Smelly Stuff

Well, lots of new smells at our house.  We had all the wood trim, door frames, doors, cabinets, etc. (anything wood) installed this week.  I have to tell you, it smelled quite scintillating.  Now, add to that the smell of wood staining, and well, you get scintillating + intoxicating (if not ventilated properly).  I’m not sure exactly what that equals, but it does add up to something REALLY smelly!

So, yeah, all the wood is stained and ready for the painting of the walls.  They also poured the concrete on the driveway, sidewalks, and back patio.  Despite Jessica’s shoe prints on the back patio (you’ll have to ask HER if you want that story!), it looks flawless.  No, really, it all looks really good!

Light at the end of the tunnel…

Well, we have a closing date! We close on Friday, December 22nd. That is in 49 days (from 11/2). I can’t believe it is happening so soon. When we first started building we were told that our house would probably close at the beginning of Feburary. HA! Well, it will be done in 2006, not 2007. So, yeah!

They bricked our entire house and built our mail back in 3 days. So, the newest pictures of our house will have brick in the pictures. They have also started taping and preping the drywall for texture. We are just trucking right along. We’ll keep updating the pictures as the new things happen, which will be really quickly.

I still can’t get over the fact that our house will be done before Christmas. I can’t believe it. I can’t wait either. 🙂

I See Some Good Walls Risin’

“Homer he needs some CPR!” “I see a bad moon risin'” (Homer singing).  “Not CCR!” (Marge says)

Well, we have indeed seen some walls a risin’ as they have put up sheetrock for the ceilings and all the walls.  Did I mention they put insulation through all the walls as well?  Well they did, and we’re thoroughly excited.  Even more exciting is that we found out that we are probably going to close right after the beginning of the year!  Just a couple more months!  Check out our picture album for more recent pictures (again, click on the picture to the right; the newest pictures are listed first).

I also had an interesting thought today regarding our happiness and how we live our lives.  So often I catch myself saying, “I need to do this or that because I know if I do so, I’ll be happy.”  For example

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, I have been so busy with everything that has been going on lately, I almost haven’t had time to think straight.  I am loving my job (a lot of the time) and staying really busy with activities at church.  I am the enrichment leader, and I have taken it upon myself to help the get to know each other by creating a list of “interest groups.”  Some people are expecting me to organize everything, but I can’t do that!  I would have to be crazy! 

I am hosting the book club though and the first meeting of the painting and crafting group.  I wanted to start a book club, but no one came to my first meeting but me.  So I got to make all the rules and pick the book I wanted to read.  Oh lucky me.  🙂  We are reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.  Thus far, the book it pretty good, but I must warn you.  If you read it, you won’t get it unless you are fairly well versed in history and literature.  Even if you haven’t read tons, but are vaguely familiar with a lot of stories, then you’ll be fine.  I had a student come to the a week or so ago, and we are starting a book club there too.  So, she wanted to read these brand new books, but since all of the books are not easy to get ahold of without buying them I vetoed them.  So, she wanted to read The Eyre Affair also.  I don’t know how well the kids will do, but it does make it easier for me to host 2 book clubs. 🙂 

Shingles, ductwork, and electrical

Check out the album pictures to the right.  Yep, the subject pretty much sums it up.  It really is pretty exciting to watch our house get built.  We just can’t believe its going to be ours! 

As far as other things going on, we’re just doing our best to stay afloat.  Jessica’s been incredibly busy with teaching, church stuff, and keeping me out of trouble.  She’s been organizing a lot of groups for Relief Society to do different things like book clubs, craft groups, etc.  I’ve haven’t really been good for much lately.  I haven’t been able to kick my allergies yet.  I still wake up most mornings with a bunch of crud in my chest and throat and sore throat, yada yada yada.  Oh well, it can only get better right? 

Again, be sure the check the photo album!

House Framing

Yeah!  The initial framing is up on our house.  You can go check out a _bunch_ of pictures on our photo album by clicking on the big picture at the top right of the page.  We are pretty excited about it.  We were especially giddy as we walked around on our foundation through the different “rooms” of our house.  It was pretty cool.  So, enjoy!

Hectic Times

Everythings crazy!  Jessica and I are going nuts!  Ok, not quite, but things are definitely busy around here.  Jessica is really going a million miles an hour trying to get caught up at her job as a middle school teacher.  Seeing as how she started a week into the semester, she is trying to set up her room that would have been setup in the summer, plan lessons that would have all ready been planned, and trying to stay sane through it all.

I’m trying to help her in whatever ways he can as well as fitting in time for his writing.  Writing is such an involved process that it can be overwhelming, but I know I can do it.  I just always have to remember that it is my first time, and mistakes are ok.  I really do enjoy it, and that’s what I need to focus on.

By the way, some new house pictures are up.  Keep checking back often as we’ll put new ones up.

New House Pictures

Well, we’ve successfully created our first Google Picasa Web Album.  It is, of course, for our new home pictures!  Anyway, you will always see a link to the album on the right (see the picture of dirt?) that will send you to the album where you can see all of our pictures.

Our newest pictures are of our dirt that is grated and ready to go.  You can also find the floorplan for our house as well as one of a cute looking dog and funny looking guy.  Enjoy!

What’s new with us

This is our family newsletter submission for the month.  It will update you on our struggles and our triumphs.  You know, things of that nature.

Its us in the hottest and windiest of states.  Ok, maybe not _the_ hottest, but probably more so than any of you!  Not that I’m glad for that because believe you me, its not pleasant.  The air conditioner in the house hasn’t been able to keep up with the heat, so the afternoons get up to about 79 in the house, and we’re ready for it to cool down.  I don’t know if we said this last month, but we’re staying in Jessica’s parents’ house until our house gets built.  What’s that you say?  You didn’t know we were building a house?  Yep, we are.  It hasn’t been started yet, but our loan has been approved, and right now we’re in the selection stage getting everything squared away with how its going to end up.

We’re outta here

Well, we’re outta here.  Adam got a job in Oklahoma at Lopez foods as a computer programmer.  We’ve thought about it, prayed about it, even debated it (almost heatedly) and we’ve decided that this is the right thing for us to do right now.

So right now, we are starting to pack things up and get ready to leave.  I have resigned my post as an English teacher at Olympus High School, which made me quite sad; but I’ll be okay.  My principal was really good to me and very understanding.
 
Adam has also left his job with Dan, and he has been great during this whole process.  We are so grateful for all that Dan did to help us right out of school.  Adam had a job to go to that he learned a great deal from.  It was an invaluable experience.  Thanks Dan!

Thank you to everyone here who made our life in Utah as pleasant as it could be.  We have loved our time here, but sadly, it is time to move on to something different.  We’d love to hear from you if you are here sometime before the 20th, since that is when we are leaving. 

So adieu for now!  Please stay in touch with us if you are not already!