A onother day, another house under contract

With the house in Coal City falling through, we came back up to IL to look for another house. After looking at 12 houses, we settled on two. One in Wilmington and one in Godley. A flurry of phone negotiations later, we have a contract on the one in Wilmington. This is our favorite, and we think, the best for the money. On Sunday, it had a partial inspection, there are some issues but, so far, nothing that is a deal breaker. The gas and water were not on so the inspection could not be completed and barring something real major, we will continue to pursue.



As you will note on the slide show, this house has a bomb (or fallout) shelter. The whole house is very well constructed with steel I-beams as the main support of the house (and the shelter). It is very roomy and has VERY LITTLE mold. There are a couple of spots in the basement and some in the shelter but, very little considering that the house has not been lived in for two years.



The house has a large eat-in kitchen(20x13), formal dining room(13x9), and living room(22x13), good size bedrooms and a full basement, (where we will be putting mom's sewing room and eventually my office). It has a large storage room and then " the shelter", which is accessed by a series of hallways. It also has a hidden exit in the backyard. The yard is large, about a 1/4 of an acre. It also has a two car garage.

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This is not the house you are looking for.

Last week we were so excited, we thought that we had found "our" house. But, alas, it was not to be. Thursday afternoon the house was inspected and many problems were found.





The heating and air conditioning systems had many problems, holes in the ducts; broken joints; inproper placement which could cause fires; un-insulated ducts, lack of proper venilation; etc.






On the roof, almost all of the vents were either rusted, not enough clearance from the roof or other problems













However, one of the biggest things was "MOLD" in the whole house. The house looked so nice when we looked at it, however with the lights out, a flashlight told the whole story. There was mold on every interior wall with the exception of the living room. There was mold in the attic and mold in the crawl space. The mold was up the wall in some places up two to three feet.





Because of this, I estimated at least 20 K for repair, we withdrew from the contract on Friday.

Well, back to the drawing board, we will keep looking. Young John and Mandi are being our eyes and feet there. We will keep you posted.

Look what we found in Coal City Il.

My company (john) decided to move us to Illinois so this weekend we are up in the Braidwood-Coal City-Morris area looking at homes. After looking for two days and through 13 homes and drive bys of an additional 3 more. Plus a number of homes that were on our list but were dropped off because of problems. Thursday we found one home that we absolutely loved, however, it had a contract placed on it the night before. Friday, Barbara had our realtor get an appointment on a house that did not pass through the filters because it does not have a garage. When we drove up to the house and walked inside, we knew we had found our house. Here are some pictures. We wanted something that had at least three bedrooms and a family room which would enable us to have enough space for an office for John and sewing area for Barbara and a space for kids and grandkids to stay when they came to visit. What we found is a Three bedroom home with a large eat in kitchen, formal living and dining rooms, one full bath and a "hobbit" water closet, and a large family room. However there are two additional buildings; one small finished workshop for yard tools; and the other a "quarters" building which has two rooms, a 3/4 bath and an enclosed porch. We will use this building for John's office and Barbara's sewing room. The lot is not too big (75x125) but it is nice. The neighborhood seems nice and we have already met some neighbors. Here is the layout and some pictures of it. Our offer has been accepted and the contract is being signed and we hope to close in the middle of November.

And the "Bump" arrives!

We proudly announce the arrival of our newest Grandaughter. Emmalee Joy Wenerstrom. She came at 1:30pm 23 June 2009. She was 8 pounds 5 oz, and 21 inches long. Hoorah for Arielle and Joel.

Staying cool on a hot Houston day

Today, with the temperatures in the 100s, we decided to cool off. The girls, Aurora, Naomi and Kaylee; David and I went to a splash pad nearby. It was not working completely. Evidently someone or ones decided to take the controller for the valves. However at least there was some cool water and the girls enjoyed it.

"If I stomp on it, maybe more water will come out."

Cool, water!


"AAAH, this is so good!"

Lets Play.

After we dropped off Aurora and had dinner, we decided to try another splash pad

PopPop gets in the act too!

PopPop, the tour guide

Last Tuesday, David's parents came into town from Safford Arizona. Since I did not have any work scheduled, I drove the family around. The Browns told me that they enjoyed the tours and my commentary. I guess I could go into tours if I ever lose my job. We first stopped in Kemah at the board walk, however the splash pad seemed to be having an off day, so we left and headed to Galveston and rode the ferry.

