Sunday, October 31, 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The trusses are here! The trusses are here!

Now the house can start to take shape!



It's fun to see them unloaded off the trailer. I have a video I'll have to post later of it. There are roller things on the trailer and they turn them on and the trusses just slide right off!





Just a few trusses up and it's already starting to feel a whole lot different out there!


Lauren was happy to help as always.




She loved hanging out under her "fort".

Thursday, October 28, 2010

What a mess!

Lasagna yes I understand. Especially when it's so good you just have to shovel it in.


But chocolate graham crackers?


And cracker sandwiches with cheese in the middle?


How does this happen?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

600 wins!

Congrats Aunt Cindy on winning 600 games in her career!
Article



Lauren was oh so tired but she sure loved sitting on uncle Rob's lap!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Helgoths Pumpkin Patch

We went to yet another pumpkin patch this weekend.

This was the one I have been waiting to go to because I know that they have all the awesome specialty pumpkins for much cheaper than anywhere I've found around here. 22 cents a pound. Doesn't matter what kind you get.

Lauren is still scared of goats(this one made her cry)

But she loved the chickens.


Hangin out with her little friend Colt


She loved riding the train with Kynzi

Her face is soon going to be permanently stuck like this:


She's pretty indifferent to slides. Even this big one. No reaction.


Big girl just walkin' along.


Noah's ark with more slides that she really could have cared less about.


Charlie Brown!



She walked around and patted every single pumpkin.


Monday, October 25, 2010

Day 29

Things that have happened at the house since I last posted:

  • The concrete flatwork was finished (obviously)
  • The roof trusses were delivered
  • The rim board was installed
  • The basement daylight wall was built





Today the floor trusses are being delivered.

Maybe it'll start to come together soon!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Day 19

The concrete flat work is done!

It's actually a lot of fun to watch concrete going in. It makes such an impact in such a short amount of time.

I didn't get a picture of the basement floor yet but it looks awesome and makes more like a house will be there now.




Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Day 17

Today the flat concrete is being poured.

In preparation, on Saturday we finished filling the garage with sand and leveling it out.



Of course we got lots of help from Lauren. She had so much fun playing in a giant sand box.



She even got to go for her very first tractor ride!


The plumber came on Saturday and got things ready for the basement bathroom.


OPPD came on Saturday and trenched a new line for us and set our transformer.


Monday the concrete guys came and packed/leveled the sand and yesterday they got the rebar in and ready to pour!


Checking to make sure everything is ok :)



More pictures to come today of the cement!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Pumpkin patches, apple picking and Day 12 of the house build

Here goes a weeks worth of blogging in one post.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch
On Monday Lauren and I met up with some friends at Vala's pumpkin patch. While I think that Lauren had fun people watching and participating in the few activities she could, I have to say that I think Vala's is a little too commercialized. It felt like we were at an amusement park instead of having a fun afternoon at the local pumpkin patch. We were there on a Monday afternoon. I can't imagine what that place would be like on a weekend. I don't think I would have even felt comfortable letting her down to run around. There were fields of empty parking lots that are usually full on weekends. Not to mention it's expensive.($13 admission. $9 on Mondays and a few other days. Plus extra to ride the train, etc.) They make enough money in one month to last them a whole year after paying all the workers, building new attractions, etc. That being said, I'm sure we'll go back again and there really are some cute things there. We didn't go through the haunted house or go on the hayrack ride to pick pumpkins. I was a little disappointed in the pumpkin selection also. There weren't any of the fun specialty pumpkins. I was told this morning that they don't grow the pumpkins there - they are shipped in.

If you go in and go to the right and keep walking all the way through the park past the train there are some cute activities. One of them was a bouncy pillow that looks like this:

Lauren loved just sitting there and having the older kids bounce her around.


All kinds of fun cut outs which make for great pictures.


Train rides


Petting zoo area. Lauren was scared of the animals. She was clinging on for dear life :)


A nice big rocking chair.





Martin's Hillside Orchard
We went apple picking this morning. Now this is a great place. Very relaxed but also offers tons of stuff. In addition to apples they have pumpkins (with all sorts of specialty ones), fun gourds, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, Christmas trees, wreaths, etc. Of course all these are dependent on the seasons. It's $4 a person or $15 a family. That money also goes toward any purchase you make. The apples today were $1 a pound for all kinds except Fuji which were $1.50/lb. Pumpkins were 25 cents a lb or 50 cents for specialty ones.







They also have a few fun things for the kids to play on.



House build
Today is day 12 of the house build. Nothing is happening today.

Yesterday Adam took the day off to work on filling in around the house and inside the garage. We put gravel around the base and then will fill in with dirt.

He built up the drive into the garage and started filling it with sand before the flat work can be poured. 120 tons of sand were delivered and we still need some more.




Here is an interesting picture. We didn't see it at first. Adam had initially thought about doing the waterproofing himself but it looks like it's a good thing we had the wall guys do it. They did all kinds of things like set the dump pit into the cement, put a tube under the foundation that hooks up to the outside drain tile and they also did this:

They left a little spot where house meets garage so the entire basement could be waterproofed.