Dad's a Baker!

Looks great, doesn't it? Dad's masterpiece! Not bad for only a second try! Thanks for picking the apples, kids! Those spies make great pies! Note the steam vents...just like his grandma used to make!

Labor Day Weekend 2009

With such a gorgeous day, Dad and I thought taking a hike would be an enjoyable activity. We decided to hike Hadley Mountain, where there is a fire tower offering a fantastic view. Rated "moderate" we thought we could handle it easily. Ha! The first half of the hike, according to Dad, is like climbing a wall! Certainly, it was like climbing stairs for nearly 2 miles and usually it was steeper than stairs! At times we walked on solid slabs of granite for several hundred feet at a time. Other times the trail had built-in steps made from rock or logs. Needless to say, we were pushed to our limits! However, we made the summit and enjoyed the fabulous view as we snacked and rested. After about 45 minutes, we had the energy to climb the fire tower. The picture of the white spot on the mountain is a picture of a cave. Dad took one with his telephoto.



The last two pictures are of the camp...we set up the batten boards to mark the house. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on the elevation certificate. You may notice someone decided to have bonfire on our property....hmmm.

Demolition Is Finished

On a very rainy Saturday, August 27, 2009, Dad and I went to check out the demoliton and straighten up the garage to prepare it to receive construction materials. The entire piece of property is mud now...no pine needle carpet anymore and not many pines left to provide a new carpet. However, the trees close to the road still provide a frame to the lot and make the view from the road pretty.

Two of the big pines had to be topped before they could be cut down, so Ernie had to hire someone to do that. Even so, they still reached to the dock, as the pictures show. The big pine you see in the picture is the one down by the shoreline.

Dad and I took the last free haul for the year to the dump, which included the picture windows. We cut them up to manageable pieces. (the first one shattered and another one cut Dad's finger, but other than that we managed ok.) The garage floor is just about cleared for the construction materials. We just need the building permit. However, on Friday I learned that we now how to have an "elevation certificate" because being on the lake puts us in a flood zone. Evidently, this law had been overlooked in the past and this past week or so had begun to be enforced. Just our luck--more red tape! We couldn't reach our surveyor on Friday, so hopefully we can reach him on Monday, so we can get the process moving along. Our builing plans arrived on Friday--so we just need permits to start the excavation process!

Demolition Day 1

August 25, 2009
All day I kept thinking about the demolition, but I didn't want to watch it. So, after my visiting teacher left, I got in the car and drove up, bracing myself for what I would see. I didn't feel as badly as I thought I would. It was hard to see, like a loved one who has undergone surgery, but I realized that we still had the land--the camp and what we will have will be wonderful.

The contractor called tonight to report his work. He said there was a huge ball of ants--thousands of them in the upper part of the house by the lake. They created a ball 36" in diameter! Yuck!

I've attempted to add captions to my "movie." There's a little too much text, so read quickly. You may need to watch twice to really see the pictures...(I'm still learning the art of blogging!) If the picture is too small, let me know and I'll attach it to an email.

Well Drilling August 2009

What a noisy, dirty process! All day the drill dug through the granite, chewing away, 100, 200, 300, 400 feet. At 420 feet they finally reached water, but it wasn't enough--just barely 2 gallons per minute. To be mortgable water, it must be 2.5 gallons per minute. It was the end of the work day and the drillers left, hoping to find the water increased overnight. However, it was just less than 2 gallons in the morning, so on they drilled to about 500 feet, where they hit 10 gallons a minute. No problem with mortgable water now! Well, our first big expense of this project had to go to the maximum...just our luck!

Summer Vacation Part 3

(There is far too much empty space in this...sorry...I can't seem to make it work. I've heard twitter is better for pictures. Maybe I should try that!)

Monday we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was hot and exhausting but fun.

We had a great time at the Children's Museum with Aunt Julie.

Acting for Where the Wild Things Are--Brendan is a little SCARY!

Brooklynn made an animated video of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Brendan loved the crane and blocks!

Brendan and Lauren in the helicopter--another favorite.

Lauren especially enjoyed the house, shopping and playing in the water.

At home with Trenton...

Kim and I spent Thursday together, having lunch with Brad, Cindy and Elena. Then she and Chris took me to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. As all temples, it is beautiful. Unlike most, it is tiled almost throughout. It also has a beautiful star motif. Chris noticed that the three windows in the front of the temple have an increasing number of stars from the first floor to the third. As you stand in front of the temple, you can see the 3 other temples: Draper, Jordan and Salt Lake! Afterwards we enjoyed a very filling and delicious Italian dinner at the Bucca de Beppo restaurant.

The next day April took me to the airport. It was hard to leave. I miss everyone so much!

My vacation ended with a few days in San Diego. It was great to see Melanie and Brandon once again! We had fun snorkeling in LaJolla cove, eating lunch at Rubio's and Mimi's Cafe. Below, is a picture from Mt. Soledad. There's a 360 degree view of San Diego from this mountain. It was a bit hazy, but was still a neat sight.