The girls loved the ferry, especially when the waves came over the bow.

The next day we went to Lake Jackson to see the State seawater fish hatchery, but it was closed so we found the bluewater hwy which went along the beach from Surfside to Galveston. Along the way, we found a beach that we could drive out on and played in the water. In the back of the picture, Gordon, David's father is enjoying swimming in the surf. Katie came home with a bad sunburn. However fun was had by all. The next day, we went back to Lake Jackson to the aquarium and had alot of fun.

A vacation with a black cloud.

Snow! We aren't used to it any more!

Arielle and Joel and the "bump"

Mom and Dad, Hiking??

Mom, I want to go home!
Helping Mike on his house.

In the end of april, Barbara and I went on vacation, all by ourselves, it has been the first time in a long time that we have done that and it was nice. However, we did have one unplanned passenger, our own personal black cloud. We hit snow, a tire that refused to stay inflated and a car that wanted to stay in Utah. We did visited three of our children in Utah. We were planning to spend just a week, however we ended up spending three weeks, thanks to my company car, who decided to take a break and get a new transmission. (at least we did not have to pay for it.) During this same period, Barbara's car lost a wheel and now is broken until I can fix it, I hope. During the extended vacation, during which I went to Wisconsin for a service call. We enjoyed visiting with Daniel, Stephanie and Jacob. Michael and Julie, and Arielle, Joel and the Bump. While I was in Wisconsin, I had time to drive down and see John, Mandi, Matt, Dee-Dee, and Evee in Illinios. We were able to see Mike and Julie's new house. It will look wonderful after they are finished with the remodeling. On our way back, it seemed we left our cloud behind, at least for a little while.

A day at the Symphony

It has been a while since we have added to the blog, so I need to catch up. Grandma and three of our granddaughters, Aurora, Naomi, and Kaylee went the the Houston symphony. They dressed up and even had a chauffer (grandpa) to take them there. They really injoyed it. Kaylee, the budding conductor, really enjoyed leading the music. ps. the dates on the photos are incorrect, the real dates are April 19, 2009

We are off to see the wizard, by bikes of course.

The girls all ready to go in the car, perhaps we should have kept the safety equipment on until after the ride and after the store. "One fell out and broke her head." All was well after the trip to the ER room.

Hold your head up so PopPop can see.

Down the road again

Come on Grampa!

Last night, it was Katie and David's anniversary. So, Grandma & Pop-pop had kid duty. First, we went to a park to ride their bikes. Naomi is getting really good at it. However, Kaylee needs a "tow rope". Grampa (or PopPop) had to jog to keep up. Next, we went shopping at a craft store. Kaylee was in the basket of the shopping cart. "No more monkeys standing in the cart!" We rushed home for the parents and then to the hospital. In the side door of the van she had a blessing. After the big scare and a CAT scan everything looked good. She left the ER merrily skipping and jumping, much to the curiosity and dismay of other patients. We left the hospital in different directions Mom & Dad on a late anniversary date, while we took the monkeys to the Golden Arches. Kaylee could not understand why we would not let her play in the play place.

Grandma, the space alien

We went shopping with three of our grandaughters and we found a book about space aliens. And guess what? Grandma was in the book. (Some of our children have always thought the Mom was from outerspace! hee hee)

Home school at the zoo

Following the footprints
Art Class

This one does not bite.
The tenrac

We even saw a one week old giraffe.

Cupcakes for the new President.

We celebrated the New President by eating Presidental cupcakes. (One of our daughters got them for school)

zoo day

While most of our family was home for Christmas and the wedding, our family went many places. In different groups we went to, among other places, NASA and the Zoo. Fun was had by all

The first and the last.

Well, our middle daughter is now married. It was a wonderful day. Now all of our six children are married. She was married by our stake president who is also close to our daughter. All of our children were there either in person or by web cam. Isn't technology great? There is a 18 min video of the wedding however it was taking so long that I put this shorter one in. If you would like the longer one let me know. She and her daughter are VERY HAPPY. Our grandaughter feels she has a great new daddy. After the wedding, we went to Babbins, a seafood resturant. With them (daughter and grandaughter) moving out, the house seems alot quieter.