Building: Week 27, 28, and 29

I am waaaay sorry for taking so long to get back to posting. I wish I could be as good as my friend Sarah. She blogs everyday! I love it. I will have to work on that, but not right now. It may get even more spars because I am finally starting to pack the house. I can't put it off any longer or we won't be ready and I don't want to be one of the people that is used as a moving horror story by those who help us. Anyway, there has been a lot of finish work going on lately. It's all on the inside of course. I'm not sure when we will finish the landscaping. Here is the run down:

Week 27:

I was a little disoriented when I drove up to the work site the back way and couldn't find my house for a minute. There was a house just getting it's stucco where my house stood. Since my house already had stucco I thought it was a new house that was built supper fast and mine must be next to it. The house next to it wasn't mine either. WHERE WAS MY HOUSE!! After the confusion I realized that the house getting the stucco was indeed my house. I remembered that I told the supervisor that the stucco on the side of the house under one of the windows got messed up and the stucco guys just painted over it and it looked bad. What I didn't realize is that to fix the problem under the window they had to take all the stucco off the entire side of the house and redo it. The problem is fixed now and my house looks like it did.

The bathroom counter tops were installed.

The finish plumbing was delivered...aka the toilets, kitchen sink, faucets, etc.

Week: 28

The finish plumbing was installed. Now the bathroom looks functional. The water won't be turned on inside the house until we move in though. Then we can truly use the toilet.

The stone on the outside has been started. I thought ALL the stones were round. That's the way the sample shows it. However, you can see in the pictures that some of the stones are not round. This means the rock is not looking like I thought it would. Nor would it be as easy to put up. It should be done soon. We'll see how it turns out.

The outer doors were painted to match the garage door. There wasn't enough paint left to paint the trim around the doors too because they needed it for the other houses. Hopefully soon they will order more and our doors will be complete.

We were so excited to show the house to our friends the Roberts. They've been wanting to see the house for a while and we wanted them to see it. They came down with us and we had a picnic lunch at the park by the house after they toured our home. After the picnic we went through all the other houses in the build that we could. It was so much fun.

Week: 29

The bathroom mirrors were installed. The only thing left to be done in the bathrooms is the lights. We have them here, the electricians just need to come back to install them. We're not sure why they weren't installed the first time around. The other houses that have electricity have theirs installed.

The counter tops in the kitchen were installed. The only thing that is left in the kitchen is the appliances. They were actually supposed to be installed two weeks ago. All the other homes have their appliances. Even the house that was just finished framing a few weeks ago has their appliances. What frustrates me is that the supervisor came up to CJ and asked him what happened to our appliances. Even if he was joking, it wasn't funny. The supervisor was on vacation for a week and then went to supervise another build while their supervisor went on vacation for a week. We basically had no supervisor for two weeks. While he was gone so many things went undone and now he wonders why things are so far behind. He acts like its not a big deal, but now our August 1st move in is looking like August 31st. I really hope we can catch up.

We did get our carpet installed last week. I don't have any pictures yet. I'm not happy that our carpet was installed before the damage to the drywall was fixed and the paint touch ups were done. Now it's going to be a pain to try and protect the carpet while those things are done. What can you do. As close as our house is to being done there are still so many little things that need to be done that it seems like we'll never truly be finished. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel keeps getting longer and longer.

Random Items

So I have been busy posting today. I have to get it all done in one day because I don't seem to have the time at the computer that I used to have. It seems harder to get to the computer to even check my email let alone post. I just want to make sure you look through all the posts because there are a bunch of new ones and it will be about another week before I am able to post again.

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Here is a picture of what my family did for me on Mother's Day.

It's hard to see but the walls, and I mean all the walls in the house, were covered with paper hearts of all sizes. There were some that were cut into a heart shape but most of them were origami hearts that they worked really hard in making. There were so many hearts that is must have taken them days to make them all and hang them up everywhere. It was so sweet and a wonderful surprise. I still have most of them on the walls. I don't want to take them down. I know I will have to eventually but not right now.

