Miranda May

I keep meaning to post an entry to the blog.  I even have a couple of ideas for new posts but for some reason, I just never sit down to do it.  I decided I would start with the easiest one – easiest because I have the pictures uploaded to my computer already! 

Miranda has grown up so much the past couple of months.  She has really turned into a little kid instead of a baby .  She is getting ready for her birthday on February 17 – only a couple weeks away!  She says she wants a chocolate with pink cake – any ideas on that would be greatly appreciated (chocolate with strawberry frosting anyone?????).  She will tell you that she will be three and that when she is five she will go to school.

Miranda has reached a couple of milestones lately:  She finally gave up her pacifier!!!  After our trip to Kelly’s wedding in south Idaho (more on that in another post)  we were sick and tired of her whining for her pacifier the entire way home. So on Monday, I said, we are done.  I told her she was big and she needed to stop using her pacifier.  We got her a new “big girl” purse with a pretty necklace at the store (I am not above bribery) and she hasn’t had it another night since.  It hasn’t all been peaches and cream though.  We had a couple of really bad nap times (non-existent) and a couple of tearful bedtimes, but now she looks at a picture of her with her pacifier in her mouth (and there are a lot of them) and thinks that it is funny or yucky.  She will also show you her pretty teeth and say that they are pretty because she doesn’t have a “na-na” any more!

Milestone #2 is that she is now potty trained 100% during the day and about 90% at night time.  We still put a pull-up on her at night but most the time she is dry when she wakes up.  She is my earliest kid to be potty-trained and probably the easiest.  She was ready and just pretty much did it on her own.  She still needs help with her pants at times and we are struggling with her bowels – she likes to wait DAYS before she goes poop!  but for the most part, I feel like I can say she is potty trained!  LOVE IT!!

Miranda is starting to learn her letters, she knows all her colors, shapes and body parts.  Her favorite are body parts.  It’s funny because she knows almost every part on your body that you can see.  She even knows shoulder, wrist, ankle, elbow, palm, and forehead.  That’s my girl – into anatomy already.  We are working on collar bone, scapula, and pelvis – I let you know how it goes!

Miranda is the oldest in her nursery class at church and she really likes going to class.  She tells us in detail each week on the ride home what they had for snack that day.  It’s funny because I always ask the kids what they learned and Miranda always shares what they ate for snack!  She LOVES to help in the kitchen with whatever I might be doing.  She has mastered the art of sliding over a dining room chair and putting it wherever she thinks she might most be in the way.  Today she played at the kitchen sink, “washing the dishes” for about an hour.  It was the highlight of her day. 

She says “I love you” quite a bit at the best times – like when I am mad at her for something – and she is also great at saying “I missed you!” when you come home from being gone for awhile.  Melts our hearts.  She is very independent and likes to “do it” all by herself.  She is a blessing in our lives and although she drives me crazy at times, I feel so blessed to have her in our family. 

Love you, Mandy!

Christmas 2010

I had many ambitions to blog much more this month but it seems it has slipped away from me.  I sent our cards out late so hopefully they have all arrived to their destinations by now.  It seemed like everything was running late this year.  We didn’t even get our tree up until the week before Christmas.  It was still smelling pretty fresh by the time Christmas day came around – and on the bright side, I have had very few needles fall off the tree!  We have hardly had time to think since Thanksgiving break.  We went to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving this year and had a great trip.  We were able to see so many family members and it was really great to reconnect with everyone.  We came back to Coeur d’Alene for a short two weeks (Leonard only had two of those days off) and then we headed back to Idaho Falls and then to Twin Falls for Leonard’s brother Kelly’s wedding to Sara Turner.  We were so happy to be part of their special day – even though it was a long drive – again!!  Then we were home for another two weeks before Christmas day arrived. (Leonard only had two days off in that stretch too!!)  Needless to say, Christmas shopping was done very quickly and very last minute! 

I did remember to take a few pictures during the season – but only a few!

