BBall, Plays, and continued Kitchen work

I am home from Wyoming and happy to be with family again. I am behind as Hailee played in a championship basketball game that I was able to see in February before I went to Wyoming. She had a chance at a couple of freethrows, and played very hard to help her team win the championship. Alas, in the closing minutes of the game they committed two or three different fouls which helped the other team get ahead and eventually win the game. She felt very bad and thought she lost the game as the coach called one last play and Hailee couldn't pass the ball, so she found herself open and took the shot. She missed and they lost the game by two points. Rachel was the manager of the team and she is seen here with her friends where she is video taping the game for the coach. She was also a great score keeper. She would rather video the game that work at the scorers table.

Nikki was one of the nuns in the Community Theater's play of the Sound of Music. She was also a girl at the ball. I didn't get to see this play but I know she was terrific. Lorie saw the play twice and took the pictures. Actually, we have a pretty good setup right now: she takes the pictures and I blog about them. That could change when she gets the bug.

We have kitchen cabinents coming the end of this month and as you see we are tearing up the original subfloor of the kitchen. There was some water damage and believe it or not, it was easier to tear up the floor than to scrape off the old linoleum. Mom and Nikki started tearing up the floor and when I got back from the dump and lumber yard, I began to help them in the demolition. We had started to lay the new floor down when Tom, Tina, Casey, and the girls arrived. Tom helped me finish the floor, it was just like old times but he is a good carpenter and he really helped me get it done. We then went out to eat with them and the girls. It feels like this is becoming the never ending project. We plan on having the kitchen done by mid April and then the ribbon cutting will occur on Mother's Day. Then we can concentrate on the rest of the house. As you can see, there is no sink in the kitchen. We have a new diet plan: no cooking equals no weight gain. Acutally, Lorie is wonderful and cooks meals in what kitchen we have and she and the girls wash dishes out in the laundry sink in the mudroom. Hopefully, the whole house will be done by Christmas. The kids are tired of living in chaos, and I am tired of the clutter. I still have to build a pony wall for the new kitchen sink and bar, build a wall to close off the kitchen entrance by the stairs and the outside garage door, and then lay the floor. Then the cabinents will be here and be installed and then countertops. Yeah.

As you can see Casey had a blast driving the Hummer around on Sunday after Stake Conference. He is all boy and he really likes all of the girls, but I think Nikki was his favorite. He even told Lorie, "I not having any fun because Nikki is asleep," so Lorie told him to go in and wake her up and he did. Nikki came out smiling. It was really fun to have them here. Isn't family wonderful?