Week 3

I'm getting pretty bad about taking time to sit down and keep up with everything that is going on.  Instead, I've been keeping little notes about what we did each day and who was here, so when I have the time to sit down and actually write I can jog my memory on what we did.

I can't believe this Tuesday will have been 4 weeks since we broke ground.  Things are moving along so quickly. I've been able to take a couple of days off here and there and it's been so nice to be around and feel more helpful and more a part of things.  It's not so fun when I have to wake up and go to work - not that I dislike my job, because actually I really love my job - it's just hard waking up and leaving when I want to stay home and be with Nick working on our house.

There are so many things that I am learning about building a house and I guess that shouldn't be a surprise because I basically knew nothing, but it's amazing the amount of detail that goes into it.  I didn't even think about the things that seem small but are so important to get done right and take some time to make sure they are done right like squaring the walls, bonds and plates for the walls.  I'm sure there are going to be many more things along the way that I had no idea was even part of building a house, but to me that's part of the fun in all of this.  Nick, Grandpa, my dad, Gary and Kellie have already taught me a lot.

Anyways, here's the last week of what's been going on:

Friday - July 17: I took the day off to work on the house.  Nick, Grandpa and I worked in the morning on finishing the bond and making sure everything was square.  Like I said, this was one of those things that I had no idea was even part of building a house, much less having to use perfect triangles to make sure everything is square, so this took a little longer than I expected.  We took a break for lunch and Nick and I ran into town to meet with the bank and start getting money to the people that had done work or given us materials.  We had lunch quick and headed back to the house.

It had rained quite a bit the day before, so Adam was out of work a little early and came over to start helping lay the floor joists.  Jake Cooper, Jessica's boyfriend, and Ken, our contractor, came over Nick had only expected to get 3-4 of them done, but with Adam, Ken and Jake helping we were able to get about 3/4 of the joists put in.  Courtney came over after she had woke up from sleeping (she works third shift and had worked the night before) and we ordered pizza for dinner.

Saturday - July 18: Jessica, Jake, Grandpa, Nick and I finished the joists and we started sheeting.  We started early this morning because Nick and I had a wedding for my friend J.D. from work in Traverse City to go to.  We finished by 11 and Nick and I got ready to leave for the wedding.  Kellie, Gary, Jessica, Jake and Grandpa came back while we were gone and continued working on the laying the sheeting for the floor.

Nick and I headed up to Traverse City and stopped for lunch on the way.  The wedding was wonderful and I was really glad we were able to make it.  We ended up getting there around 3:45 and met up with Venkat, Glenn and Stacey at the Jolly Pumpkin.  We stayed until about 9:30 and enjoyed the drinks, yard games, delicious food and moomers ice cream sandwiches and had to head home.  We arrived very tired back at home around 12:30.

Sunday - July 19: Josh Farrell was here around 9:30 and was ready to work.  Gary, Kellie, Jessica and Grandpa arrived shortly after and we finished up the sheeting that was left by lunch.  Grandma made chili dogs and pasta salad for lunch.  Josh had to leave around 1 for a birthday party but helped a ton while he was here.  Vince Pennington, a family friend, got to the house around 11.  My mom, dad, Ryann, Ben and Henry (Ryann and Ben's dog) came over as soon as they got home from camping.  Because of the number of people that gave up their Sunday to come help us, we were able to get 3 exterior walls up - including the sheeting and wrap.  We ordered pizza for dinner and were done by 9:30.  Wade O'mara was able to stop by on Sunday while he was home for his dad's retirement party and see everything before he flew back to Florida.

 

Sunday especially I felt really emotional about everything.  Part of it being our first wall of our new home was going up, but most of it was the fact that so many people have been so giving and selfless.  I know that Nick and I have people that care about us and love us, but actually seeing people give up their entire weekend and work all day and then come over and help us work after they worked all day long really makes us realize how wonderfully blessed we are.  If it wasn't for all of you helping we wouldn't be anywhere near the amount of progress we have made already.

