Christmas with the Carlquist’s

Merry Christmas from the Carlquist's. It has been an eventful year. Nothing too big or dramatic, but full of things to keep us busy.

We had half of our basement finished, but decided to finish the rest in February. We hired a contractor and he was S-L-O-W. They came in and did the insulation and framing in February, but then nothing happened until May. It was October before he finished. The contractor told us he wouldn't have time to paint, so Lynn and I did all the painting. It does look nice and I am looking forward to using the space

when the family comes for Christmas. I really can't take the pictures right so that you can get a feel for the space. We have a large L-shaped family room and a canning kitchen. Lynn has a room for his tools and hobbies and we have some good storage closets. These pictures are of the kitchen, family room and the wet bar in the family room. The stove is connected now and it is a warm and cozy place to be.

Brian and Kattie moved into Mom and Dad's house and have been remodeling ever since. They just had new cabinets installed and it is looking very nice. The kids are all busy and growing very tall. They raised 100 chickens this summer and they killed and processed them. What a day that was. Our freezers are completely full!

Kris and Kristi moved to Idaho Falls after Kris took a job at INEL. They have a lovely home in Ammon, just outside of Idaho Falls. Their children are growing like weeds. Madi was baptized the day after they moved in in July. Kristi is Wonder Woman! She has finished a bedroom for Madi in the basement and is doing one for Jared.

Annalise keeps busy with her five boys. They are so fun. They did a 35 mile family bike ride in Heber Valley this fall. It makes me tired just thinking about that one! Annalise has accompanied several choirs this fall and belongs to a group that sang on Temple Square on Dec. 5^th.

Jo and Matt are excited that Matt finished Law School in December. They are looking forward to having Jo stay home with Winnie and Luke once Matt finds employment.

Jenni is still working for Judge Laycock in Provo, but will be looking for new employment in the summer.

I am still in the R. S. Presidency in our Ward and Lynn is an assistant to the High Priest Group Leader.

We hope this finds you all well and happy and that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love,

Peggy and Lynn

This week is flying by too fast! I just barely started getting things done and it's almost gone. We did do a little more Christmas Shopping yesterday and I got all the pajamas wrapped. But I have only just begun making doll clothes! I have several outfits cut out, it remains to be seen how many I get sewn. I priced outfits at Wal-mart and they wanted $13.00 an outfit. I guess if I can make them out of fabric scraps that I already have that is a huge savings. I think the home made outfits are cuter anyway.

The new refrigerator for the downstairs kitchen came this morning. We had purchased a beautiful 25 cubic foot french door refrigerator for the kitchen and when Lynn went to install it, it wouldn't fit in the hole as we had forgotten that french doors have to be able to open on both sides. Since the fridge was up against the wall the left door wouldn't open. So we had to have them come and take it away and go find a smaller one. We felt rather sheepish when we had to have them take it away. We bought one that has a bottom freezer, but just a single door on the top and it is only 21 cubic feet. It fits nicely into the space and there is 6 inches along the wall side. I can tuck a folding step stool into the space. Now we just need to get the freezer down off the dollies and start putting things in order in the kitchen.

Our new entertainment center should be here sometime next week. It has taken days to get all the videos out of the old one so we can move it downstairs. We had to get boxes to put them all in and I find that I have hundreds of videos!

The curtains came for the patio door downstairs. However, the rod isn't here yet. It has to come UPS because it is too long for the post office. I will have to see if I can take the curtains to be pressed and pleated before I hang them. They are pleated, they just don't hang as though they are pleated because they sent them folded flat. I think hanging them will test Lynn's patience!

Tonight and Friday night I have to go to the Senior Center to help organize the Christmas baskets. I think there are about 95 baskets to get ready. I'm not sure there will be room in the Center for all of them. It will be a big job.

December Thoughts-page one

I decided that I would try blogging. Perhaps it will be more satisfactory than Facebook. Your posts on FB are gone so quickly.

I can't believe that Christmas will be upon us in just 10 days. We spent the first week or so of December working on our remodel, getting all the little things worked out. On December 4th Lynn and I bought a shiny red 2010 Camaro with black racing stripes. We have yet to drive it, other than the test drive and the drive home. We wanted to drive it to Utah on the 5th, but it was stormy and they put sand mixed with rocks on our roads up here, so there was no way that we were going to drive it under those conditions.

Earlier in the year I ripped the wall paper off of the back splash in my kitchen. We were having a Christmas Open House on the 11th, so of course we decided to tile the back splash last week. We picked up the tile on the 4th, but couldn't start tiling until Wed. We were 14 tiles short and had to go back to Home Depot Thurs. morning. Installed the last tiles, sealed the tile and taped all the edges prior to grouting on Thurs. evening. Friday morning Lynn did all the grout and installed the light. The grout dried a little lighter than we wanted it, but it really does look great. I love how it makes my cabinets look newer and just gives my kitchen a much more finished look.

Lynn and I just started our Christmas shopping in earnest on Saturday. We have waited much too long, the pj's were really picked over, but I have almost all the pj's for all the kids. We will be shopping fools for the next week. Because we had the party last week my house is ready for Christmas. Everything is clean and decorated. So I can shop til I drop and don't have to worry about the house, except to keep it straight.