I think the reason they were able to pull off such a large "heart attack" of the house for me was that I was gone on Mother's Day weekend. I left Friday afternoon and didn't get back until Sunday just before midnight. I went to Denver for the weekend to be with my Grandmother as she went through the Temple for the first time. I was so grateful that I was able to be there for her at her baptism last year and now for her special day this year. After my Grandmother had gone through the Temple for herself the family and friends that were able to attend went to a sealing room with her and we had a lot of family sealed together for time and all eternity. My Grandmother was sealed to my Grandfather, then two of her children (my mother and my aunt) were sealed to their parents, and then my Grandmother was sealed to her parents. I was asked to be proxy for her mother (my great-grandmother). It was so exciting. Then after her family was done. My dad had sealings to be done for his family. His parents were sealed together and then he was sealed to them. I was also asked to be proxy for his mother. I felt so blessed that day. There was also another sealing of family members that were related to my Grandmother. You can imagine the spirit that filled our hearts that day.

My Grandmother in front of the Denver Temple with her two daughters, Sharlene in the green, and my mother in the red. (You can't see it very well because the picture is so small, but that is my family in the background making faces at the camera.)

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Megan has become a ham for the camera. Any time I have the camera or the cell phone out (she knows there's a camera on the phone) she poses herself and says "cheese". Then she runs to the camera so that I can show her the picture of herself on that tiny little screen. She laughs as she slaps her knee and points at the picture. It is so funny. While we were at the house she saw the camera in my hand taking pictures of the cabinets so she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the front room. She stood next to the wall, fussed with her hair, and said "cheese". I was laughing so hard I almost didn't get the picture.

She is such a character. Another thing she did the other day that had me rolling was at breakfast. She was in her chair and I gave her cereal with her spoon so that she could practice using the spoon. She got a bite in her mouth without spilling anything and I praised her and told her what a great job she did. She put the spoon down, leaned forward, and patted herself on the back. I just about died of laughter. Where did she learn to pat herself on the back? I always praise her with words, I have never patted her on the back before. It's just like the time she started howling like a dog at the fire truck's siren as it drove by. Such random acts that make me wonder.

Building: Week 26

What a great week this was. We just feel like real progress is finally being done. The only drawback was the exterior stone. It was finally delivered and everyone was eager to get it done. After a full day of stone work there was little progress made. No one realized how hard stone work really is. Those who thought they would have their stone done in one or two days now realize that it may take weeks to get it done. That will slow us down schedule wise but the second wind I was hoping for has taken hold and everyone is showing up at the build more often so that all the remaining work gets done asap. Yeah!!

The first thing done was the installation of the linoleum. This is in the dining room.

Here it is in the kitchen.

This is the master bathroom.

After linoleum we hung the doors back on and added all the hardware to the doors.

Here is our exterior stone. This stone doesn't look at all like the sample I picked from. I sure hope it looks all right because it's not what I was picturing in my head.

Next came the cabinets. The one standing by itself is part of the island. The space between the cabinets there is for the dishwasher.

Here is the other half of the kitchen. The round cabinet in the corner is the lazy susan. I've never had one of those before.

Here is the master bathroom cabinet. It will be wonderful to have two bathrooms.

Since so much progress has been made we took the girls out to see the house. They were so excited to finally see the house again. They wanted to play on the back porch.

Rebecca and Dakota in their room.

Elizabeth and Megan in their room.

Happy family on the front porch.

Before we left Megan decided she wanted to help. She took the dirt from the big pile and put it on the sprinkler system trying to cover it up. She was having fun and didn't want to stop but we had to go.

All in all we are happy with the progress that is finally being made. The seventh house that took forever to frame is almost at the same point as all the other houses now. It won't be long.

Girl's Camp

Last week Elizabeth went to Girl's Camp with the Young Women. My first little girl at Girl's Camp. I can't believe that she will be in Young Women's next month. Man, I'm getting old. She was so excited to go to camp and I was so excited for her. She started packing about a week before. I told her that probably wouldn't work because she still needed to wear the clothes that she packed. It was really cold and rainy (possibly snowy) where she was going so she packed like it was winter. I was fine with her going to camp until the day she went. All of a sudden I realized that she was going to be gone for a whole week! What if she didn't have any fun, what if she didn't have any friends, what if she is too cold, what if her sleeping bag gets wet, what if she couldn't eat any of the food because of her braces, what if she gets lost , what if she gets hurt?! I didn't think I was so wimpy when it came to sending my kids away but I guess I am. I knew everything would be fine, but you just don't know how you're going to react until it really happens.

So, she was gone for a whole week and I really missed her like crazy but I knew she was having a good time so I was okay. There was something I noticed that I didn't expect (and feel really guilty about. ahhhh!) The house was really quiet and peaceful all week. There wasn't one fight all week and we all worked really well together. How horrible am I for not wanting that to end. Okay, change the subject.

