This week the Barneys are on a dream trip with the whole Barney clan to Hawaii to celebrate Lawrence and Earlene's anniversary so we are helping out in the afternoons with the kids.  They are all good kids so it's no work, but I pray that there are no accidents on our watch!

After the kids are off to school we come home and do our own things.  I do laundry and prepare for ESL and Dad is currently working on getting us a mantel made!!  I'm so amazed and grateful for the talents of this man!  First he bolted a board to the bricks.

Then he constructed a neat little box and attached the supports we bought at Home Depot. Now today he is attaching a pretty molding.

When that's all together and the glue is dry we will paint and antique it and hang it on the board over the fireplace.  Then we will have a pretty mantel to put our Christmas stuff on and from which to hang the stockings when it's time.  :o)

He also got the fireplace gas fixed so it doesn't leak.  No fun having a fireplace if you can't use it.

While we were out getting the wood and so on for the mantel we also looked for a bougainvillea plant to put in our planter.  We got a healthy looking one and hope it will be happy there.  We still need to dig out the base dirt and put in all the stuff it wants for good drainage and nourishment, but this is eventually where it will live.   I really look forward to having it there and the reflecting ball beside it.  It has just the right colors to look great together with the plant.  I sit at the dining table where I can look out the glass door at them and feel happy.  :o)

It's supposed to like lots of drainage and lots of sun.  We can arrange the drainage, we think, but we will hope for enough sun.  Don't know yet if it will get what it needs.  If not, we can put it somewhere else and get another plant for here.

Lara also mentioned a fire pit which we thought was an excellent idea!  We went and looked at them at Home Depot and decided that this one would be suitable for us unless anyone else knows a better one.  We'll have it on the deck for cool evenings and for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and making s'mores.

The weather is tempering somewhat now and it's more pleasant to be out in it.  I guess it will get cooler and wetter yet, but that's all good too.

Well the deck is finished!!  What a beautiful addition to the backyard.  It replaces dirt and leaves and is beautiful.  We need to wait for the wood to dry out sufficiently so that we can stain and seal it, but right now I'm so very pleased with this gift from the man.  I don't think he would have done it except to please me.  Maybe, but probably not.  Okay, I asked him and he said he would have built it even if I wasn't here, but I consider it a gift anyway.

The man relaxing after finishing a long project.  Now to start the tree house!

In other news, I didn't actually die from giving my talk so I'm still here.  It was such a blessing to prepare, but so debilitating to deliver.  I'm really glad it's over.  Why is it so scary?  

I made the chili for the class to day so it can steep.  I hope it's a good example of chili.  We have 3 Mexicans in the class so they should be able to say if it's a good example or not.  But they would probably enjoy more spiciness.  Well, it is what it is and the TVP is fine in it.  

Life is going much as usual, but I thought you might like to see the progress on the deck.  I'm getting excited to get it finished and stained and usable.  I think we want to try a soft gray stain.  We'll have to look at the possibilities when it gets done.  It needs to dry out a couple weeks before staining.  Some of the wood is pretty wet.

The beginning after Dad got the base finally laid.  He put the supports on a row of bricks so they wouldn't be in the dirt and rot fast.

Sept 14th.  He got the next batch of boards on and trimmed them all off.

Sept 16th.  He got the next batch of boards on and made a beautiful little beveled corner at the edge and got around the planter on the near side.

Sept 17th.  He got around the other side of the planter and along the garage wall.  Because the garage is at an angle to the house he has to angle each board a little on that side.  You can see the projected shape of the whole deck now that he has the edge laid out to the end.  It will angle around the tree root and end at the back of the garage.

Sept 18th.  More progress.  This is the end of the 16 foot boards.  Now he can just use 14 footers. We went to the temple this morning so he didn't get as much done as he usually does.  But at least we are down to the shorter boards.  He will cut off those extending ends when he gets that whole side secured.

It's slow going because the man doesn't move as fast as he used to.  He lays a few boards and takes a break.  Lays a few more and then comes in for some Gatorade and a cool off.  It's hot and humid outside still.  Not as bad as earlier in the summer, but still not very comfortable.  And then he goes on back out and does some more.  I admire and appreciate his persistence.

In other news I am very happy with the TVP  that I got from Red Mill.  The flavor and texture are very good.  I will make some chili to take to the ESL class to show them what chili is.  The students from the middle east don't know what I was talking about when I told them we went to the church BBQ and chili cook off.  But some are Muslim and the Israeli is vegan and I don't know what religion the Pakistani is so I think TVP chili will be best.  And Dad and I can eat it too.  Somehow alcohol came into a discussion once and I said, Muslims don't drink, right?  And the one man looked kind of sheepish and said, well, formally.  So I don't really know about the meat, but this will be fine and it will be safe.  Okay, I just looked up Muslim eating and they can eat some meat that was slaughtered in the proper way.  But no worries with our chili.

Tonight we will go to see the new Mission Impossible movie.  Something different to do even if it is Friday night.  He said after we retired we would only go to movies on Wednesday or Thursday afternoons and stay away from Friday and Saturday things.  But we will see how it is tonight.

