House Updates!

Alright, here's the latest. There are LOTS of pictures here, but not everything is included (a couple bathrooms, the unfinished basement, and inside the garage to name a few). We are hoping to have all trim done Thursday and painters start Friday. There's a growing pile of light fixtures, faucets, flooring samples, sinks, etc., etc., that we're very much looking forward to having installed or otherwise taken care of. After paint will be flooring and then the plumber, electricians, and HVAC guys will all come back to do their trim work. So close! 

And we're still waiting on the siding to be finished. Yeah, the siding they started in August....

On the outside, the stairs and railing for the deck have been completed. The patio under the deck has been poured (handprints embedded, too!). And the retaining walls are in. 

Front porch has been poured

Garage doors are on

Looking into the gym from the garage (smaller opening on the left is for the a/c-heater unit)

Looking into the garage from the deck. This window looks into the gym.

View from the deck

Septic tank being installed!

Kitchen!!!!!!!

Mudroom (garage to the right, kitchen to the left)

Mudroom (kitchen to the right, garage to the left)

View from the kitchen into the family room

Leah's bathroom

Leah's bedroom

Leah's bedroom

Laundry room

Master bedroom

 Master bathroom (closet on far left, linen closet in middle, toilet room on right)

Master Bathroom

Master Bathroom

Loft-this will be the kids' library

Isaac and Jared's room (looking into Adam and Caleb's room on the left, middle door is into the Jack and Jill bathroom, closet on right)

View from the loft (master bedroom on left, laundry on right). There will be a railing all the way around that opening, which is the stairs. :)

View from hallway upstairs (master on left, laundry, then Leah's room)

Office 

Formal Dining Room

View from front entry

And the actual septic tank....welcome to the country! 

January part 2

Earlier this month, Jake and I were asked to meet with our bishop and I was extended a calling I feel very inadequate to hold. As of last Sunday, I am officially the new Relief Society President in our ward. Wow! I am so overwhelmed and humbled and scared and excited and a million other emotions! I look forward to what the Lord will teach me through this opportunity and pray that I will have the wisdom and understanding to help the sisters in our ward. I have some wonderful ladies to work with and feel confident that we will have a great presidency. Wish me luck (and pray for me!)

We were able to go out to our land last week and have a campfire. It was so much fun being there and knowing it will soon be home. Several times we commented on how crazy it was that it was the end of January and we were outside in hoodies roasting marshmallows. We also found out that the family looking at our house chose another one (with a full tax abatement). :( So we are in the process of doing some changes to our marketing and selling strategies and will continue to hope and pray it sells soon.

 

January Updates

Earlier in the month we had Adam and Jared's birthday party. (Jared's birthday isn't until February, but Leah didn't want to share her party with him). As always, we just had family over, but it's a large crowd so we had a good time and lots of food. We opted for fewer and larger gifts this year because with moving, I didn't want 25 more little toys to find homes for just to pack away in storage soon. Plus we had just recovered from Christmas. Collectively, the boys received an Imaginext Space Rover, 3 new trucks/tractors, a mini roller coaster, a couple outfits, a few smaller items, and a farm wagon (from me and Jake; it hauls 1,000 pounds and was more for the family than just for him; but he's 2 so he doesn't care). Adam also got Carhart coveralls, real work gloves, and a toy Husqvarna chain saw; just like Jake's. He's ready to work out on the land now!

 

 

  

Our 9th anniversary was in December, but because of the craziness of the holidays and life in general, we opted to wait until January to go out. We went to the Governor's Inaugural Ball. It was fun to get all dressed up; we joked that it was like prom all over again.  

 I haven't done much in the way of getting our family on a schedule yet, but have a rough draft typed up that I'm still editing. I have been trying to get up before the kids; the mornings I can do that are much smoother. Then days, like today, when they're all up at 6:15 make for a little crazier morning because I don't get any time by myself to prepare for the day. But I feel like I'm doing better at being more patient with them, and I can see their attitudes and behavior reflecting my choices.

We think there is a family waiting to make an offer on our house once their house sells, but we haven't heard from them in almost 2 weeks, so I'm not getting my hopes up. We've moved some things to storage, and continue to box things up here and there. We're trying to remember it's still January and not get too impatient about selling. I just really hope we sell within the next few months so we can build this year. The kids are all so anxious to get out to "the land." I suppose we should decide on a floorplan, too.  We have it narrowed down to these two:

Storybook House with 4 car garage or Storybook House.

Both of them would require some alterations, but we like them both; just need to wait to see what our house sells for and decide how much we want to spend. I feel much more indecisive this time around knowing it is our "forever" house.  

We have plans made for Spring Break and we are all looking forward to fun with family. We've enjoyed the warmer weather. Adam even took his PowerWheels for a 40 minute drive the other day. But the kids have yet to play in the snow or go sledding, but there's still no snow in the forecast so they'll have to keep waiting.

As of next Monday, Isaac will be done with speech therapy; he's been receiving those services since he was 2 1/2 so it is a great blessing that he's made so much progress and is now caught up with his peers. 

And Mr. Caleb is still growing and smiling and as cute as ever! Though days like today make me wonder how he stays so happy with all he has to put up with from his closet-in-age brother. Just this morning, Jared sprayed Caleb in the head multiple times with a spray bottle of water, tried to share Isaac's leftover orange juice from breakfast (resulting in orange juice all over his clothes and carseat since we had just returned home from taking the kids the school), and replacing his toy with one of Adam's wooden puzzle pieces. And it's only 11am....