Rounding Out the Year

The end of the year will be officially 6 months of working on the house.  Six months seems like such a long time when you think about it, but it has flown by.  Every day I'm amazed by the amount of work that has gotten done in six months.   So much has changed in the last three months, it almost seems unreal.  It's really amazing what a group of hardworking and dedicated people can get done (especially when all of them have jobs and a life). 

Inspections:

• Electrical: Passed 10/1
• Plumbing: Passed 10/22
• Mechanical: Passed 9/16
• Rough: Passed 10/26

Drywall all put up: 11/10

Drywall finished: 

October 9: Ryann, Ben, Kellie and Gary came over.  Kellie made lasagna for dinner.  We worked on plumbing, insulation and packing up our things from the old house.

October 10: Kellie and Gary came to work at the house.  My mom and cousin Brooke came over and helped pack some more of our things up.  We got our entire bedroom packed up and furniture taken down.  

October 11: My Aunt Carolyn brought my Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer out to see the house.  I was so glad they were able to come out and see the house (even though it wasn't close to being done).  Grandma had her proud Grandma smile on (for those of you that know my Grandma Shaffer, you know exactly the smile I'm talking about :))

October 12: Pete came out and worked on the heating/geothermal stuff.  Courtney and Adam came by and brought Levi over for his first visit to the house.  Kellie and Gary came over and we worked more on plumbing.

October 13 - 24:  I somehow decided to neglect these days and don't have a great recollection of what exactly happened, but I'm guessing that my parents, grandma and grandpa and Kellie and Gary were around and we worked on packing, insulation, plumbing and electrical.

October 25: Rachel, Phil, Ryann, Ben, my mom and dad, Kellie, Grandma and I worked on moving stuff from our old house.  We got almost everything cleared out of the old house in a pretty quick amount of time because of all the help we had.  Gary worked on some electrical and then left to go farm.

October 26: BIG DAY - rough inspection passed.  We ended up not having to dig up under the porches and fix the backfill issue we had, and with the rough electrical, plumbing and mechanical inspections all passed and the minor issues we needed to fix with the rough in, we were good to go.  We were able to start drywalling that evening with help from my mom and dad, Grandpa and Grandma and Kellie and Gary and got the garage ceiling drywalled.

October 27: My mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa came over and we finished all the drywall in the garage and our master bedroom ceiling.

October 28: Grandma, Grandpa, Kellie, Gary, Vince Pennington and my mom and dad came over.  We got our master bathroom ceiling done and most of the cathedral ceiling done.  Kellie, Gary and I worked in the master bathroom while everyone else worked on the cathedral ceiling.

October 30: Ross came over and dug up around the house and laid down the membrane.  Seese came by and hooked up the well pump to our existing well.  Grandma, Grandpa, Kellie and Gary came over to work on drywall again.  We got the half bath, garage entry and laundry ceilings done.  We worked on our master bedroom and closet walls.

October 31: Nick and I got up in the morning and went to Menards to pick up some things.  My mom and dad and Vince were at the house at 10 and Kellie, Grandpa and Grandma got to the house around 1.  We finished all the drywall ceiling!

November 3: Grandpa, Nick and I got almost all of one of our other bedrooms done and worked on some in the family room. 

November 4:  Nick and I had a nice night at the house where we worked on some things just the two of us.  Every one else either had plans or were working.

November 5:  Grandpa, Grandma and Kellie worked during the day on things at the house.  My mom and dad, Nick and I came at night and worked on drywall in the hallway, bedrooms and closets. 

November 10: ALL DRYWALL DONE!!  We got the furnace working and turned the heat on so we would be able to get the drywall finisher in.

November 11:  Mark, our drywall finished came out and started.  Grandma, Grandpa and Nick put the basement windows in

It took Mark about 2 weeks to get the drywall done and we were ready to start prepping for painting on November 24.  My mom and dad and Nick and I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the walls and floors so we could start painting.  We were going to borrow Dow's sprayer to spray paint the primer on, but there was a missing part and we had to wait until after Thanksgiving to get the part, so we ended up doing it all by hand.  We got almost all of the painting done by November 30.  Venkat (my friend from work), Mike Barbour and Ryann came out on Sunday to help my mom, dad, Nick and I with painting.  It was Venkat's first time ever painting but he did very well with it and had a lot of fun.

