BYU!

At the end of last year, I realized I had hardly taken any pictures, so I am trying to do better this year!

This is from our ward Halloween Party! We had a contest- everyone got a little pumpkin and all the apartments tried to steal each other's pumpkins. The FHE group with the most pumpkins got this basket for a movie and pizza party. My FHE brothers are kind of borderline cheaters, so we won! I successfully stole two -without cheating! They were so proud of me.

This is Steph, Kristi, and Me in our costumes. You probably recognize mine, I wore it last year. Maybe one year I will make a new one! Steph's is awesome though, she is the house from the movie "Up!"

The other night, a few of us went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We did the corn maze and a bunch of other stuff, it was a lot of fun! This is Robby, Steph, Me and Jacob. Kristie was there too, but she was taking this picture.


This is from a while ago, when Melissa, Ryan and Celeste came down and we went to Lagoon. I guess we like to take pictures in these head hole things. This is Steph, me and Audrey! We had a lot of fun! Thanks Dad and Melissa for winning tickets!


Hope everyone is doing well! Happy Halloween!

Lately...

Hello everyone! Since there hasn't been a new post in a while...I figured I would give you an update!



Steph and I got to fire the cannon at the game! We get shirts next time that say "I fired George Q!" (George Q is the cannon's name)

Steph and I went to True Blue Football. There are big slip and slides with blue foam shooting down them...it was fun!

We did a freshman year roommate reunion, although Megan couldn't come, it was a lot of fun!

This is the six of us from freshman year, reinacting our favorite pic from that year! It was Kristie's birthday party! We had a huge party and our whole ward showed up! (At least all the guys :)) Hope everyone is doing well! BYE!

WE'RE FINALLY UP AND RUNNING!

Did you all give up on us blogging? Life has been crazy. After a big ribbon cutting ceremony with the governor and an all day open house on May 29th, we opened for business on June 1, 2009. We have received several truckloads of furnishings and had some wonderful help from friends and members of the student branch in unpacking and putting everything in the right room. Things are running more smoothly each day. This is our 4/5 age room. The kids have named it the "castle room" because of the big loft. You can see that each room has a carpeted area and a "wet and messy" area with easy-to-clean floors. We also put bulletin boards in each room to display the children's creations. Most of the classrooms also have a "sand and water sensory table" to put different things in

for the children to play with. There is also a painting easel and a handwashing sink on each of the wet areas of the rooms. This shows some of the "tummy time" activities that we have in the baby room. Each infant will have its own crib and developmentally appropriate activities to do. We are trying to avoid swings, vibrating bouncers, etc. in order for the babies to have more time being held and interacted with. We have four rocking chairs and lots of fun books and sensory toys and activities. We didn't put any carpet in the infant room so it would be easier to sanitize it. We use mats under the activities to make a soft playing surface.

This shows our wonderful "blowout sink" in the infant room. It got used for the first time today when our first set of twins (10 months old) had diaper blowouts at the exact same time. Weird huh? (We are getting another set of 7 month old twins on July 1st) They both fell asleep at the same time and then woke up 15 minutes later crying. They had both had very messy bowel movements. The little girl loved her "bath" in our super sink. There is baby bath soap in the soap dispenser at this sink.

This pic shows the "mobile" side of our infant room. We keep the mobile infants separate from the nonmobile ones. Notice the low "cruising" type of shelves which encourage the babies to get up and walk around the furnishings. My granddaughter, Celeste, loves this room.

Here is a sample of the "dramatic play house" that we have in each room except the infant room. We invested in some Community Playthings furniture which is Amish made and very durable. It is quite expensive but usually worth the extra money.

This is part of our toddler "potty training" bathroom. It has three child size toilets and some very low sinks that the children can use without help.

Our "super room" is one of the favorites in the building. On all of these rainy days, it has been good to let the children come in and run around and ride our indoor ride-on toys. The school-age children love to come in and play dodge ball. The basketball hoop came in today but is not yet installed. I'm sure it will also be a hit.
This is one of our two custodial closets. This one also has our washer and dryer and two of the three water heaters. The big 100 gallon water heater is to service our kitchen. Then we have two Rennai water heaters which service the classrooms and are set at 120 degrees and will never allow the water to get hot enough to scald a child.
We also have two of these wonderful storage rooms which will allow us to rotate toys and equipment. I wish I had one of these in my home.

