Fun in the Sun

We had a BIRTHDAY BASH for me at the beach this weekend!! So much fun!! It was our first beach trip of the year. We weathered out a little rain at first and then had a GREAT day!!! Jamie and Gabbie are such great friends!!

Blake was hilarious!! He grabbed a pair of pink goggles and wore them for most of the day!!! He really liked the beach yesterday....just not actually getting in the water. And can you believe he got stung by a jelly fish!!!???? The girls were catching little fish in a net. They caught a jellyfish and he quickly grabbed it and then started screaming!! Luckily it was small and the sting went away after a little while. Note to self...put the "afterbite" in the beach bag!!!!

Thanks for making it a great day and going with us Carla!!!

ANOTHER project???

We must be crazy!!! Josh has spent the whole weekend putting together a new play set for the kids. He and Aaroon have done a great job. What a time consuming job it has been!! They are doing great and should have it up soon!!!!

It's a Room!

Some guys came yesterday and put up the sheet rock. It is amazing how much it looks like a real room now! (messy room but still a room!! :)

It's Going Good

Papa says, "Peace"! All is well.
Dad had a dr. appt. on Friday (29th) and then Mom took him home for a week. We really did enjoy having him recover here. The kids were quick to help out and be sweet. I know that he will enjoy being in his own bed though!! That always makes things a little better! He is taking next week off because we are having the sheet rock hung and completed. After that, we are painting!!! (hopefully next Saturday!!!) Can you believe that!!???? Let's look at what has happened this past week!

Random picture of our shower that we are all really excited about!!!
The new addition with the roof completed and waiting for siding (to be done in a couple of weeks).

Plumbing, electrical, heating/air and insulation were all done this past week. All ready for sheet rock now!!

We are moving right along!! We got to pick out tile for the bathroom, vanity light, ceiling fan and paint colors this past week. A lot of details but so much fun to create something for yourself. Speaking of creating something for yourself....Dad and Jason helped us install a nice dual receiver satellite box to all our t.v.s (including where the new one will be in the new room), we have a nice 5 ft. shower with the type of glass door and faucet that Dad likes, a toilet meeting Dad's standards and lots more nice extras. Must be pretty cool to build your own "in-law" room at your daughter's house, huh? :) Everything Dad likes is fine with us. We are glad he is putting special touches to the room/bathroom. However, I don't know how he will like the futon we will be getting for the new room!???? hmmmmm

We appreciate Jason and Dad's help so much!!!

Papa Update

Papa's Best Medicine....

Dad is doing better. The pain comes and goes depending on the last dose of percoset. He was able to get himself in and out of bed by himself today so that is a HUGE step!!! He is in good spirits and ready to do the house job as a consultant. He and Jason are already in the process of lining up other jobs in this area. So if you need something done in your house, let me know! :)

The roofing is done and looks nice. Next week should be a hopping good time - the heating/air, electrician and plumber will be out on Tuesday. LOTS of excitement!!!

Have a happy Memorial Day weekend!!!

911!!

Today has been the craziest day EVER!!!
Unfortunately I have no new pictures to add to the update. This is because my dad ended up in the ER!!!
They had been working for an hour and Jason comes in to tell me he is taking Dad to the ER. Dad fell off the ladder (3rd rung up) while removing some scaffolding. He tore the muscle in his knee and had to have surgery today!!!
Needless to say everything else felt crazy today!
Thanks so much to everyone for helping me get through this day...kind words, a pot of chili, staying with dad in the hospital so I could take care of the kids, etc.
God is definitely watching out for us!
Dad should be here tomorrow so he can oversee the project from bed!!!! :)
Plus, it would be way too painful to travel back home at this point!!!
I'll keep you posted!!

House Update

This is the boys' room. It is a "before" picture...

Now we are getting to the good stuff....the messy stuff! The windows were taken out today. I really couldn't think of a more perfect weather day for this...not too hot or cold for outside air to come in. It actually felt really good. Jamie is learning young to work a power tool! She is drilling the dry wall to patch up the window. How do you like that gorgeous white with that very dark blue? Can you imagine how dark the room is right now with that dark paint and NO windows??? Pretty dark!! I am going to lock myself in there tomorrow for a nap!!! :)

Papa (my Dad) is showing Jamie the trade. She was really good about wanting to be a good helper today.

They took the existing windows that were cut out and put them in the new room. Obviously just one was put up today.

The shingle work for the roof was started today. The shingles should be done tomorrow.

It is coming right along. I even managed to have 8 kids running around the house and yard today and no one got lost or hurt!! :) It's a miracle!!

I won't bother posting what my yard looks like right now. Not good. After the last 4 days of rain making the yard all nice and soft, a BIG HUGE truck carrying a crane came rolling in today with a delivery. It rolled and rolled and rolled....all over the yard!! (it seems) Dad promises that the yard will be fixed when we are all done. Okay........it will be worth it!!! :)

Congratulations to Jamie!

Jamie wrote a story called, "My Own Special Bridge" at school for a writing contest. She was one of the 12 from school that was selected to receive the Young Author's Award. Today we had a reception to honor all those who received this award. To make this day even more special, Jamie received this award with two of her best friends, Gabbie and Maddie.

Jamie is so confident walking across the big stage!!

Our Young Authors received a published book of all the Young Author's stories and a certificate.

Jamie is truly a budding author!! She has quite the imagination and receives all that ability from her 2 grandmothers!!! She got a double dose I guess!! We are so proud of her accomplishments and love her very much!!!

