Washington DC

We just got back from an amazing vacation to Washington DC. I'm not even sure how to succinctly distill it down into a manageable post here!

It was very fun to see Jen & Ken and their kids the first couple of days we were there! We had fun going on the double decker sight seeing bus together, eating out (that was some really good Thai food I thought!) and going to the Natural History Museum as well as the Printing and Engraving tour.









We were sad to see the Hays Burkhart Family go!

On Tuesday we were able to take the kids to the Supreme Court to hear a case argued by Kirk's law firm. First Kirk was sworn into the court and then the argument came after. We were worried that I wouldn't be able to stay in the courtroom for the whole thing because of the extreme interest in the case and minimal seating. We were sure that the kids would not be able to be there, but were hoping they could get in the 3 minute line and at least be able to peek in briefly. It was AMAZING because we all got AWESOME seats. It was so cool to see our judicial system in progress - see all the Justices and listen to them as they heard an argument and feel so involved in the process at the same time by watching people who we knew argue the case. For us and for the kids, it was the one of the coolest things we've ever done!




For the next few days we divided our time between Charlottesville, Williamsburg and DC again - we had an absolutely marvelous time! I really did not want the vacation to end. We had some really great hotels, wonderful food, art, history, and saw some beautiful things! We couldn't have asked for a better trip! When we got home our project had not advanced as far as we would have liked so nothing much to report there right now - but we did get the nice surprise of being named Phoenix's number one most desirable neighborhood by Phoenix Magazine! Quite a coupe. Of course, we always knew this neighborhood was awesome, otherwise we would not have stayed here! But the acknowledgment makes us feel like the upgrades are totally worth it.





If you want to see MORE photos, there's a slideshow here: http://www.slide.com/r/ZDmlGOwL7D-sxe91x3iIJNUReri-5ntd?previous_view=TICKER&previous_action=TICKER_ITEM_CLICK

This Week At Kirk's House

Sorry about the quality of pictures this week--they were all taken on my I-phone and so aren't as good as normal.

Most of this week was spent working on the backyard and the outdoor kitchen.

We started last Saturday by welding on the back wall. The metal wall is made of 30' long corrugated steel that is treated to make it rust so it will slowly evolve into a warm orange color in the back. Brennan worked hard as he always does and enjoyed learning about welding. I got a bad sunburn on my neck from standing too close to the welding.




And here's what it looks like with the wall in place. I love how the light reflects off the pool and onto the steel.


Next came the beginning of painting. We welcomed Holden home from college on Saturday and so he's painting now. One of the things we love about Phoenix is the bright colors on the buildings from the Hispanic influence and so we decided to bring those bright bold colors into the backyard. Our concept is blocks of color--kind of like the building blocks we played with as kids.


That mark on Holden's head is his stiches from the day before when he got hit in the head with a 4"x4" post.


I think the bright colors will work well with the contemporary steel look of the structure and all the bright plants we're adding. We met with the landscape architect last night and picked out the plants. It's going to look really amazing. His house is being featured in Phoenix Home & Garden this next month and our backyard will have a lot of those same influences. He says that it will take about three years for the landscaping to mature but after that who knows, maybe we'll be in Phoenix Home and Garden!

But in the meantime there is a lot of dirt. This is the second dump truck load to get taken out of the back yard.
In other news, its great having Holden home for the summer. Lezlee and I spoke in church on Easter Sunday. I took the kids to the carnival. We ate a lot of Indian food. We're excited to go to D.C. and see Jenny on Saturday. Holden is making I-Pod speakers built into plastic dolls. Brennan is wrestling. Jordan is driving us nuts. And we had a great Easter.

Grandpa's New Toy

We went to the Lindon's Harley Davidson Cafe for lunch and just had to try a Harley on for size. What do you think! Prety Sweet! But we decided to buy a new roof instead.