It was so fun to have Heather here!  She enlivened our little house with her sweet spirit.  She missed her baby, but Sasha was happy visiting her friend too so there were no worries about her.

We took Heather straight from the airport to a fabric store where we picked out some fabric for the quilt she wants for her birthday.  Then on to San Antonio!  It was a 3 hour drive and she was tired of riding on the plane already, but she had a willing spirit.  We got to the motel and went to dinner at an interesting restaurant recommended by the guy in the motel.  It was a fun place with mariachi singers and lots of bright happy lights.  We were tired, and it was nice to be sitting there in that fun atmosphere and be relaxed and waited on.  The people in the booth behind Heather were Hispanic and had the band play for them and the man with the mustache sang the love song to his wife.  He had a really good voice too.  Maybe he had been a mariachi singer when he was younger.

In the morning we went to the botanical gardens that are there in San Antonio.  We meant to go to Six Flags this day (Friday) to avoid the crowds but it was closed.  Since it's after school has started it's only open on the weekends and Monday now.  So we thought we would go to the gardens and do the river walk and the Alamo when Lara and the kids got there in the afternoon.

The gardens were much more interesting than I had thought they would be.  They had a gorgeous bouganvilla in the parking lot and all kinds of different environments with the plants that go in them.  I was most interested in the shade plants since we have so much shade in the back.  Lots of possibilities there I see now.  I like this arrangement.  We'll see how much we want to do.

They had some statues there and a gift shop where Dad and Heather had to try out some things.

After the botanical gardens (it's a big place!) we were tired, but tried to find the Alamo anyway.  When we finally found it we realized we really didn't want to walk around anymore so we went back to the motel and rested.  That afternoon we learned that Lara and Sarah weren't going to arrive till later that evening.  We decided to forego the river walk and the alamo and stay resting in the motel.  When they got there we went to dinner again at another Mexican restaurant that had been recommended by Lara's friend.  It was popular and when we got a seat they also had mariachi singers but they didn't get asked to sing much.  Finally they were about to leave so they stood in the middle of the restaurant by our table and sang several songs.  We clapped at the end of each of them and so the one singer asked Dad if he liked the singing and Dad said yes and talked to him just a little in Spanish.  The singer asked where Dad was from and when he said Utah the singer was disappointed because he said where he comes from there are lots of people that look just like Dad that are native and he was hoping Dad was one of them.

The next day was Saturday and it was Six Flags day for us!!  We got there and went immediately to an interesting looking ride that had lots of dipping and twisting.  Lara and Heather and I went on it.  It was really good!!  We stayed the whole day and got to ride about 3 rides apiece.  Lara and Sarah maybe 4.  There were lots of people and it was HOT!  But we were glad we had gone.  We started our drive home from there and took a detour to a little town that is supposed to have the best barbecue in Texas:  Black's Barbecue.

They charge for the meat by the pound and the many sides by the bowl.  They had some really good sides and everybody said the meat was superb!   We got home late and were tired but happy we had gone and done it all.

The next day was Sunday and we had a good day at church and at home.  We borrowed the stake quilting frame from the RS room and took it home to set up the next day for Heather's quilt.  The Barneys came over for dinner and we had a roast and Riley cake.  It was good to get together.  We were entertained by a video of Sarah's summer play that she got to practice for a week and then present for 3 performances.  It was sponsored by a group that travels around the country and teaches children the play and helps them perform with all the costumes and props.  It was cute.  

Monday (Memorial Day) we set up the quilt and got it done!!  When we got it all spread out I thought, this will take us a week to finish!  But Lara and Sarah came over and helped Heather and me and we did indeed get it done!  It turned out really pretty.  We rested and had a nice dinner and watched a little tv.  Just a good day together.

Tuesday we went to Galveston.  Lara was going to go with us but she had come down with a cold and was feeling really yucky.  :o(  So we took off and spent a few hours there.  Dad really wanted to do the harbor tour and it turned out to be fun.  We saw dolphins and the captain told us about all the different things around the harbor.

After the tour I was feeling pretty yucky too so we just had lunch at Denny's and came home.  We had actually had enough of Galveston.  It was still hot, humid weather.  I took the quilt frame back just before Mutual Tuesday night.

Wednesday Dad worked on the deck again.  Heather wanted to get some gifts to take home to the ladies she works with so we went to WalMart looking for Texas mugs. She finally got a decent but not exciting cup and we came home.  Dad took her to the mall to look for them again.  None.

Dad and I went to the ESL class Wednesday afternoon.  We have all new people except our Israeli guy, Iggy.  So we did an introduction to everyone's different countries with pictures on the wall tv and them reading about their country.  We have 5 different countries.  It was really fun.  Some of the pictures of Iran were of the shop where our student always used to shop.  She said they left because they wanted more freedom for their children.

Thursday Heather left.  The place feels emptier without her.  She did say she will NEVER choose to live here.  She was here during a really hot, humid spell.  Today it's quite nice.  I guess it's a hint of the fall weather coming.

