Young Women's

So for the last 4.5 years, I have been serving in YW's in our ward as the Laurel's advisor.  It was really a pretty cool job.  Not alot of planning meetings to go to, not alot to do other than special assignments, show up for activities and do what was needed to help.  Still, it is big time commitment.  After being in for so long, I just figured when the president got released, I would get released.  NO!!

Got a visit from the Bishop and a counselor a few weeks ago.  Called as the YW President.  This will be my fourth time as president.  We have a great ward with lots of youth, and mostly very active, so it will be fun.

I thought it was a time commitment before, whoa nelly!! 

Update on Lisa's lockers

Time in the shop has been pretty tight lately but I have finished building all the cases for the lockers.  Started staining last week.  Jordan and Jess were down a few weekends ago, so I sent stain samples home with them.  Lisa picked out the mahogany stain, so we got started.

Using a gel stain, which is pretty easy to apply.  Because it is gel, it does not run.  Wipe it on with cloths and wipe off.  Need to do two coats, but I have about 10 of 21 cases done with the first coat.

The plan is to get all the cases stained, build the frame for the bottom in the shop, have the face frame boards cut and stained before we haul everything to Idaho.  When we get to Idaho, install everything, put the face frames on, measure for the doors and go back home to build the doors.

After Christmas

New Year's Day was spent putting Christmas away and getting the house back to normal.  Christmas is nice, but it's nice to get everything put away and in the attic and the house back to normal.

Musingi's gave us bar stools for Christmas.  Got those put together on New Year's Day too.

I had been looking for bar stools for quite a while and could not find any that I liked.  I wanted them to match the new dining table we bought when we moved in to the house.

I had looked at several places on line and could not find anything exactly.  So when Scott was in Idaho Falls with kids, I went back to the store we bought the dining room table set.  They had bar stools to match, but the color did not match the table set.

They discontinued those bar stools, so I looked around to find something that was close.  I found some, but did not want to buy them because I wanted to make sure they would work with the height of the bar and that Scott liked them.

So on one of our exchanges, I told him I bought one bar stool to see how he liked it and to see if they would work with our bar.  He said just take it back.  That's all he said, take it back.  I did not know that he was bringing two big boxes down from Idaho Falls, which were our Christmas presents from Musingi's.

Turns out they bought the same exact bar stools I had picked out.  They are awesome and are a very close match to the dining room chairs.

Holiday's 2014

So the holidays were a bit hectic at our house this year.  With all the time spent going back and forth to Idaho helping with sick kids, we did not get started on Christmas until the middle of December.  Luckily Mariah helped do some shopping for the little kids.

Musingi's came down Christmas Day and went snowboarding Friday and Saturday.  Derek and Mariah agreed to teach the kids how to board.  Mariah was able to get free lift passes at Snowbird.  Mike and the kids went on Friday.  Cristal got skiis on Saturday and went with the kids.

Parker went boarding both days with the kids and Zoey got her skiis on Saturday and joined the group.  They had a ball.  The kids were a bit sore and tired Friday night, but by Saturday they were getting the hang of it and enjoyed themselves.

Scott took a picture Saturday evening of the whole crowd.  Based upon the smiles, I would say it was fun and they had a good time!!

As we visited with family on Christmas Day, had a few people tell me they would see us Sunday at our house????????  I was a bit surprized by the comment.  Once I got in the car, I asked Scott what was happening on Sunday at our house.  Through all  our travels prior to Christmas, we could not set the Mann family Christmas party, but we eventually set it for Sunday night after Christmas.  We set that several weeks ago and I spaced it!!  Totally forgot about it.

So on Friday and Saturday, we got ready to host the Mann family Christmas party.  Luckily Cristal and Kyra like to help.  We had probably 40 people at our house Sunday night for the Mann Family Christmas party.

Musingi House

So over the last few months, Kenyon has been very sick.  He has had stomach and or digestive issues for months.  He has lost 12+ pounds, had stomach pain and other things associated with digestive problems.