We were so excited to have a very tall Christmas tree this year.  With our new house and big windows we were excited to find the perfect tree.  Leonard took the kids out looking through the snow for the perfect tree.  They wandered all through the woods near our house in snow past their knees – except for Leonard who had a pair of snow shoes.  They found the perfect tree in view of our house, after walking all around the woods.  We let it stay in the ground for about a week longer until Leonard had another day off when he could cut it.   He brought it back  and stood it on the deck.  It was tall and pretty.  He thought that we should cut it to make it easier to decorate but I assured him we could do it.  So we brought it into the house and set it in the stand.  It was very tall.  We debated about how to decorate it.  I thought it would work to tip it on it’s side and decorate the top part and then stand it back up.  That was our plan until Kanyon walked in and said, “Why don’t we scoot it over to the loft and decorate it from upstairs and then move it back to the window to finish?”  Leonard and I both looked at our smarty-pants 6-year-old and said, “That was our next idea!!”  Thank goodness for smart children.  Leonard strung the lights and decorated the top part of the tree from the loft (a little too dangerous to have the kids leaning over the loft to put ornaments on the tree) and then we moved it back to the window and the kids finished hanging the ornaments.

It turned out pretty nice.   I love the smell of fresh pine.  We did notice after we were finished that Miranda had found a favorite spot to hang the ornaments--

a few had to be rehung after she went to bed!

For Christmas Eve we cooked prime rib and had Neil and Kay over for dinner.

I was able to use my Christmas dishes and the meal was splendid.  That night we let the kids open the traditional one present - which is always new pajamas but they are still excited anyway.

 

Then we tucked them into bed – excited for what the next day would bring.

Christmas morning they woke us up with a unanimous “Merry Christmas!” at 7:00 a.m.  Not too bad, I must say.  They were all excited to dive into their stockings and presents.  I, of course, didn’t take any pictures of Christmas morning.  I always forget the important things!   Neil and Kay came over about 7:45 to watch us finish up.  It was a beautiful white Christmas with a beautiful sunrise for us to enjoy.  We live in such a beautiful place.   Kaydra got a new video camera which she has been chasing us around the house with.  She also got a couple new DS games from Grandma and Grandpa Fuller which she can’t seem to put down.  Kanyon got a guitar from us that he also can’t put down.  He is learning some guitar online and is really enjoying it.  I think that guitar has gotten played with more than any other toy, between Kanyon, Kaydra, Leonard, and I all trying it out!  Miranda got a Zu Zu pet from Grandma FitzSimmons and she giggles and laughs every time it is turned on.  She also got a doll that you can fix her hair.  My head thanks Grandma Fuller for that one because now she can play with it instead of my hair.  She is infatuated with hair right now. 

It was a delightful Christmas – probably one of the quietest we have ever had.  The kids played all day with their new things and Leonard and I managed to squeeze in a nap.  We feel truly blessed for all the things we have, but most of all, for each other. 

Merry Christmas!

Settling In

I have had a few requests for some pictures of the house now that it is furnished so I thought I would comply before I start posting about the holidays.  We have really enjoyed living in the house.  We still look around and say to each other, “Can you believe this is our house?!”  We worked so hard and at times it seemed like we would never move in (to my in-laws too!).  It seemed we kinda dragged our feet to actually start living here but once we moved in there was no looking back. 

The first couple of weeks after we moved in Leonard worked like a mad-man trying to get us a supply of wood for the winter.  We aren’t sure if we (or if Neil and Kay) will have enough to make it through spring but Len and Neil worked hard to try and get enough.  After the first snow came and they couldn’t drive out in the woods anymore, we started working on projects in the house again.  There are still many things that need to get done but I keep telling myself that this is a lifelong project that will probably never be finished – and that’s okay! 

We were pleasantly surprised how big the kids rooms ended up being.  We just kept putting furniture in the girls’ room and it kept swallowing it up!  The bonus/play room is also a fantastic feature of the house.  The kids toys are up there and they can play for quite some time without any questions or complaints.  Makes it nice when I need to get things done! 

Here are a few pictures of our furnished living areas:

I guess that’s all for now.  I thought I had some of the kids bedrooms but I guess that will have to be another post.  They are sleeping right now so I can’t take pictures. 

Maybe tomorrow!

We are online!!!

We FINALLY are back online!  I had no idea how dependent I had become to the internet until we moved into our house.  At first, my computer was at Neil and Kay’s and when I needed to do something online I went to their house.  Then we set up our internet and they said it would be ready on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so when we came home after our trip to Idaho Falls, I tried to hook it up.  That meant moving my computer to our new house (unlike many other people, we only have one computer!).  Anyway, it didn’t work!  I spent about an hour on the phone with the tech people and they said it should be working.  Thanks.  They said someone would call me the next day to set up a time to come check it out.  No one called so the following day I called again.  About an hour later they said that it looked like there were too many people on the server and that I would have to wait until someone decided to disconnect before I could join – WHAT!!  They said that they would talk to corporate headquarters and contact me in the next five days.  She then said – do you have an email address that I can contact you at?  In a not so calm way I said, “I DON’T HAVE INTERNET!!!!”  I know that lots of people have other ways of checking email but we can’t check ours at work, we are not students, and we don’t have fancy phones that let us get on the internet – plus I just moved my only computer from a place where it was getting internet to a place where it is now not getting it.  It’s not that easy to move a desktop!! 

