Building: Week 15

Well I don't have any pictures this week. I was pretty busy on Saturday and forgot to take pictures. Not much was done though. Our assignment was to start the underlayment for the linoleum in the kitchen/dining room, both bathrooms, and laundry room. It was hard work but I feel like we got a lot accomplished. We finished the underlayment in the master bathroom and almost all of it in the kitchen/dining room. One of the other builders put in the door knobs on the outside doors. Our back door was not hung properly so CJ took it out and fixed it so that it hangs properly now. The stucco still needs some repair work so they haven't painted it (not to mention we are still getting snow and a lot of wind.) We will start framing on the 7th and final home this Friday. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The house that will be showcased in the Parade of Homes is going to be completely finished by the end of April. They are the family that will have to see their home completely finished and not be able to move in for over a month. By the end of next week 5 out of the 7 homes should be caught up to the same point as ours. I don't mention the progress of the other homes that often so I thought I would let you know how far they are as well. We are still on track for move-in day to be in mid June.

Comedy Sportz

Elizabeth and Rebecca participate in the 4-H Mentoring program. They are each assigned a Mentor who is a college student. Once a week their Mentors visit with them and do fun activities with them. The girls love the attention they get from their Mentor and are able to do activities that they normally wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Anyway, once a month all the Utah county Mentors and Mentees get together for a group activity. Last Saturday was their M&M activity. The group was going to attend the Comedy Sportz club in Provo. If you have ever seen the show "Who's Line Is It Anyway", that is what Comedy Sportz is, except for one difference, it is completely clean. If any of the Comedy Teams or audience members say something inappropriate they are "brown bagged" for the rest of the skit and have to wear a bag over their head. At the last minute Elizabeth's Mentor called to say she couldn't make it. I know Elizabeth would rather have gone with her Mentor but since she couldn't go I was allowed to take Elizabeth in her place. I was really excited because it sounded like so much fun. Liz and I got a seat in the front row and Rebecca and her Mentor sat in the seats next to us. My girls are very shy when talking to strangers so I figured they would just sit back and enjoy the show (I knew I wouldn't be yelling out anything.) It didn't take long at all before they caught the spirit of the show and started yelling out suggestions for the comedy skits. They had really good suggestions too. I was totally shocked at how badly they wanted to be heard. Two of Rebecca's suggestions were used and the skits turned out to be super funny so she was way excited. We really had a good time. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I would recommend the Comedy Sportz club to anyone, as would the girls. We can't wait to go back. It's great because you can go there on a date without the kids, or you can do it as a family outing because it is family appropriate at all times.

P.S. I did end up yelling out once. In the beginning the referee was warming up the crowd and was just asking for random words for practice. He asked for us to yell out characters from the show "Star Trek: Next Generation". Being one of my favorite all-time shows I felt compelled to yell out a character. I yelled out "Data!" Unfortunately, I was the only one that yelled out anything! I feel like such a nerd.

R.A.D. Kids

I went to school today to watch Dakota's class do their R.A.D. Kids simulation. I'm not sure what R.A.D. stands for but this is a program that the girl's school participates in. It is a Personal Empowerment Safety Education program that teaches kids about personal safety in everything from not sticking their fingers in the light sockets to escaping from someone trying to abduct them. The program really emphasised to the kids that if a grownup was going to hurt them it most likely would not be a stranger but somebody they new and trusted. Today was when the kids got to put the techniques they have been learning about in class to practice for "real" in a small obstacle course simulation. They put on safety gear and their Principal dressed up in one of those padded suits so that the kids could hit him with all their might and get used to what it feels like to really hit a grownup they know and trust. It was really fun to watch Dakota because she really got into it. She was in competition to prove that girls can yell louder and hit harder than boys. The Coach came up to me afterwards and told me that she did the best out of everyone in her class. She was really kicking and hitting as hard as she could and almost easily escaped from the Principal.

Dakota, ready for action. She may be small, but she really packs a punch.

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Here she is in her R.A.D. Kids' stance because she is in a situation where she is not totally comfortable.

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This is when she gets to hit the Principal and yell at him at the top of her lungs without getting in trouble. (I had a really good view until the coach jumped in and blocked everything...sorry.)
It was a really fun demonstration. Rebecca and Elizabeth will have their simulations next month.

