the living
room and a closet where the old stairs used to be. This would also allow us to
expand the closet in our old bedroom beneath as well.
When we got ready to order the stairs we found out there wasn't enough room in the living-room
side of the loft to put stairs and the only place they would work was on the OTHER end of the house.
This necessitated a whole upper story and carpeting there, beyond what we had already planned.
We might as well re-carpet the downstairs bedroom too right????!!! We did.) Of course NOW we needed a deck railing (Most of
upstairs is open to the living room below) and some lighting changes and heck, as long as we were doing that much we ought
to expand the upper walkway to come out further into the living room towards the front door in an L shape.
Of course THIS meant ceilings, texturing and more cedar siding over the kitchens and dining rooms and then there were
the custom windows that we had ordered for both upper ends of the house to match the roofline and look out into the trees.
(Are you tired yet, cause we sure are!!!!)
If that wasn't enough we had to re-do part of our septic system (Since the original
builder only put in 50 feet of septic lines ~ Its supposed to be 200) and half of our fence lines for separate reasons and
to make a smaller yard/larger pasture for our ever-increasing herd (We now have sheep!).
We (Well, Shari) decided to plant about fifty trees somewhere in the middle of all THAT fun
to replace the older trees whenever they start dying off. (Maybe that could have waited a few months!!!)
After FINALLY finishing and getting cleaned up we decided to pay ourselves back from the out-of-pocket we spent on the remodel
by refinancing our home, taking cash back from part of our new equity and getting a lower interest rate (Still a lot of paperwork
and stress) and now we could rest.
NOT!!!!!!
Right at the end of all OUR fun Sharis dad announced that
they were truly moving to Coeur d'Alene Idaho inside of four weeks and guess who was the only one that could help them pull
that off?!!!!
Yep.
What followed was Shari going back to work full time (Driving an hour each way) at mom and dads
house helping sort, pack and unload two full storage units full of items that had been packed and sitting for over 10 years
(Some over 25).
Halfway through we decided that since they were wanting to downsize and didn't have the time
to do it themselves that they would just take what they wanted and leave the rest in the house for an on-site estate sale. Sounded good!!! People would come in, price it, sell it to the walls and then vacuum
the floor on the way out. That sounded really nice and neat.
NOT!!!
The problem we found a week and a half before they left is that
none of the estate sale folk would touch it because of all the items in boxes and $$$ in labor that they would have had to
spend to get through them. They didnt feel they would make any money.
Soooooooo..
Guess who was the only one that could do the physical work and organization to pull off the estate sale?
Yep.
Can you say 3 weeks of 14 hour days and two hour drives????!!!!
Getting mom and dad off alone was no small task and just when it looked like the house was empty (It was!) Shari got to move them COMPLETELY back in again (All the estate sale stuff in Storage)!
Fortunately there was a week-long vacation for us Guesses in between in CDA Idaho with the newly arrived folks and brother
Scotts family.
Garretts first plane flight was a smashing success and he even humored us by staying
awake from 3:30 am CDT to 9:00 pm PDT with NO NAP on the day we traveled. He
was in a great mood but he just would not sleep. (We've done so well sleep training
him that he won't sleep unless he's in his bed).
We spent the 4th of July there with family and did fun things like a dinner cruise
on Lake CDA and some fun time in the mountains three hours away with our cousins the
Montgomerys. We
had campfires, rode ATVs, took an almost 3 hour float trip down the Clearwater River, played games etc. etc. etc. We sure do love it up there!!! Im sure that now that the majority
of Shari's family is there there will be many more
trips in the future!
Garrett had fun too and loved all the new sights and people.
He got to play with his cousin McKaylee who is two days younger than him and actually he turned
into a downright social feller.
Speaking of fellers he's almost 11 months old now, almost walking, almost talking and cuter
than you can imagine. He is a very, very happy guy and always has big, big smiles
for people. He loves to laugh and explore and has stopped throwing up on us hourly
almost entirely! (Yeah!!!). His favorite pastime is chasing the doggies. Its going to be real fun to plan his birthday party
(September 9th)!!!
For those of
you who didnt know we had Garrett Sealed to us for Time and all Eternity in our temple here in Dallas when our adoption was final back in March.
We remain close with Susan, Garretts birth mother writing
and emailing back and forth~we even had lunch together before we left for Ideeeeho. We are all very cool with things and there
are no worries on either side. Our hope is that as he grows up she will remain just like family.
We love her!
We got back from up north on a Wednesday and Walter left on the following Friday to spend the
weekend with his friend Jeff in Phoenix where he went to pick up a new Toy an old Corvair car that they had worked on together
in the past.
Walt met his folks there on their return from California to see their new granddaughter and our new
niece Charlotte Summer Snownew daughter of Claire and Jim, born during our vacation.
They all got to drive back together and had a really nice long drive, some long conversations
and a few long naps!
On Monday following "Estate sale hell" ensued and Shari started work with moms next-door neighbors daughter Jennifer working on this massive
effort. Shari and Jen both have small ebay businesses and with Shari's background
in organizing combined with Jen's retail experience (And a lot of commitment and willpower) we single-handedly (With a little
help from Walter) moved mom and dad OUT of the two storage units and COMPLETELY back into the house they just left for the
estate sale only to move them out AGAIN three weeks later, since their house had sold very rapidly and was closing five days
after the sale ended.
Poor Garrett had baby-sitter after babysitter and its just a good thing his bed (Its a portable one) could follow him
everywhere he went so he had some sense of normalcy.
The sale went incredibly well (It was like the day after Christmas in the mall four days in a row!). With 60 people entering the house the first day the door was opened. (The sale was Wed-Fri) What an interesting
experience it all was. There were a lot of dealers through the first day and
back on the last and in the last 4 hours the remaining 65 percent of the items in the house left,leaving about 20 percent
of what was started with.
It was very cool and you can't imagine all the work it took just to get there! Jen figured out about 350 man-hours of
labor was put into it.
Dont worry~we were getting paid well and NO! Don't call us because you can't
afford us! (He He)J
So now it's the day after and it's time to post a few pictures.
So without further adieu and now knowing why we haven't written or called you can forgive us and write us back!!!!
Come
to think of it most of you we haven't heard from in what seems like forever.
We love you all!
Love,
Walter, Shari,
Garrett and The Funny Farm
