Summer.......

Summer came and went according to the calendar.  Not so in lovely Arizona.  We don't have normal seasons here - just two (unlike other parts of the world).  Yep, just summer and Christmas!  Here are a few photos from July with a few of our 16 grandchildren.  Fun times!

#12 with her art project

#10 with her art project

#12 and #13 just being cute!

#10 and #9 with Grandpa hanging out in the background - at Pike Place Market in Seattle

#16 enjoying life!

#13 eating lunch in the dog crate!

#16 - so sweet!

#14 and #13 thinking about what mischief they might create!

Grandpa, Grandma with #9 and #10 at the Ballard Locks

Not so fun!  The car (and #5 stretched out on the right of the firefighter) right after the accident!

#5 getting checked out at the ER.  Miraculously she had only a broken thumb, cut leg, and chin cut that required eight stitches! 

12 June 2012 Taunie graduates!  Here's the family!

18 June 2012 Taunie and boyfriend get hit headon - see Taunie on the right with Medics?

Taunie in ER - 8 stitches under her chin, broken hand and torn ligaments, gash on her left knee - could have been a WHOLE lot worse!  Ryan seems to have escaped injury but his 2009 Mustang was totalled.

Painting is not for whimps!

We decided against spray painting the paneling because of our inexperience as well as the expense of getting the right equipment. So instead we bought a paint stick and a couple other tools to supplement what we had and got started. Saturday - both of us 6 hours, Monday - both of us 6 hours, Friday - both of us 8 hours, Saturday - Larry 1 hour & Kathy 10 for a total of 51 hours! Who knew it would take that long....not us! Part of the problem was covering the paneling. We bought Glidden paint with primer for the walls and it still took 3-4 coats. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets were painted with (again) paint with primer and enamel this time which did not make much of a difference - it still took 3-4 coats! But now that it is done we are happy with the results and are thankful it is DONE! Originally we were going to paint the bedrooms as well but decided against it about 1/4 of the way through this project!


Living room and dining room. The wall on the left is paint we had left over from our last home (we mixed two colors). The rest of the walls are called Boston Cream and are a light cream color.


Larry counted how many kitchen cabinets there were and I immediately blocked it out because I have painted kitchen cabinets before and knew how much fun it would be. Then when I finished the kitchen he said that we should really do the bathrooms as well. He was right - we needed to do them and luckily it wasn't a huge task! So they are done (except for putting the hardware back on) and I will get photos later.

This is the family room.

Guest bathroom.

Master bedroom.

My last post was when?????????????? Yikes!!!

Home we are flipping - less than $20,000 so come on down to the Valley of the Sun!!!

Dining room before painting

Larry painting the family room

Living room after painting

And Asher James Percy!

Where has the time gone? Well Thanksgiving came and went. Christmas came and went. New Year's came and went. Asher came and stayed - January 15, 2012 at 1:10 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 1/2" long. Serving in the Family History Center filled in some of the gaps but I have to admit that I am totally addicted (as in I need the 12-step program or some kind of intervention) and have now involved family I never knew existed to help me with this addiction! Actually these co-conspirators are very extended family I have "met" in various ways over the years and we are working on mutual lines. It has been very fun and rewarding as we put our heads together to try to figure out some of the mysteries in our family. Ohter co-conspirators are my first cousins on my mom's side of the family and they have been just as helpful working with me to gather information and photos of our ancestors. I have promised them a CD of all that I am putting together on that line. I am waiting for more photos to come before I fulfill this promise!

We had been praying about ways to generate more income to suppliment our retirement while serving our mission and almost immediately we were given the answer. We started out thinking that we should sell the doublewide mobile home we are in and find a fixer-upper to buy and live in while we try to sell it. The next thing you know we were out getting comparables in our very own park when we found a super deal (I mean SUPER) deal on one and within a few hours of looking at it we presented an offer which the owner accepted. Now we are in the process of painting (20 hours into it and still not nearly done) the living room, dining room, family room, and kitchen.