Dried In (Mostly)

A couple of weeks ago, we tar papered the roof. So, we are almost officially dried in. Now all we need are shingles, doors and windows. The plumbers, the electrician and the heat guy have all been hard at work on the inside these past couple of weeks (pics of the inside coming soon). We are excited with how fast things are moving along. Now, it's on to the neighbor's house until we are all at about the same spot.  

Cole, Dan (Spencer's Dad) and Tim on the roof.

Rear view of the house all papered.

Same 3 guys, still hard at work. Just in case you are wondering, Josh was working this day, but doing other things. Other people offered to get on the roof and help, but these guys had a system.

Front tar paper...DONE!  Now it looks even more like a house.

Free Photo Book

I saw this on one of my friends blogs. I know some of you didn't get a chance to do the photo book from Snapfish so here is another great opportunity. Follow this link, make your book and use bzzalbum as you coupon code. I've already started my book...good luck with yours!!

http://mommysnacks.blogspot.com/2009/01/snack-time-free-photo-album-at-hoorray.html

House Building Fools

We have been hard at work trying to get our house, and 2 others, ready for shingles, interior doors and windows. Josh is so great to come home from work and go right back again. I never hear a complaint. I go when I can (I totally love it!) and help with whatever I can. Here are a few pics of the recent progress.

I got this AWESOME tool belt from my Father-In-Law for Christmas.  I think it's the greatest thing I've ever seen. It's pretty handy too.

These are a few of the interior walls. This picture is looking toward the front bedroom.

This picture is looking through the kitchen/dining room to the living room and through the master bedroom closet. See what will be the stairway to the basement on the left?

On Saturday, we worked on sheathing the gable ends and doing the over builds on the garage and over one of the front bedrooms. Here we are in progress on the south gable end.

Gable end complete!

These last two are for my dear Mother. Everytime I climb up on the roof or in the rafters I think of her. She'd probably have a heart attack if she came and watched me work. Love you MOM!

This is me helping nail up the fascia board to the outside of the first truss over the garage. It doesn't look as high up as we really were.

Here we are again. Josh, Cole and I, nailing on the barge rafters. "Hi Mom!"

Road Trip, Christmas and the House

We had quite an eventful Christmas with our drive to Washington. The weather on the way up was pretty bad.  We had to go through Pocatello because I-84 was closed through Snowville. Then we had to drive really slow through the Columbia Gorge. The kids were troopers though. Luckily Costco had a DVD player to replace our broken one or we would have been in deep trouble. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks.

Here is Coby in the car. He played with his feet most of the way to Washington. I guess I'm glad he was entertained by something. What a happy boy.

Talon and Kaleb found an empty wrapping paper roll. I'm not sure how it got in the car, but they split in half and played sword-fighting for a while. It was pretty funny.

This is a picture from the drive. The wind was blowing like crazy when we got to the Blue Mountains. It wasn't snowing much, thank goodness, but the wind was a little scary.

Here is a picture just out the window of the car.  It's the Columbia River surrounded by snow.  I thought it was gorgeous.  

When we got to the Columbia Gorge, there was about 18 inches of snow on the ground and about 6 inches on the road. The last 70 miles of the trip we had to go 30mph. We weren't sure if we were going to make it to Washington before Santa did. But all was well and we made it. Phew!! 

I thought these trees covered in snow were so beautiful.  Josh and I were amazed through this part of the drive at how gorgeous everything was all covered in snow.

On Christmas day, it snowed flakes the size of silver dollars. This was a rare treat because it hardly snows in Vancouver anyway, so to see it on Christmas day was amazing.

Here are the kids with Papa waiting to open gifts.

Josh and I got matching aprons (for the house) that say, "NO! I'm the boss." Although we all know who is really the BOSS. (Ha ha...Love you Josh!)

We had so much family in town for my sisters wedding (which I don't have pictures of) that my mom decided to do a family dinner on Sunday, Dec. 28th. It was so fun. We had tons of people there from both sides. What a great night! We are all so scattered that we don't get to see each other much. I even got to spend time with my cousin Matthew whom I haven't seen for over 10 years.

Here are Uncle Ray, Aunt Charlotte and Cousin Juliana.

Coby and my beautiful cousin Mercedes.

When we got home, we had another Christmas with my in-laws. They brought the gifts to our house and we had lunch, opened presents and did a family picture. We all had so much fun!

Kaleb and Talon in the snow bibs they got for Christmas. That's going to make playing in the snow much more fun.

Coby got this big stuffed fish from Uncle Chet. He and Grandma are checking it out.  

When we got back from vacation, they had the inside walls of our house built, the trusses on and part of the sheathing on the roof.  It was a Christmas Miracle!

Walls and Snow

Well....the guys have got every outside wall (except the garage walls) built and standing. We are so excited. We are still on to set the trusses on Monday and then the roofing begins. That's the only part I've ever had any experience in and I've only roofed a small portion of my in laws roof. Guess it's a good thing we're building 5 houses. By the end, I'll be an expert. It's fun to be able to see the progress. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Josh, Cole and Spencer building the south kitchen/laundry room wall.

Still working on that same darn wall. (Note, the pictures were only taken seconds apart. Can't blame 'em, they're working their fannies off.)

Here is the laundry room wall standing.

Here they sit. So patiently...waiting to be a part of our home. Without even a complaint about the cold. What lovely trusses.

This is a pic just for fun. The kids really haven't been out in the snow much in the last year, so we bundled up this morning and went outside. They played while I shoveled. We had a lot of fun.  

Kaleb and Talon

Framing in the Snow

Things are finally starting to look different.  We got our subfloor on Thursday and today we framed 8 of the 10 walls.  Since none of the inside walls are bearing walls, we just need to finish the other 2 outside walls to be ready for trusses.  Those should be delivered on the 22nd of December and we plan on trying to get them set that day.  We are very excited.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Spencer - One of the guys that we are building with.  He was working on our floor.

The weather didn't want to cooperate today.  It started out very windy and then the wind turned into snow.  We just couldn't win...but we did make a lot of progress.

Josh and Tim setting the wall in place.

The view through the kitchen, dining, living room and master bedroom to the back wall.

What Have You Done?

To participate, just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.  It's kind of fun!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii 
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie 
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican 
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life 
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous 
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (a wasp actually...does that count)
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

My Little Scholar

I love this picture of Coby.  We were at Mel's one day and the kids found these glasses.  I thought they looked so cute on Coby that I had to take a picture.  I think he's a good mix between a studious young man and ... you know... Harry Potter!

Almost a Floor

Josh has been working fast and furiously, along with the other people in the group, and we have some more progress to report. They have now cut and put down most of the floor joists and are probably going to start laying the subfloor today. We also got our garage floor yesterday. We are very excited to be moving so fast and hopefully, with the cooperation of the weather, we can have the house ready for trusses before Christmas. Here are a few pictures of the progress.

Here are a few of the floor joists laying across the hole.

The garage floor.  Still being smoothed over.

The floor joists secured and the rim board attached to the back of the house.

It's a Start

We have started our house!! On Friday afternoon, they delivered our lumber package, so Saturday morning, we started building. It's amazing how much goes into building a house. There is a lot to do before you can even start putting the first wall together, so we didn't get very far. We did get the house laid out and chalked, the green-plate on, and we got the bearing walls built in the basement. Next thing to do is get the floor joists cut and put in place. Hopefully Monday we'll get at least that far. Here are some pics from our Saturday adventures in building.

Our lumber package with our name on it!!

Getting the first wall in the basement laid out.

Putting together the 3rd and final bearing wall in the basement.

Here are the walls.  All standing and ready for floor joists.