The work continues...

Well, except for all of the work going on on the new house, we have been having a pretty boring life. I can pretty much catch everyone up with just a few short sentences.
Rick: enjoying his weeks off of work spending time with the boys and working on the house.
Olivia:mommying and teaching cardio and yoga classes.
Luke: counting down the days until school is out (1 1/2).
Noah: LOVING having his dad around and working on the house.
Elijah: getting 5 new teeth at once, and NOT being happy about it.

The house is going great! All of the walls are up, inside and out, and it is SO fun to go in and actually see everything all laid out. I get excited everyday when the workers go home and I can go over and see what new things have been done. Today they were working on the porch and even needed a crane to lift the big beams into place. I love it more and more everyday.

Noah helping get the septic tank ready to be buried.

Putting on the big cross beams.

A view from the front.

A beam coming in for the front porch.

Rick helping get the straps around one of the big beams.

Construction begins!

To say that is has been a long time coming would be an understatement; but we have finally begin the construction of our new home! It has all been so fast, and I hope that the rest of the process goes as smoothly and quickly as it has so far. Surprisingly is has not even been two weeks since the first crew started work. They came on Thursday and poured the cement footings. Friday they set the forms for the foundation, and poured those on Monday. Wednesday the framers started work on the floor and by last Thursday we had our first wall. By the end of today the entire first floor will be framed and they will start tomorrow on the second story. WOW ! What a lot of work. We have found that right now is a GREAT time to be building a house, because no one else is and contractors are begging for work. We hope that this means we will be in by Thanksgiving, not Christmas. (Although secretly I am hoping for Halloween!) Rick and Noah sealing the foundation.
Noah has been so excited to go out and work everyday. He has had the opportunity to work in the trackhoe and backhoe a lot because my uncle is doing our excavation. He is the hardest working little boy. He always wants to be out working with the men .

The first wall!
This is the wall separating the garage from the house.

Luke, Grandma Gunnerson and Eli, Rick, and Grandpa Gunnerson standing in the garage looking at the first of many walls.

The first wall went up on Thursday, and here it is today.
This is a picture of the back of the house from my parents yard.

I know this picture isn't of anything important, but I just thought I would show how well we are protecting those wetlands! We've had heavy equipment drive on it, a dumpster park on it, all of the crew's trucks park on it, and lumber stacked on it. But, building a house there would be out of the question.

A Little Perspective

Life is all about perspective.

A couple of weeks ago we were enjoying some fabulous spring weather. When Luke got home from school I encouraged the boys to go out and enjoy the nice warm afternoon. Not long after they went out to play, they came back in to ask if they could put the sprinkler under the trampoline. I told them that it wasn't quite warm enough for that (it was probably about 65 degrees). So Noah quickly made a request that he has been making all winter long, which I have been denying until it "gets warm". He asked if they could play with their shirts off. I said yes, and off they went.

It really made me reflect on how much in our lives is all about our perspective. When we lived in Las Vegas I kept the boys in pants and long-sleeved shirts until it was 70 degrees outside. Shorts weren't an option until the 80's came along. Now we live in the frigid north and once the thermometer hits 65 I am letting them play outside without their shirts! Yep, now 65 degrees is warm.

It's amazing how differently we can see things when we look at them from a different perspective.