Memorial Weekend

May 24th-27th

Oh my goodness, did we get a lot done this Memorial weekend! We had Friday, Saturday and Monday to work on the house. It's amazing what we got accompolished. 

The first thing we did was finish wrapping the house with paper so that when it rains it won't come straight down inside the house. We layed a layer of ice shield that was half on the wall and the other half on the roof. Then we covered it in the paper. Yay! No more rain should get inside. 

We also finished sheeting the upstairs. Most of it was done but we just had a few pieces plus the gable's to get done. A friend, Matt Crane and one of his guys came over for the morning and helped us. I was so thankful I didn't have to climb up on that tall, tall ladder!

While the ladders were being utilized elsewhere Kory had Hunter lift him with skid steer to finish the small middle piece. Super easy!

This weekend we were able to get started on the inside of the house too. It's a bit cooler working inside. I'm loving that we're not in the direct sun anymore. It's starting to warm up a bit. Our highs have finally reached the high 70's but it seems that every other day or so the rains come again and cools it all down. Man are we having a weird Spring! 

We were able to begin hanging the windows we've been storing for several months now. It will be so nice to have them out of our ever growing messy, full of building materials garage. 

Kory also ordered the last of the windows, about 4 more. Hopefully we'll get them a bit quicker than the first ones took. 

We also got our glass back door installed. I love it! 

 We began framing the upstairs. We never had plans drawn up for the upstairs because it just seemed like we'd never get to this point. But we're finally ready. After a few disagreements we decided to do a family room, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The upstairs as a whole is 49 feet by 17 feet wide. We wanted to split the 17foot part in half to create 2 bedrooms on one side and then another bedroom and bath on the other side. However, the rooms would only be about 8ft. wide. We were told by a few contractor friends that they wouldn't frame a bedroom less than 10 ft. Our office is only 8ft wide and I'm pretty glad it's just an office and not a bedroom. It will be the perfect size as a office.

This side of the upstairs will have Emily and Kylies bedroom, they are sharing. A nice walk in closet and also a utility closet.  

Maddie is going to have her own room on the opposite side. She'll also have a nice walk in closet. The bathroom is also next to her room. 

It is so awesome to see it all coming together! I feel like we had an awesome weekend and accomplished more than I thought we would. 

The roof

Monday  May 20th- Thursday 24th

This week has been a bit crazy. It's been the last week of school, it's rained every single day this week AND Kylie my 7 year old fell off the monkeybars at school and broke her arm in 2 places! She broke her wrist and her humerous (above her elbow). Her doctor was to busy to see her so I had to take her to the Insta Care where they confirmed it was broke and would need a cast. But Insta Care doesn't do casts! For reals? So they put her in a temporary and we got to see her regular doctor 2 days later for her real cast. Good news is that it should be able to come off in 4 weeks.  But needless to say it's been a little rough this week but we have survived. 

In between rain storms on Monday we were able to put the ice shield and felt on the roof. This will at least keep the rain from coming in on the new part of the house.  

We were also able to sheet most of the house. We left a few openings on purpose so that we can get in and out easier since we don't have stairs yet. 

Before putting the roof on we had to get the fascia done on the side of the house. 

Boy was that high up!

On Friday the rain had stopped, the roof was dried so we hit it hard. We used the skid steer to lift our roofing supplies as high as it could go. Standing on the roof of the front part of the house we could lean over and pull them off and then carry them to the new roof. It sure beat trying to carry them up a ladder or me having to lift them over my head to someone up above. There big, awkward and we had way too many to do it that way. 

Hunter was an awesome help! I brought the sheets to Kory, he would screw them down on the top and bottom so they wouldn't slide off and the Hunter would finish screwing them down. 

We got it almost completely done!

We have one sheet that needs to be split to use it on the end piece. We also still need to put the ridge cap on. Under the ridge cap there is a black foam strip we lay down first which keeps bees, wasps and other flying insects from making there homes under the tin in all the ridges. Of course the company was out of the foam stuff, depsite the order that was placed 4 day's earlier. Sheesh!

When we get the foam we can finish the roof.

Yippee! 

Melt Down

Sunday May 19

Yesterday I had a melt down!

These past few weeks we have worked almost daily on our house, like until 9-10pm. I usually have dinner ready at 5 when Kory gets home. After dinner the girls do the dishes while Kory, Hunter and I and sometimes Maddie go outside to work on the house. During the days I keep busy with getting ready for girls camp, kids projects, kids programs, kids field trips, book work for our business and just the every day chores of keeping our home clean and tidy. These past few weeks of keeping so busy has really worn me out!

We knew the upcoming week was going to be pretty stormy. We were trying to get the new part of the house dried in but didn't quite make it. We woke up to water in our house Sunday morning. 

There was nothing we could do about it which was the worse feeling ever!

The rain was coming down towards the front of the house instead of the side of the house like usual. Friday and Saturday we framed our new walls. So the rain was hitting our new wall and running right down it. There was nothing to keep the water out. 

As the morning progressed the leaking water got worse. 

It was coming in our room between the ceiling and wall.  

A little while later the water was seeping through the middle of the wall where the 2 sheets meet. 

It was seeping in through our new family room, laundry room, bathroom and our master bedroom. 

