Walnut tree no more

I finished painting our bedroom on Thursday. It is SO good to have it done! It wasn't really difficult, but just hard to keep it in working condition as I was trying to get it painted. At one point, I had the old yellow paint, the old-new blue paint, and the truly-new gray paint all in one area:

Not exactly the best combination of colors, but I quickly painted over all of the hodge-podge of paint colors, and it is a beautiful, calming, warm gray color. I LOVE it! I will post a photo when I have the entire room done (new bedding, etc).

On Saturday we cut down a huge English Walnut tree for my mom, who lives in Orem. It grew in the back corner of her lot, and it was getting too old and large. We had a great crew of family members there, and the entire job took only about 4 1/2 hours. Not too bad. Bob was up in the tree with his chain saw for most of the morning (not something that makes me feel entirely comfortable)

Dave  (married to my niece) and Bob up in the walnut tree

and Robbie (oldest child, 24 years old) was running the wood chipper. Lindsay (2nd oldest, 23 years old) and I were cutting branches and piling them up for Robbie to chip. There were other cousins, aunts, and uncles there, which made the job go really fast! To top it all off, we didn't even have any damage done to the fence, the shed, or the home (which were all only a few feet away from the tree). Definitely a job well done!

walnut tree after we got finished with it

So, now we just need to go back and cut the stump down and/or remove it. The wood was all chipped up and spread around as a mulch, and the bigger chunks were hauled off. My mom was so grateful to have had so many people helping her out, and I know she'll sleep easier knowing that tree isn't going to blow over onto her home!

After the work project, we dashed back home to Draper, changed into something more presentable, and drove back up to Orem for a bridal shower for my niece, Holly. Lindsay and I were in charge of the shower game. We had 14 different spices and seasonings and had covered the labels with cute papers so you couldn't tell what they each were. We passed them around and let everyone smell each one and they had to write down what they thought each one was. After the game, Holly got to keep all the spices along with some other cooking pans and utensils we gave her. It was a fun shower -- fun to be with so many lovely, wonderful women and girls. What a great family!