I had a contact number from the engineer that helped us wire the house for phone so I called him and left him a message about the run around I was getting.   Shoot forward about five days and still no word from anyone.  The engineer finally called me back on our way out of town to Kelly’s wedding and said that there is plenty of space on the server and he didn’t know what they were talking about.  He said he would work on it and get back to me.   He called me Monday, Dec 13 and said that they would be out to set it up the next day.  The next morning a nice guy showed up and discovered that while our phone was working great, the DSL was not (surprise!) so they went back to their little hut, did something and came back and now my DSL line works great!  He made sure I was getting a good connection (he says it’s lightning fast) and then went on his way.  So a full 6 weeks after we moved into the house, we have internet!!!  It’s amazing how much I use something that didn’t exist 20 years ago. 

So now, as soon as I organize a few things I will post some updated pictures.  See you soon!

Moving in and His “first famous!”

We finally moved in!  Last Saturday, October 30, was our first night in the log house!  We were pretty excited!  Most of the furniture had been moved in so we decided we should too.  Markell and Andre came from Moscow and helped us with the last of the furniture that was a Kay and Neil’s house still (like our bed!).  The kids were so excited and it made for a nice Halloween present.  We went to a ward Halloween party that evening and then back to the house.  I wasn’t a very good mom this year because I didn’t take a single picture of the kids in their costumes.  Kaydra was a “dark bride”.  She looked pretty goth with a black wig borrowed from Grandma Fitz.  Kanyon was a pretty scary skeleton, with mask and hands and shoe coverings to complete the outfit.  Miranda kept saying, “Don’t scare me, ‘K Kanyon?!”  And Miranda was a ladybug.  A very cute one, I might add.  Maybe I’ll have them dress up again just so I can take pictures – probably not though!

So we moved in and spent the first night without any major problems.  We did discover that our showers had been plumbed backward with hot meaning cold and cold actually meaning hot – a call to the contractor on Monday fixed that pretty quick.  We still didn’t have a fridge so we made do with the one on the deck for a few days until the new one showed up on Tuesday.  On Sunday night we discovered that we moved a mouse in our house with the furniture that had been in storage.  Leonard and I heard it in our bedroom that night.  It had discovered Miranda’s Halloween candy bag and had chewed a hole in it and was eating candy to it’s heart content.  The next night we caught it with peanut butter on a mouse trap – that sweet tooth will get you every time!  We had some traps set for a few more nights but haven’t caught any more so we are pretty sure it came over from storage.  Hope so!!

Here are some pictures of the kids the first night we moved into the log house. We didn’t have sheets on their beds yet but they didn’t care!  What a memory this is for all of them:

Kaydra

Kanyon – his bed was made by Leonard’s Grandpa Bunce (Kay’s dad) when Leonard was just a baby.  Kanyon is very happy to take it over!

Miranda – first time in a big girl bed and she did fantastic.  Never came out of her room and slept all night.  Easiest transition of all my kids – course she is older then either of them were too!

One other thing to remember from the past two weeks is that Kanyon came home from school and said,  “MOM!  I had my FIRST FAMOUS!”  It took a little bit to understand that he was in the local newspaper and his teacher had shown him the article that day at school.  We searched through the weekend papers and found Kanyon’s “First Famous.”  Love the smile on that kid!

Their school won an award and the State superintendent was there to present it.  Pretty big stuff for a small town country kid!

We are settling in and adjusting to our new normal.  Miranda has slept a couple of nights without her pacifier (!!!!!) and she is really close to being potty trained (!!!!!) Hopefully both will be finished by Thanksgiving.  We have quite a few more boxes to unpack that will most likely end up in the basement until we get some more shelves built.  The kids seem to be right at home ….. Leonard and I keep looking at each other and saying, “Can you believe this is our house?!”  I kinda feel like we’re just staying at someone else’s house while they are out of town.  We truly feel very blessed.  I will try to post pictures soon of the house now that it’s furnished.  Still lots of work to do but things are turning out great and we are ready for some visitors!!!