She got home Saturday morning around 11. We were out at the house so I kept calling to see if she was home and how things went. She told us all about it as soon as we got home at 2:30. She had a blast! She was cold the first night but after that she was just fine. She can't wait to do it all over again. About an hour latter she laid down on the floor and fell asleep. She slept the whole rest of the day. She had a lot of fun but she was worn out. She hasn't slept that much in a super long time. Last night they had an award ceremony for the girls and showed a video of the week at camp. Elizabeth was awarded the "Camp Crazy" award. She said that when her friend Tasia was there (Tasia went for one day) the two of them acted really crazy. I'm so glad that she had such a good time.

I can't believe that next year I will have two girls at camp!

Baby #5

It's official, we are expecting baby #5. Thank you all for your support and wonderful comments. I just felt different in the beginning of this pregnancy like there were twins or maybe something was wrong with the baby, so I didn't want to say anything until we saw the ultrasound and saw the baby and heard the heartbeat. The baby (there is only one) was so active during the ultrasound that the doctor had to chase it to get a picture. It wouldn't stop moving. That was at 10 weeks, imagine how active this child is going to be at 2 years. I'm a little worried that I won't be able to keep up with this kid.

The girls and CJ are of course hoping for a boy. I would love a boy but part of me is scared to have a boy. I only know how to do girls and they are pretty easy (before puberty anyway. lol ) I am expecting it to be a girl because that seems to be what the pattern is. If it does happen to be a boy that would be a wonderful surprise. As of right now we don't plan on finding out the sex of the baby at the next ultrasound. We didn't know the sex of our first baby and we want to be surprised about the sex of our last baby as well. Boy or girl it doesn't matter this baby will be totally loved. It's really more exciting on delivery day if you don't know if your delivering a boy or a girl. That's my opinion anyway, I think CJ wants to know right away. Plus I may change my mind in a month or two. We'll see what happens.

I am almost 13 weeks now and I'm still deep in the throws of morning (actually its 24 hour) sickness. It's starting to wear me down and I don't know how much more I can take. I know it will be gone in about 2 weeks but that seems like a lifetime from now. Anyway, the baby is due New Year's Day. The girls are really excited about that. I told them that babies rarely come on their exact due date but we can always hope. They are so excited about the baby. They are already talking about names but to me its too far away to start thinking names. We'll work on that latter...much latter. For now I'm just focusing on making it through each day (and night).

Painting With Water

One of the girl's favorite activities is to take a bucket of water and a large paint brush outside to the driveway and paint with water. This was Megan's first time and she was taking it so seriously. She did like putting her hand in the water but when she went to make a picture you could see the wheels turning in her head. Rebecca and Dakota had so much fun teaching their sister their favorite activity.

Happy Sisters

Graduation

During the last week of school in May Elizabeth graduated from 6th grade and Elementary School. There was a really nice ceremony and then the kids all got certificates. I can't believe how much she has grown. It doesn't seem that long ago that she was running around in diapers. She really is growing into a beautiful young woman. Here is a look back at my little Elizabeth's Elementary years.

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

Next year she starts Jr. High. It is still hard for me to wrap my mind around. She is so excited and I am excited for her.

Building: Week 25

We are moving at a good pace. Three of the last six homes are being done all at the same time. Soon we will catch up the other three. We are still looking at the end of July or beginning of August for open house and move-in. Thank you so much for your prayers, they are working. We also want to say a big thank you to our friend John Romney who came out to volunteer last Saturday and brought a volunteer with him. Every pair of hands helps and with their help we were able to paint prep an entire house in one day.
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Here are the latest pictures....

The sprinkler system was installed.

The house was painted. It's all down hill from there. Here is the picture of the doors set up in the basement for their paint that I thought looked really cool. It was like the scene in Monster's Inc. where they had a bunch of doors in a line and each one opened to a different place. It was fun imagining what exotic lands were on the other side of each door.

The finish electrical was done (by professionals thank goodness.) We now have outlet covers and lights as well as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

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This week we will be getting our linoleum floors and the cabinets will be installed. We're also hoping that our exterior stone will be delivered this week. It will take a long time for it to be installed since the family they have doing it has never done masonry before but that's okay, we just hope it gets started soon. More progress...yeah!

5 Reasons why I love being a Mom.

Elizabeth

Rebecca

Dakota

Megan

Peanut