After painting, we started working on getting plugs and switches and electrical fixtures installed.  We got our cabinets early in December and got those installed in a couple of days.  We ordered our ceiling boards and have been working on getting those stained.  We got them stained and polyurethane on them and started putting boards on the ceiling on Sunday and we were almost done today, but were two boards short, so I got those stained tonight after my mom, dad, grandpa and grandma left. 

Things are coming together so nicely and Nick and I are so ready to be in our new home.  We will forever remember the love and support that so many people gave us and helped us finish our beautiful home.

The Last Month (August and September)

Well, I keep promising that I'm not going to wait so long to blog and I think this has been my longest time between posts yet.  So, it looks like I'm doing nothing but getting worse.  I've decided I'm not going to promise to do it again and maybe I will actually follow through this time.   I have a lot to catch up on, so I'm not going to type a bunch of nonsense fluffy stuff to start and I will just get right to it.

I've been awful with keeping up on what we are doing each day, so I start out doing really well, but haven't done it at all the last couple weeks, so will just try to do general updates and then get better at doing the day by day.

August 24:  Grandpa and Nick finished getting up all the trim on the house during the day.  Dad, Gary and I came and worked on electrical after work.  Dad and I got all the light boxes up and after that Gary and dad continued to work on electrical.  After we were done working, Kellie, Gary, Nick and I headed to Mooville for a little treat.

August 25: Nick and Grandpa went to Menard's during the day to get one of our garage entry doors.  Grandma, Nick and Grandpa came back to the house and started siding and got the garage door installed.  Gary and Kellie came over after work.  Nick and Gary worked on more electrical, while Kellie and I got hurricane straps put on.

August 26:  Nick, Grandpa and Grandma worked during the day again on siding.  Adam stopped by after work and helped us move the sliding door and get that set.  Gary, Kellie, Mom and Dad came over after work again and worked on electrical and worked more on the hurricane straps.

August 27:  Gary, mom, and dad came over after work and helped more with electrical.

August 28:  Grandpa and Nick worked on the house during the day and were done at 5.  Nick and I went into Grand Rapids and met Rachel and Phil for dinner and stopped at Home Depot and Lowe's to look at some stone siding.  Unfortunately we didn't find anything, but we had a good night with Rachel and Phil.  We ending up coming home and finding something we liked online and ordered it.

August 29:  Gary and dad came over around 8 and started working on electrical.  Nick and I had to make a quick run to Menard's to get some odds and ends and grabbed some breakfast.  Mom got here around noon and brought some lunch for us.  Gary left and the rest of us worked until about 6ish.  Nick and I went and had dinner at Cuginos and ran to Menard's to return some things and pick up a couple more things.

August 30:  Grandpa got here around 10 and him and Nick worked on siding all day.  Josh Farrell came over to work on laying out the plumbing.  My parents got here around 12 and Gary around 1.  I had to leave to go to a baby shower for baby Dow and was gone for a couple of hours.  When I got back, I cleaned up the house and bit while everyone else was working on electrical and Kellie was working on the hurricane straps in the garage. 

August 31:  Grandpa and Nick worked on siding.  The got the front of the garage and the peak done with the shake siding.

September 1: Nick had new teacher orientation and was gone for most of the morning.  Grandpa and Grandma came over and got the garage side done and the back of the bedroom started.  Mom, Dad, Gary and Kellie came over at night to work on electrical and other things.

September 2:  Grandpa and Nick worked on siding during the day and got the back of the house almost done.  Dad came over after work and we started running the home runs for the electrical.  Gary came over and helped Nick and dad with electrical.

September 3:  Nick and Grandpa worked on siding agian.  Kellie and Gary worked inside on plumbing stuff and dad came over after work and helped with the plumbing.

