Maybe our busiest ever July!

July is only 10 days old and already we've done more in one week than I think we have done for a year. July 4^th started off with the annual flag raising ceremony that Steve was able to participate in. He loves to be a part of that and never tires of honoring his country and the men and women who have fought to protect our freedoms.




Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform?

We followed up the flag raising ceremony with a fun trip to the Willamette Mission Stake Park to watch a Civil War Reenactment. We couldn't have anticipated our chance meeting of MyLiege and Sean on the freeway if we had planned it. Everyone was running a late and as it turned out we were all running on the same time. Sierra and Shonee arrived at the park within a few minutes of us. We remembered ear plugs this year and it made watching the reenactment all the better. After a nice picnic lunch and wandering around the camp sites for a while, (we ran into Ed Turpin at one of the tents), we headed to Sierra and Shonee's for a nice bar-b-que and fun afternoon. The kids, Shonee and Sean even braved the swimming pool although it was very cold. (Sorry, no pictures.)

Three days later we headed off to Youth Conference. MyLiege and Sean were also involved in their ward's youth conference and we were supposed to baby-sit their kids. Thankfully Sierra stepped in to save the day so Steve and I could do our part at our conference. We taught our youth about Temples and had them construct three temples. The first one was the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

The second temple was the Kirtland Temple.

The third temple was the Nauvoo Temple.

We also made cool handouts for the kids as a memento. This is one we made for us on a tile. We did the kids on blocks of wood with the strip down the side of the wood. They looked very cool.

We finished out the week with a very special event. Our little Madison Kendyl turned 8 on July 1^st and was officially baptized into the Church on July 9^th by her father. She was the only child being baptized so our family got to do the whole program. Uncle Shonee played the piano and Grandma Wilcox led the music. Auntie Sierra gave the opening prayer and Grandpa Wilcox gave the closing prayer. Antie MyLiege gave a beautiful talk on baptism and Uncle Douhet gave an awesome talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Great Grandpa Nielsen and Grandpa Wilcox were the witnesses. And all the cousins sang some songs.

Madison, of course, was the Princess for her special day.

We've begun at last!

On June 7 we offically began construction on the new part of the hosue. It was exciting to see the concrete pumper truck that was necessary becasue of the access to the back part of the house.

Here the concrete is being pumped into the forms of the foundation.

Douhet working hard putting up the side joists.

Dad taking the easy job of riding in the tractor moving dirt to get the grade around the foundation. it took a lot more dirt than we expected.

Douhet is securring the joists to the sill boards. These are pressure treated boards that won't transfer moisture from the concrete up into the joists which would rot them away.

Ibid.

Here is all the wood for the rest of the house except the roof trusses, porch and siding.

Here you see some of the roughed in drain plumbing and the lines for the feed water. You can also see the dimensions pretty well. The bump out is for the dining room and the indent is the entry way. Notice the little train tracks the kids have laid. (Stub ends from the joists.) Now all we need is a little train!

Stay tuned for future developments.