What I’ve been up to lately

Lately, it’s felt like I was eight years old again, playing in the mud and pouring rain. The first week of June, I took a ‘vacation’ and built a huge retaining wall behind our house. My father in law, Ivan, is the man responsible for moving all the boulders with his tractor. We worked rain or shine. Actually, I can’t say enough about Ivan. He has been uber generous towards us. It took us almost the entire week to get this 60′ wall completed. Why’d we build it? Because the rocks were there. And because we didn’t want water running down the hill into our basement.

We’ve also been fixing the final grade around the house so we can put loam down so that we can then put our grass seed down so that in a few months we can all sit down on our front lawn.

We’re Moved In!

Our house is finally finished! We’ve signed our 30 year mortgage!! We’re moved in (mostly)!!! We’re loving it!!!! The house is far greater than we had hoped. Overwhelmed, we are by God’s lavish provision. Enjoy the tour….

Birch Flooring

Looks good from here

The outside of our house is nearly finished. I’m quite pleased that it looks as good in reality as it did on paper. With the larger windows, crown molding and wide corner pieces we were hoping for an antique colonial look. I think it passes! Everything is primed inside. Kitchen cabinets go in this week. Tile and hardwood next week. Hope to move in mid February.

A low-tech virtual tour

Kitchen view #1

Kitchen view #2

Our cozy living room

Yet another living room view

The den/study/home office/some-day formal dining room

Going upstairs

Master bedroom

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

Going back downstairs

Finally, a roof over our heads

Bloggin is so easy when you’re just posting pictures. Have a nice day!

The roof will be next

My father in law packed up his backhoe and headed home. Excavation complete: at least until next spring when we put the finish touches on the landscaping. The contractors say they’ll have the roof up this weekend.

And then there were walls

Things are moving right along now. By this time next week the carpenters may have the roof on. What a blessing to be building our first house. It seems as though all of our date nights are spent at Home Depot lately! This is an undeveloped market for Starbucks. They definitely could provide a little atmosphere.

Subfloor

Finally, construction has begun! In one day, MGM builders was able to set the center beam, nail all the floor joists and lay down the first floor sheathing. They say they’ll have the roof on in about two weeks. We can’t wait!

Framing starts Monday!

This is for real this time–the contractors will actually start framing our house tomorrow, Nov. 21! They claim that the roof will be on in about two weeks. Heidi and I finalized our kitchen plans this past Saturday. No granite tops this time around. Wicked expensive. Anyway, there should be plenty of pics the next few weeks. Be sure to check back soon!