We're Finally Finishing Our Basement

This month we have started our big project of finishing our basement.  After getting three quotes from contractors, we chose Morley Construction.  Then began the huge task of going through all of the stuff we had stashed in the basement and deciding if it was worth keeping or if it needed to be donated.  We got rid of a bunch of things and probably made four or five trips to Deseret Industries.  We gave our ping pong table to Hebe's family.  That was a beast getting it up the stairs, out of the house, into his truck, and then into his basement.  Thankfully he has a walk-out basement which was super helpful.  We gave the giant LoveSac to Kristen's boys and sold our treadmill to her for a good low price.  That was a beast as well getting that out of the basement.  My brother Erik and his son Alex helped Matt.  Erik took it up to Kristen's house in his truck.  That was so kind of him.  It was sad for us to take down Matt's golf practicing area.  It was his happy place, his retreat from stress. He will rebuild in our garage next summer after the Calls take away their storage items.  For now, Matt will practice at the Golf Superstore.

After deciding what was being donated, we had to re-locate all that we're keeping to a different place in the house.  Most things were added to two bedrooms upstairs and some things went to the garage.  I went up and down so many stairs carrying boxes and things for a couple of days as I worked on clearing stuff out of the basement.  It was a good workout.  Matt and I were able to move food storage and the shelving units into the cold storage area which isn't having any work done to it.  I'm so glad we didn't have to carry those heavy items upstairs.  Here are the before pics right after we cleaned it all out and had it ready for the builder.

Parts of our home look like we are hoarders because our basement stuff has been added to Chelsea's household things that she is storing here while they live in London.  It'll be great when the basement is finished, and we can get organized and everything will have a place.

The basement should be done just before Thanksgiving.  We are super excited for that.  Framing, electrical, and plumbing have been completed.  Insulation should be installed tomorrow.  Then I think drywall comes after that.  We've picked out tile and a vanity for the bathroom, and we decided that we will buy the same carpet that we put in the rest of the house.  We need to go pick out light fixtures this coming week.  Matt and I bought a sectional couch and a cool leather swivel chair at West Elm last week.  It's gonna look so awesome and be super comfy.  

The City of Brotherly Love

I tagged along with Matt for his annual family medicine conference at the end of September.  He attends it every couple of years, and I've never felt like I could leave any of our kids behind during the school week.  That's not an issue anymore! This year it was held in Philadelphia.  Matt has been there before, but I had not.  It was fun to explore the city with him.  We stayed downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Convention Center where his conference was.  We were also right next to the famous Reading Terminal Market where we ate lots of yummy food those few days we were there.  While in Philly we ate Malaysian food, Thai food, Amish-made food, and the local fav Philly cheesesteak and fries twice.

We went to a MLB game and watched the Philies beat the Marlins.

We saw and/or toured historical sights... Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, went up City Hall tower, and the 1910 Wanamaker Building (which used to be a 12 floor 2 million square foot department store which now houses a three story Macy's) with its beautiful pipe organ that is the largest working one in the world.  We saw Betsy Ross' house and went into Christ Church where many early American political leaders attended including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  We walked through the cemetery where Ben Franklin is buried.  We took our picture, like all tourists, at the Rocky statue and ran up the famous stairs of the Museum of Art.  We also got to walk through the grounds of the stunning Philadelphia Temple.  We loved how it blended into the surrounding architecture but stood out as a very special place.

It was so fun exploring the streets of Philadelphiea and eating good food with Matt after his mornings spent at his conference.  We walked so much around the City of Brotherly Love.  And we loved every minute of it!   

George Albert Smith Arch With My Dad

Let me jump back to mid-September for a quick recap of a fun adventure I had in the Moab/Canyonlands/Arches areas with my 76 year old dad, my sister Kristen, my two brothers, Erik and Jeff, and two of my young adult nephews.  I'm so happy that I could experience hiking with them and being along for some dreams of my dad to come true.  The main purpose of this year's excursion was to re-visit the George Albert Smith Arch with some other men my dad knows from childhood (only three of them were healthy enough and/or available to come this time).  They and my dad, in 1958, were part of a scout troop 10 day, 70 mile hike where they had hiked to this arch back then.  It had been discovered and named with a plaque marker the year earlier, 1957 (if I have the story correct).

My two brothers have been working to to #1 help my dad re-locate the "lost" arch which they did last year in the fall of 2018 and #2 to get it recognized and officially named by the National Park Service.  It is located in the Peak-a-boo trail area of Canyonlands which we had to access by a jeep road using Jeff's family's awesome Jeeps.  Erik had arranged for Alex Cabrero and his camera man from KSL to come along and do a story.  Also, five men from the Arches and Bridges Society hiked along with us.  Kristen and I hiked up as far as the "old guys" could go, and the rest of the group continued up to where the 1957 plaque is located.  Then five or six of them climbed up into the arch itself.

My dad was so happy to be there with his old scout buddies, and they couldn't believe that they had been up there so high back in their youth.  It was a dangerous place to climb around for such a large group of teenage boys with limited adult supervision back in the late 1950s.  It will be fun to see if KSL actually runs the story.  I'm hoping I'm not in any of the footage!

The day before that hike, I hiked up to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park with my dad and Kristen.  It was their first time up there and my second time, but it was just as wondrous as the first.  We took it slow and carefully, and my dad made it!  I was relieved that he didn't fall on any of his hikes that weekend.  What a fun trip to go on with some of my family.  I feel blessed to have the time, health and resources to go on my recent trips and adventures.