Best Kept Secret

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

When Kim invited everyone to Joseph's 30th surprise birthday party for a service project, bring work clothes, I suspected they bought a new home. Boy was I surprised. What the?, when we drove up, first glance. with all the construction and dirt around I wondered if they were remodeling an old home.


We walked inside and the surprise was on us. Some of Kim's family members had come to help and had no idea they were building a home. Kim' brother BJ, who helped with some of the building and David, who is back east were the only ones who had knowledge of this project. When approached, BJ told people he was working on a secret project for the government. Kim told us they broke ground last August and have been working on the house ever since. Their goal is to move in the first of March.

Main Floor.
Kin designed the house and added a ramp entry and room for her massage business

Main floor entry



Kitchen


Back yard, only a few feet before a hill which goes down into a ravine. There's a walking path at the bottom of this gully. Across you can see the apartment where Joseph and Kim used to live. They will return to their old ward.



To the west of the home is more ground and yard, bunch of dirt now.



Back of home, the space to the left without windows is the garage. Far right balcony goes to master bedroom, kitchen window to left of back door. The dormers extende from upstairs famioy room which over look the donwstairs front room/ entry






Room with a view. Master bedroom view, mountains and porta potty



space for two bedrooms, Joseph wants an office and place for Kim sewing machine in one room.



an upstairs bathroom


framed basement


Electricians were working today. Carpet is planned for next week.




Kim had jobs for us.
Noel and Ronnie's wife paint the railing.




Crystal, Kim's sister, covering nail holes,



Lincoln caulking n master bedroom




Ronnie and his wife installed doorknobs.



Kenna and I ( no pics ) mopped tile dust & grime off bathroom floors.

Garage, freshly poured cement. Is under the two bedrooms. Windows face East




Future sidewalk


What a fun surprise. I'm excited for them. They have lived in apartments for 7-8 years. Thank you Joseph and Kim for sharing your day with us. Is this a correct principle? The family with the largest home, gets to host family parties

Suppose

We have a new fabric store in Preston which I forgot to mention in our family Christmas Letter. Some family members haven't been to this side of the state for a long time. Aunt Hertha never did come to Preston so it's up to Tiffany or one of the Hales to erase her black mark by paying us a visit. Preston's new fabric store is an added incentive to get you here. The store opened this year, two doors north of the old Nielsons Printing on State Street. It's called" Suppose"






When I asked the owner why she called it Suppose she said it's the beginning of the thought process in designing a quilt. First you suppose, then idea develops and the creative process takes off from there.





Quilt samples hanging on the walls are left until matching fabrics run out. Then the quilt is for sale.





Although there's nothing that will put me in knots quicker than sewing, I love the beautiful colors and arrangement of the fabric in this store. The store is designed with Quilters Boutique.



Pre-cut squares are stored above the bolts of fabric.







I love all these color coded buttons. Makes me want to run my finger through them.


In the back they hold classes and have more fabric. There's even a cozy fireplace to quilt by.


more bolts of material in the back



Customer making purchase



So "Suppose" you come on over to Preston and see us and the Fabric Shop. I'll make a pizza or order one if you come.. Anyone for pepporoni?

Best Friends & Birthday Lunches

My best friends Nancy and Kathy and I always take each other out for birthday lunch. We have been friends since I moved to Preston years ago. Nancy was my jogging partner for years then we started walking together. Kathy joined us for summer biking back who knows when.

.

By the time I started having children they were finishing their families so some of our children are the same ages. Many an early morning we could be found on the corner of 8th E. and the highway, the place we split up before returning home. There we talked for a half an hour or more, when we could have bike more miles. Instead we discussed life in general, kids and how we all needed to get jobs,

Kathy and I started subbing for the school district and Nancy, our math brain, ran her own tax business. Later Kathy, the Home EC major, started teaching part-time at West side school district, I found a part -time job as a para professional at the junior high school. But we have managed to have many early morning walks and biking together in the summers as our lives progressed?? over the years.

In the past few years Nancy, the exercising guru, goes to the gym then joins us at the track. Anyway things started changing when I spent the summer with mother and we could no longer walk together. Then this year I started working full time at USU barber shop making it hard to find time together. I point all this out to show the importance of getting together for our birthday lunches. I have a November birthday and Nancy was a special Jan lst birthday baby. She won all the prizes for being the first baby born in Franklin County. Kathy's birthday follows Nancy's by two days.

Last year their January birthdays were on hold until after Tax season and we celebrated in after April 15th. This year things kept coming up so we didn't get my November lunch done. Oh no, if we don't hurry and celebrate it will be April again. Soooooooooooo We celebrated all our birthdays Tuesday Jan 12. Nancy and Kathy picked me up at USU round about. Yea, I loved the curbside pickup service, no waiting for a bus, or walking to the transit center. Nancy & Kathy, you area hired!

We ate at Chili's in Logan. Sorry Preston "Trax" we didn't support you this time.
Here's Nancy and Kathy



Kathy and I. We didn't think to employ bystanders to take a trio pic.


A little food history to whet your appetite. There's chicken somewhere under that coating.



Nancy's dish



Kathy's plate/. You can see they eat more healthy than I.



Since we mentioned it was a birthday dinner, they waiter gave us free dessert. Sorry no pics. We were too busy swimming in chocolate. A wonderful warmed chocolate cake, with ice cream and choc coated.


We ate early so the evening was ahead of us so we headed to the Cache Valley Mall and stopped at Dillards.
Anyone want a big watch?





Oh, these are cute



On to Bath & Body Works where There's a sale.



So many choices



Decisions, decisions



Smells good, They're loading up and 50% off.



Nancy checks the price



I'm tuckered out, so I took a break while they shopped. Hey I worked all day.



At the checkout, Getting a Bargain, Using your coupons



They finally exit with full bags of yummy smelly things.



close up


To get to the car we retreat back through Dilliards. They have Valentine thingees out in Lingerie. How about red hot color. Ooh la la



or Sexy black. Thane would love it.



I don't know; this is pretty wild for a past Young Womens' President and current Cub Scout Den Leader.



We had our fun and head back to Preston.

Course it was night and snow covered.