The man is making headway on the deck.  It's looking like it will get done one of these days!  He is so thorough that it takes forever to get to the good part:  the actual deck that we will use.

And this morning I got up to a beautiful sight.  I opened the blinds to a sunny green light and shade day.  And the weather is wonderful!  It's so pleasant outside now that it feels heavenly.

It was a wonderful day.  And then one of the bishopric called and asked me to speak next week on the new Mutual theme that is one of my favorite scriptures:   Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father:  ye shall have eternal life.  2 Nephi 31:20

I'm going to speak about hope.  I've had trouble all my life with hope.  Or not having hope.  I can never do enough to merit eternal life.  And that's true.  But Christ takes care of that as I repent and trust in Him.  I finally got that.  And now I want to share that with everyone.  So now I do indeed have hope that I will attain unto eternal life because of Christ paying the price of my weaknesses and sins.  I know that says what everyone knows, but now I KNOW it.  And it feels wonderful.  So we will see how well I can present it without it sounding like the same old words.

Just wanted to show you one of the bug casings that are attached to the walls outside here and there.  We have found several and I love looking at them.  They are so detailed.  The actual skin that split down the back and let the newly grown bug escape and start over.  I looked up cicadas since we can hear them outside now and surely enough, it's their casing.  They leave this behind and emerge with wings just like a butterfly!  How fun for them.

And here is a picture of the beginnings of the deck substratum.  The man is making sure the boards don't touch the soil so that they hopefully won't rot out very soon.  He's placing bricks to hold the base boards above the ground and will lay the actual deck boards on top of those.  The planter looks better now too, doesn't it?  It has had time to cure.  

We are looking forward to seeing Heather this week on Thursday!  She will be coming for a week and we will take some time to visit San Antonio and Galveston and play around.  It will be fun to have another person in the house.  We two get pretty staid and don't do much.  

When we got back home from our trip we noticed the toilet had been running the whole time and surely had wasted a lot of water.  We didn't know how much till Jer got a call from the water company telling him our water bill for the month would be $700.00!!!  But they said if we could show them a bill from a repair they would halve it.  So now he has bought new innards for the toilet and will install them and show them the bill.  We will only have a $350.00 water bill.  :o)  You can be sure we will double check for that hereafter.

I was going through some of my old notebooks the other day and I found a paper whereon I had written many times, "We will find the right place for us."  And surely we have done just that.  I feel so at home here--so settled and happy.  

Now that the condo is sold and the furniture moved in the man is concentrating on the backyard.  He has trimmed the tree that is destined to support the tree house and he has created a brick planter for a bouganvilla to grow against the house.  We are told that the bouganvillas around here don't do very well, growing small and straggley, but we will do our best to recreate what we had in California.  If it doesn't work, we will do something else.  But we have to try. It was a real job to do that planter, so we will definitely use it.  The man worked very hard at it.  The mortar would dry as fast as he spread it so he had to be creative at making it work. 

Now it's done finally and he has trimmed the tree the final time to prepare for the tree house.  He will put in the deck around the planter first before the tree house; he wants to wait till Christmas to finish the house when the little boys will be here to help him.  Atticus and Robert and James will be here then and will be able to hammer in nails to build a ladder and make it all secure. 

And somewhere in there he will build a frame for the swing that we bought a long time ago at the San Diego County Fair, remember?  I had just about despaired of ever seeing it set up, but we plan to put it on the patio when everything is all finished. 

The English class is going pretty well.  There was some conflict about one of our students being too controlling of the class, but since Dad's there he handles him and I get on with the lessons.  We got three new students and so now we will have 6 regulars and some that come sometimes.  I'm still working on getting the lessons more organized.  I'm too scattered in my delivery still.  I need to write out a plan and follow it instead of shooting from the hip.  I have lots of material, but no organized presentation plan. 

We have discovered a new series of tv program that we enjoy.  It's called Foyle's War on NetFlix.  There are 25 episodes and we are about half way through.  It's Britain during the second world war.  Really interesting showing the way of life at that time there. 

Wednesday Dad got his official call and was set apart by the bishop to serve in the peanut butter factory.  He will go for his first day next week, I think.  We are still waiting to hear from the temple.  Apparently the bishop didn't fill in one of the blanks on our application so now maybe it will be in the works and we will hear soon. 

I want to show you the house now that we have everything in place.  This is the living room now.

Our new desk in place in the dining room.  We liked it because it's long enough to accommodate the printer and everything and it also has a skirt that hides most of the wires.  We were really looking forward to getting it until we saw it come off the truck in a skinny little box meaning that it needed to be assembled.  But the man came through like a trooper and got it all together and pretty.

The first guest room

And the second guest room.  It's also my sewing room.  We may move the pictures so they are over the desk.  Don't know if all those ancestors might keep someone awake in the night.  

We love being here!  We love this little house and all its comforts and conveniences and we are so happily looking forward to getting to see some of you all soon!