Our Home

Here is a quick look at our house here in Lakeport. We bought this home in 2001. It was in pretty bad shape as far as esthetics go and we have done a major remodel. The first thing we did was put a new roof on. Milt had the boys working very hard on this project - and we even engaged the help of some old friends - Alan Jones and his kids - when they came to the lake for a little summer visit. Alan and Milt had the kids all working each day and bribed them that they couldn't go out on the boat for wakeboarding until they'd put in a few hours on the roof !! Anyway, that was the first of the remodel. Milt then moved inside to rip out the hall bathroom - ripped out down to the bare bones...with help on the destruction from the boys - and help from Alyssa (Brown) Nielson and Amber. The girls seemed to enjoy the destruction phase. Next came the new front porch tile project - which was professionally done by a local tile contractor. He re-did the tile on the front porch (after Milt and the boys ripped out the old tile) and then we had him come inside and tile the hall bathroom once Milt finished re-building it. As the tile work progressed, Lee decided to put down a tile mosiac at the front entry as his "senior project" - which turned out beautifully. Milt figured he could go from there and he (with some help from the boys and me, which was supervised by Grandma when she was here for a visit!) completed the rest of the tiling in the house. The boys put in lots of hours helping with the re-model and I believe that made them both decide they would never want to buy a fixer upper ! John has actually reminded me that when we bought this house, he told us at the time that he would not be helping to update it.....unfortunately, when Lee left for college, it left John to do more than his own share of the work ! The house has been completely remodeled inside - we all had our parts in the work and it has come out beautifully. Along with the inside, we also re-did the landscaping and added an extra portion to the back patio and poured a cement slab to put in a hot tub. Not sure how the boys and Amber really feel about all the hard work that went into this house, but Milt and I are especially proud of how it all turned out. And we are really thankful and proud of all the work the boys - and Amber - have put into it. We appreciate them all so much. Hopefully you will get an idea from these few pictures. With both the boys living away now, we have room for visitors, so come see us anytime !!

John

Here's a quick update about Johnathan. John enlisted in the Air Force at the completion of high school. I will admit that I was a little leary about this, but it has become apparent - and it did pretty quickly - that this was a good choice for John. He completed a two year training progam in September 08 and became a Combat Controller. John is currently assigned to a unit in Tacoma Washington at McChord Air Force Base. His field is pretty intense and very high energy - and one that he loves. We do get to see John quite often and always love it when he is able to come home. When he does make it home, the house gets filled with his old friends from high school which always brings lots of fun and laughter. We are equally as proud of John and are thrilled to see the good choices he makes in his life.

Lee and Amber

Here's a quick story about Lee and Amber. As mentioned elsewhere, they are high school sweethearts. We have loved Amber for a long time and were thrilled when Lee proposed to her - on Valentine's Day ! At that time, they were both students at California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, CA. They were married in a beautiful location overlooking Clear Lake here in Lake County on June 9, 2007. The wedding was just perfect for them and they both looked absolutely wonderful and happy the entire day ! It was so much fun. Amber has since finished her schooling, earning a BA in Sociology just recently - in fact, her graduation will be this coming spring. Lee is still in school, having taken some time off to work full time. He is pursuing a degree in Business, with an emphasis in Fire Science. At this point, he works for CarMax - a national used car dealership in Modesto. Amber is currently working for a small animal hospital in Turlock, but hoping to find an ideal full-time position. Lee and Amber have two miniature long-hair daschunds, Tyke and Bullet, and two cats, Riley and Dexter. So, they have added to their family rather quickly ! Since Turlock is about a 4 hour drive from our home, we don't see them as often as we would like, but enjoy our time with them when we do get to see them. We are very proud of them and love to see how happy they are with each other.

Welcome to our blog !

Hi everyone, I thought I would try this and see how it will work out for me...I am certainly not really very savvy on the computer but thought I would give it a try. I was thinking that this blog would be a fun way for our family and friends to be able to see what's happening with me and Milt and the kids. Hopefully it won't be too boring for you and hopefully I can learn what I need to do to keep everyone informed about what's going on with us. So, keep checking back and I'll try to keep this updated with happenings in the family.