Hello summer!

We had record breaking heat in Seattle this week. It was a clear sign that summer is here. What a lot of Californians are figuring out is that Seattle has gorgeous hot summers. When they put that together with the affordable housing ( under half a million ) they move up. I can't complain I suppose. I'm sure they're helping drive up the value of our house. Welcome California!

This is another sure sign that it's summer...



We enjoyed a BBQ at Bothell Landing this past Thursday. Adam brought his croquet set and very serious game of croquet ensued. I had no idea that game could get so intense!



Good times.

This Saturday was a first for me. I cleaned the gutters for the first time on my first house. It was liberating experience (this time). I sat up on my roof and thanked God for the ability to buy this house. I kinda felt like a little king. An undeserved little king, but a little king nonetheless.

I also cleaned the bathroom skylight...



This Saturday..the first of July...is another important day. It's CANADA DAY!
There's only one way to celebrate Canada Day...



More BBQing!

Amy and Abraham came over tonight to help us celebrate the day that Queen Victoria gave us our independence on July 1st, 1867. There's a little Canadian history for you Americans.



Alright, one more thing...

I remember having one particularly strong desire as a young kid. Dad will remember this; I wanted so badly to see a spider spin his web. It seemed like I always saw finished webs when I walked around the farm, but I never saw a spider in the middle of spinning. My Dad said that they probably spun their webs in the early morning, so if I wanted to see it, I should get up early and go for a walk in the woods. I never did. I still don't get up early.

But today, 20-some years later, I saw a spider spinning a web in the front yard. It was as incredible as I had imagined as a kid.



Alright, I can check that off my childhood list.



More pictures coming after the fourth I'm sure.

Stop and Smell the Roses

We've had a busy couple of months, but it has not been without a little fun and a visitor or two. We know it's been awhile since Jeff and Jess were here but we got some cute pics of the first baby to ever have a bath at our house. Little miss Amelia, look at that kid! Don't you just want one of your very own? We must keep the babies away or we'll end up having one because they are just too cute and soo much fun. So just to warn those of you who don't yet have babies or ones on the way (namely just Loa and Brenda...we are becoming a rare breed girls!) having a baby in your bathtub can be a dangerous thing!




Dad has been aching for more reno pictures and we will eventually take some before and afters but first we are taking the weekend off. Most of the chores are done...but there are a million more to do-and I'm not just talking about the appartment. It's supposed to be 80F this weekend and we are going to do nothing but enjoy it...even our dump run is postponed-Hip Hip Horray! In celebration I strung up the double hammock on the deck and convinced Royden it would hold our weight...especially since our bums were hitting the deck floor since I hung it a little precariously from the railing. We may have to go purchase a proper hammock stand this weekend. So stay posted and patient for more pics...and in the meantime:

View from the porthole

Are you looking at life through a porthole? Are you remembering that there is a much bigger picture that stretches beyond what we see with our eyes. I always say that life is like looking at a painting that God painted and saying "This is an ugly mess! This couldn't have possibly been planned!" But in truth, we're standing with our nose pressed against the canvas, taking in a single brush stroke at a time. Not the best way to view art. One day we'll step back and see the whole masterpiece. One day we'll step out of the belly of the boat and look around.



And when we did that today we saw the rest of Gasworks park. Our friends Bill and Addie invited us to spend the better part of the afternoon on their parents boat with them. We floated around Lake union with the Bales family. The weather was a little cool, but it was still a lovely Sunday.




Our favorite shipmate...Ay! It's Caley. "Avast!" she shouts.



I need to put in a small disclaimer. Ruth is picking up the camera more and more these days, and I need to make sure everyone knows that many of the pictures are often taken by both of us. I'd feel guilty letting people think that I take all of them all the time. She took the view from the porthole shot, and obviously any picture of me.




Sailing hommies. Too cool for school. Thanks to the Bales and the Gerlach's! It was our personal way of celebrating the six week long project in our basement.

Speaking of which, I suppose you want to see pictures. Well the place is practically done. There are some rough edges here and there but we'll take care of those inbetween renters. Thanks to Eric who did 99% of everything you see. I learned alot while I watched. This was a very long, very taxing project, and I barely did any of it. Ruth and I are very glad that it's over.



God blesses us so much, and in so many ways. I can't wait to see the rest of the painting.

Easy?

Couple things I need to cover here tonight. We're in the home stretch downstairs, and we're one day over our...third finish date. But it's all good. It really is almost done. So first of all I've had a few complaints that I take pictures of things but never actually show anything. I disagree...but to please the masses..here is a picture of the wall we recently painted upstairs...



Also, Dad did a real skookum plumming job the other day and we all figured we needed to take a picture before we boarded over it. So here's that...




Some fine handy work there. *yawn* I'm so sleepy I need to shuffle through the rest here before I fall asleep at the keyboard. Here's Ruth and Dad having a seemingly important discussion.




"Yes Pat...one more day...yes I'm sorry.."




Flooring is down. Appliance are ready to be hooked up. Everything else is just details. It's coming together nicely and we're really proud of the work that Dad has done in the last five weeks. It's hard to believe it's been that long, but it's also hard to believe it's almost over.

It goes on...

Phew, I'm wearing down. My lovely wife has been keeping up on the blog posting while I've been trying to balance drawing, work, and construction assisting. We've been going for almost a month steady now, I don't know how Dad keeps going but he does. I get so sick of this kind of work. I joke about it but I honestly feel like I'm not built for these skills. Every tiny project I undertake ends up needing some major attention from the boss, he ends up having to drop everything and come see what I've screwed up, what it's cost us, and how we're going to get around it.



But maybe that's the nature of it. We had a neighbor that I really admired when I was growing up. His name was Barry Buchart. He had son who's nickname at school was butch. Cool guy. Anyway.. Barry Butchart once worked on cars for a living and did a little work on my parents car now and then. One day I observed him working through a problem with calm peaceful statements like "well this just doesn't make sense" and "how strange, why won't it start?".

I realized that that is how I wanted to problem solve in my life. With statements like "Wouldjya look at that error message!" and " Weird! What would make this hard drive crash again?".

These are not the things that come out of my mouth when the concrete anchors collapse while being hammered in. Or when I measure the gyp rock three or four times and still end up cutting it backwards.



Bless his batteries, Dad has been pretty patient with my incompetence. Thankyou Dad. I am learning some stuff, sorry for all the trouble this basement has been.



What do the Lepps do after a 9 o'clock dinner on a Friday night? Well..we debate about the idea of painting the walls upstairs till about 11:00pm, and then actually start painting around midnight.




It didn't take long, but then again I was just watching. Ruth and Dad are the paint masters. I tried to stay out of the way...




...tried to stay out of the way...

I'm such an idiot.






It's almost over Dad. Six days and counting.

BBQ Birthday

Last week was a week of 'homeowner firsts' for Royden. He purchased his first barbeque and weedeater and hung his first slabs of jiprock downstairs-this morning I saw even saw him wearing a tool belt! We took some time out of the busy renovation project to celebrate the fact that we have now been blessed with having him around for 26 years. So in celebration he fired up the new grill and served up some of dad's delicious homemade burgers which I made for the first time. Mmm mmm good! A bunch of our friends came over and we had our first official party at our new house!









Fellow blogger in action...check out more pics at themillerhood.blogspot.com






Thanks to all of our friends for coming out to celebrate with us. Happy Birthday Royden!!