Well, the remodeling project is in full swing. The contractors are hard at work digging, pouring cement and banging on walls. Right now, they’ve poured concrete and put in the flooring area. They’ve also taken out the stucco in that section of the house, ready for the walls to be taken down. They’ve also taken out a portion of the roof because they are going to extend it 5ft in one section. They’ve also connected the plumbing in the area where the sink will be.

So far, it’s been interesting watching them work - ie. it’s hard work being in the construction business. This got me wondering about a lot of things - immigration, the US labor force, minimum wage and a lot of others things.

Anyway, we’ve packed allmost all the stuff in the kitchen in boxes, ready for the wall/cabinet teardown. We’ve sort of figured out what we’re going to do for cooking/food while the kitchen is being worked on. I’m not looking forward to that - probably lots of microwave food, take-out or use the bbq grill more. Oh well, we’ll just have to take it one day at a time. I’m more worried about the kids. At least, they’re older and can handle this better.

We’ve also ordered the new windows and started looking into purchasing the kitchen appliances. It’s burning a hole in my pocket .

On another front, we’re also fixing up Gabby’s room. We fixed up Grant’s room, so now it’s Gabby’s turn. Grant ripped out the carpet in Gabby’s room and we’re going to put hardwood floors in her room. I’m painting her room right now. She’s picked out the colors that she want for her room (green/blue). It looks nice - pretty colorful! Gabby’s room remodel is Grant’s summer job. He’s going to lay down the hardwood floors and we’re going to pay him for doing it, so he’s motivated.

So, the house is a mess right now. Oh well. At least, I have an excuse for it being so messy!

I never thought we’d do this again .. but here we go again!

We’re doing another house remodel. We’re redoing the kitchen and adding more square footage to the area. We’re basically tearing down the entire kitchen and redoing everything! So, we’re putting on all new kitchen appliances, cabinets, etc … I’m kind of excited and looking forward to the new kitchen. I’m a little nervous about the budget too. So far, we’ve looked at kitchen appliances - there’s so much selection. The Subzero refrigerators are awesome but the price is awesome too!
We’re also looking into extending the front entrance to the house and redoing the stairs. Hopefully, there’s still some money
left for these 2 items!

We worked with an architect (recommended by a friend) to get the plans drawn. He’s pretty good and he gave us some really good ideas. The permit has been approved by the City of Fremont and we’ve decided to work with a contractor who’s a very good friend of the family (he helped us when we remodeled our previous house in Milpitas).
Work started last week and so far, it’s been good. They are only working in the outside area right now so the inside of the house is still OK …

I met Chris Rummel in the Yahoo Boot Camp class. I didn’t really know him very well but I noticed him because he was very energetic and enthusiastic about working out! In most days, I needed that to get motivated!

It was to my surprise when our bootcamp instructor told us about Chris’ accident. Actually, one of the students told me as we were jogging and warming up for the class. One of Chris’ co-worker is also in the class, so we got regular updates on his condition. The hard part is that no one really knew what happened because there were no witnesses to the accident (he was riding his motorcycle going home from Yahoo and the accident happened near Mathilda and Innovation).
The group decided to send him a card to cheer him up. Unfortunately, we sent the card too late. He was already gone.

This really affected me in some ways. First of all, he was very young and I think just starting out to live his life!
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I want to thank all of you for signing the card today.Thomasz and I went to the hospital today a little late, about 4:00pm to drop off the card. We met with Kelley, Chris’s girlfriend and the immediate family. This was taken from the website and I don’t have anything to add to it.

Derrald

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To the dear friends, family and loved ones of Chris Rummel,

Many of you I know well and some of you I have never met. I come to you now to tell you all the worst news I have ever had to endure in my life.
Today, June 21st at 3pm Chris passed away.

Chris was the strongest and most persistent man I have ever met and he fought to get better with all of his boundless energy but the damage to his body was too much.

I wish to thank you all so much for sharing your love with Chris the past week. Many days we sat with him recounting old stories, reading the messages you sent and telling him how much he was loved. Chris was never alone throughout his hospitalization and he passed with his family by his side.

It is very difficult for me to write this letter and impossible for me to put into words my grief over the loss of his love and life. Instead, I would like to leave you with a quote his mother shared with me about how she feels he lived his life.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world”

In this quote I see the man that Chris was, the people he influenced and the life he lived. Chris was never short on opinions and he had an activity to fill every minute of life. I am so lucky to have shared the past four years of his life with him and I am forever changed by the love he shared with me. I promised Chris that I would never give up and with that I will continue his message and hope to live even half the life he lived.

I will keep this care page up for a while and continue to update it with new info as we set a date for a ceremony. I would also encourage everybody to continue to share memories, messages or thoughts about the life of Chris Rummel. If anybody would also like to add pictures of Chris to the page please e-mail them to me at kmevent@yahoo.com.

With all my love and deepest sympathies,

Kelley Edwards