    

Monday - July 20:  Monday meant back to work for me.  Grandpa, Nick, Gary, Kellie and Jessica started work around 11 or 12 and worked on getting walls made and put up until we (Vince, my mom and dad, Ryann and Ben and Jake) got to the house to start working around 4.  Ryann made dinner - homemade macaroni and cheese, caesar salad and bread - and it was absolutely fantastic.  6 more exterior walls were built and put up on Monday, which left us with 1 more to make on Tuesday.  We worked until about 9 again and needless to say we were all exhausted after two very long days.

Tuesday - July 21: Grandpa and Nick decided after a couple of long days and a lot of progress that we were going to take the evening off.  Grandpa had a game of one of his grandkids to go to, Kellie had to work late, and it was my mom and dad's anniversary, which are all good reasons not to work.

Grandpa and Nick worked during the day from 12-5 and we got the last wall put up.  Rachel, Phil and Lionel (Rach and Phil's dog) came over to check things out.  We ended up going to Mooville with my mom, dad, Rachel and Phil, and then afterwards Rachel and Phil hung up and we ate dinner and played some MarioKart and Super Mario on our WiiU.  It was nice to have a little break and spend time with Rachel and Phil.

Wednesday - July 22: Grandpa and Nick started work at 11.  Vince, dad, and Grandpa worked on getting the nook finished, while Nick, Gary, Kellie and I worked on getting more interior walls put up.  My mom made barbecue sandwiches and macaroni for dinner.

Thursday - July 23: Grandpa, Kellie and Nick worked during the day on the interior walls.  Mike Possehn from Jackson Dirt Works came to start backfill and put some sand in the garage.  After work, dad, Grandma, Gary and Mike Barbour came home and worked on finishing up the walls and working on sand in the garage.  My mom came and made tacos for dinner.

Friday - July 24: Grandpa and Nick worked during the day.  They have been starting around 10:30 or 11 and working until lunch, taking a lunch break and then working on until we all get home from work.  They work really hard and I can't tell either of them enough how much I appreciate all they do.  Like I said, I love my job, but I wish I could be home helping them more.  After work, Kellie, Gary, my mom and dad, Jessica and Jake, Mike and Jessica and Zach came over and got a couple more of the garage walls up and worked more on the sand.

The 24th of July is always a hard day because of it being the anniversary of Nick losing his dad, but we kept busy most of the day with the house.  I wish Dave was around to see all of the things we are doing and be a part of everything, but especially to see his son and how wonderful of a man he has become.

We finished up the night by heading out to the Ionia county free fair with Jessica, Mike, Jordan Richardson, Jessica and Jake, Gary and Kellie and Kristin.  I had my elephant ear and lemonade and finished up the night by saving some goats and sheep from being attacked by some rouge goats that jumped out of their pen.

Saturday - July 25: Saturday was mostly a do no work on the house day.  Emily Duits, one of mine and Nick's good friends growing up, passed away 10 years ago this year, and every year her parents and sister put on a sand volleyball tournament in her honor.  Nick and I have played almost every year and it's very important for us to be there, so this year we paused working on the house to go show our love and support to a very amazing family and honor a wonderful friend who is no longer here.  We ended up playing this year with Adam, Andrew Dow, Chelsey Morrison and Amy Joostberns. We won 1 of our games, but we had a lot of fun and got to catch up with people and to us that's what is important.

After the tournament, Nick, Adam, Courtney, Emily O'Rielly and I headed back to the house to meet Grandpa and make another garage wall.  Once we got that done, we ordered some pizza and took a movie back over to Kellie and Gary's house (because of the air and the pool).

Sunday - July 26: Grandpa's birthday party was Sunday and we took this day off.  Nick and I were able to sleep in, watch some tv and have some long over due snuggle time.  We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Buck's about 12:45 and stayed there until a little after 3.  Gary came back to the house with us and we moved the lumber that we had in the yard so when the trusses come it would be out of the way.