The Big Reveal – Picture Time!

I never planned on it being so long before I posted pictures.  I really thought I would have time to post before now – Sorry!  We have not moved into our house yet – we have been trying to finish all the “little” things which seem to take a long time!  We did finally sign closing documents on Monday, October 18 so we are really happy to be out of our construction loan.  Without any more talking – on to the best part – pictures! 

Here is our house today – from all the angles!

 

You’ll notice my fridge is on the deck – it doesn’t fit in my kitchen – too big.  I found it on craigslist so I can’t return it but now we are fridge shopping again!  So if you know anyone that needs a fridge?……

We didn’t quite get all the railing stained yet.  Hopefully the weather will get nice again for just one more day so we can finish before winter.  It seems like the stain was a never ending process.  We put two coats of stain on the whole house, then we put chinking between all the logs (if you look really hard you can see it!), and then we put a clear protective coat over all of it.  It was a process and we hope we don’t have to do that ever again (the chinking part – we will probably have to stain again in a couple years!)  BUT, we think it looks great!  I am really happy with the color and how the tree in the front near the entry turned out.  Len cut that tree from the property here because we didn’t have a log tall enough to fit there from the log package.  I think it looks awesome!

Now for the interior!!

Here is the entry and what you see when you walk in the door --

The Kitchen…I love the contrast of the kitchen from the rest of the wood in the house.  It really breaks it up -- and I love the island – The red color really makes it stand out.  I got the idea of doing the island a different color from when we stayed at Jana’s parent’s (John and Jennifer Blickenstaff’s) log house.  I loved their kitchen and copied just a few things!  Hope they don’t mind!!! :)

My awesome farm sink – Mike and Jodi gave us a “one upgrade” coupon for our Christmas gift last year.  This is what I upgraded because of their gift – THANK  YOU!  I love the sink.  It is so big that I think Miranda could take a bath in it.  I am really excited to use it!

The dining room is off the kitchen -- And the Great room with the fireplace is right next to it.  We are so happy with how the fireplace turned out.  If you notice on the pictures of the outside, we still don’t have rock on the chimney between the deck and the roof.  We have the rock for it but we thought that we might be able to place the rock ourselves.  After watching the guys put the rock on the fireplace inside and on the chimney above the roof outside, we are thinking about changing our minds.  It was amazing how long it took them to make all those rocks fit – and they’re professionals!  We think it turned out great and we might just have to hire them again to finish up! 

Here are pictures of the great room looking up at the loft.

The green wall is the only color on the interior walls in the house.  The rest of the walls are painted an antique white for now.  I really like how it turned out.

This picture shows off the stairs a little better. Plus you can see the slate that Leonard put down in the entry way and the front of the stairs going up to the loft.

I sanded every stair after the construction was finished inside.  It created SO MUCH DUST.  The fire alarms were going off like crazy.  After they were sanded, I coated them with polyurethane to protect them.  They look good but I couldn’t get a picture of them without the shine from the poly.  It made a big mess to sand them inside but I am glad that it was finished before we moved in the house!

I didn’t take very good pictures of the doors inside.  We used the doors and trim from Leonard’s grandparents house that still sits on the farm.  Their house was built in 1902 and the doors and trim from that house really add character to ours – maybe the next post I will try to get them in!

Here is the view from the loft --

Here is our master bedroom – not a great picture but you get the idea!  I really like the chandelier.

And here is our master Bathroom

The Vanity – two sinks!!

The tub – my favorite part of the house!  We decided to put rock on it like the fireplace to add just a little character and I love how it turned out!              

And the shower. 

This was the shower that I stayed up until 2:00 one morning to tile while Leonard was chinking and Justin was grouting the tile floors that we had installed two days earlier.  It was while tiling this shower that I said -- “You know… I am a really good nurse.  I should go to work and hire someone else to do this stuff!!!”  I am happy with how it turned out – but I was really tired! 

Here are pictures of the bedrooms upstairs – also not very good pictures but at least you can kinda see them!

The girls room …

Kanyon’s room…

To the left of the picture above you can see the door that leads to the bonus room – which for now will be a kids playroom!

