Baltimore!

 Mike and I drove to Salt Lake on Wednesday the somethingth of May. I don't know what dates are anymore. . .  lets see-- it was the 18th! And Gail's birthday!  We met at Nick and Kaylee's house in the evening. Nick and Kaylee were nice enough to feed us and celebrate birthdays with Ice cream. Yum Yum.

Early on the 19th, we headed to the airport. Gail dropped off me and Mike and Jonathan. The new Salt Lake City Airport. It's really spread out, so even I used the moving walkways.  But parts are new and pretty.  Then Gail headed on to Elko and we began our journey.

The first leg of our journey took us to the Houston airport, Hobby.  That's where we had lunch at Wendy's. They we caught our flight to Baltimore. 

Interestingly, there was a medical emergency just four rows ahead of us. Nurses galore responded, maybe one doctor, people had to shuffle seats to accommodate, aide was given, she survived and was taken off the airplane first.  That excitement eliminated all the service/snacks.  But Gail was prepared and packed us snacks, and it's not like Mike and I NEED to eat that much after having had breakfast and lunch already. 

Lisa picked us up at the Baltimore airport around 6:45 pm. She served us a lovely lasagna dinner at her home. Cindy's here, too! (Lisa's mom).

James and Lisa Tanner have five cute kids (all growing up so fast). Their oldest is Rachel and the youngest is Emily.  Sounds familiar, huh?

Through their 13 years of living here, Ross (Lisa's dad) has come and they added on BIG time to their home and doubled its size.  WE are staying in the basement/cellar area.  There's a toilet and a utility sink by the laundry area and a double bed for me and Mike.  Jonathan has a twin mattress on the floor. That's where they have their new sofa and the TV.  

We are going to join their family at the Temple Open House this afternoon instead of our scheduled Saturday. Mike and I just need to figure out when we are going where with Jonathan and what we will be doing. We DO know that we'll be taking them all out to eat to celebrate birthdays and that will be on Saturday here in Laurel... the rest is kind of up in the air until I find out exactly what is open when.

So here we go!

chatting and gathering around the table.

The accommodations have kind of a Kay Johnson feel to them.

Jonathan jumping on tramp in back yard with other kids before dinner. Their yard is green and deep with a huge tree in the center, garden spot in the back and chickens.

Jonathan on the first leg of our flight.

Snoozing on Friday morning after a LONG day of travel.

Backyard pretties

I posted this, just like I do every year. 

BUT, for this blog post, I just wanted to celebrate that I connected my wireless Apple keyboard to my PHONE!! woo hoo!  It's the little things in life.  

All that means is that I I carry my keyboard with me on our upcoming vacation and post pictures on my blog AND I can type without having to use one finger at a time on my tiny telephone keyboard. :-)  

Like I said--Little Things. haha.
 

Next is the test to see if I can UNdo it since we don't leave for a few days and I have to still have my phone function to take care of other stuff. ;-\

Mother's Day May 8, 2022

 Spent the morning relaxing, went to church, didn't have to teach Primary. Ate dinner with Mom and Dad.

Nice. Low-key. Pleasant. 

And I heard from all the kids. Very nicely done.

Chocolates. Flowers. Cards.

It doesn't get much better, folks.😊💕😊

Tulips and Freesia from TX Liebhardt.

The ones who made me a Mom.

MY mommy. Taken several years ago at AGW in Las Vegas.

Addressed to "Momma Linda," my favorite nickname of all.

Backyard Woes, and "Whoa!" s

 

I have been moving dirt from this spot by the south steps of our deck to various places around the yards. I guess I'm close to halfway done. The goal is to get it four inches below the concrete that's already there and do another pour so that whole part off the deck is concrete. That's where our lawn used to be. This is taking me a while because I'm old and slow. Mike was nice and rototilled it for me and so it's nice and soft. But it's such a mess right now. But eventually we'll have a nice(er) area off our nice deck. Maybe some flower containers or something. It just didn't make sense to put grass back in the spot since there's no easy way to water it. And it's the path from garage to garden, meaning it should have lots of wear and tear. 

That's the woe. Also-- it has been over two weeks since a landscape company came by to look at our backyard and said they would contact us with a bid in about 2 weeks. We have a feeling we may never see him again. That means we'll have to do the retaining wall by ourselves. Woe is me (us)!  MORE dirt to move, one shovel at a time. This is over by our apple tree where the yard elevation changed with the addition.

But here are the WHOA, THATS SO PRETTY!! parts.

Apple blossoms! So pretty. So many busy bees, such pretty blue sky, lovely clouds.

War zone? No, a window

 

Yes, this is what my lovely "Sorensen Family Guest Room" looks like. It's not a war zone, but sure feels like it. Mike's been battling that 10 inch thick concrete for a couple of weeks now. First digging the huge hole for the window well, ( we did have some neighbors help with the first half!) , Then came the Sawing, drilling, now jack-hammering. You know, we knew we bought a well- built home when we purchased it clear back in the 90's and this (and the addition in 2020) has certainly confirmed it. It's our " we hope to live here until we die at a ripe old age" house. 

Here's a few more photos. What a mess! But it will be nice when it's all finished. Hopefully soon. There WAS a window in this room, but when we put on the addition, that window was covered. Since it's a bedroom, an egress window is required to pass inspection.

So much dirt to go . ..  . Where? 

Saw cuts are made and it's a muddy mess. 

Mike got a hole started, but when Doug came with the right kind of hefting straps, come-alongs and know-how, it made a world of difference. Mike had the right idea, just not the perfect implementation.

This is how dusty/dirty Doug and Mike were AFTER  they hosed off with a pressurized air hose. Mike said he washed his hair four times that night before he was clean.

Ew. Don't sit anywhere in this house!  Of course he doesn't. He usually even peels out of the dirty stuff before even coming inside.  Or, I beat him off with a broom.

Once upon a time, Damian lived in this corner of our unfinished basement. Mike said this was part of an anti-establishment essay he wrote on the bare concrete in Sharpie. It's been covered all these years. And now is heading to the dump, or where ever concrete goes to be recycled. Right now, it's in our front yard. I'll bet the neighbors just love that-- more piles of construction debris.

So much pulverized concrete dust! (cough, cough)

Out by the bucket-ful from the inside.