Melanie and I spend an evening at Balboa park. This was one of Grandma and Grandpa's favorite spots. Here's Mel in front of a lovely reflecting pool filled with gorgeous water lillies.

I had a great time. See you again, San Diego, at Christmas!

Summer Vacation Part II

Meet Zooey--the newest addition BEFORE Trenton. She was the main attraction for a few weeks anyway!

Kim and Chris holding Trenton, while the fireworks were going off outside. Hmmmm. What fireworks were going off inside?

While we waited for Mom and Dad and Trenton at the hospital, we discovered a wonderful park west of the hospital at the base of the foothills. Cool, shady, and natural, it was the perfect place to rest.

Happy Birthday, Lauren! 3 years old!

Trenton gave us a little scare with an elevated bilirubin count on July 6th--Lauren's birthday. Here are the bilibed and Trenton tucked in. Within 3 days, being on lights 24/7, he was doing much, much better.

Bike riding was a favorite activity, although it was too hot to ride very long, they usually got out once a day for a quick ride.

A simple highlight was our tea party with Lauren's new dishes. We had bologna sandwiches, chips and fruit. Water was in the cups so we didn't have to worry when it spilled. Afterwards, they washed and dried the dishes as a team. Of course, there was a large puddle of water on the floor afterward! The kids wanted a tea party everyday after this one!


Great Grandma Shirk admiring Trenton. He's about 10 days old. He is her 6th great grandchild. (She stopped on her way the the deMik reunion.)

Brooklynn and Brendan discovered their Dutch heritage at the deMik Family Reunion.

Brooklynn, Grandma Shirk, and Gertrude Todd (Grandma Shirk's cousin) all share the same birthday! (Of course, Aunt LaVon, Grandma's twin, was born on the same day, too.)

Brooklynn with cousins Tyler Shirk and Jacob Shirk.

Attending the reunion gave Trevor and April some time to enjoy Trenton and take a leisurely walk in the neighborhood.

Summer Vacation 2009 part I

This summer has been busy! I left for Salt Lake the last day of school. The arrival was pretty bumpy, but the dramatic double rainbow made up for any undue anxiety. I'd never seen a rainbow quite like it reaching from the horizon far into the sky. The colors were much more vibrant than usual, too.

Kim picked me up and Chris surprised me with a delicious Russian dinner he made. Then we watched Chris play hockey. He's a good player; I'm sure dad would love to see him play.

Saturday I went to Uncle Warren's 80th birthday party. The Tongan war dancer was a highlight!

Afterwards, I went home with Mom and spent three days, returning on June 30th to watch the kids while April had the new baby.

After an outing at the park, the kids played on the slip and slide. Brooklynn and Brendan slide like pros!

Welcome Trenton!

July 1st

Affectionately known as NJ by Grandpa!

Happy siblings!

Tender Moments:

The Garage Saga Continues...Carpet Fiasco

I'm just NOT strong enough to hoist 32 yards of carpet up the stairs! Somehow Dad and I managed to get it out of the garage and up the length of the stairs, but I couldn't lift it to get it past the stairs and over the half wall (on the right--you can't see it.) Dad mentioned using a block and tackle to lift it over the half wall, so I went to the house to get the big block and tackle pulley that hung on the old door between the kitchen and the living room. Do you remember it?

As I started back to the garage, I heard Dad screaming for help! I panicked! Could he lying UNDER the roll of carpet? I ran full speed up to the garage, and the distance between the house and the garage is UP a hill! Dropping the block and tackle in the driveway, I sprinted into garage to find Dad struggling to hold carpet above his head and trying to rest it on the rafter above the low end of the stairs. Together, we managed to set it on the rafter so it spanned the stairs as the picture shows.

The next trick was to employ the block and tackle. This picture doesn't show it very well, but it was tied to one of the ceiling rafters. We had a smaller pulley attached to the carpet and began to hoist it up. Unfortunately, the smaller pulley gave way and the carpet crashed down. Fortunately, Dad had placed a sturdy ladder on the stairs to catch the carpet if it fell. The ladder held and we were able to easily situate the roll back onto the stair and rafter, as shown in the first picture.

This is a better view of the pulley. We decided to leave it there for a while. It may be needed again as we load the top of the garage w/ the furniture, etc from the house. I don't know how old it is--the pulley is all wood--I know I've never seen it used, but it certainly did the job!

There is no electricity in the garage, nor are there any windows, so we rigged a lamp from the house to provide light.

Here is the garage subfloor. You can see the carpet roll on the left.

Dad ltrimming the carpet. We had to trim the edge, because it was about 1 1/2 inches too wide. It is multi-colored, called Cambridge Beige. We laid it out, but we didn't nail it down yet. Over the 4th of July weekend, Dad and Nate are going to put the windows in, so they'll role the carpet up to keep it clean during the installation. Things are coming along...we contracted to have the well dug the week after July 4th...