Monday - July 27: Mondays are always the hardest to get up and go to work.  All I want to do is sleep and stay home with Nick all day, butI get up and get my butt out the door.  Work flew by because of busyness.  It was really hot out today, so I tried to check in often and make sure Nick and Grandpa were taking breaks and drinking lots of water.  They started again around 11 and took a break for lunch.  Kellie was able to come over and by the time we got home the last garage wall was built.  Everyone took a break and was coming back around 6 to lift the last wall.  Kellie stuck around and Nick, her and I worked on getting things cleaned up and getting the plates all up.

My dad, Adam, Richard (grandpa's friend), Grandpa, Nick and Kellie lifted the last wall, while Ryann, Ben and I worked on finishing the plates.  Ross and Brody Jackson came back to finish the backfill and get the sand all set in the garage.  The garage door ended up being too short so he couldn't get the skid steer in the garage like they had hoped, but with a little man power, they were able to get it all set and compacted.

The trusses came this morning and we are hoping to start working on those on Wednesday.  I still can't believe that it hasn't even been a month and we have all the walls up and the roof will be going on shortly.  I couldn't be happier with our life and the people surrounding us.  Tomorrow is another day full of hard work, sweat, and love and support from our families and friends and we are so ready to continue this adventure.

Weeks 2 and 3

I snuck inside quick to catch up on the last week while Nick and Grandpa are working in the basement on the walls.  They told me it was going to be slow for a while, so I took the opportunity that I was given while I had the energy to actually sit down and write something.

I've been pretty bad about writing as much as I would like, but I've been keeping notes in my phone to remind me what we've been doing every day and who has been here so I won't forget.  Working all day and then coming home and helping has made me have very little energy to do anything else.  I'm transitioning to a new role at work so between juggling that, keeping the house clean and building, I've been pretty busy to say the least.  Anyways, here the recap of the progress we've made in the last week.

Wednesday - July 8: We didn't have much to do this night, so we decided to take a night off from the house building stuff and went to Mooville and got ice cream with Kellie and Gary.  For those of you who don't know, Mooville is probably the best ice cream place ever and I'm literally obsessed with their sea salt ice cream and waffle cones.  Needless to say, I was happy to go get some ice cream.  If you guys live around the area, or are ever in the area, you should definitely go check them out :)

Thursday - July 9: Nick and I worked on moving the rest of the stone to get it out of the way and around the basement walls.  Kellie and Gary came over to help get prepared for Friday and pouring the basement floor.

Friday - July 10: The end of Thursday made me feel so loved and blessed.  We are trying to do as much on our own, without hiring people so we can save some money and our friends and family have been so willing to take their time and energy to help us do that.  Let's just say when we are done, Nick and I are going to be busy repaying the favors and helping out all of our beloved family and friends whenever they need it.

I got home a little early from work to help get things ready.  I was planning on getting in the basement and pulling and moving cement, which didn't end up happening because of the large group of men we had here.  Mike and Jermey Barbour, Grandpa Buck, Mark Farrell, Gary, Marty Carter, Adam and Kevin Dow, Jordan Richardson all came out to help us.  Charles Farrell (Gary's dad) stopped by for a while to see how things were going.  Grandma Sharon and I were making sure everyone was staying hydrated and had everything they needed.  Aunt Karrie brought us dinner which consisted of lots of pizza and breadsticks, water and gatorade.  Kellie and Kristin came by after work.  Kristin left after eating and Kellie stayed to help for the rest of the night.

 

After getting the floor all poured, we had to get leveled and smoothed.  Mark and Nick were down in the basement using the trowels on their hands and knees to get around the edges and Gary was using the power trowel to get the larger parts of the floor.  The sun had cured the cement a little quicker than we had expected, so Mike, Jermey, Kellie and I were rotating between spraying where Gary told us to and helping direct each other where it needed to be sprayed.  Mike, Jeremy, Kellie, Gary, Mark, and Grandpa Buck stayed later to help us finish the floor and get the power trowel out of the basement.