Fun Pix

I was cleaning up my photo file on the computer and found some pictures I haven't seen in a long time. Since they were taken before I began blogging I thought I would share them now. I love these pictures.

*These are of Megan in her first Christmas dress. I put some blankets on my couch, set her in the middle, and took about 60 pictures trying to get at least one good one before the total baby melt down. These were taken when Megan rarely smiled and didn't like it if you tried to get her attention (not to mention when she hated shoes.) I still can't believe the smile I got. You wouldn't even know that she had social issues. It just melts my heart every time I look at it. She wouldn't let go of her hands that day so it looks like she's giving herself a hug.

*I got a compliment on this one when the Photo Techs at Wal-Mart almost refused to make prints of this picture because they thought it was professionally done. It's just such a sweet picture.

*This one is Megan in her first Easter dress. As I was taking the pictures one of the girls got the idea to put the mirror in front of her to see what she would do. The resulting picture is priceless.

Building: Week 14

Last week was the longest week ever! Every week since the build started has just flown by, but not last week. It just seemed to drag on forrreeverrrrr (Sandlot flashback.) I sure hope it picks back up. Anyway, here's the latest progress.

Stucco is done. Everyone on the build was disappointed in our choice of stucco color until I told them it wasn't painted yet...duhhh. It will be painted this week.

Not a good picture I know but this the garage door. I haven't seen it closed yet. They have to leave it up until the stucco is complete. I'll get a better picture when they finally close it.


I got to put deadbolt locks on all the outside doors. Here is the garage door opener too.


The finish carpentry has been installed. Now Rebecca won't be scared to go down the stairs.


Shelf over washer and dryer.


CJ is so excited about the generous window sills. He's going to put lots of plants on them.


The hallway is taking shape.

The kitchen pantry. My kitchen has started. Before you know it there will be appliances in there and it will be beautiful.
The doors and shelves will all be painted when we paint the walls so they will all match by the time we are done.

Who needs a dog.

Last night Megan came up to me on all fours with a ball in her mouth panting like a dog and begging me to throw the ball. I threw the ball and she crawled to get it barking and panting like a dog, picked up the ball in her mouth, crawled back to me, and begged me to throw it again. She never touched the ball with her hands. She kept "fetching" the ball (complete with barking and panting) until I had to put her to bed. It was so funny. She has never seen a dog play fetch or anything like it so I have no idea where she learned that.

This morning she did it again, but after the second time I threw the ball she didn't bring it back. Instead, she made me get on the floor and go "fetch" the ball. I told her that I wasn't putting it in my mouth though and she was disappointed. She decided that it was more fun for me to throw the ball and played for a little while longer. We have been thinking about getting a dog when the house is done but I guess we don't have to now. Here Megan...go fetch!

Building: Week 13

Saturday was the official 3 month mark for our build. We started our 35-hour work weeks on Dec. 15th. I still can't believe how much we have accomplished in such a short period of time. All the supervisors say that we are on track to being the fastest group ever (so far) in the program! I am so happy because one of my biggest worries was that the build would drag on and on for months. At our current rate we will have built 7 houses in 5 1/2 months...including landscaping. We are feeling so blessed right now. Anyway, here is the progress on our house.

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They started prepping the house for stucco. It took all week just to prep the house. I'm so glad that we don't have to do the stucco.

This is the view of the back of the house. Some of the trim has been completed.

The contractors came out on Saturday to finish installing all the trim (along with some of their little kids.)

The interior finish carpentry has been delivered. It should be installed this week. They used to have the families do the finish carpentry but it proved to be so difficult that they now contract it out. No complaints here. They also installed the garage door...and garage door opener,yeah!...but I forgot to get a picture of that. I'll make sure to get one this week.

I thought I would throw this picture in. You can see 5 of the 7 houses we're working on in the picture, (one of them is still only a foundation.) I know you only get to see pictures of our house but I thought you might like to see the whole work site, just for fun.

This week they will finish the interior carpentry, stucco and trim, install the outer door locks, and possibly prep for the driveway and stairs. Very exciting!

