Flag Case

My Mom, Barbara Cooper passed away 2 years ago.  She was an Army veteran and we held a military funeral for her at the Veteran's Cemetary in Fernley, Nevada.

The flag that was on the casket was given to my daughter Cristal because she had done so much to help my Mom in the last 5-6 years of her life.

I decided to make her a flag case to hold the flag.  I had some old pictures of Mom in her uniform.  Scott took the pictures and fixed them, cleaned them up and got then ready to print.

He enlarged one of the pictures so we could see her shoulder patch on her uniform.  I knew she spent most all her military time at Romulus Air Force Base in Detroit, Michigan.

Scott was able to track down her shoulder patch, her rank patch, her collar pin and her medal she received and found them either on the internet or at the Army Navy Surplus store.

I made the case and Scott chased down all the stuff to go in the case.

We took the stuff to a friend to make a matte and mount in the top side of the case.

We gave the flag case to Cristal last weekend when the kids were down from Idaho Falls.  It turned out awesome.

Inspiration Point - above Willard Bay

On Saturday, August 27, Scott and I went for a ride up to Inspiration Point.  We went up the back side of the mountain and could see Huntsville and the reservoir there.  Then we got on the front side of the mountain and could see Willard Bay and got to the top at Inspiration Point.

Really a pretty ride with lots of trees.

Love that riding lawn mower!!!!

Finished master bedroom

A project that took way too long to finish is finally finished.  Had to call an electrician to move our light above the mirror and create two new lights.  Took three different electricians to finally find someone who would show up.

Looks totally different. 

Musingi's summer 2016

For the last several years, we have brought the Musingi kids to Utah for a week to play and "bond".  This year, it did not start out too good.  We met Cristal and Mike in Malad and did the "prisoner exchange".

We got back down towards Brigham City and ran in to some road construction. We had to stop, but the car behind us did not get stopped.  We had a luggage carrier on the back and that protected our car from any damage.  Not so good for the luggage carrier or the van that hit us.

 The luggage carrier had a square, metal bar that ties in to the trailer hitch/receiver.  That did not bend at all.  That bar went in to the radiator of the van behind us.  They had to be towed.  We drove down to Smith and Edwards and there were several other accidents and troopers in the parking lot doing accident reports.  No kids hurt and the luggage rack was replaced.

Ophur with the boys

On Saturday, July 9th went with Steve, Michael and Tarrin up Ophur on the side by the side. Saw some pretty cool stuff.  Ophur is on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains. 

Master Bathroom mirror

Next project around the house is the mirror in the Master Bath.  It is a big, flat mirror with a beautiful sea shell light fixture right in the middle of it.

This is what I am going to do with the mirror.  Found this on the Houzz web site.

This is about how tall the center cabinet is going to be.  Need to get the lights replaced.

Dry fitting the bottom two cases, which will have drawers in them and then shelves and a door on the upper case.

American Fork Canyon June 25, 2016

Took the side by side up American Fork Canyon.  Beautiful ride but lots of people and lots of dust.

Sunshine Canyon/Five Mile Pass

On Monday, Memorial Day, we went to Mercur for a ride.  Got up to the end of the road and it was gated, so we went back to Five Mile Pass right at the Utah County/Tooele County line.  Rode to the top of one of the mountains and looked around.

Riding Lawnmower ???

So earlier this spring we decided to do our own lawn.  We had been using a landscape company for the last 3 or 4 years,  but last year was such a hassle.  I had to call them back almost every week because of a really poor job mowing.  They would forget to do different sections of the yard, or they would leave mohawks throughout the yard or leave clumps of grass.  It was so frustrating.

So we started looking for a riding lawn mower and trying to figure out where to park it.

Scott went to a few RV shows with his boys and that was the end of the riding lawn mower!!!  He decided to get a side by side, Kawasaki brand.  I harass him about the morphing of riding lawn mower to side by side, but it has been a lot of fun going up to the mountains on it.

This weekend we went riding on Saturday and Monday.  Saturday we went to the small town of Ophur and found the trail head and went exploring. 

The views have been incredible.  So fun to spend time in the mountains and to look around.

Finally!!! It is finished.

I finally was able to install the doors on the vanity in the bathroom and get the mirror hung up.  It has taken me so long to get the bathroom remodel finished, but it is done.

This is what the bathroom looked like originally.  There were some things that drove me crazy about this bathroom.  The vanity was only about 20 inches wide.  You could not use the sink without walking all the way in to the bathroom, closing the door and get behind the door.

Then the base moulding was put in terribly.  The base moulding is about 4 inches tall and it was kind of fancy.  Who ever put it in originally did not mitre the corners, they just did 90 degree cuts and then used a ton of caulk to make it look like it was done right. 

It drove me nuts!!

The base moulding came out as well as the vanity.

Built a new vanity, with new counter top, out of oak and bought a sandstone vessel sink.

It is finally finished.

Love the new bathroom!!!! 

Boxes for 2017

For the last 5+ years I have been in Young Women's, I have made boxes for the Laurel's who are graduating.  We invite YW leaders and parents to write letters to go in the boxes.

Several months ago, a tree fell down in our neighborhood  They have 3 young women in their home and the oldest is a junior.

We went and got two logs from the tree with the hopes of using those for that family's boxes.

I tried with three different saw mills in the Salt Lake area to see if they would mill the wood for me.  Each one of them stood me up and I guess they did not want to do my "small" job.

Found a man in Nephi who was willing to cut my logs for me.

Saturday morning while Scott was at the State Convention, I went to Nephi and got the three logs milled to 4/4 boards.  The tree is a Siberian Elm.  Beautiful color and grain.  How I have to store the wood, sticker it and put some clamps on it and let it dry for a year.

It will be fun making a box with the wood from the tree in her own yard.  Woo hoo!!!!

Bathroom almost done!!

This project has taken forever!!!  Young Women's, work, taxes, and life get in a way of shop time.

Got the doors done this past weekend and got a few coats of oil on them. 

Picked up a couple mirrors at the At Home Store.  Can't decide if we want to do a round mirror or a rectangle mirror.  I have had each one sitting on the vanity for a few days until I decide which one we want.

New Toy!!!

Scott bought a new toy.  The outdoor variety.  He says it will get him in the mountains to do some photography!!

On Saturday, while I was at a political convention, Scott and Steven took the side by side up Israel Canyon, which is on the west side of Utah Lake for a test drive.  They had a riot.

The following Friday, April 22, I was off, so we went back up Israel Canyon and rode to the top of the mountain, by the radio towers and rode along the ridge line.  Saw some beautiful views of Utah Lake, Y Mountain and north to Salt Lake County.

We had a great time looking around.  We both got sunburned on the face, but had a great time up in the mountains.

Bailey, Davis and Charlotte

Jacob and Becca came for the weekend April 1 & 2.  Friday night they went out and we had the big kids.  Saturday, Scott, Jacob and the other boys went shooting.  Becca and I took the kids to the Fun Center.

Kids loved the bounce houses and slides. 

  
It took t hem a bit to go in to the Jungle Gym part of the Fun Center, but then they went exploring and climbing.

Charlotte did good to stay with Becca and I.  She actually fell asleep and took a nap with all the noise going on in that place!!!

That night we went to see Zootopia.  The kids loved it.  It was the second time for Scott and I seeing it.  Great movie with a great message.