Saturday - July 11:  Every year since before I was born my dad's family has been going to Higgins Lake and camping for 1-2 weeks in July.  I've tried to figure out how to explain what this time and my family means to me, but I don't think their is a word to explain how much I cherish the time that we've been given to share together and the bonds that the time has given us.

I was really worried this year that we weren't going to be able to go up and spend time with my family, but it worked out pretty perfectly that we were able to.  We didn't have any of the lumber to start working on the basement support walls delivered yet and they weren't going to be delivered until Monday, which left really nothing to be done on the house.  I was so excited we were going to be able to go, relax and spend some time with my family.  We ended up getting to the campground around 10 on Saturday morning.  My parents, Rachel and Phil, Ryann and Ben, Josh, Ashley and Bradley, Aunt Carolyn, Gabby, Uncle Steve and Aunt Diane, Ahna, Leah, Kara, Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam, Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer, Uncle Ralph and Aunt Nancy, Noah, Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy, Sarah and Lindsay were all there on Saturday.  Usually Higgins Lake time consists of relaxing, playing games, campfires and going to the beach (which are my favorite things minus a few things such as long baths and puppies:)), so we did just that.  Went down to the beach for a bit, took the kayaks out, Uncle Dave had the sailboat and soaked up the beautiful sun.

               

We had pizza pies for dinner, another one of my favorite things, and we celebrated Bradley's 1st birthday.  It was an absolutely wonderful day.

Sunday - July 12:  We spent the day at Higgins again just relaxing and enjoying our family.  Jenna and Brooklyn were up to visit on Sunday.  Taco night, another one of the most anticipated food nights at Higgins was Sunday.  Nick and I left right after dinner and headed home.

While we were gone, Grandpa Buck and Grandma Sharon and Kellie and Gary made sure they were stopping by to keep the cement wet so it wouldn't crack.

Monday - July 13: Monday was back to work for me, while Nick, Kellie, Grandpa Buck and Grandma Sharon spent the day at the house.  We had sand delivered to fill in around the house to help with the water drainage.  Nick borrowed Kevin and Melanie Dow's skid steer to move the sand, while Grandma and Kellie were in the trench leveling it.  The lumber for the basement support walls, floor joists and decking was delivered.  Grandpa spent his day mapping out where the walls needed to go and marking the lumber.  When I got home, we spent a couple more hours working on the sand, but had to stop because the ground was too wet to drive over with the skid steer.

Tuesday - July 14:  Grandpa and Nick spent their day working on the walls in the basement.  When I got home three of the walls were up.  Kellie and Gary came by after Gary was out of work and helped build a couple more walls.  Josh and Ashley Farrell and the girls stopped by to check out the progress and say hi.

Wednesday - July 15: Jessica, Grandpa and Grandma were here during the day working.  Grandpa and Nick worked on the walls again and Ray McDaniels (one of Grandpa's friends) stopped over to assist them for a bit, while Jessica and Grandma moved some of the leftover sand.  We got the foam laid out on the walls and started laying some of the plates.  We figured out we were short some lumber and couldn't make the last three small walls in the basement until Thursday when we got more lumber delivered. Grandpa left around 530, and Gary came over shortly after to help Nick finish laying the plates.

  

Thursday - July 16: I took today off of work to be home to help with some of the house things.  This morning, more lumber (the stuff we needed for the basement, and all of the lumber to build our upstairs walls) was delivered.  Grandpa got here around 10. I was able to sleep in a little and get much needed rest, and then I moved the rest of the lumber needed for the basement for the guys while they worked on setting the wall. Richard Hager (another one of Grandpa's friends and our neighbor) stopped by in the afternoon to check out the progress and help.  Kellie came over and we worked on getting the plates completely done and correct.  Kellie left around 6 and Gary headed over to help us get the bond up.  Kevin brought the tractor by to move the rest of the sand and had a couple beers with Grandpa and Nick.  Melanie stopped over on her way by to see the progress of things.

Tomorrow is another day filled with more work and support and love from our family and friends, and Nick and I are so excited to continue this journey together!