We moved back in today among stacks of boxes and many items out of place for the moment. We are very thankful to be back in our own place and to have the conveniences we are blessed to have. It has been three months since we have been able to live here. We still hope to persuade the insurance company that they should re-imburse us for more of the repair and renewal expenses than the adjuster feels we are entitled to. We had considered changing from Farmers Insurance to our auto provider, State Farm, and since this issue we have wished we had because of the way we have been treated by our adjuster. Hopefully a discussion with the agent will take place and we can get a few more things straightened out. Thanks to everyone for your help and time as we went through the renovation and repair process to get things ready.
Archive for September, 2009
Moved back home tonight … finally!
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Fall Appears to Have Arrived
Monday, September 28th, 2009Here are some fall pictures I took today when Mom and I took Kristen and Grandma for a short drive during lunch. We went up Provo Canyon and then up the South Fork of Provo Canyon just a few miles. I was not able to see the fall colors the past few years before storms came and most of the leaves were off of the trees. Grandma said that when they lived in the east they always wanted to travel to Vermont to see the fall colors. She added that the colors there could not be any more brilliant than those we were seeing today. The east usually has spectacular colors in the fall. So, I hope that you easterners enjoy these few pics taken in the west. Enjoy the brilliant colors!
Not moved in yet…
Sunday, September 27th, 2009We still have a few things to move around to make room so we can move in. There are many things in the bedrooms, especially Kristen’s but maybe we can get that taken care of Monday. I will keep you posted.
Aunt Carma is back in the hospital with pneumonia and other complications. Please pray for her and her family.
The Living Room is DONE!
Friday, September 25th, 2009We have finally passed a major milestone in the remodeling of our home with the completion of the living room today.
Last night Uncle Tom and Aunt Janice came over the help Mom and Kristen paint while I was at choir rehearsal. Thank you Tom and Janice for your help! Mom and I came early to finish up and touch up a few things, and Van Farnworth came over to help me move the larger furniture out of the living room. The carpet man came on time at 9am. He worked until about noon and was done. We then began planning a few changes to the way things are arranged. Quentin came from a funeral just in time to help move the piano into place, and stayed to help move other things in for us. There are still a few little details to finish including cutting in the perimeter of the living room windows after repairing the slight damage to the plaster from moisture and the weather. These little things need to be taken care of before we can hang the curtains, but otherwise it is finished. As Quentin and I were moving in the couch and love seat we found that most of the springs in these two were broken. We are going to try and repair them (the sectional in the Family Room also has broken springs) so they will be more fresh and “like new” in the near future. We hope to move in TODAY (Saturday) so we are here Sunday morning! Hurrah! It will be nice having our own place again. It has been three months since we were able to live here. What do you think of the new color instead of the same off-white everywhere? Mom chose this green color but thinks it is too dark, but it does look very nice. Grandma Hill has been so accomdating to us and we are very grateful that she made some space for us while we have been working on this project. The project is not completed, but the upstairs is almost finished. Then we have the basement areas to focus on as we get ready for Devin and Emily’s visit (“wahoo”, as Emily would say)! Thank you for your encouragement and help. Quentin came along today just in time to help us get the piano back in place along with many other things.David Palfreyman Passes On
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009Our good friend Dave Palfreyman succombed to cancer this week. Here is his obituary for those who knew him. This was a surprise to us, we found out about his illness only last week.