Dakota's Snowman

Recently we got some snow. Not a lot but enough to put a blanket on the ground. I had to run to the store and when I got back there was a visitor in the front yard. Dakota took what little snow we had and was able to make a good sized snowman. She even gave it arms and a face. I think she did a really good job on it. I wanted to take a picture of her masterpiece so we could always remember it. Megan was in the yard too so I thought I would take a picture of her next to the snowman so we could remember just how big it was. Megan was not too sure about the strange creature that was reaching out to her. She let me stand her next to the snowman but you can see how unsure she is as she leans as far from the snowman as she can.

Building: Week 12

The work on our home slowly progresses. Last week the drywall was mudded, textured, and sanded throughout the entire house. The walls are ready to be painted. We're getting down to the finish work on our house. If the weather gets better we will get stucco on the outside this week. Work on the inside will slow down while the other houses catch up to the same spot our house is in. This helps to insure that all the houses will be finished at roughly the same time. One of the homes in our build group has been chosen to be showcased in the Parade of Homes this May. It is exciting because that means that we have to have the houses finished by the end of May...and that means that our move-in is expected somewhere in the first two weeks of June (only 3 months from now!!!). It will be a great birthday present for CJ.

Science Fair: Part II

As I told you in an earlier post Elizabeth had gotten a high enough score on her science fair project at school this year that she was one of the students chosen to represent her school at the District level of the science fair. If she scored high again she would move on to the Regional level. Last night was the District competition.

She had to set up her project to be judged by itself at 4pm. At 6:30pm she went back to be interviewed and judged again with the project. At 8:45pm they had the awards ceremony to recognize those who would go on to the next level. There were well over 200 entries at the District level so the competition was high. It was a long night with a lot of driving back and forth, but to see the excitement on Elizabeth's face and hear her talk about how much she loves science made it all worth it. She did not advance to the next level but she was awarded Honorable Mention and received a medal for her efforts.

She was so excited that she wore the medal to school today...just in case the other students wanted to see it.lol Congratulations Elizabeth!! We're so proud of you!

Random Photo Tag

Random Photo Tag
Here are the rules of the game:
1. Go to your my documents/my pictures
2. Go to your sixth file
3. Go to your sixth picture
4. Blog about it
5. Tag six people

Okay, so I haven't done a tag in a while and this one is pretty safe so...I'll bite. I don't have six files in the my pictures folder, I only have one. That is where I have all the pictures for the slide show screen saver on my computer that I love to sit and watch for hours. So I went to the sixth picture in that file and this is what I found. This is from a camping trip I took with my family about 6 years ago back in Arizona. My brother Matt who can play any instrument under the sun beautifully (without a single lesson no less) had bought an Indian flute and brought it with him. My parents decided that we would have a family Pow-Wow. All the kids (and there were many) got made up with head dress and paint for the festivities. The girls had a blast! They still have one of the head dress' from that night. This has always been one of my favorite pictures of Dakota's smile.

Well let's see, I'll tag Sarah, Darla, Jen Jen, Diana, Holly, and Matt

Building: Week 11

No more skeletons in our house. Last Thursday all our drywall was installed. IN ONE DAY! It usually takes a few days to do the entire house but because there is so little work for construction in Payson the drywall company had plenty of people to install the drywall. It was such a weird feeling to walk in to the house through the garage door and not be able to see all the way to the back of the house. I was a little disoriented at first. It looks so different with the walls up. After the disorientation wore off my excitement grew leaps and bounds because it looks more like a house now on the inside too.

This is one of the kid's rooms.

This is the half wall around the stairs being prepped for rounded corners. In the back is the master bedroom.

This is the entry area looking out from the living room.

This is the kitchen with pantry.

This is the family/dining room.

Here is the inside of the garage. Just a note about this door going from the garage out to the yard...it was a HUGE pain to install. CJ worked for 3 hours one day prepping the doorway that had many problems, then it took me 2 1/2 hours the next day to hang the door...with the help of the Supervisor. He said that this was the worst door to install in the history of doors. It's such a good thing that the drywall covers all the problems that we had with the door.

Lest anyone think that I don't do any real work on the build, CJ got a picture of me using a power tool.