September 4:  I took the day off.  Nick and I went to Builder's Plumbing in Lansing to look at bathroom and kitchen fixtures.  We stopped and grabbed lunch at Qdoba and headed home.  Grandpa and Nick worked on siding for the rest of the day.  Kellie, Gary, Ben, Ryann and Josh Farrell came over after work and worked on plumbing and electrical.  Ryann and Ben hung out afterwards and watched some football with us.

September 5:  Gary came over early and worked on plumbing.  Kellie came over after work, and Grandpa was here around 1:30.  Nick went golfing and didn't get home until around 2:30.  We worked on electrical and plumbing.  Ended the night with dinner and then headed to Mooville.

September 6:  Nick and Grandpa got most of the peak on the house sided but we ran out of siding.  Unfortunately, we were only about a piece and half short, but Grandpa did some working with Big L and found some extra pieces and we didn't have to order a full box. Kellie and Gary came over again and worked on electrical.

The last 12 days:  We've worked a lot on electrical and plumbing.  The siding is mostly done.  We had an rough inspection for the mechanical and the electrical.  The mechanical passed with a few adjustments needed, but we had about 15 things we needed to fix with electrical.  We've been working on the list that needs fixing the last two days and are getting closer to having everything fixed so we can call for the re-inspection. 

The replacement window for the damaged window in our bedroom finally came in (after we have waited about 4 weeks) but of course didn't have the extension on it for the 2x6 wall, so we have to have an Andreson rep come out and fix it, so we can get it installed.  We have most of our stone installed, but are waiting for the extra order to come in (which should be here by next weekend).  Other than that, the siding is done with the exception of the bedroom exterior wall which can't be done until the window is in, the small bit of stone and the extra pieces of shake on the peak.

Things have slowed down a little bit because Nick had to go back to school, and we are working on electrical and plumbing and everything is very tedious and time consuming.  We are hoping to be ready to start insulation and dry wall on or before October 1. 

Life is good, stressful but good.  In the end, all of this will be worth it and Nick and I will be enjoying a beautiful new house.  For now, it's a lot of work for both us and many of the people we love.  I'm excited to start doing things that show more progress again and hoping that will come sooner rather than later.

(Please excuse my lack of pictures - I will upload those as soon as I have time)

74 Days

Things have been crazy the past two weeks.  So much has happened and I feel like I can't keep up with it all.  I left on the 9th to go to Indianapolis for a week for work.  We started Beta for our new claims system and I had to go help train and support the release.  Our anniversary was while I was gone and I was pretty bummed we had to spend it a part, but Nick is going to plan something for us when our house is done for us to celebrate.  Nick has accepted a new job and will be working at Lakewood Middle School this upcoming fall.  We are beyond excited!  Nick loved his old job, but has always wanted to be back at Lakewood.  We have so many fond memories there and Nick really cares about the Lakewood community and wants to be a part of it again.  He starts school on September 10, but had to have his classroom cleaned out at Hastings and his new classroom cleaned and set up as soon as possible, which put some stress on him to get both that done and stay on target with the house stuff.

As you can see, we've been quite busy and I have fallen really far behind on keeping up with the blog.  For the week that I was gone, Nick kept a short entry everyday on his phone what was done everyday.  I wanted him to actually get on and blog, but he was extremely busy so I appreciate him doing what he did.  We now have all of roof and fascia and soffit done.  The trench and tile for the basement has been completed, all of the duct work is in, all electrical boxes are in, and we've started to pull wire for the electrical.  It's still unbelievable to me thinking that we started on June 30 with a whole being dug and on August 23 we are ready to start siding on Monday, and electrical is being put in place.  I sound like a broken record, but I can't stop saying it - Nick and I have been so humbled by everyone who has helped us get to where we are right now.  You guys rock.

Here's the day by day break down for the last forever (at least it feels that way:))

Thursday - August 6: Nick, Grandpa, Grandma and Kellie worked during the day.  Grandpa and Grandma got a wall moved - Nick and I decided that we would rather have the extra space in the laundry room than our small bathroom in the mudroom.  Kellie and Nick worked on the drip edge and worked on the roof off the pick because it was too hot to get up and stand on the shingles.  Scott Stoepker came and drilled the holes for the front and back porch supports.  Ben, Gary, Adam and I came over after we were out of work. Adam brought the skid steer with him and worked on getting dirt moved up by the house for underneath the porches.  Ben, Nick, Gary and Kellie worked on shingling while Grandma, Grandpa and I worked on getting the cement into the holes for the porch supports.

