Bown Master Bath Tilework

Dear Jeff and Andrea,

Thank you so much for coming and "helping" us put in tile!  It looks so amazing, and I can't even believe how much I love it.  We totally owe you guys so much!  Thanks again.

Love, Ruston, Julie and Brooke.


Editors Note (1/28/15)  I believe this was late in 2006, after we'd left BYU-Idaho for North Carolina.  Brooke was probably about 2 years old, Josh not born yet.  Julie convinced us to take a trip to Boise to help them with their master bathroom.  Jeff had some experience doing tile so gladly we agreed.  Julie bought our tickets!  It was a great reason for Julie to spend the money and an even better reason for us to go out there for free!  Besides, we loved little Brooke, at the time one of our two nieces.  I remember about this trip;

Julie loved their home in Boise.  It was a one-level contemporary stucco style, gray or tan? in color, with a large fenced in backyard and huge garage (2-car plus a 1-car where Ruston kept his motorcycle).  It was a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom home but the rooms were absolutely spacious.  A living room, dining room, eat in kitchen open to the family room (which was huge).  They also kept 3 chickens in the backyard which was eye-opening to me.  People keep chickens and not on a farm?  Turns out she was ahead of the curve on that one, now owning chickens is a popular fad.  Their chickens eventually met an untimely death, with their heads mysteriously disappearing (the body left intact).  I don't think they ever figured out what the problem was but the chickens are gone now.  I also remembered her funny story about the night at dinner when Brooke made the connection after her parents telling her they were eating chicken.  "Chick-y?  MY chick-y?" After assuring her that it was not HER chick-y, she happily continued eating.  I laughed so hard.  We spent some time playing Mario Kart on the Wii, one of our favorite games at the time.  Julie made some amazing chile rellenos, the first time I had eaten any, yup she converted me.  I wish we had taken more photos, but I didn't have a camera phone then, and was still taking pictures with an old non-digital camera.  I probably didn't even take it on that trip.  The tiling job itself required little from me.  They had already picked out the tile so I advised them to put it on a diagonal and that's about it.  Jeff did all the hard work, laying it out and cutting it to size.  They even put in radiant floor heat with a floor mat.  I must admit, it looked fantastic when it was all done!  I hope we saved them some money even after the plane tickets.