Power tools have been my struggle in this project. I especially hate the nail gun. I have a real fear of impaling someone with a nail (or worse, many nails). I tried to avoid jobs that needed power tools as much as possible. The supervisor decided that I needed to get over my fears so he has made it his mission to make sure that I get jobs using all the tools. I am getting better at using the tools. They are still scary but I am not letting the fear get the best of me. The only thing I won't ever be able to do is attach or un-attach the air guns. There is a fear there that goes waaaay to deep. It is just like popping a balloon and I absolutely can't do that...but that's another story. Anyway, we usually get some BYU students from the Early Education department come to volunteer on our project. They need volunteer hours and we need little things done so that we can focus on the major stuff. This Saturday was a big surprise though. We got twice the number of volunteers from the EE department and another large group of Construction Management Supervisor students as well. We probably had 40 volunteers on Saturday.

All but one of the people in this pic are volunteers and this is only half the volunteers. The CMS students are on the roof and the EE students are laying out the trusses. This is major work that needed to be done and it was great to have their help. The trusses had to be layed out because we had the crane coming to set the trusses on the roof of the fourth house that afternoon and we still had lots to do before the crane came. The crane got there and CJ came up to me and asked if I wanted to be a "hooker" today. You can imagine the confusion on my face because he was totally serious. I made a few jokes before he told me what the job of the hooker is (and it has nothing to do with walking the streets. lol) The hooker is the person that hooks the trusses to the crane to be lifted on the house. I accepted the job and went to work as a hooker. Being that I was the first female hooker on the build CJ is now known as my pimp. We had a long day on Saturday but it was fun as well and there was a lot of work accomplished.

Fun with ice cream

We had ice cream cones this week following Family Home Evening. I put a small amount of ice cream in Megan's cone and let her eat it all on her own (my OCD usually won't allow me to let her get messy but I guess it was okay this time.) It was fun watching her try to lick the ice cream out of the cone.

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She went to share with Dakota and must have thought Dakota took too much because she decided to share just a tiny amount after that.

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Look at Megan's mouth as she shows her sisters how to open their mouths so that she can put the ice cream in.

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We had a good time and lots of laughs that night. I hope I can learn how to let messes happen more often.

Building: Week 10

Well, we are one more week down. Actually, after this week we will have passed the half way point in the framing part of the build (framing is 1/3 of the total build.) This is good news, but I am having a hard time keeping optimistic. It just feels like the closer we get to the end the farther away it becomes. Sometimes it feels like all the walls are closing in and there will be no end and it gets so hard to breathe. CJ is doing so well on the outside but I think that he is starting to get tired. I wish he could take a few days off to recuperate but it just isn't possible. The girls and I pray for him everyday and we are so grateful for the answers to those prayers. I try to go out and build on Tuesdays so that he can stay home and rest but I haven't been able to go out every week so I just don't feel that I am doing enough to help him. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. We knew this was going to be hard work and a long process. We know that it will be worth it and are still very grateful for this wonderful opportunity. It is a great blessing in our lives and I am so thankful for the blessings we have received and continue to receive. I will admit though that I am starting to become weak to Satan's power and the feeling that this project is just too big and that it is so overwhelming that we should just give up. I have been praying for peace and strength but I am just one person. I think that I need to ask for help with prayers. I would just ask that anyone who would like to, please include us in your prayers so that we can continue to endure this process. Thank you so much for all your support.
Sorry, enough with the self-pity. Here is the progress over the last week.
The house is now insulated. Well, the living half anyway.
The attic will probably be insulated after the drywall goes in. Which brings us to the next thing. Our drywall was delivered as well.



