Saturday, 16 August, we laid cement for the house footings. That's me in the ball cap working on my "leaning on the shovel" technique in case I want to become a professional road worker.

Hard work, but we got it done in five hours.




We had rented a rebar bender/cutter, but realized we would be a little short, so Tom "volunteered" to cut an additional 90 pieces of rebar the hard way.

Did I mention that this simple project of building a house was not enough for this intrepid builder, and I have added a few side projects just to keep it interesting?

I am also building a small music studio on the side of a hill, putting in a 60 foot by 32 foot garden (complete with an underground wired protection from gophers and other subterranean varmints and a fence to keep out the deer and discourage the raccoons, skunks, etc.) and I put in a fence and gate around my daughter's front yard. We are also putting in some fruit trees, and connected to the house project, I needed to build a pad for a 2,600 gallon water tank.

Here is the 10 by 10 pad for the water tank:




Here is the music studio pad. Tom decided he didn't want to grow up to be a cement worker. (For this pad we mixed 36 bags of pre-mix cement by hand and poured by shovel. Lots of great exercise.)

So finally we are really underway. After several months of figuring all this out on my own, I hired a building consultant that has "been there done that." Paul has been a builder for 30 years and brings a lot of straw-bale experience as well as traditional building experience with him. His son Mike brings additional vision, knowledge, and muscle to the team. My goal is to not only build my home, but find ways to create cost savings. Home building--especially owner/builder home building should not have to be only for the very well to do.

So here we go. We surveyed and laid out the house on August 12 and 13 (a couple hours each day). On the morning of the 14th we brought in a trencher to dig the footings.



On 15 August we cut and laid the rebar and got cleared to pour cement by the county building inspector that afternoon.



The building site was also inspected by my two grandsons.

Our family blog has been dormant for some time. As you know, we have relocated to California and are building our home in the foothills below Yosemite. We are building a straw bale home with other unique features. We thought you might enjoy the journey with us, so we are going to use this blog as our way of sharing the experience.

So to catch you up on our progress: We have been working with the County of Madera for over six months to get our house plans approved. We couldn't find any straw bale plans we liked so Vicky and I, with input from Tom and Rosemary, created our house plans and had a draftsman draw them up. The county required further engineering, so we hired an engineer... We have been through about ten different inspection processes, from seismic and geotechnical tests, septic and well water tests, Native American site inspection, grading and plot plan approvals, fire risk assessments, road plan approvals, and so on. We have spent about $20k and haven't even got house plans approved or building permit signed.

This has been an interesting experience. There have been days when I hold higher hope for Middle East Peace than getting various departments in the County to talk to each other... We love the area and the people. Our ward is great, we have family close by--which is a new experience for us, and everyday is a postcard picture. Here are a few pictures of the area and our land--so far.

First a few pictures of California.
A visit to the beach at Monterey:






The land we are building on has some beautiful views:








The creek that will be just out our back door. We have been gold panning on it, but no big nuggets yet. Very therapeutic though...






This is the road leading to our acreage--off to the left.


Preparing the lot:








Here is the building lot in all its glory...

We won't overwhelm you with pictures--we have about twenty just of different animal tracks across the building lot--from raccoons and rabbits, to bobcats and deer. From now on we will try to post once or twice a month...

Family Home Evening Lesson 5 February 2007

Rosemary, the Family Emergency Preparedness Leader gave a short lesson on how to avoid lightning and how to protect trees from being hit by lightening.

The Etiquette Word of the Week was Thank You Notes; Their importance and how to write them. We studied Luke 17:9 and also Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. We all decided that thank you notes are too rare in an age of phones and email, but that they are really important. Two other thoughts were brought up on this subject:

We cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love. (Mother Teressa)

Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others. (Kazuro Okakura)

The steps in writing a good thank you note are:
1)Greeting
2)Express your gratitude
a. Don’t say “I am just writing to say...”
b. Never directly mention money if you are writing to thank someone for a gift of money (thank you for your generosity... is better)
3)Touch on the meaning or importance of your gratitude
a. Don’t lie or stretch the truth to make your feelings seem more important
b. Don’t itemize
c. You can be arty, but not too flowery
4)Mention the past, allude to the future
a. It was nice to see you, I’ll call soon
5)Say thank you again
6)Closing
a. Sincerely
b. Love
c. Whatever is appropriate

It is important to write well and do your best. Handwritten is best. Nice paper is appropriate, but a yellow sticky may do the trick too. The most important thing is to be who you are and say what you feel.