Beloved husband, father, and son, David Kent Palfreyman, 55, of Orem, UT, died Monday, Sept., 21, 2009 at his home of liver cancer. He was born June 18, 1954, in Provo, Utah, a son of Kent B. and Anna Marie Creer Palfreyman. He married Denise Hatch August 11, 1977, in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple. They were later divorced. He married Kaylene Casper February 14, 2009, in Midway, Utah. He graduated from Springville High School in 1972. Afterwards, he attended BYU earning a Bachelors Degree in Communications. He toured with the Young Ambassadors and the Sounds of Freedom as their master of ceremonies. Dave was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in the Germany Dusseldorf Mission from 1973-1975, and held many church callings. Dave worked at Lockkhart Loan Company and then Central Bank for 25 years. He was most recently employed as an Assistant Vice President of Bank of Utah, Orem Branch. Dave was an active citizen. After a number of years of serving on the City of Orem Planning Commission, he was elected to the City Council. He described his public service as an honor and a privilege. He also served in various roles in support of Utah Valley University, through the Wolverine Club and UVU Foundation Board. He was a long time member of the Orem Rotary Club. Dave’s fondest pastimes were watching baseball, football, basketball, and wrestling. He also coached many young athletes these last 20 years. Dave was a friend to, and was loved by many. His kind spirit and jovial outlook allowed him to touch and uplift many who had the blessed chance to know and be known by him. He is survived by his wife, Kaylene; his children, Amber (Ryan) Hellwig, Julia K Palfreyman, Matthew K. (Kelly) Palfreyman, and S. Rhett Palfreyman; his step children, Tiffany (Jared) Wood, Zann Tevor (Trisha) Casper, Keena (Kaleb) Harris; nine grandchildren; his father, Kent, his step mother, Janet; one sister and brother, Annette (Conway) Richards, Mark (Mary) Palfreyman. Funeral services will be held Friday, September 25th, at 11 a.m. in the Orem Park Stake Center, 195 West 300 South, Orem. Friends may call Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Park 10th Ward, 50 South 750 West, and Friday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the stake center. Burial will be in the Springville Evergreen Cemetery, Springville, Utah. Condolences may be sent to www.walkerfamilymortuary.com
Tabernacle Choir records with Andrea Bocelli
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009Moving Back In
Monday, September 21st, 2009Mom and Grandma have seen Aunt Carma and she is doing remakably well despite the open-heart surgery she underwent last week. We hope she continues with her quick recovery and look forward to seeing her back at home soon. It was miraculous that she was able to be treated as quickly as she was, and the speed of her recovery has everyone very surprised. Please keep praying for her and for her family.
One More Room Finished
Friday, September 18th, 2009I have finished the bathroom with the exception of a couple of 5-minute jobs that I hope to do during the day Saturday: caulking the bottom of the tile along the bottom of the walls, and installing and caulking the spalsh around the sink. Mom wants to thoroughly wash the sink and spalsh components before I glue them in. I wanted you to see how nice the tile along the wall looks in place of the oak baseboard. No vent cover installed yet, so that looks a little unfinished.
Plumbing is something I can do but requires quite a bit of patience. Mom and I were trying to get the bathtub drain back in and it wasn’t working well. She asked me if we’d had our prayer for the day and I said we hadn’t, because I went straight to our house from work that day and the next. We prayed and asked for help getting the drain installed. After our prayer we tried again and it worked quickly and properly, which rather surprised me that we would get an answer so quickly. No task is too trivial to ask for divine help with. I am grateful that Mom would suggest that we pray about it; the result was that we were successful and the drain is now installed and working.
Aunt Carma’s Health Emergency
Thursday, September 17th, 2009We heard today that Aunt Carma was up during the night in a lot of pain but waited about 4 hours to call her daughter Jeannine at about 6am. When examined at the hospital they found she had an apparent aortic dissection. Wikipedia explains, “Aortic dissection is a tear in the wall of the aorta that causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. Aortic dissection is a medical emergency and can quickly lead to death, even with optimal treatment. If the dissection tears the aorta completely open (through all three layers), massive and rapid blood loss occurs. Aortic dissections resulting in rupture have an 80% mortality rate, and 50% of patients die before they even reach the hospital. If the dissection reaches 6 cm, the patient must be taken for emergency surgery.” My best friend from high school, Doug Buhler, had this same condition only a few months ago and is reported to be doing extremely well now after his open-heart surgery. It is frequently a condition shared by siblings; his sister also had this same condition a few years ago and is also doing fine after treatment.
Aunt Carma went in for open-heart surgery this afternoon and is reported to be doing well after some extensive procedures that took about 8 hours. Although her age (82) is against her she is very healthy so this is something that is advantageous for her. Please pray for her speedy recovery with the rest of us!
Work at home continues.
Monday, September 14th, 2009The office has been completed and we are moving things back into it this week, as well as working on plumbing in the bathroom. I purchased a new toilet and a new faucet for the sink as well as drain equipment for the tub. I replaced the water valves which were the friction type with a rubber washer with ball valves that should be easier to use, and should last just as long if not longer. The “baseboard” in the bathroom will be done with tile this time which should look really sharp. (We hope to also do the bathroom in the basement in a like manner.) I will post a photo of this work soon, when it is completed.
We really appreciate your encouragement and really hope to be back in our own home really soon. It has been a long summer away, but we really appreciate Grandma’s willingness to put us up. She is a gem. We just want to give her a little more peace and hope to do so soon.