You can’t tell but we made some little cubbies in the wall of the bonus room that will be great spots for toys – plus the room is insulated all the way around it which makes it very quiet to the rest of the house – perfect place for the kids to play! :)

That’s it!  You have been given an official tour of our new house.  We will most likely be sleeping in it by the end of the week!  (Cross your fingers!)  We are so grateful to SO many people that have helped us along our way.  We have felt so blessed by the number of people that have been willing to help us out – Especially Neil and Kay for letting us live with them for the past year and a half.  We never thought we would be with them for that long but we are grateful for the time we have had with them and the for the time we have been able to get to know them and for them to really get to know our children.  I don’t think I would have changed our time with them even if I could have.  Thank You!

What a journey this has been.  The best part is, there is still more to come!  Life is good!

The C.O.

Oh yes!  That is what you think it is!  For those that don’t know – C.O. stands for Certificate of Occupancy.  What does that mean?  We can officially live in our house! 

I am so sorry that I don’t really have any pictures yet.  Things have be insanely crazy and this is going to be an update post so that someday I will remember how crazy our lives have been the last few weeks.  As the previous post, I will try to make a run down day by day.

Monday, September 20 –Did a little chinking in the morning and started laying tile in the afternoon.  We tiled until 2:00 a.m.  We couldn’t have done it without Justin.  He tiled the bathroom upstairs and the laundry while Leonard put slate down in the entry and I tiled the Master bath.  Did I mention we were there until 2:00 A.M!!!  We were ready for bed.

Tuesday – More chinking on the window wall trying to get it ready for the wood floor to be put in.  We wanted to finish the chinking inside before the flooring was brought in.  We didn’t quite finish and had to finish on Wednesday – it was okay because the floor wasn’t in yet either.

Wednesday – cabinet install.  I LOVE my kitchen cabinets they turned out awesome.  The sink is my favorite part – sorry, pictures to follow soon!  They didn’t bring enough laminate for the countertop and they brought the wrong color for the bathrooms. That meant another day of waiting for those to be put in.   That night we (I mean Justin) grouted the tile floors that we had put in while I tiled the master shower and Leonard finished chinking the window wall.  It was another night until 2:00 a.m.

Thursday – Wood floor install – at least they started to install it.  There were four guys there and they didn’t move very fast.  They worked from about 11:00 am until about 5:00 and all they had done was the 4 stairs leading to the log stairs that go up to the loft and the edge along the stairs that go down to the basement.  We were a little disappointed.  Plumber came and installed the water heater.   We cleaned that night to get ready for the rest of the floor to go in.

Friday— Plumber came back and installed all the plumbing – which included my awesome tub! I drove around and tried to get some signatures from the fire district, highway district, and Panhandle Health district saying that they approve our site.  I got the one from Panhandle but the other two didn’t work out.  Then I headed to the airport to fly to Boise for a much needed relaxing 24 hours with Michelle.  We got a massage, facial, pedicure, and manicure – all were very much needed by me!!  We also went on a 5K walk for the St. Luke’s Women’s day Celebration – this was the actual reason I went :)  It felt so good to just pamper myself!!  Thanks again, Michelle!

Saturday – went on the 5K walk and then met my Mom and Dad at Applebee’s to pick up Miranda.  It was really good to see her again.  She seemed more grown up and her vocabulary had expanded.  They say that a 2 year old can learn 5 new words every day.  Mandy and I flew home about 3:30 and made it back to Coeur d’Alene around 5:30.  They had more wood floor installed – everything but the pantry and the 1/2 bath. They also had the carpet pad in place ready to install the carpet.

Sunday—the saga continues – the wood floor guys showed up to finish the wood floor that they didn’t get a chance to finish the day before.  The deck was installed and we cleaned to get ready for the carpet which was coming first thing Monday morning.  How many times can you clean one house?!!!

Monday, September 27 – Carpet install.  Worked on finishing the electrical stuff because the electrical inspector and plumbing inspector are scheduled for the next day.  We had to reinstall all the outlets because we didn’t install tamper resistant ones – and they are needed to meet code.  Frustrating. 

Tuesday – Passed plumbing inspection!  Sheet rocked the garage. County inspector comes and passes the sheet rock and gives us a punch list of what must be done before we pass final inspection.  Electrical inspector comes and gives us a list of what must be done to pass final inspection.  We ask them both to come back on Thursday.

Wednesday – work on lists from inspectors – painted rim joist, finished electrical stuff (changing plug, putting covers on outside outlets, finished electrical panel, stapled wires up, put lights in the mechanical room, garage, and outside the daylight basement.), put toe kicks on deck stairs, added handrails to stair sets, ladder in the window wells, address on the house, installed microwave.

