Some Home Renovations

Moving from South Dakota to Spanish Fork at the end of October 2012 had not been foreseen by us prior to our rather quick decision to relocate after seeing a walk-through via iPad by Beth following Kristine's letting us know about this home she saw on the Internet.

So on a Sunday we read Kristine's email message about this home that would work for our future family reunions, and on Monday we watched Beth's walk-through with her iPad.  Then, we drove to Utah on Friday when we ended up signing the papers and paying for the property with our check and becoming the owners of our present home.  

Although we continue to have fond feelings for the farm and our life there, we have enjoyed being here where we tend to see more of our family including visits from more of our grown grandchildren, and we have made new friends.  Being part of our ward has also been very nice, even though we have been in 5 wards and 3 stakes while living in this home due to the rapid growth in our neighborhood.

Why am I writing about this today?  Well, the last couple of days we have been in the process of downsizing some of our stuff that we either moved here or accumulated since. Having the floors in our garage and in our storage room redone with an epoxy finish necessitated our moving everything out of those rooms and provided the motivation to sort through things and decide which things we won't be moving back.

The sports court became the sorting area where

sections became designated for holiday decorations,

wrapping paper and bows, luggage, etc., with the center tables

receiving items no longer being kept.

 Plus we have these garbage bags full of discarded things ready
to be taken to the disposal site.

 Here is the floor looking from the open garage door

with the steps going into the house at the right.

The pattern is light with brown flecks.

The garage floor on the left half as seen from the open garage door
with the back door at the left. 

Looking into the garage from the doorway into the house.

Brian from MAXANDMAXCONCRETECOATINGS.COM

 The floor in the storage room had to have the finish removed
before the epoxy could be applied. 

The storage room with brownish flecks
is slightly darker than the epoxy finish in the garage.

All the shelves remained outside for 3 or 4 days
before returning things inside that we are keeping. 


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We also had a new pool cover put on Monday morning
replacing the blue cover that had a couple of holes
and had also been a challenge to keep looking nice.

I had chosen the previous blue pool cover,
but Sam wanted to replace it with a tan one;
and I'm liking it, too. 

It was a treat to have Gordon  and Cherry Wilcox 
come for a visit on June 3rd.  
We had not been together for years,
although we have kept in touch.
We have many good memories from when they lived in Martin
and were part of our little branch.
After they moved, we have continued to keep in touch.
We visited them when they lived in Texas and also in Aberdeen,
and they came back to visit us at the farm one time.
Now they live in Kaysville, Utah.
Laura was with her parents; she now lives in Texas near Dallas.

One memory that came up while we were together was the roadshow entry 
our little Martin branch of two families plus one visitor friend performed 
in the Rapid City, SD stake competition - winning 2nd place. 
Our original "patriotic themed" (but humorous) script included our revised words 
sung to "America the Beautiful." 
A scene included the Saints stopping in Utah 
for the ailing Brigham Young who momentarily fainted before finishing, 
"This is the place . . . . " 
According to our script, Brigham had intended to finish his sentence before fainting 
with . . . "where we will rest before going on to California." 
This got a good laugh, especially from some of the young missionaries 
who were not from Utah.

Our Asiatic Lily is blooming.

Spring Scenes for Mother's Day

This will be a different Mother's Day for many mothers around the world who are away from loved ones due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  In spite of this unusual time, I am appreciating good memories and fondly thinking about my mother, my mother-in-law, my sister, my sisters-in-law, my daughters, those who became my daughters when they married our sons, and other mothers in my life whom I love as sisters and who hold a special place in my heart.  Happy Mother's Day!

Sam's mother and mine

at our wedding reception June 5, 1959.

My mother and dad, sweethearts forever;
Grandmother and Granddad Nelson.

Sam's wonderful and loving parents,
Gramma Mabel and Grampa Harold.

Our "Prairie Fire Crabapple" trees on the island in our front yard.

Early spring blossoms but not yet on our day lilies.

The Japanese Mable has leafed out in color.

Waking up to our new lakeside property
with our house to the left and our playground in the background.
(Recent landscape changes by Sam and our next-door neighbor
to the shared irrigation ditch plus some other circumstances
resulted in flooding our parking area on our property.
It has since been drained.)


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More Family Memories
With loving appreciation for those who have joined our family.

Grateful for our two daughters and five sons.
Our posterity began to increase on April 21, 1984,
when Marla and Curtis were married; 
and since then our family has grown to currently include  74!
We are very blessed. 

So many fun memories through the years.
Here we are at the farm ice skating at Bad Hare
when my parents were visiting.
(Granddad Nelson, Marlowe, K. LeRoi, Harold, Sam, Ina,
Louise holding Lon, Ronald, Grandmother Nelson, Narene, and Roy.)

Picture taken in Ann Arbor by our apartment on North Campus
at the University of Michigan where Sam was working on his doctorate.
We were pleased to have a visit from Sam's sister Phyllis 
with her husband Neal Daniels and Randy and Diane.
Also in this picture is our fun German neighbor Dietrich VonLoh 
along with our children at the time (Ryan, Brent, Marla, and Scott).

Sam with his parents and siblings,
Roy, Phyllis, and Karen. 

And always fun Christmas Eves at Gramma Mabel's.
(Marla, Scott, Brad, Todd, Brent, Ryan, Traci, Craig, Steve, 
Gramma Mabel and Grampa Harold,
Doug, Jeff, Beth, and Chad) 

A perfect photo of love and devotion.
My parents were visiting us at the farm,
and I was taking dictation as they shared happy memories
sitting in the bedroom that had been decorated for our football-loving sons.  


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