We had a little mishap and Adam's brand new truck got a dent put in it.  Nick and Adam were outside chatting before Adam took off.  When they decided it was time to go, Nick went around back to make sure everything was cleaned up while Adam loaded up the skid steer on the trailer attached to his truck.  When he drove up the trailer, the hitch came off and as he moved forward the hitch slammed into the back of his 1 month old truck.  Adam was very cool about the whole thing, when you know he really just wanted to scream from being so angry.

Friday - August 7: I took the day off on Friday.  Nick and I were able to sleep in a little and that was much enjoyed.  We got up and Nick went out to work on the roof.  I felt so bad because he was up there alone, so I decided to be brave and tried to get up on the roof again.  Anndd guess what?! I was able to do it this time.  We were up there for a little over an hour and I was able to walk around and help hand Nick things that he needed.  We took a break and ran into Grand Ledge to get our doors and siding ordered and grabbed lunch.  Grandma and Grandpa stayed behind and worked on getting the supports for the porch put in.  When we got back, everything was set and we were ready to start working on the porch.  While Grandma and Grandpa were grabbing lunch, Nick and I moved some more dirt to the front porch so we would be ready when they got back.

When they got back, Nick and I got the cement put in for the back porch.  Pete (our heating guy) stopped by and got everything cut out for the ducts to be put in place.  Kellie came over around 4 and moved dirt while Grandpa, Grandma, Nick and I worked on the front porch.  When Gary got here, Kellie, Gary, Nick and I got up on the roof and worked until around 8:45.  Kristin came over on her way home from Saginaw and we all decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and get some food and have some drinks.

Saturday - August 8: Gary, Nick and I worked on the roof.  Jessica came over and helped Grandpa and Grandma with the deck boards.  When Kristin and Kellie came over, they got on the roof and worked with Nick and Gary.  Grandma, Grandpa and I worked on the front porch.

Sunday - August 9: I had to pack and get ready to leave for a work trip, so I did very little to help on Sunday morning.  Kellie, Gary, Nick and Kristin worked on the roof again while Grandma and Grandpa worked on the porch.  Nick and I left around noon and stopped at Qdoba for lunch before I left.  I wasn't super pumped to leave for a whole week with so much going on and having to miss our anniversary, but I had a really nice time with Priscilla and Kayta and enjoyed being at the branch.

This is the part where I have little knowledge of what went on, so please forgive the lack of detail here: 

Monday - August 10: The windows came in the morning.  It rained most of the day and made the basement a mess.  Kellie and Nick spent the morning trying to get the water to run away from the house.  We haven't backfilled yet so because of the slope of the ground, everything was running straight towards the house.  They were able to finish the deck and set two windows.  They got the porch roof shingles and started on the front of the house.  Gary, Kellie, Grandpa, Grandma and Nick were working.

Tuesday - August 11:  Grandpa, Grandma and Nick worked until 5 on the overlays for the drywall, returns, and finishing up other odds and ends.  Fern and Tim came after work and helped with windows.  Fern made enchiladas for dinner.  Gary came after work and helped work on more shingling.

Wednesday - August 12: Grandpa, Grandma and Nick worked on getting more windows set and the returns.  The got the kitchen window and garage windows set and left around 3.  Kellie and Nick worked on shingles.

Thursday - August 13: Nick and Kellie cut the valleys.  Grandpa and Nick worked on the porch sleeves and getting those cut.  Nick had a meeting during the day and had to leave for a couple of hours to go meet with the other 5th grade teachers up at Lakewood.  At night, Grandpa and Grandma worked on the porch.  Tim, Fern, Ryann, Ben and Gary came over after work and helped.

