60th Diamond Anniversary

Joe and Lorraine have been married 60 years! Kents and Michaels had an evening celebration at the Holiday Inn Conference Room. They served the small crowd a delicious meal and asked some trivia questions about the Brubaker couple. We answered questions like "What was Joe's first car?, What is Lorraine's favorite candy?, How many harvests has Joe experienced?,and What is their wedding date?". The dessert was so cute!

We have been blessed to work with and live down the road from Joe & Lorraine. 10 years ago we moved our little family 22 hours west to experience Kansas farm life. Way back then, Joes gifted us their reward miles to fly home to Virginia for a family reunion. Riley has had lots of opportunity to ride and drive huge equipment. Here lately, Annie has been "helping" Lorraine clean, bake cookies, & then they embroider together. We appreciate their grandparently love and care for all of us.

Blessings to you...
May you have many more!

Kitchen and Dining Area Remodel

Shannon & Riley put in ceiling insulation in the kitchen where the leaky skylight had been. They also put in recessed lighting. Here is Annie doing dishes before the ceiling drywall is on.

Then Shannon moved the sink/dishwasher counter to fix the plumbing underneath and the floor. We ended up scooting the counter in toward the the other cabinets, but not too far in to hinder the fridge door opening & blocking traffic.

After re-positioning the counter, Shannon built a wall to put a bar top on.

We thought the walls were all ready to mud, then we had structural issues, so did a switcheroo on windows.

This window moved to the opposite wall beside the front door.

And left a gaping hole in the wall out to the half-rotten deck.

Very quickly we had to find something to close up the wall, and got what was available...sliding french door.

Next the old, matted, animal trodden carpet needed to come up. Everyone helped pull, rip, scrape, & peel.

Almost everyone got a chance at filling nail holes too!

Then the sub floor was screwed in place to make a nice smooth underneath layer for fresh flooring. That was the men's job.

3 kind helpers came and primed everything in one afternoon.

Uncle Charles rolling the wall that will be behind the refrigerator

some of us snoozed

All white & bright

Next comes the color!

Shannon liked the "bowl of berries" enough to paint the bar front too.

such rinsing & rinsing; 4 colors in one open room

dining room "summer" meeting kitchen

After the paint dried, the bar top came in. Shannon welded brackets to support this lengthy contraption.

Now I can unpack kitchen boxes into the cupboards!(After wiping down with Murphy's Oil Soap and toothpicking fur out of the corner crevices.)

some people can relax anywhere!

Now for the floating floor...

Shelving under the bar...

box 1st

then shelves and trim and doors.

Caroline staining what used to be a raw side next to the fridge

Placing our wedding gift dining room table

That's all for now...sure feels good to sleep in a house after 6 months in the motor home!

Front Living Room Remodel

After knocking out walls, tearing up floor, putting in a metal beam, pulling off paneling, building a small room for Riley, etc. We began on the finish work.

Replacing the sub-floor that had swollen/rotten places from moisture

Oops! The windows didn't have roof support.

Might as well switch out windows to match on both sides of the door.

Finally ready for mudding, after a few hiccups.

Our after hours drywall helper

lots of dust

primed and pristine

starting with color

Blue and Flax

laying the carpet

Aaah! Fresh. New. Soft. Clean Floor!

Yippee! gymnastics galore!