More cross country skiing

We took a quick trip to McCall to cross country ski and relax. It was still very much winter in McCall and we had a great time. Well, everyone except maybe Caulder who decided it would be fun to run into a big icy mud puddle, and fell face first into the 6" deep water. I quickly pulled him out dripping from head to toe in dirty, icy water. We couldn't help but laugh, as we stripped off his soaking wet clothes and wrapped him in a warm blanket. The remainder of the weekend passed without incident.

More photos of the boys

The boys then........

and now!

We had a visit from Mat's Brother Eric. He was on his way down to Texas to ship off to Iraq. The boys had fun visiting their Uncle. Good luck Eric!

Otherwise, not much else new. Enjoy the pics!

Snow Caves

Me and Tammy

Mike and Mat at the BBall games

Back country skiing

Building a snow cave


The snow cave

We've had a busy week of friends, basketball and snow caves! Last weekend I had a fun visit from Tammy, a good friend from college, and her boyfriend. We had a great time catching up, meanwhile..... Mat, his brother Chad and a friend back country skied into the mountains and built snow caves to sleep in over night. Luckily they made it out without incident. This weekend Boise hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament. Thanks to the Dahlbergs, we spent two days (one of which playing hooky from work) watching many exciting games.

Winter is still here

Cross country skiing again. We braved the elements and ventured out once again for some fun exercise.

Winter is Flying By

We've been enjoying visiting with relatives, and absorbing the boys exuberance. We were treated with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey in January. The boys had a great time, and we kept my dad busy with wiring projects. We had some excitement in the neighborhood when my parents were here, and woke up early one morning to a large fire in a duplex a few houses down from ours. Sadly, the house was a total loss, but thankfully all 6 people, 4 dogs, and 2 cats managed to escape.

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Bozeman, and had a nice time visiting Grandma Weaver, Aunt Ann, and Carol. The boys appeared to be fighting a cold (which I am now lucky enough to have), but were troopers on the drive and didn't let their cold get them down. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Winter Fair at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. The boys had their first experience with a petting zoo. Caulder loved the animals and was sure to give each one a hug, but Kessler was a little more reserved. He steered clear of most of the animals, except a 4 day old calf which was very soft and docile.

The Idaho State Capitol

Mat's been bugging me for a long time to write a blog about the Idaho State Capitol project. This is a $120 mil. project which includes the renovation of the historic capitol building as well as the construction of two underground wings that will house additional office space and meeting rooms. The wings were modeled after the Texas State Capitol. Many of you who have known me for a while know that this project is really my first baby. I was hired at my firm in 2000 to begin the project, and it's scheduled for completion in December of this year. I have worked for over 11,000 hours on this project. To put this in perspective, a typical project from start to finish consists of about 800 hours.

This project has been amazing, really a once in a lifetime experience. I have had the opportunity to work on everything from standard new construction methods to restoration and preservation of historic materials such as wood, sandstone, marble, and plaster. Many of the columns in the capitol appear to be marble, but are actually a material called scagliola. This is a special type of plaster that was originally developed in Italy. Now just a select few craftsmen around the world can produce scaglioa. Our consultants are from England. Many of the materials on the project have been shipped from various foreign countries. However, the sandstone on the building exterior is from a local quarry.

The first three years of the project consisted of surveying the building (we had very few original drawings) and drawing our plans. Then due to funding issues the project went on hold for almost three years. It picked back up again in 2006, and went underconstruction in 2007. My days now consist of about 6 hours of meetings and observing construction and 2 hours of office time. It's fun watching the building transform into a habitable space. I frequently climb 12 stories of scaffolding into the dome to view the restoration. I recently took Mat on a tour of the construction for the first time, and I think he was amazed at how much work is involved in the project. At the completion of the project the occupants and visitors will be able to see many pieces of history that have been covered damaged and concealer over the years. The building is also getting a major mechanical and electrical upgrade which will make a significant difference in comfort and utility cost. Enjoy the photos.

Winter hiking and cross country skiing

The weather could be better......meaning we could have more snow. But, we'll take what we can get. We've been getting out on the weekends to partake in some chilly winter hiking and cross country skiing. Check it out.