Friday - August 14: I came home on Friday and ended up getting back to Lansing around 2:45.  Nick picked me up and we ran to Menards to pick up our doors and some lumber we needed.  We grabbed Cuginos pizza for dinner and headed home.  Grandpa was there and had been working on back porch.  My mom and dad came over after work and we worked on the back deck.  We were able to get the back deck boards finished.

Friday night Nick and I went up to his new class and started going through things.  This is the first year that the 5th grade classes will be in the middle school because due to budget a couple of our elementary schools were closed and combined into one.  Because of the schools closing, Nick had a ton of boxes of things in his room that were from other schools and classrooms.  It was great because there were a lot of cool things in there that he wanted to keep, but there were also a lot of useless things in there that we had to get rid of.  We were at the school until about 1:15.

I'm back from my work trip now, but I forgot to write things down that we were doing and who was here so I may leave out a lot of detail.

Saturday - August 15: Gary came over in the morning and him and Nick worked on the roof.  Grandpa, my dad, Nick and I worked on getting the back deck posts completely set and the header built.  We also got the front deck poles set and the header finished.  We finished wrapping the back and got the windows put in the breakfast nook.

  

Pete and his sons and a friend came over and got all the duct work put in place.  My dad had to leave at 4 for a wedding, so him and grandpa left and Nick and I went to Menards (because they had their 11% off) and got our wire and some of our light fixtures.

Sunday - August 16: The fireplace came on Saturday, so we were able to get that set and we built the walls around the fireplace and got those set.  My dad and grandpa got to the house around 12 and worked on some odds and ends.  Gary and Kellie came in the afternoon and worked on the roof.

Monday - August 17: Kellie and I put up the boxes for the electrical.  Gary, Nick and Kellie worked on the roof, and I burned some of the extra wood and cardboard that we had.

Tuesday - August 18: I had my work picnic and didn't end up getting home until around 7.  The picnic was great.  Finley's catered and we played some yard games - spike ball got intense, but Subba and I ended up beating J.D. and Kyle.  When I got home, I went over to have Kellie do my hair.  Gary and Nick worked on the roof and finished the vents and cap.  They ended up getting back to Gary and Kellie's around 9.

Wednesday - August 19: Nick and I had to head over to my parent's house for family pictures.  Emily Goodemoot (who was our wedding photographer and is awesome) took the pictures.  After that, we ran up to Penny's and had dinner with Rachel, Phil, Ryann, Ben and my mom and dad.  Gary went over to the house and finished caulking the roof and we could say the roof was completely done on Wednesday.

Thursday - August 20: Nick and Grandpa have been working during the day on the fascia and soffit.  It makes the house start to look really cool because it gives it a sharp contrast with the white fascia and the black roof.  My mom and dad stayed after work for a while to help get the last two windows set.

Gary's dad's birthday was on Thursday.  He turned 87 and they were having a party for him at Mark's house.  We went over and stayed for about an hour and visited with Gary's family.  Nick and I headed home, grabbed a movie and dinner on the way home and just relaxed.  We rented Get Hard (Will Farrell and Kevin Hart) and I would not recommend it.  It was not very funny or entertaining.

Friday - August 21: Nick and Grandpa worked on fascia and soffit during the day.  Kellie and Jessica stopped by and cleaned up the inside of the house.  The siding got delivered on Friday and I was super excited to get home and see the colors.  Nick hadn't even opened the box yet when I got here.  I was really please with the colors and the look and I'm really excited to actually see it up on the house.  Kellie and Gary came over at night and we started running wire.

Saturday - August 22: Gary had to work; Nick and Grandpa worked on finishing the facia and soffit. Kellie, Grandma and I went to get groceries and pick up more things from Menards.  Grandpa and Nick worked on getting the rest of the fascia and soffit done.  Kellie and I worked on getting the rest of the boxes set and cleaned up the garage.  Gary came back after work and we continued working on wiring - we got both guest bedrooms done and some in the hall and bathroom done.  We had to make a trip to Menard's to get the fans for our bathrooms and stopped at Olivera's for dinner.

