Monday, February 25, 2008

Family Extreme Home Makeover

This weekend was a wonderful one. A leave-your-laptop-at-home because the only multi-tasking I wanted to be doing was hanging with my wonderful family. Most of you know the story (if you read my blog) about my cousin Garrett. Pretty much, if I haven't reitterated this enough before, he's a stud. A good-looking, funny, stud. This weekend a lot of our family was able to make the trip to Arizona to help Garrett's mom (my beautiful cousin Jodie) put her house together. Because life likes to throw massive curve balls at our head, Jodie was smack in the middle of a remodel of her entire home when Garrett landed on his back at the local gym in November. She'd had pocket doors installed, had new paint and floorboards installed, and ripped out pretty much everything else. We're talking down to the concrete floors. Needless to say, when your son has a massive spinal injury, picking out countertops and sink fixtures kinda goes by the wayside. UNTIL you realize your insurance has run it's course and your son and his wheelchair will be needing to come home. To a home not ADA ready. Of course, being such a wonderful family has its perks, one being good friends who were able to open their home to Jodie and Garrett until Jodie's house gets all doned-up-right-perty for the official home-c0ming. Warren and Verna live right around the corner and are so great to not only have Jodie and Garrett, but when their crazy family congregates in Mesa, they opened their doors to us all, too.


Now, we're a close family, I think. It's one of the best blessings in my life (as opposed to those bad blessings, ya know!?) But living so far removed (physically) from Jodie and Garrett has been hard and frustrating, especially since, I think, most of us want to just fix it and make it all better for the Tanners. So, after Erin's plea to Oprah left us as runner-ups, and Jodie's home-builder of a boss flaked, we all were all too happy to come to Mesa and bust a little family action in their home. We knew a weekend would be short, but with a contractor, electrition, and home inspector/builder (in addition to other trades) in our family, we knew we'd be able to do something productive, something to get Jodie and Garrett into their own home. With the help of a financial grant for supplies, we were all too eager to supply the labor, and by "we" I mean mostly our men-folk. "We" (meaning most of the women folk) were also really ready for a visit to the entire Tanner bunch since Garrett's release from the hospital meant a time for celebration and good 'ol hanging out Garrard family style.


The entire weekend was great. Granted the trip from Vegas to the Phoenix area is not so great, but I loved every minute of being there (even the skeazy hotel we stayed in had a good breakfast.) The best part for me was seeing how GREAT Garrett looked and getting hugs from him since he can now lift his arms. It was fun laughing and telling stories, catching up a bit, eating yummy treats (thanks to Erin and the Tanner's ward Relief Society), and being together. I know my girls enjoyed playing with their cousins. Here's a few pictures, and a montage of all the weekend goodies.

The moral support team! (minus Stacy and Zoee and baby Gus and Kenna's girls)

And the actual work force (minus Garrett's good friend and his dad who worked on the plumbing.)

Just a funny sign.

Morgan's plumbing shot. Not that I was juvenile to take this picture, but imagine my surprise to lift my camera to capture the action and got this back on my screen. Wowzers!

View this montage created at One True Media
Family Extreme Home Makeover

19 comments:

Erin said...

You win for being first to post the weekend recap. I'm just curious to know if you got Morgan's consent for the crack-shot before posting it??? AND, I love the pencil hanging down the middle of Tyler's nose in the shot of all the guys. Nice touch.

Kathy said...

I knew I could count on you for some really good pics. Thanks for the report. I thought about you guys all weekend and wished I was there with you all. I LOVE OUR FAMILY!!!

Beth said...

It makes me "well pleased" to say the least of the help that was given to the Tanner's this weekend. I know it meant a lot to Jodie. It's a privilege to belong to such a family who would do what they did. (It doesn't hurt to have tons of know-how wrapped up in Dan, Mark and Dustin)!

Julie M. said...

Morgan will be proud of the crack shot. He would probably give consent for full frontal, but let's not ask. Great weekend!!!!

Julie M. said...

I wrote before I watched the montage so must write again and thank you for putting that together. Again, I'll just say: Great weekend! (And add: Great family!)

Rick/Dad/Grandpa/Mr. D said...

Oh my gosh! I can't believe how much you all accomplished (and how much there was to do! It's a good thing there are people in this world who know how to use all those saws and hammers and things that go bzzzz. :-) I go to Home Depot and am amazed at all the things I totally don't understand what they do or how they're used. Congrats for all you do (and did). You're great! Fantastic montage and pics of a fantastic weekend!

Leah and Dustin said...

Loved all of your pictures! I didn't know that Tyler picked up the tab for the pizzas, that was really nice!!!! Thank you Tyler, for a banker you sure know your stuff. What a weekend! That was so fun!

Jerolyn said...

The Crack photo is my all time FAVE! haha~then the speed hump of course! Anyway Thanks again for the Pizza and wings TYLER...you're a good guy. We are blessed...nuff said!

The RealFatman said...

You guys rock out so Hard it is not funny!!! Sarah I soo apologize for the previous slacker comment for if there was a reason to slack this was it.

chris jenkins said...

you guys are simply awesome :)

Lindsay said...

Hey! What an awesome family you have! That's so great that you guys were able to help out like that! I'm so glad I was checking out who my friends are friends with and found your blog so I got to hear about this!

Brynn said...

That is so nice of all of you. You just dont ever stop giving, do you Sarah. Your teaching your kids great things.

Kourtney said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE Morgie's crack shot! Bradley still talks about it! I'm so glad everyone posted so many pics of what I missed out on. It looks like it was a very productive weekend for the men and lots of fun for the women!

Lisa said...

I'm usually a lurker on the blogs but had to take the time to comment. One, love the crack shot of Morgan! Two, LOVED all the pictures. I'm still all teary! I'm so bummed that I missed the weekend but am so impressed with all that got done. Who needs Oprah when you've got a family like ours? Hugs to all!

chanel said...

sooo incredible! what an inspirational story- Oprah missed out! But I think you guys got even bigger adn betetr blessing by being able to do it yourselves! Amazing!

Grandma & Grandpa D. said...

Thanks to you too for all of the great pictures. This is the GREATEST,MOST LOVING FAMILY ever and I'm so glad to be part of it. I'm just so bummed that we couldn't be there.

Josh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Josh said...

The plummer shot is great. I remember when I first realised that plummer's crack was a real and dangerous thing. I was bent over just working away one day when I heard my brother Travis shout, "WHOAH!!!" I turned around thinking that he had just injured himself, but then he finished his sentance while gazing with amazement at my backside, "That is some white crizzak!!" I think that that may have been the moment I decided to become a pharmacist and leave the construction business to those whose "crizzacks" don't reflect the sun with the splendor that mine does.

Tyler said...

We really wish we could have been there too! Looks like you guys got a lot accomplished!