Brennan And Kirk Build A Patio

Brennan and I have been working hard on the outdoor kitchen we're building in the back yard. The weekend before last we helped our metal artist set the metal posts that will support the roof. First we drilled holes into the 2'x 2'x 2' concrete foundations and then epoxy-set four anchor bolts for each post. Then we man-handled three 600 pound 30' long glulam beams onto material lifts and cranked them 15 feet into the air before setting them onto the posts. Then an incredible amount of time was spent making sure each post was plumb and the whole structure was square. Finally we drilled holes and installed bolts in the glulams at each post.

Here we are installing the glulams.



This weekend Brennan and I installed the metal roofing. We carried the 23" long 3' wide 22-gauge galvanized steel into the back yard. Each weighed about 150 pounds and we didn't have a material lift so we had to man-handle them up onto the structure fourteen feet in the air--an act akin to building the great pyramid! Lezlee assured me that she had photos of this feat but she lied.

Here Brennan and I are moving the metal roofing into place, measuring it to make sure everything is square and then installing 150 screws to hold everything into place.




It was a lot of work but it sure looks great! Brennan worked amazingly hard. In addition to all of that he also dug trenches for the plumbing and water lines. This week we hope to have all the block walls fully stuccoed, all the grading done and the pavers installed. Next week the walls get painted and the back wall gets built. Meanwhile the metal artist is building us a custom 6' long fire pit and four-custom gates. One will be almost 10' long and made to look like reeds built out of rebar. Another gate will have a powder-coated baby blue metal panel with a rebar tree growing in front of it. And two more will be a patchwork of metal--kind of a steel quilt. Pretty cool.

Here's some pictures of how the roof looks installed. The light reflects off the pool and dances across the metal roof. And at sunset the warm light hits of the front beam but light goes through the hills of the corrugated roof and makes 30 spots of light on the next beam. It's really pretty. Lezlee has also picked out three of the four paint colors and is madly trying out every color of yellow possible to find the fourth.




Brennan starts wrestling again tomorrow.

Jordan got her Faith In God Award. She had a great birthday this week. She's now 12. I'll let Jordan write about that.

Lezlee is out of town picking up Holden this week so I'm doing a lot of cooking with my favorite kitchen utensil--the telephone. Today was sushi at Motos. It's hard to believe that my picky kids actually like eel! Tonight Brennan and I made shortbread and so I'm missing Scotland.

Now its off to put the little ones to bed!

New Toys

Aunt Ardella have this wonderful game where you put the marbles in the top and
they went down the track. I always loved to fill the top row and then let them all
go at the same time. Eric made this game for me and Kyle and Tammy helped
with the wood and marbles. I felt that Ardella's house would not be complete with
her favorite game. Thanks for the game and an Extra thanks to Eric for the time
he spent making it.

Wayne has been looking for a long time for the right scope. He bought this
German made Leica. We have friends coming from Alabama to visit us and
Yellowstone Park. Wayne will enjoy it then, but to tell you the truth he will
use it often here at the River House.

Hannah, Sarah and Nathan at Grandpa and Grandma's River HOuse

Hannah and Grandpa love to make somemores. Hannah loves the marshmallows and the candy bar and the graham crakers, but not together.

But the really fun is just being with grandpa.

Nate drew this picture of President Monson. He did a very good job.

Sarah drew this picture of Christ. She folded the picture so you could

unfold the picture from the top or the bottom and still see Christ.

Sofia Bulgaria Mission!

Most of you have already heard this news, but for extended family who look at this page or anyone else interested:




Okay - a lot of people have already heard this news through word of mouth and facebook, but in case you missed it:

We've been waiting for Holden's mission call for 3 weeks now and he finally got it yesterday! He's so excited that he'll be serving in the Sofia Bulgaria mission!

He doesn't leave until August 12th, so he has a lot of time to prepare! (I think that's the only slight downside - I think he was wishing he'd be leaving by June, but it seems like they send out the missionaries in huge groups about 4 times a year)

It will be a huge adventure!