13th Wedding Anniversary

Happy 13th Anniversary!

I can't believe we have been married 13 GLORIOUS years!!

They really have been amazing! Of course we have had the good with the bad but we have made it through together. I know that is because of our faith in the Lord and each other.

13 Reasons why I love my dear sweet husband...

1. He is a great father!!

2. He is sweet and tender.

3. He loves my family and his family VERY MUCH!!

4. He supports me with whatever crazy thing I have up my sleeve!

5. He works so hard to support our family. Thankfully he has a great job and that allows me to stay home with our children.

6. He is smart. He does all kinds of ridiculous math every day at work as an aerospace engineer that makes my head spin.

7. He is a good missionary.

8. He serves others. Some of the greatest and sweetest memories I have of our marriage is of him serving others, our family and ME. This is definitely my primary love language. He speaks it very well! :)

9. He goes without new things so that his family is taken care of!

10. He helped me SO MUCH through 4 painful child births. I could not have made it through without looking in his eyes and hearing him say, "You can do this."

11. He loves me despite my weaknesses and annoyances.

12. He is a gentleman.

13. He loved me enough to take me to the temple and seal us TOGETHER FOREVER!

I love you with all my heart Josh. I could have kept going and going on this list (even with the kids screaming because they are hungry. :) )

More changes

Last weekend the kids had a BLAST with their homemade rope swing. They attached a rope to the tall ladder and then came out the little access from the new room to jump down and swing. They were out there most of the weekend. It was really fun for them. Here is a picture from Wednesday. It has come a long way since then. I am amazed at how fast this moves!! I am sure we are approaching the "slower" stuff soon and that will be hard!! Here is the new roof attached to the existing roof...

Here is an "aerial view". (sorry about the butt shot Dad! - I didn't do it!!)

The roof is now prepared for shingles and the windows are cut out. Next week the existing windows will be moved to the new room. Here comes the real fun (and mess!).

The heating and air crew will be coming out to hook up the new room. Everything will be sealed up. The plumber will come out and start that new work also. The shingles will be put on the roof. Wow!!

The heating and air guy has already been a lifesaver! We told him we haven't been pleased with our system and he took a look at everything. He found our problem...a big gaping hole in the return in the attic!! The super hot heat (and cold in the winter) from the attic was coming in our system!! Could that explain our $300 electric bill?? Probably! Uuuuggghhhh! I can't wait to see the difference in the electric bill now! So worth that money!!

Raise the Roof!!

On Friday, the rafters went up!!! Raise the roof boys!! I had to go to school for a Mother's Day program and missed all the action of the hauling up of the rafters!!! Apparently they used ropes.

One picture of the inside...looking at the bathroom and the closet. The rafters and sheeting are up...

We have to get pictures of the kids playing on the ladders, ropes, trailor, Papa's truck, etc. Who knew a construction site could be so much fun!!! The kids really have been so entertained with all of this the past few days.

We had a break over the weekend but my Dad and brother (Jason) will be back Wednesday through Friday. Check back to see what all the changes will be by then!!!

Most of the wall is up...

After a VERY RAINY morning, the guys got the sub floor glued and put in by the afternoon. Josh came home from work just in time to help put up the first wall. We were so excited about this first wall!!! We took a million pictures of this one wall! heehee Before we knew it, more walls popped up.
I bet this is one project the guys will never forget. I wander if they have ever had 6 kids running around on the job site and then couldn't leave the job site at the end of the day. Interesting for all let me tell ya!

Despite threatening warnings of tornado/thunderstorms, the guys grabbed a bite to eat for dinner and then went back out for more work. They were able to put up the sheeting.

In this view, you can see a little of the floor plans (thanks Josh for climbing up on the ladder to get this shot!!). The window on the far left will be the doorway into the new room (the other windows will be closed up). You walk into a 3 foot hallway and the bathroom is on the left. Looking at this picture, the bathroom will be on the left and a closet will be there on the right (where you can now see a window). Dad picked out an awesome 5 foot shower for the bathroom today. I told him to just get the smallest thing possible that wouldn't be very expensive. He opted for a nicer shower since more than likely he will be using this room for himself on future visits. I guarantee it will also have a ceiling fan and satellite tv connection as well. :)

Enough for now...trying to get 11 people showered and to bed....

Floor Joist are In!

We hire only the very best to do the work!!! (Tyler, Cousin Jack and Cousin Ben) The truck load made it to New Bern! (despite the fact that the trusses swayed back and forth on the trailor going 60 mph!!) Yikes!! We were so happy to see that load pull up at our house!!

Jason and Danny starting the floor.

Josh joined in the fun (in between work and cub scouts).

Dad was working too all day but he happened to be off on an errand when Jamie shot these pics. We have the joist up and waiting for a morning inspection to keep it rolling!!!!

The party has officially begun!!!

Here We GROW!!!

The footing was dug this week!!! We have officially started the FUN!! The footing, inspection and concrete went in with no problems!!

I was so proud of the kids for not jumping into the wet cement!! :)

As of today (Saturday) the foundation is complete!! Yah!!!

My dad and 2 brothers (and maybe some "mini-helpers" - nephews) will be coming on Monday to start on the subfloors, walls and roof. My dad is hauling all the trusses on a trailer to our house (3 hour drive). Good luck Dad! Be safe!!!

Now we just pray for good weather for the next week!!!