Sunday - August 23: Gary got here at 8:30ish and the three of us worked on wiring. Grandpa should be here in about an hour to start working on some odd jobs that need to be finished before we can start the siding tomorrow.

74 days down!

Remarkable 5 Weeks

I'm becoming pretty awful at keeping up.  I've vowed that I'm going to make myself sit down at least twice a week and write so I don't start forgetting things that happen.  The last week and a half has flown by between work and the house.  So much has gotten done since I last wrote.  Nick and I are tired, but so happy with our life right now.

Tuesday- July 28: Nick got up in the morning and went over to Courtney and Adam's to help Adam with the back deck they are building.  Courtney is due in October and they are trying to get a couple of things done on the house before the precious little baby boy comes.  Grandpa was going to take the morning off for a break, so Nick decided to run over and help them for a couple of hours.

Grandpa ended up coming to the house around noon and him and Nick ended up working until around 5.  We all decided to take Tuesday night off because we were getting wore out and we didn't have much to do.  Nick and I went over to see the finished product of the deck and had a beer with Adam and Shelley while we visited on their new deck.  We headed over to Kellie and Gary's afterwards and had dinner and watched Guardian's of the Galaxy.  I ended up falling asleep at like 9:15 on the couch, so I got my much needed long night of sleep.

Wednesday - July 29: Wednesday was a huge day.  Nick, Grandpa, Grandma and Kellie prepped during the day to get ready for the trusses to get put up.  Ben Stowell let us use his Pettibone so we would be able to more easily place and lift the trusses.  So many people have been beyond generous and supportive during the last couple of months - it's pretty awesome.

After work, Vince, dad, Adam, Ben, Ry, Gary and me got their and started working on the trusses.  Gary, Vince, Adam, Ben, and Nick were up on the walls making sure everything was lined up and nailing in the trusses.  Kellie and Grandpa were inside the house helping place and nail things down.  My dad was running the Pettibone and Ryann, Grandma, and me were guiding the trusses and making sure we had the correct truss loaded when my dad got back to the piles.

My mom ended up coming later with dinner for the whole gang.  By the end of the night we had gotten over half of the trusses placed.  We were all exhausted but it was starting to look more and more like a house and I was getting pretty excited!

Thursday - July 30: The whole crew was back again on Thursday night.  Vince, Ben, Ry, Dad, Adam, Grandpa, Grandma, Nick, Kellie, Gary and me were pretty much doing the same thing again.  We worked until after dark and ended up getting all of the trusses up except the porch trusses that go over the front door.  I was honestly amazed at the progress we made in two days.

My mom and I stood back and were looking at the house as the garage gable went on and started crying - feeling excited, shocked and blessed all at the same second makes me pretty emotional I guess :)

Friday - July 31: Dad and I took a half a day on Friday and Gary had taken the day off as well to start sheeting the roof, but his dad had to go in for a sudden surgery so he took off before dad and I got home.  (Charles is doing well and at home, no worries) I told myself the entire way home that I was going to get up on the roof and help Nick, but of course, I got home, got up on the roof and froze in fear - for those of you who do not know, I DO NOT like heights.  Nick was very patient with me and helped me down.

We ended up taking the Pettibone back to Ben around 2 and my dad and I went over to Jeff and Stacey's to borrow the tractor to use to get the OSB up to the roof.  Nick continued to work on the sheeting, while dad and I cut things for him.  Grandpa worked on the rafters for the valleys and places where the two roof lines come together.  Kellie and Grandma got here around 3 and Kellie got up on the roof to help Nick out.

My mom, Rachel and Phil came over around 5.  Phil got up on the roof to help Nick and Kellie with the sheeting.  Mom and Rachel ordered pizza and went and got that and picked up some drinks for the crew.

Saturday - August 1: Gary got here pretty early on Saturday to start the sheeting.  My dad and Grandpa weren't far behind and then Grandma and my mom trickled in after them.  We finished the sheeting on the house and garage.