Thursday – passed electrical and final county inspection.  Took paperwork to the county and got our Certificate of Occupancy!!!!

Friday – no rest for the weary – started prepping the house for exterior stain and chinking.

Saturday (Today) – stain

I am tired just typing it all.  So glad that we are almost finished.  If you made it this far, you deserve a picture!  Here is what the house looked like on the day we got our Certificate of Occupancy!

I think the next post will only have pictures!  No more typing!!

Busy little Beehive

As a warning, there will be no pictures in this post!  I have decided to wait and surprise you all with the finished product of our house in about a week when we get our certificate of occupancy from the county (hopefully). Then I will take pictures of everything.  However, I don't want to have to write about everything  in one post so I will update on what has been happening, just no pictures :)

Sheet rock arrived on September 9.  They sheet rocked  the bonus room and then called it a day.  I was hoping they would get more accomplished but, whatever.  The next day they arrived bright and early and rocked again.  They had everything done except the kitchen, pretty much.  The house looks different with the rooms rocked. Some rooms seem bigger while others seem smaller.  It was fun to really see the house take shape.  My mom and Courtney came up on Thursday evening.  They were here for Markell and Andre's sealing but came early to try to pick cucumbers to make pickles.  We went to Carver Farm's on Friday morning and picked cucumbers and strawberries.  We got plenty of each.  Kay and I made freezer jam that night after we came home and Leonard finished up electrical stuff at the house. 

I should also mention that Leonard shot an elk with his bow on Thursday.  He spent the day packing it out.  It was a 5 point bull, for those that care, and he was pretty excited.  I made him promise that we would send it to the butcher this year and he agreed.  We do not have time to cut up and elk!

Friday night we had mom, Courtney, Markell, and Andre out for dinner and then I took the kids to town to swim at the hotel pool.  We met up with Paul, Scott, and Dad at the motel.  It was good to see everyone.  Grandpa Parry also made it to town on Friday and was able to come see our new house before he headed to Spokane to see his cousin. It was so good to show him around our home. 

Saturday morning we spent at the temple with Markell and Andre.  We are so proud of them for making the effort and choosing to be sealed in the temple.  It is always so good to be there with family.  After the ceremony we went to lunch and then back to the house.  The sheet rockers had finished what they could until they ran out of sheet rock.  We helped them clean up and then later found out that we didn't need to do that. Oh well, thanks for the help anyway family! :)
Through the weekend my mom came to realize what a scary place a construction site can be to a two-year-old.  I think that was the big motivation for her offering to take Miranda home with her.  At first it was a little joke, but then it turned into something that might work. In the end, we sent Miranda home with my mom and Courtney to spend two weeks.  I am traveling to Boise this Friday and my parents will meet me there so I can bring Miranda back home with me.  We have missed her greatly but have been able to get so much done!
Here's a run down of the week:

Monday - sheet rockers finished rocking and then a separate crew came to clean followed by another crew to start taping/mudding the walls.   I worked on some electrical connections with Ron Lowe (our electrical consultant!) to get the meter ready outside.  I went to the flooring place and made final arrangements for flooring, changed a few things and also brought home some counter top samples for us to look at.

Tuesday - Mudding continued along with texture on the walls.  Leonard and I drove around town paying bills/deposits for rock for the fireplace, flooring, and picked out all the hardware for the doors/kitchen/bathrooms. We also finalized the plumbing fixtures and picked out the counter top. Leonard helped our neighbor, Jim Geren, tentatively set forms for the garage concrete which will be poured this Tuesday (I think)

Wednesday -  Crazy day.  Insulation for the fireplace came early in the morning. The sheet rockers were there finishing up and cleaning up.  The guys that are setting stone for our fireplace and chimney were there - I think there were about 10 of them. Some were sorting rock, some were prepping the work surface, some were setting the rock, some were shaving off parts of the rock, and there was Jim, the boss, who held his coffee mug and commanded all of them, telling them what to do.  It was actually impressive and they worked like a well oiled machine.  We also had the guys that installed the fireplace there to finish the chase.  And Cale came back to finish some carpentry stuff.  Oh, and we started painting the walls with primer.  We decided to roll it on instead of spray it because there were so many log walls we would have had to cover.  We spent the entire afternoon and got everything primed and ready to paint.  We finished about 10:00 that night.