We have had about 30 children each day since we opened. We are signing up new kids each day. Dee will be glad when it fills up so he won't have to worry about paying all of the bills. People have been very complimentary and are "spreading the word". I fear that we are being cursed by some other childcare centers and child care homes for "stealing" their clients though. I really think there are plenty of children to go around though. We are just going to be the best that we can be and I'm sure the business will take care of itself. We have some excellent employees and are very pleased with their work and dedication. Thanks for reading and for all of your encouraging words.

Baby Elsie's Blessing and Building Progress

So sorry that I am so slow about blogging. There are not enough hours in a day right now. Elsie was blessed on the last Sunday of March and we all went over to their place for dinner afterward. Kara designed and made this beautiful dress (with a little help from me because she was afraid it wasn't going to get finished on Saturday) Elsie is growing so fast and cooing and "telling stories" a lot! Kara and Drew seem to love being parents.

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago. We will try to go over and take some more pictures today because it has changed a lot already. It is supposed to be done by the end of May. This is the "Super Room" which is a small scale gym with a protective wall covering on the lower 4 feet to protect the walls from balls and ride-on toys. It will allow the children to exercise their large muscles when the weather isn't conducive for outdoor play.

This is one corner of the commercial kitchen. I will take more pictures of the appliances which are in now.
Here is a sample of the baby diaper stackers. We will purchase changing tables to go under them. They all require a hand washing sink right next to them.

This is part of our "potty-training" toddler bathroom. A couple of the sinks are low enough that we won't need step stools. The toilets are also in now. There are three mini toilets and a couple of regular size ones.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday! I just want to let you know how much I love you and I hope you had a great day today! You are an amazing person and father and I miss you so much! I love you!
Love, April

A few more picutes showing building as of 3-14-09

I am measuring the rooms again to make sure my figures were correct. Our capacity is determined by the actual size of the rooms. We must have 35 square feet per child.


This shows all of the steel studs with a little of the wood reinforcement before they put up any sheetrock.

Here is the best picture showing the building as of today. This picture is right inside the entry showing the corridor and the two "public bathrooms".

Much Overdue Building Update

Sorry that it has been so long since we have posted any pictures of the building progress. This photo shows the metal studs that went up to divide all of the rooms. It also shows that the electricians have been in and started the electricity work by putting in conduit pipes to enclose all of the wiring.

There have been lots of subcontractors doing plumbing, electricity, mechanical (heating and air conditioning) and drywall all at the same time.

Because it is very difficult to attach anything to walls with steel studs, I had to tell them everywhere I wanted to hang things so they could reinforce it with wood before the sheetrock went in. That took a lot of time and planning and I am sure I missed a lot of things. I told them that I have been in my present building for over 13 years and I am still making changes and adding shelves, etc. to the walls. I wish the studs were wood instead of metal. Hopefully we can figure out a way to make the steel studs hold. The duct work for the mechanical is almost completed. They are now wrapping all of the ducts with another type of insulation. There is a lot more to building a steel building than I could have imagined.
The dry wall is up in all of the rooms except the bathrooms and the kitchen. They had to have the plumbing and electrical work inspected before they could continue. They have also been sanding down the seams of the concrete floor to get it ready for floor coverings after the painting and drywall. They also finally installed locks on all of the doors so the building is more secure now. That big black hose is a portable heater that they are heating the building with while they are working. The temperature was in the single digits last week.

The target opening day is May 1st. However, Dave is not promising that it will be done by then. Melissa and I are now spending countless hours going through catalogs to determine the furnishings and equipment that we want to order. That too is overwhelming.

Welcome Baby Elsie Bott

It is grandma's pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of our extended family. Elsie Bott is about 23 hours old here and she is a beauty. She has petite features and is very patient and mellow so far. I guess we should have taken the hat off so you could see her dark hair. It isn't very long but is quite dark and thick. That is quite a novelty in the Harrison family because all of our children had red or blond hair. Here are the proud parents on "the day after".
They are now all dressed and ready to go home. Kara made the cute outfit Elsie is wearing home. There - now you can see her hair. Now the real adjustment begins but I am sure they will do great.

