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.

WE HAVE WALLS!!!

The north and south walls are completely enclosed with this beige siding.

Excuse my finger. This is the color of the east entrance side. We were trying to coordinate the color a little with our existing blue and brick building. However, they didn't have any light colored blue so we had to settle with this color. The bottom section below the windows will be a tan brick to match the school. Yes, it is snowing while I am taking this picture.
They also insulated the siding while they were putting it up so this is what the interior looks like now.

However - we still do not have a roof . . . and consequentially . . .

. . . they will once again have to begin their work on Monday by shoveling out the snow! I hope they can fit a skid steer through the front door or they may have to do it by hand this time. They enclosed the big opening in the front where they were driving in their big equipment.