Thursday - Took Kaydra and Kanyon to the dentist and then to school.  Picked up more paint. Went home and met Jennie Reynolds, a friend from church, who agreed to help paint for a couple hours.  We painted the bonus room and the kids rooms upstairs while Leonard painted the loft and down the stairs.  Leonard's friend, Kurt, from work came and helped us paint as well. He stayed most of the afternoon.  We were so grateful for both of their help.  We finished two coats over the entire house except for part of the wall going downstairs.  We were painting until 10:00 that night too. Seems like a pattern is developing here!

Friday - Started cleaning and taking tape off the wall from painting.  Took forever because it was the same tape the sheet rockers put up before they started texturing, so it was hard to get off.  All the logs needed cleaned to get them ready for chinking.  Kay came over in the morning and cleaned most of the day to get them all ready.  We started chinking about noon and realized that it was going to take some practice. It took us 6 hours just to do our master bathroom!  By the end of the day we had the master bathroom done and about half of the master bedroom. We worked until about 11:00 pm.  I had no idea how slow a process it was going to be.  But we started getting better at it and by the end of the day we were moving a little quicker.  The rock guys finished the fireplace inside -- it looks amazing -- and we got doors installed all around the house.  The trim guys arrived and started trimming the windows inside and also the doors with some pine.  I LOVE how they look as well.

Saturday - more chinking - all day in fact.  We are much better at it now.  Not quite professionals but not too bad either.  Leonard pipes chinking on the wall and I start tooling it into place.  He is faster at piping than I am at tooling so after he pipes a bunch then he sets the hose down and tools with me.  Then we keep going.  We keep saying to ourselves --$2 per foot -- that's how much it would have cost to have someone else do it.  We are saving a lot of money by doing it ourselves, but it takes lots of time. 
We still have chinking that will have to be finished Monday morning but we are moving along.  It looks great and I am glad that we decided to do it inside -- it really makes it a log house.  Leonard was the one that insisted on it being done inside so I give him credit for that.

We miss Miranda but I have no idea how we would have gotten all that done with her here.  I am very grateful to my mom and dad for taking her in.  I know she is being watched and cared for.  We have another week of craziness and the final inspection is supposed to happen this Friday.  We'll see.  I hope we can get everything done. I will be amazed and impressed.  It is getting so close to being finished!  It is turning out beautiful and we are so excited to see the end product.  Thanks again to everyone who has helped and to everyone who has prayed for us.  We have seen some awesome things happen here. I can hardly wait so show you the final results!

First Day of School and Insulation

The kids started school this week!  I was really excited for this as they have seemed to be extremely bored the last few weeks.  I was excited until I realized that I would now be responsible to entertain Miranda!  Thank goodness for Grandpa.  He and Miranda are buddies after Grandpa has watched her so much this summer.  I don’t know what I would have done without him.  We have been able to work on the house much more because of him. 

So the kids started school.  I took them the first day because they had so much stuff.  Plus I wanted to meet their teachers. 

Kanyon has Mrs. Kemp.  She has been teaching for over thirty years and LOVES first graders.  Kanyon came home the first day and told me that Mrs. Kemp is a good teacher – because she’s nice and she does fun things!  He seemed really happy.

Kaydra has Mrs. Conigliaro, or Mrs. C for short.  She also seems nice and Kaydra came home quite happy as well.

They were so happy to have something to do!  My poor kids have been ignored a lot this summer because of the house.  I keep telling them things will get better but it sure seems like we have been working on that house for a long time.

They really like their school and are excited for a new year. 

 

In house news, the insulators came on Tuesday and finished insulating the bonus room. 

It sounds funny in there, very quiet now.  It almost feels pressurized with all that insulation exposed.  Len says it will be better when the sheet rock is in.  The house seems much warmer with the insulation in place.  Not as much breeze blowing through now that the room is covered. 

The sheet rock guys got mixed up on the date. They were supposed to be here today but instead are coming tomorrow.  We have been sanding and sanding and sanding.  I think it’s safe to say that we are just over half way done with the outside of the house.  If we work hard we might finish by the weekend.  We’ll see.

So tired of sanding!!!!

Time for more updates

Time seems to go so slow and so fast all at the same time.  It seems like I just updated the blog and then I look and it has been more than two weeks!  How did that happen?  Well, it means there will be lots of pictures for this post!

