Week 31

The drywall is done and the paint is delivered! We already love our home so much. The picture below in the view from the living room looking towards the kitchen and through the arch to the laundry. 

Our entry way!

Paint in the living room. 

They also installed our garage door- isn't it beautiful?! We have been waiting for a garage for over 11 years. (Side note: I still LOVE the red. Bold and beautiful!)

We really figured out rock this week and finished up at the Norton's. It looks awesome! 

Saturday we tackled the Robinson's house where I trained some BYU volunteers and Luke. We placed all the rock and just have to do the ledge stone and grout. It is so much easier when there will be grout! We also got half way finished at the Seawrights house. Maybe we will actually move into these houses one day!

Beware the bandit!

In case you were wondering what a bandit looks like, I snapped this shot while one was in the act! Hold on tight to those purses, folks!

soexcitedsoexcited

Does this face look ecstatic?

No?

How about this one?

Or this one?!

Because they just spontaneously booked a trip to San Francisco for their birthdays in May! Wooohoooooo!!!! Let the countdown begin!

Up to trouble!

This girl and her shenanigans lately! As a dragon, drinks from the sink, crawling in Scooter's kennel, playing in the sink... I need a nap!

Week 30

They put up the soffit and facia on our house this week. I love that nice finished look! If only our siding would get fixed....

I got new tasks this week! I will start building the decks and stairs onto the patios, as well as doing rock and installing door knobs. We finished the roof at the Wellings' house- it only took 6 days!!!! Much better than the 5 weeks it took for that first roof. I will miss shingling (in nice weather). Our first house for rock was the Norton's. They chose to have it dry stacked (no grout), so it is more difficult, but it is looking great!

Dear Mom-

I have realized over the past 8 ½ years as a mother that there are many, many times where I feel invisible.  No matter how many times I ask, beg, and plead for the kids to put their clothes in the hamper, I still find myself picking up dirty socks from under the bed and putting them there myself.  I make countless meals without being thanked, clean laundry is folded and put away without anyone noticing that it took the entire day to do it, and as soon as I clean up the front room I no sooner turn around to realized that a 2 year-old-tornado left devastation in her wake.

It is the life of a mother.

So, from one mother to another, I have been thinking what I can give you for your birthday to show you how much I love you.  I don’t have a fancy trinket or trip planned (although I wish we had the latter!), but I do have this- I want you to know that I have been paying attention.

I HEARD you bear your testimony during sacrament meeting about our Savior Jesus Christ.

I LISTENED during family home evenings as we talked about covenants and serving one another.

I WATCHED as you read your scriptures in the morning while you were curling your hair.

I NOTICED when you put on your dress, picked up your snakeskin temple bag and headed to the temple.

I SAW you make meal after meal after meal in our kitchen so we could gather together to eat as a family.

I ENJOYED yearly family vacations where you planned and organized and showed us new things.

I AM TRYING to live up to the example you set for me.  Every day.  Thank you, mom.  It may not have seemed like it at the time, but I was paying attention to what you were teaching me.  We all were.

Happy Birthday.

I love you.

Amylee

Human Jungle Gym

Austin is headed back to work for the next 6 months in New Mexico. We are really going to miss our human jungle gym! Uncle Austin is the greatest!

St. Patty's Day!

Little things go a long way sometimes. 

Let it grow!

We are on month three of our hair growing adventure! I didn't take a picture of it down, but I could braid it back and put it in a side pony this month! I can't believe how fast it is growing. 

Paigey's hair is really coming in now, too. (Finally!!!) It's all blonde curls. She is the first one on either side of our family to have curly hair like this. 

Week 29

What a great week! Insulation is done, drywall is being mudded and taped, and they started to put up our siding.

Unfortunately, one of the changes we had made was lost in translation between our office and the siding company. The changes we had made didn't get done, so they will have to order new material, tear down the wrong siding over the garage, and we will have to wait to see the house finished. It has been disappointing, but it will be worth the wait!

The original plans had the house with all lateral board siding and we changed it it have board and batten over the garage and in the little peak.

Dallas has moved tasks and is doing trim work for the most part. It is what he really wanted to do, so he is happy. Thanks to daylight savings we have more light in the evening and I have been roofing a lot! We finished the roof on house 9 this week; one more to go!

Harry Potter

We are NUTS about Harry Potter these days! Will is nearing the end of the third book, and his best buddy Julian just finished the fourth. Julian had a Harry Potter birthday party and Audra went all out to celebrate. It was a real event! Potions class, fancy dinner in the great hall, wand making and spell practice. We had a magical evening!

Happy Birthday, Dal!

This handsome guy just celebrated his 32nd birthday. He gets better every year and I am so lucky to be his wife. 

Week 28- Passed Four Way!

After 3 tries, we finally passed four way inspection! We cannot wait to see siding go up on our house. The drywall will make it feel like a real house on the inside. And it is all work we don't have to do!!! Siding, insulation, electrical, HVAC, rough plumbing, and drywall are all things we get to hire out. It is awesome to see things happen on the houses without having to do them ourselves. Ha!

Saturday was beautiful. We had lunch outside on the Baker's porch. Can I say how much I love all of these people? I can't wait for them to be our neighbors.

We even got wild and crazy on the roof!

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

Week 27- Insanity Week

The weather was cold this week. We have been so spoiled by the sun that when clouds rolled in this week bringing cooler temps and snow it seemed we all forgot how to work in it!

This week was "insanity" week. We were all encouraged to put in extra hours to give us a last boost as we finish up the framing phase. Dallas and I put in 55 hours this week and we were spent! I have had an ugly sinus infection all week, too. We were excited for the week to be over. I looked around the hood on Saturday and it was like it was filled with worker ants. The Tree's house was especially covered as we really dug in over there this week. 

The best part for us was that Dallas was finally able to get our front door installed! Coming up this next week- Four Way Inspection!