Mom's Surprise Kitchen Makeover

In Mom's last missionary letter to Ethan she wrote, "I wanted to paint the kitchen but that has not happened yet. I hope it does before the summer is over."
Ethan replied, "It sounds like you are trying to get me to paint the kitchen for you ;) Sure I will help."

Early Monday morning, July 23rd, Ethan took Gordon, Sandra, and Naomi to the stake center so they could start their 4 day Trek to Wyoming and back.  When Ethan got home, he emptied the kitchen.

 The week before, Dad had called "the guy" about patching some of the walls and ceiling.  In this picture you can see one of the places that needed patched.

 Ethan, Kristen, and Brittana started scrubbing the walls.  "The guy" came and worked on some spots.
This is a wall before it was scrubbed:

This is after scrubbing all day:

This is the spot by the fan after it was patched and textured, but before it was painted.

The stuff they scrubbed the walls with had a strong smell.  So Ethan looked like a terrorist part of the time.

He had just got his new phone a few days before and the only way he got service inside the house was if the phone was sitting in the kitchen window.

Kristen had a couple days off work, so she stayed to help.  A lot of these pictures came from Kristen's camera, so this is one of the few that was taken of her.

 Tana's gloves had holes, so she put bags over the top of them.

 Tuesday they started painting the trim around the windows and one doorway.  They used caulk to fill in some cracks in the plaster walls.

 Tuesday evening, Kristen brought Brittana over for swimming lessons and fell asleep on the slide.

 Wednesday, Kristen got more paint and then went back to Twin Falls (and Levi).

 After work, Karson went to help.  Also, Cousin Wyatt stopped to help a few times, but we didn't get any pictures of him.

On Thursday, it was a rush to put everything back before the Trekkers came back to town.  They were trying to put it back to normal as much as possible, so they could see how long it would take for Mom to notice any difference.

In this video, (if you listen closely after Naomi comes in) you can hear Mom say, "What the heck!?" because she saw one of the places in the hallway that "the guy" patched.  So when she walks into the kitchen she is looking at the place on the ceiling by the fan that he was also supposed to fix.  So she doesn't see the dark brown trim around the windows.  This video is a little long, but we cut out a full 2 minute chunk of staring at an empty doorway. (you're welcome)

This is what it looks like now above the big window and table.

This is above the water cooler.

Lower Calf Creek Falls is no longer above the shelf.  Mom wants to get a bigger frame for a picture collage of her grandkids to put there.

Ethan Came Home

After two long years of serving the Lord faithfully, trying his hardest to learn Korean, and teach the Korean people of Vancouver Canada; Ethan returned home!

We were all prepared with our signs.

In Korean it says, "Long time. No See!"

Our first glimpse of him.

 I think that he is mostly excited just to be off his 3rd plane of the day.

 The first mommy hug after 2 years.

 He knew Korean well enough to read the sign.

 Whoa! His face tells the whole story of what it is like to go from no family for two years to all of them at once.

Most of us cried with excitement, and were so excited to see him again.

 He quickly recovered and became himself.

All of us together again. (Minus 2 hardworking brother in laws)

-Layne's Christmas Mission Tour-

After 3 & 1/2 years of being home from his mission, Layne decided that he wanted to return to visit some of his friends in the 4 corners area. It was a Family trip; as Layne invited everyone still living at home to come (but Dad wasn't a fan of sitting in the car that long to view the desolate scenery). While on our Christmas Break tour, we made stops at Mesa Verde, Gallup, the Aztec Ruins, The Bulock museum in Farmington, and a stop at Delicate Arch near Moab. Layne was able to meet up with several old friends, in addition to some of his converts and investigators. A stop was also made in Dove Creek, Colorado to get some Anasazi Indian beans before heading back into Utah. There are so many more pictures to post on here, but we figured that this would give you all an idea of what the trip was like.

Posing at the State Line

Mom had to get a picture in front of her favorite animal at the Bulock Museum in Farmington

Naomi Chillin by the Orek (Sp?)!

Brittana Wanted a picture by the 'B' for Bulock (or B-square ranch)

Aztec Ruins with the restored Kiva

Cliff Palace-Mesa Verde

Climbing down into a Kiva

When we first arrived at our hotel in Durango we happened to see a bunch of deer that thought they were part of the holiday light display...

Soaking in the hot tub after a long day of riding in the vehicle

Layne and Savannah at the historic Strater Hotel during their date in Durango

If you look close, you can see Brittana and Naomi under the arch. They were scared of the height and drop-offs on the other side.

On our way back home on Friday, we hiked the supposed mile and a half (felt like a round-trip of 4) to the beautiful Delicate arch at 'Arches National Park'!

The icy backside that we had to hike up

Decided to add both pictures; I couldn't decide which I liked better.

The girls hadn't seen the Manti Temple before, so we decided to take a detour on the way home to see it. We also got a chance to stop in Salina and see our cousins (the Caltons). Then, we made more stops in Pleasant Grove and Lehi to see the Greens, Grandma and Grandpa Stoker, and several of mom's relatives at the Annual Stoker Reunion.