We passed the electrical inspection of the roof so the insulation people came and insulated.  It took them one long day but they got it all done.  Cale was working right behind them getting the OSB on top of it so it would be ready to shingle.  I am really glad I don’t do that for a living!

After that day, the roof was insulated and Cale had one side completely covered.  

Cale also managed to frame in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. 

 

This was not in the plans but the county is making us put in a door because the basement isn’t finished.  I am not sure if we are going to leave it there or not once the basement is finished.   I kinda like the idea that we could shut the door to keep the noise down but I also like that it would be more open.  We’ll have to wait and see!

The fireplace people arrived and installed our fireplace on the main floor and ran pipe to the basement where we will put a wood stove. 

Fancy, huh!  We aren’t sure when we will put the wood stove in but it will be ready when we are. 

The next day we took some time off to celebrate Kaydra’s birthday.

I can’t believe my baby girl is 9!  She wanted to go to the fair for her birthday.  It was a beautiful day.  Leonard helped Cale get the rest of the roof on in the morning and we went to the fair in the afternoon.  I surprised the kids by buying them ride passes even though I said I wasn’t going to. 

They had a great time.  Even Miranda went on several rides.  She  was really happy.  We ate some great food and visited the animals.  After about 5 hours we’d had our fill so we went back home to let Kaydra blow out candles and open presents. 

Cale managed to work on the fireplace a little more that week and got it all framed in.  It is going to have rock on it before we are finished but he designed the shape – with our input of course. 

I think it turned out great and we really like the little hearth to the side of the fireplace.  It will be the perfect place to store the wood!

Our contractor set up a guy to come and roof our house.  He and his wife showed up and they worked all day and got the paper on so it was ready to roof.

It took him two days to get all the shingles on.  He said he was impressed with how square the house was.  Usually they have to make extra cuts as it gets to the edge because the house isn’t perfectly square.  He said he didn’t have to do that with our house.  Nice to know that everything is where it should be!

Roof all finished!!

The windows arrived.

They have all been put in so we are almost considered dried-in.  We just need the doors.  They will be here soon.  Cale hung all the windows except the four big ones in the front.  Leonard helped with that – it was pretty tough and I am truly impressed that they didn’t break any.

  After they were installed, Cale put on all the trim.  We have cedar trim around all the windows on the outside.

This was also Cale’s idea and I love how they turned out.  Very nice.

The past few days have been crazy.  Cale is almost finished with everything we contracted him to do.  He worked this week to finish up all the framing inside, framed in my bathtub deck :), and secured the framing for the deck.  He had Danny come help him one day to get the logs ready for sheet rock.  This meant getting the chain saw out again and making a cut along the edge of every framed wall.

It’s still a little scary to see that chainsaw come out!  It’s kinda hard to see but if you look close you will see the cut right along the 2x4.  Every framed wall needed one of those on both sides so the sheetrock will slide inside.  This will allow the logs to settle without putting stress on the sheet rock. 

Some friends from church, Cathy and Bob Wilson, and Cathy’s brother George came out on Friday to help us get ready to stain.  They swept, vacuumed, taped up windows, hammered in some nails for the deck, and even sanded outside!  It was a crazy house that day with lots of people – Cale also brought his three kids to play – but we got a lot done.  We also found out we passed the rough electrical inspection!!!!!!  We celebrated with a Pizza Hut lunch and then worked some more. 

After Cale left for the day, we finished up cleaning and vacuuming everything.  This morning we taped up a few more windows and covered the doorway to help prevent dust and then we clear coated the interior.  I say we, but I really mean Leonard.  I was there to catch the drips with a paint brush and offer moral support.  :) 

It looks a little different in there – a little darker than I thought it would be – but the grain of the wood is beautiful.  We rubbed the logs with a rough pad in between coats of sealant.  Then we sprayed the whole house again.  All in one day.  I have never painted a whole house in one day before.  Those spray things are really nice – as long as you don’t have any furniture, cabinets, or any flooring, of course!

It works out great because Monday is Labor Day and so we won’t have any workers until Tuesday and the coats should be very dry by then and the logs well protected. Now they will finish insulating on Tuesday and then sheet rock on Wednesday.  Then tape and texture probably through the weekend.  I thought we might be able to paint on Saturday but Justin (our contractor) doesn’t think they will be finished.  :(  We’ll just have to wait and see!  Things are starting to move pretty fast – we hope to close on the new mortgage at the end of the month!