Family Home Evening Lesson 29 January 2007

Vicky suggested we begin an Etiquette Word of the Week to help us all improve our manners, courtesies, and to help others feel comfortable in our home. The first word we discussed was Consideration. We discussed being a Mary first and a Martha second (Luke 10: 38-42) with guests. We discussed Doctrine and Covenants 124: 22-25 and likened the Lord’s guidance unto our own home. We talked about the importance of what we keep out of our home, but also of the importance of what we bring into our home. We decided to work on ways to think of our guests, not interrupting, being prepared ahead of time, and focusing on our guests.

Family Home Evening Lesson 22 Jan 07

Parable of the Good Samaritan

Note: We did this lesson before the February 2007 Ensign came out--there is a great article that is much better than our lesson on this very subject.

The incident begins when a religious scholar of the Law tests Jesus by asking him what is necessary to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks the lawyer what the Mosaic Law says about it. When the lawyer quotes the scripture, saying "Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and all your mind (Deuteronomy 6:5), and the parallel law of "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), Jesus says that he has answered correctly— "Do this and you will live," he tells him.

But the lawyer then asks Jesus to tell him who his neighbor is, Jesus responds with a parable about a man who was attacked and robbed and left to die by the side of a road. Later, a priest saw the stricken figure and avoided him, presumably in order to maintain ritual purity. Similarly, a Levite saw the man and ignored him as well. Then a Samaritan passed by, and, despite the mutual antipathy between Samaritans and the Jewish population, he immediately rendered assistance by giving him first aid and taking him to an inn to recover while promising to cover the expenses. He gives the innkeeper two denarii, silver coins equal to an entire days wages for an average laborer.

I. Travel of the Samaritan:

From Jerusalem to Jericho From Pre-existence to Earth

Fell among thieves From God to mortal man

Stripped and wounded him Challenges of life

Left him half-dead Where is hope?

II. Those Who Could Help

Priest—passed on the other side of the road Represents Ministering of men
alone— cannot fully save because we are imperfect

Levite—also passed by Represents the Law—Law alone
cannot save because we can’t fully follow it without messing up here and there imperfect

Samaritan—Compassion Represents Christ—the only one who
can really save us

III. Samaritan’s Actions

Bound up his wounds My Peace I give you...

Oil and wine Sacrament

Took him to the Inn, cared for him Church, Scriptures, Examples, Profit on Earth

Paid and said I will come and pay more Atonement

Asks: Who was neighbor unto the man? Christ

Christmas 2006

Ask God to put you just where he wants you, and to tell you what he wants you to do, and feel that you are on hand to do it. Brigham Young

2006 saw many of our family migrate to New York City. We all had the chance to spend time with each other in that big crazy city, but it is home for Sarah and Josh who moved there in March. Adriana and Matt have lived there for several years and Brian moved there in May. Both couples live in Brooklyn and attend the same ward. Brian lives in the Financial District in Manhattan. Josh works at Time-Warner, Matt has several jobs, but most enjoys his music—playing bass with the Cringe (Sony Records). Sarah is busy with art, teaching, and illustrating children’s books. Adriana is starting a new business venture NaturallyNana to open in 2007 with a variety of natural consumer products. Brian is working for Back Channel Media headquartered in Boston—where he is moving at the first of the New Year.

Vicky and Mike—just young adults themselves, are grandparents! And oh yeah, coincidentally—Nana and Matt are the proud parents of James—a most amazing baby boy. He was born on 22 September—tipping the scale for a majority of our growing clan in favor of the East Coast. James, mom and dad are doing great. Both grandparents are still trying to adjust to the post-partum euphoria. We are not sure that is ever going to wear off.

Write things worth reading, or do things worth writing. Benjamin Franklin

The Utah side of the family is still enjoying living next to real mountains instead of the man-made kind. Tressa is a Sophomore at Utah Valley State College (Nursing major) in Provo. She has also discovered a talent for sculpturing. She is dating seriously but no official announcement yet. Tom and Rosemary are still at home in North Ogden, Utah—taking care of mom and dad. Tom is a junior in high school, and is a pianist and composer, and the adult supervision in our home. Rosemary is the family Emergency Preparedness Leader, a fifth grader, and dancer extraordinaire (just off the two day Ogden tour with the Nutcracker Ballet). Vicky is the most beautiful and wise grandmother that has ever graced the earth and Mike is aging for them both. Mike left his employment with the software company he worked with for many years and is starting his own business in the interactive distance learning arena. He has also authored several books—none of which have seen a commercial book shelf yet—but as an Angels baseball fan he has learned, there is always next year.

Like every year—we have enjoyed the blessings Heavenly Father so freely gives us and we have faced challenges and heartache that are blessings of another sort, because they bring us closer to the giver of all blessings. 2006 was a year of moves, new jobs, new family additions, new hopes and new challenges. We are grateful for it all. In particular, Vicky and I want you to know you have been in our thoughts and prayers this year and that we wish you a meaningful and merry Christmas and a productive and peaceful New Year.