Sunday - August 2: Kellie and Gary came around 8:30 and brought us breakfast.  Before anyone else got to the house, the 4 of us worked on the roof vent.  Kellie and Nick were up on the roof measuring and nailing down the pieces of sheeting that Gary and I were cutting for them down on the ground.  Grandpa and dad came around 10:15 and we worked on the porch roof built and making sure it was supported enough to get the trusses on.  We took a break for lunch - Kellie and Gary ran home to see Charles, Grandpa went home to Grandma and Nick, mom, dad and me went and grabbed Subway.

After lunch we started getting ready to put the trusses on the porch up.  It was really windy and it made putting the trusses up not fun.  At one point, I was on the very top of my ladder, hanging on to a truss that was barely on, while Adam was swinging a maul 2 inches from my hand and Grandpa was wiggling the truss I was hanging on to all over the place so we could get it in place.  Let's just say I was the most nervous I have been so far for about an hour straight until we got the last truss up.  Grandma, Ben, Ry and Adam came over to help get the trusses up.  Katie and Jeff McKinney stopped by for a bit to say hi and check things out.  Jessica made fajitas for dinner and they were delicious.

I was really excited Sunday night because I was finally able to stand back and look at our house.  It felt pretty awesome, especially because it's exactly what I wanted it to look like. It's starting to feel so real that soon we will be living in our brand new house that so many of our friends and family helped us build.

Monday - August 3: Kellie, Nick, Grandma and Grandpa worked during the day to get all the sheeting done on the house. Gary, Jessica and I came after work and helped finish up.  Jessica made dinner again for us all.  While Gary, Kellie and Nick were on the roof and Grandpa was cutting the trusses for the valleys, Grandma and I worked on getting the doorways cut out.  After everyone left, Nick and I finished up cutting out the doorways and making sure all the walls were nailed down securely.  I think this was the first time Nick and I were in our house together alone, which I hadn't even realized until about half way through getting all the doorways cut out.  It was nice to be alone, but it's amazing that there has been someone here helping us every second for the past 5 weeks - again we are beyond blessed.

Tuesday - August 4: Tuesday marked the 5 week mark.  I still can't believe we are where we are at already.  Things are moving along so quickly and we are jacked about the progress we have made.  Nick, Ben Dillion (Nick's cousin), Gary and Kellie unloaded the shingles when they were delivered and then Nick spent the rest of the day working on getting the drip edge in place so we were ready to shingle.

Ken Stoepker stopped by to start laying out the basement stairs.  My mom made a delicious dinner - homemade lasagna and salad - so she didn't end up getting to the house until later.  Grandma and Grandpa worked on getting the walls made in the peaks of the house in our great room.  Nick and I cut some starters for the shingles and when Gary got here, him and Nick went up on the roof and laid the ice shield and the first part of the shingles.  I felt pretty useless Tuesday and hate that I am such a chicken and won't get up on the roof.  Kellie came after work and was here about 45 minutes before we called it quits.

Grandpa's feet have really been bothering him from being on them all day, so he decided it would be a good idea to take Wednesday off.

Wednesday - August 5: Nick got to sleep in a little, woke up and went to grab a sheet of OSB that Ken needed to finish the stairs.  Ken came back by and finished the stairs - except for the backs.  Kellie came over and her and Nick tried to work on shingling, but our shingles are black and that in combination with the direct sunlight wasn't working well, so unfortunately, they had to quit but moved on to getting almost all of the drip edge put up.

Ben came over after work, we ate dinner quick and him and Nick got up on the roof and started to shingle now that the sun had moved to the other side of the house.  While they were shingling, I cleaned up the saw dust and scrap pieces of wood that were in the house and started burning some of the scrap wood we didn't want anymore.  Kellie and Gary got here about 7:30 and are still up on the roof now working.  They should have over half of the back of the house shingled by the end of tonight and will end up working until it's too dark to see.

I don't know how to express the happiness that I feel every day knowing that my husband and I - along with so many of our loved ones - are building our forever home.  Not very many people get this experience or opportunity.  We have been able to make memories with some of our favorite people that will last forever building a home that we hope will be our forever.  All of this is remarkable.

After another long day, it's about time we call it a night, snuggle up on the couch and watch a couple episodes of new girl before we hit the sack.