It should be put up sometime this week or next. We have to have a city inspection for the insulation and an Energy Star inspection as well before the drywall goes up. Our walls will start to fill out soon and no longer be just a skeleton.
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We had our first big incident at the build on Saturday. We were putting the trusses (skeleton roof) on the third house. These trusses are the largest ones we've had so far. They are the entire length of the house, from the back all the way to the end of the porch. Those who already knew how to put up trusses decided they didn't want to do it this time so we had a whole new group putting them up...including CJ. The first truss went in and everything seemed to be fine. It is the heaviest one because it is already sheeted. Then the crane lifted up three more to be installed. CJ was inside them putting braces in so that they would be sturdy while two others were nailing them into the walls to secure them. Everything seemed to be going well so the crane brought up the next four trusses and the group moved inside those to secure them. They were only in those trusses for about 3 minutes when I heard what sounded like a crack of thunder. I looked up and saw the trusses begin to fall off the house. My first thoughts were of CJ. I said a quick prayer in my heart that he would be kept safe. It all happened so quickly. Those in the trusses had no time to react. They were lucky that they did not fall. They were safe because the four trusses they were in were still being held by the crane and they hadn't been attached to the other trusses yet. I ran to the window and looked out to make sure that no one was hurt by the trusses that hit the ground. If anyone had been under them they could have been killed because these trusses are extremely heavy. It was very scary.
(The one in the middle is CJ.)

After the initial shock was over the trusses were lifted back up and put back in place (with many more supports this time.) The supervisor told us that because of the reason the trusses fell it was a miracle that they stayed on the roof as long as they did. He said that those in the roof were blessed and protected by God, because if the trusses had fallen a few minutes earlier or a few minutes later everyone in the trusses would have gone down with them and been badly hurt...and because of CJ's position he would have gotten the worst of it. The trusses fell at exactly the safest time that they could have fallen. We pray for CJ's safety every day and I believe that those prayers were answered and Angels were working very hard to hold those trusses up until everyone was safe.

Building: Week 9

This was a slow week for our house. The biggest thing that happened was our four-way inspection. That's when the city of Payson and Rural Housing come and inspect everything that has been done so far. They are looking at the framing work we did as well as the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work that was done. If we fail an inspection they give us a list of the things that need to be fixed and then they will come for a re-inspection. We were very nervous because the group that started the same time we did in Eagle Mountain has failed every four-way inspection they've had. When I got the news that we passed our inspection with flying colors on the first try, I couldn't stop smiling for three days. Every time CJ came home I would just bust out, "We passed our inspection!" I think he got tired of hearing it. There was one thing that Rural Housing wasn't happy about though but it didn't stop us from passing inspection, it just had to be fixed asap. They weren't happy that the basement wasn't "move-in" ready. The basement was still full of ice and snow as well as lots of trash from the contractors that have been installing things (more than you see in the pictures.)

I wasn't worried about the basement because we still have so much time before we need it cleaned up so I laughed when I heard that was the one thing Rural Housing was worried about. Whether or not it was a big deal to us, Rural Housing wanted the basement cleaned up and "move-in" ready by the end of the week. So guess what CJ and I did on Saturday? Yup, we spent Valentine's Day cleaning the basement. It was more work than I realized. First I swept and picked up the trash. Then I shoveled out the big piles of snow as well as the patches of ice that were being melted by two large heaters. CJ used an industrial blow torch to melt patches of ice here and there as well as the patches of ice that the heaters couldn't reach for fear of starting the house on fire.

As the ice melted I needed to use a squeegee to push all the water to the drain. It wasn't so bad getting all the water to the drain on the side that had the drain. The hard part was pushing all the water from the other room through the one door opening and then to the drain. I couldn't believe the amount of water that the snow and ice melted in to. I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea every time I pushed the squeegee. It took all day, but the basement is done! It looks really good. It will need more sweepings before we move in but that won't be anything compared to what we just did.

It looks like ice but it is really just slightly wet. The heaters had to be plugged in and I couldn't help but take a picture of the first time we used the electricity from an outlet on the inside of the house. Not much to anyone else but to us it is a milestone.

When they poured our basement floor they were supposed to pour our garage floor as well. Because of all the snow and ice at the time they did the basement floor they were unable to pour the garage floor. We were told that we had to wait until all the other homes were done in the other neighborhoods that Rural Housing was doing...and we were at the bottom of the list. I guess they must have hit the bottom, because we now have a garage floor. It looked so pretty when they first poured it.

This is what it looks like after only a few days of use. I am so nervous about my floors once the carpet and linoleum have been installed.

It will be so much better once all the mud is replaced with grass. I'm so glad that landscaping is included.