BABY ELSIE IS HERE!

Kara and Drew had their sweet little baby girl last night at about 7:37 p.m. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 ounces and is 18 1/2 inches long. She has short dark hair and looks great. I had the invitation of my life when Drew called me at about 1:30 p.m. and asked me to come and "sit" with them to give them moral support. The babies heart rate kept dropping and they threatened taking her C-section, but after a powerful priesthood blessing and some skilled medical procedures, her heart stabilized and all went well. Kara and Drew both did great and I was so proud of both of them. Kara was one exhausted little mommy last night when I left so I hope she slept well. I will take my camera up there today and take some pictures to post if it is alright with Kara and Drew. How blessed I feel to have another grand daughter here in Riverton and also for the opportunity to witness the miracle of birth and the power of the priesthood.

Building Interior Taking Shape and Kara Update

The exterior of the building is nearly complete. The masons came in last week and put the brick on the front of the building. It only took them two days. The only thing left on the outside is the gutters and downspouts and some concrete work. Here is the completed look of the brick. I think it adds a lot to the boring look of a steel building.

This picture is dark and hard to see but it shows that the mechanical crew has been in working on the duct work for the heating and air conditioning of the building. It is still a big, open, and dark building here. The plumbers and electricians have also begun their work.
In about a weeks time, they got up nearly all of the steel studs. I wish they were wood studs because you cannot attach anything to the walls with steel studs unless they reinforce them with wood. Therefore, I have had to try to decide where I will be attaching anything to the walls, such as bulletin boards, cleaning shelves, bookshelves, etc. I have about 10 or 12 catalogs of early childhood supplies memorized and I am getting tired of looking at them. The next big task will be ordering nearly $100,000 worth of furnishings and supplies. It is a bit overwhelming. Here is Melissa and Celeste checking out the progress with me. It will be their new "home away from home" as Melissa will be the director of the new childcare. We meet with the licenser tomorrow to start the licensing progress.

Some of you are checking our blog to get an update on Kara since she doesn't have a blogspot. She is now 11 days overdue and the Doctor admitted her to the hospital tonight (Tuesday) to prepare her to be induced tomorrow. Please remember her in your prayers. We all hope she has an easy delivery that it will be a wonderful experience for her and Drew.

Roof and Kara

Kara's little tummy poking out drew a lot more comments than our building so she consented to let me take pictures on Sunday. She was then 12 days away from due date, which is on the 6th of February. They are getting all ready and pretty excited, yet a little nervous.

Here is a profile of her in their nursery.

Now for the boring part - the building progress. They finished the roof on the south side of the building and about 1/4th of the north. Then it got too cold again so they started putting up more insulation on the inside. It was about 21 degrees below zero this morning! Luckily, the building will be very well insulated.

Here is a shot from inside the building showing half of the roof done (and Quinton throwing a tennis ball inside) He then took it out to "be the first one to throw a ball on the roof"! What a goof ball!

Inside the building showing the next layer of insulation going up on the walls.

Kara & Drew's Nursery Set

We had a baby shower for Baby Bott last Friday and I spent a couple of long nights trying to get their nursery set finished. I only had the quilt and part of the bumpers finished but got more done this weekend. It has been super fun to work on. This photo shows their gorgeous crib with the sheet, bumpers and quilt I made.

Here is a close-up picture of the quilt. The sales lady in Provo sold me some pretty puffy quilt bat so it was a pain to quilt but I was pleased with the finished product.

Saturday I made them two of these valances for the windows in the room. Kara and Drew are actually holding them up right here. They said not to get them in the picture but that little black "bubble"on the lower right corner is actually Kara's belly :). Sorry Kara, I couldn't resist. I also made a diaper stacker and may yet make an organizer. It was fun!

Roof In Progress

During the past couple of weeks, they have had to work around the wind and weather. First they put up all of the siding under the eaves (I think that is called the fascia and soffit). They cannot work on the roof when there is wind because the 40 foot roof panels would be too difficult to handle and they could decapitate someone if they got loose.

Then they put up this blue metal trim on the ends of the eaves.

Now they are starting to do the roof. They are about 1/4 finished with it. There is another storm in three days so I hope they can get a lot done quickly. I will post again at the end of the week to show more detail.