I talked to Dad last night for a while. They had been down to Logan to the emergency room again early, early that morning but were back home now and doing better. I had planned to fly up and take him for a ride over to Wyoming but the weather didn't cooperate and I had a feeling the day wasn't going to unfold as I had imagined--sorry to hear that he is still having problems. On the positive side, Mom said she's getting much better at driving in town and Dad sounded like he was relieved to have a catheter in!
The way I figure out what to write each week is to look at the photos I have on my phone since the last time I wrote! Here's that I found!
Friday before last, as I left for work, here's what the loft house looked like:
What I got home that night....wahlahhh!!!
Jose Ramirez and his team (thanks Kent!) are first rate contractors! He showed up within 2 minutes of when he said he would every time and they did a beautiful job on painting the exterior of the barn. It really looks nice.
While they changed up the outside look, I have been working on the inside getting the new wall finished and painted. I added a little color as everything is so white and sterile looking.
I moved the bed and rearranged the desk so now I actually feel like maybe working at home!
Last weekend was Conference and it was really enjoyable to have the Webbs there. It was momentous in a way...Every since going to work for Move Networks in 2007, I have anticipated (and thought it was possible when I first went to work there) having conference streamed to the house in Idaho over the Internet without interruption. This time with basic wifi and the Roku, it worked nearly flawlessly! It only took six years!!!
As we all got to Grace Friday night, we stopped over to Dan and Jills only to find that the entire basement had a couple of inches of standing water! One of the pipes outside had burst and had been going for a day or so. All of that brand new carpet, paint and wall board!!! With the Webbs and Kent's help, we moved all the furniture upstairs, pulled up the carpet, disposed of the sopping pad and then started removing water with ShopVacs and the carpet cleaner. Very sad! Next day Dan had a restoration company come in and suck everything out and then put in giant fans. He and Kent spent Monday digging out the foundation and putting in french drains and gravel. Ben's comment was a quote from the Man from Snowy River, "You got to earn the right to live on the mountain!" haha... I told Dan, almost every time I move into a new place, it floods! Orem, Grace and Riverton all had flood damage...not as bad as his though!
We really enjoyed conference with some very good talks. I've listened to several again since then. Sunday afternoon, Don's family came down and we ate out on the lawn and then just sat in the back yard under the warm sun and listened.
After the last talk, Dad/Grandpa said, "I would like to talk to the family for a few minutes." He told the story of when he was a young kid and had hiked with his skis way back up over the saddle and up to the second ridge. From the ridge top, he could see a large herd of deer in down in the bowl below him so he thought he would have some fun. He pointed his skis straight down and raced towards the herd, whooping and hollering, expecting them to flee in every direction as he charged into their midst. That's not what happened. In fact, just the opposite. They immediately bunched in a tight circle with five of six giant bucks on the outside, heads and antlers pointing right at him. Skis being what they were in those days, all he could do was fall down to stop his charge and he managed to do so not far from the bucks. They were poised and ready to attack.
As he sat there wondering what to do, something started to happen that he couldn't quite see but became apparent after a few minutes. On the back side of the circle, the does and fawns began to quietly disappear into the forest. One by one, they slipped away until the majority of the herd was drained away. All that was left were the large males and gradually, one by one, they slipped away too leaving the largest monarch buck with his eyes on Dad. Finally, when the patriarch realized that there was no immediate threat, he turned and trotted away.
Dad's comment to us was, "I just felt like I wanted to tell you that experience and say that in these times, I think there's a lesson in that story for our family."
It seemed a very fitting end to the conference we had just listened to!
In other news this week, Jamie and Allyse went through the temple in preparation for their two big upcoming events.
AND, it looks like the Vietnam trip is on for sure! Jordan, I and three of my old housemates bought our tickets this week. Leave the day after Christmas and gone for 14 days! We're committed...now got to get it planned! Time to re-watch Top Gear UK - Season 12, Episode 8!
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