The Swimming Pool and Rock

When we bought the house, we planned on putting a pool in the backyard.  With the sale of our NSL house (oh, yes it sold in May) this is coming to be a reality.

We started in December talking to Jeff Norton of Sunset Pools and Landscape and finally in March it began to be a reality.  Then, we decided to put in a large faux rock feature to compliment it and that took the month of April to build.  Here it is now the end of May and we are still a week or so away.

Here's some pictures of the progress and different stages of development.

The first phase was marking the ground.  Theron's dad used to tell his mother that he was going to mark a piece of ground for the house and make her live there for a month; it's easier to move the walls that way.

 Phase 2 - They dig the hole and start putting in pipe.  The interesting thing was the way they bent the pipe - they blow torch heated the PVC and made it like a noodle.

 Phase 3 was the gunnite.  They spray this in from a very big hose and then trowel it down and shape it.  The stairs are solid gunnite and shaped that way.

 Phase 4 is the faux rock feature.  Casey Stucki and Zack Adair built this.  Casey owns CS Stonescape and wow are we impressed with the finished product.  Zack lives in our ward and Casey made him the designer and the supervisor for this project.  Great job.

You start with some rebar, weld it together and cover it in mesh.

 Then they blow on a brown coat (grey cement) and then a red coat and use chisels, water and air to refine the art work of stone.  This is Zack showing off some finished product.  Casey is below standing by my petroglyphs.

Phase 5 will be the next post.  The cement decking, shade structure, landscaping and plastering the pool.

Riding at Mount Carmel Junction and through the Virgin River

Church service missions are note like full-time missions, you can get some time off once in a while.  We changed the 'council's' schedule so that every third week we have the week off.  Well, Rich Poll called and he was taking about 10 couples riding at Mount Carmel Junction the exact week we were off at the Center.  Yea, a little get-away.

We pulled the trailer and RZR over to Mount Carmel Junction, just a few miles from Kanab and right at the entrance to Zions and spend four glorious days riding, camping, walking and eating.  We would ride for 4-6 hours each day and travel across the Virgin River about 20 or so times.  One night, the owner of Mount Carmel Junction Hotel and Restaurant took us on a guided tour of some slot canyons, the beauty of these is incredible.

Two days after we got there, we received a phone call from Adrian.  She was returning from a cruise with Ali and Demaree and said she was planning to stay in our house and Todd was driving down.  This prompted us to talk with Rich, who was teaching the owner of Mount Carmel businesses, who had just started a Polaris ATV rental business, how to rent the machines and Polaris was comping machines for our group, to get a comped RZR for Adrian and Todd.  It was a go and so they came over and rode with us for two days.  What fun.  Todd smiled the whole time, he was convinced that they needed to buy one of these -- we hope they will in the near future.

It is so fun to be out in this southern Utah country.  I love it each day I wake up.  What an incredible time!

There is a New Yellow Rose in Texas

Few saw this one coming - Neala and Louis moving to Texas.  Karen Ann and her family, Darren and his family both relocated to Texas a year or so ago.  They live about three miles from each other and have been enjoying the family connection again after all these years.  Neala has been ill since Halloween and then had back surgery and she needed a health rennovation - yes, she needed to move to be by family and watch these grandchildren grow.  We are excited for this new adventure in her and Louis' life. 

Miracles do happen today.  When she decided to move, she just mentioned this to a couple of people in her ward and they mentioned it to some others, and so forth.  One couple who had been renting a home in her ward came to talk with her about buying her home.  Bingo, the deal was done.  She got her selling price out of it, didn't have to pay realtor fees, didn't have to clean and paint or replace carpet, left food storage and lawn care equipment.  Sweet!  It was meant to be.

Theron helped them load the moving truck and drive it to Texas, only after one stop in St. George.  We thought she would never get to see our new home, but they planned the route through our fair city and stayed a night with us. 

They bought a new home which will be finished in July in a large 55+ community and it's close to her family.  When we talk with her, she is sounding and looking so much healthier and rosier.  She is blooming in Texas and we are so happy for her.

When the home gets finished, move over, we are coming to visit.

Happy Sweet 16 Cameron!!

Cameron we can't believe you are 16 already.  Where did the time go, when did you grow to be so tall, when did you give up reading books and just concentrate on video games?  You are a great kid, our first grandchild, and we hope you are the example to all your cousins of a mission, college and Temple marriage.

Sweet 16 is also a time of driving.  Wow, we thought it would never happen.  How did you talk your mother into this one?

Love and kisses.  Safe driving -------------