The pain got to be so bad that around Thanksgiving time, we had to put him in the hospital.  After about 5 hours at the Emergency Room and several tests, the doctors said they did not find a problem and they were sending him home.  Cristal said no, we do not have a solution.  The pain is too much to control at home and you have no idea what is going on.

They admitted him to the hospital and he spent a week in the hospital.  He actually had a few scopes done and they found a lower bowel obstruction, but still did not solve the problem.  After several different tests, it was determined his gall bladder was bad and needed to be removed.  Surgery was scheduled for right after Christmas.

Then around the 8th, Kyra came down with Influenza B and was going to be home for at least a week.  Ken's pain got to be so bad, that surgery was moved up to December 10th.  Scott went up to help with the other kids and get them where they needed to be.

Then Myles got sick with a double ear infection and Cristal got sick with a sinus infection.

Cristal's kitchen counter looked like a pharmacy.  Scott spent a few days with Cristal and then I traded places with him on Friday, December 12th.

By Saturday night, the pain was back for Ken and it was unbearable. He had been vomitting for about 36 hours.  Not able to eat and keep anything down.  The pain pills would not stay down as well. Back to the hospital we went.  Nice when Cristal knows the right people to call.  She spoke with the surgeon and did a direct admit to the pediatrics unit and bypassed the emergency room.

IV's were installed with fluid and pain meds.  More tests were run looking for a bile leak.  Finally about Monday, the pain subsided.  He was able to start eating again and keeping stuff down.  Ken was released on Tuesday morning.

Scott and I again traded places on Tuesday evening.  Wednesday was a good day for Ken with eating and getting his strength back.  It is now Thursday and Scott is on his way home.  Ken is feeling better and hopefully things settle down for the Musingi's.  Woo hoo!!

Grandkids this weekend

Had some of the grandkids this weekend.  Friday night four of the kids came and spent the night.  Davis loves the cars and trucks.  He had to climb up on the table to get a better view.  I usually get up pretty early in the morning and Davis likes to get up early too.  I go in and get him so Mom and Dad can sleep a little longer.  He is starved when he wakes up, so we have fun playing to getting him fed.  It is fun to figure out what they like to eat and get them fed so they are happy.

Bailey and Zoey had such a good time playing together.  The Polly Pocket dolls get used very well while they are at the house.

Update on Lockers

This past couple weeks I have been working on the locker's for my niece's house.  The bottom case is 15 inches high, the locker is 62 inches high and the top part is 15 inches high.  Over all it is 93 inches tall.  They will be put on top of a 2 x 4 base, which will take it up to 92 inches.  That leaves plenty of room for 6 inch crown moulding on top to finish it off.  Each locker is 21 1/2 inches wide on the outside.  The inside width will be 20 inches wide.

 This is the front view of the locker.

The bottom case is where the kids can sit to take shoes off or put them on.  I made the bottom case 34 inches deep because the space where it will fit in is 36 inches deep.  In comparing the appearance and usefulness of the bottom case, I moved the locker forward four inches to make the overall case 32 inches deep.  The surface area on the original picture above is 22 inches.  When I move the locker forward 4 inches, it makes the surface area 18 inches and I am wondering if that has a more balanced appearance and usefulness.  Still debating.

Then the next step was putting a 5 1/2 inch thick piece of alder at the top of the locker to add stability to the case, but also a place to screw the locker to the wall when we get ready to install the lockers.  Good thing the weather was good this weekend so I could utilize the front apron to the shop.  With all the cases in the shop, it makes it pretty crowded.  Had to move the lockers outside so I could cut the plywood for the backs.

The next part of the assembly was to cut rabbits at the back of the lockers to insert the case backs.  That was messy!!  The plywood is MDF so I had dust all over the place.  Good thing I could have the doors opened and the dust collection working good.  Got all seven of the tall lockers finished with the backs installed.

Next up is to do the same thing for the top case and bottom case.  This project is moving along very well.  So much fun to have projects and a place to build them!!!