More pics

Looking from the kitchen out the back.

From the great room to dining and kitchen.

With Trusses now on.

Almost finished framing.

Staining the front door.

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.

Spring Break St. George Style

How much fun can one mom and three boys have together for one week in St. George? LOTS! We did actually get to have Rick with us for the first couple of days, and he even stuck around on Monday for Luke's birthday, but the rest of the week was just me and the boys. We spent our time riding bikes, playing in the sand, flying kites, going to the park, bowling, seeing Monsters vs. Aliens, visiting with Chelsea and Jack, skinning our knees and elbows at Jumping Jacks, watching movies, reading books, and just enjoying each other. It was really nice to have no time commitments, responsibilities, homework, or bedtimes! Ah, but all good things must come to an end. At least spring has come to Woodland, and we have started working on the house I will have Thanksgiving dinner in.

Luke celebrated his 7th birthday on the 6th of April. He choose to go to Jumping Jack's and play for a few hours and enjoy lunch at IHOP.

My happy handsome little boy enjoying a warm day at the park.

On one especially windy day we found a kite in the closet at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They think of everything! The boys loved getting it up in the sky as high as they could. Of course I ended up getting it out of the sage brush and winding up the string.

Luke has a love/hate relationship with bowling. He loves to bowl, but hates to loose to his little brother. Even though Noah can barely get the ball down the lane, he still manages to knock more pins over than Luke EVERY TIME. So, no big surprise that Luke ended up crying and pouting when the game was over and he lost to Noah and Jack/Chelsea.

Oh, I could just kiss those boys to death!
At the park they found a little stream and spent more time wading in the water than playing. Good thing we have LOTS of water on our building lot. I am sure we can dig a little stream of our own.

Picture this...here

Picture this house...

Right here!

Back of the house

First floor

Second Floor

It's not official yet (Rick still has to meet with the fire department tomorrow), but last Thursday the County Board of Adjustments granted us a variance from the wetland code. By the end of the week we will have our building permit and we can FINALLY get started! The top picture is the drawing of the front of the house. It will look just a little different because we are going to finish it in more of a rustic finish with stucco, rock, and wood beams instead of siding and shutters. The second picture is of the boys riding Lynne two summers ago on our lot (yes, that is the wetlands!!!!!!). Right about behind where they are riding is where the front of the house will be, so that will be the view from our back porch. I LOVE the front and back porches because we love the beauty of the land around us and we will be able to enjoy it from our front and back porches. I love the layout of the floor plan, but am a little nervous to have our bedroom on an entirely different floor than the kids. Also, did you notice that I have my own closet. No more sharing with Rick. If you know the difference between how I keep my closet and how Rick keeps his you will understand how happy I am about that. We have expanded the utility room/laundry room out to meet the front of the garage, and I am so excited about a BIG laundry/back entry.

I know that we are a LONG way from really having this house being a reality, but it feels like the biggest hurdle is behind us. I am so thankful for Rick for all the work he has done to get everything passed with Summit County. We could never have imagined what a headache it would be. I am sure that once it is all finished, it will just be a funny story we tell, but truly it has been such a trial. We are expecting to be in by the Noah's birthday at the end of October, so everyone is invited to stay with us anytime you are up this way!

My Luke

I love my Luke. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. In just a couple of weeks he is going to turn 7 and it really doesn't seem like it has been that long since I had my first little boy. He has really enjoyed this school year and all of the fun things that he gets to participate in. He entered the "creative challenge" competition at the school and won first place for his rendition of "Fur Ludwig", a child's version on Fur Elise. He played at the awards ceremony where he got is medal. The truth is that he was the only one in K-1st who entered in the instrument category, so of course he won first place. He was so excited to get his medal and "win" first place that when he got back to his chair he said, "I did it! I got first place." I didn't mention the fact that he was the only person who entered. A few minutes passed and he turned to me and said, "Mom, was there anyone even competing against me?" I told him no and he lost a lot of the excitement of "winning". I reassured him that even if there were people competing against him I was sure that he would win anyway! He just looked at me and said, "Yeah, I would've."

Luke with his medal at the piano.

All of the winners at the awards ceremony.

My little pianist.

Also this year Luke is old enough to sign up for a basketball league. He was super excited because basketball is his favorite sport. Rick signed up to be the coach, and to tell you the truth I think he has had as much fun as Luke. Luke isn't a really aggressive kid, so he doesn't go after the ball that much, and at this age that is what you have to do! He does practice his skills a lot and is pretty good and has scored at least one basket at every game. We have just one more game until the season is over...and one more month until soccer season starts.

Luke is really good on defense and gets a LOT of steals every game. (I am sure there is a fair amount of fouling too, but they don't call it that much.)