Kory nor I was happy to say the least. We were both besides ourselves. I wanted to cry but I held it in. Until..........we got to chuch. Sacrament begins each Sunday at 12:00. I was fine on our way to church, I was fine when we sat down. But then out of the blue I was hit with the overwhelming feeling of defeat, disapointment, discouragment, frustration. The list could go on and on and on. I just couldn't fathom what the outcome of all this rain would mean? The rain for the week was just starting. We had rain, lots of rain in the forecast for the next 5 days. Would it ruin all that sheetrock? Would we need to replace it all? How many hours of work would we have to "re-do"? The tears just came. And they came and came. Sacrament began, my kids kept asking Dad if Mom was alright, why was she crying? I tried to stop the tears but I couldn't. I pinched myself, I dug my fingernails into my arm, I bit my tongue. I was trying to do anything to stop the tears, to get control over my emotions. But nothing worked! I cried silent tears all through sacrament. The opening song was "Count Your Many Blessings". I laughed inside. Instead of singing I tried counting my blessings. I had healthy children, I had a roof over our heads even though it did leak terribly. I may have woken up to a wet bedroom floor but my bed was dry. I have running water, My kids are in bedrooms instead of all out in the family room. We have good work, good employees, food on our table. Why was I still crying? 

I cried for an hour. Kory leaned over and showed me a text from a family friend asking if I was o.k. Oops! Nearing the end of sacrament meeting the tears finally dried up. I wiped my cheeks dry and went to the bathroom to make sure make-up wasn't smeared all over my face. Kory and I went to Sunday School together. I kept thinking the worse thing the rain could cause was that we'd have to replace the sheetrock up against that wall. Maybe 10 pieces? Yes that is kind of a lot but at least it's not taped and textured or painted yet. It would take time, time we'd rather spend doing something besides "re-doing work" but it would be o.k. I can do hard things!  

After sacrament meeting another friend came up who had been sitting in front of us during Sacrament asking if I was o.k. Immediately the water works turned on. I cried in the middle of the church hallway as people were walking all around us. I told her what had happened and how defeated I was feeling. Our house construction has been going on for almost 2 years now. I just want a "normal" house! I just could not control the tears. She was so kind and invited our family over for dinner later on. When we got home I told Kory I was skipping lunch and taking a nap. I slept from 2:30 till almost 5 when it was time to go to our friends. I woke up feeling much better and in control of my emotions. The rain kept coming, the water seeping in was making a bigger and bigger wet patch but I didn't have to sit the evening through watching it. I didn't even take a picture of the big wet patches we had. I didn't want the reminder! The rain stopped during the night and by Monday morning it had mostly dried.  We are suppose to get rain everyday till Friday of this week. We are all praying the wind or rain will change its direction so it hits the house in a different direction so it doesn't ruin anything. The sheetrock got wet but hopefully it will continue to dry out and we won't have to replace anything! That's what we're praying for anyways. 

*Update. Today is Thursday May 23rd. As the forecast predicted we recieved rain every single day this week. Some days it felt like the rain never stopped while others it seemed to have barely rained at all. Heavenly Father has heard our prayers! The rain came down in a different direction and hasn't once made it inside my house or behind the sheetrock! Thank you, thank you, thank you Heavenly Father!*  

Last of the Trusses

Friday May 17th

Kory has been trying really hard to make the working 4- 10 hour days at the shop work for everyone. By doing this it allows us to have 2 full days (Friday and Saturday) to work on the house. It's amazing what we can accomplish in those 2 days. Granted we quite often work 12+ hours each day. 

For the past few Friday's its just been Kory and I until the kiddo's get home about 3pm. This Friday was no different. Kory usually starts when I'm out dropping kiddo's off at school and then we jump right in working together when I get back.  We layed out the entire back wall first.

Then we slowly began to lift the walls. Of course the wind decided to pick up so with each wall we stood we had to brace it to make sure it didn't all fall down. 

My Dad came over and helped us with some of those last walls. 

By that evening we had all the exterior walls up. We also sheeted the 4 corners to help keep it stable through the night. We were hoping to get it all sheeted but the dang wind just wouldn't stop blowing! It was so warm that morning. But by mid afternoon my Dad put his long sleeve shirt back on and I was working with my hoodie. We got a little cold working today. 

Saturday, May 18th 

We finished sheeting the house. We did 3 of the 4 exterior walls. The skid steer wont fit around the house where that last little wall is. We are going to have to lift those sheets by hand on ladders. Good thing we only need about 3 of those dang sheets! We'll eventually get to that wall. 

Once the other 3 sides were sheeted we started in on the trusses!

A neighbor and a friend along with my Dad, Hunter and I worked all afternoon!

The weather was so warm today. Yesterday I worked in my hoodie and today I was wishing I had shorts on. I put sunscreen on so many times that I lost count. 

We finally got them all up. Just in time for our friend and neighbor to leave. Since we still had an hour or two of daylight we began sheeting the roof. So awesome! We worked, worked and worked until we ran out of material. We were able to get almost 1/2 the roof sheeted. Yippee! It's great to know that even if the wind picks up again our roof should be safe. 

Upstairs Floor

Thursday May 16th

On Saturday April 27th my kitchen sink became our outdoor sink. It had running water but my counter no longer had working electric plugs. They were torn out on accident when the rest of the house was torn down. Meaning no dishwasher and no garbage disposal. 

Being my sink and counter was outside and it is ALWAYS windy here my sink was always dirty and full of dirt. I would have to clean it everytime I needed to do dishes. With a family of 7 I feel like the dishes never ended sometimes. We kept a tarp over it when it rained or at night (just in case it decided to rain) but the tarp wasn't new either. It was dirty from the get go and let's just say it got old real quick. Both the dirt and washing dishes by hand. 

Last weekend, May 4th, we had to move my kitchen sink and drawers so that we could break up the old slab. I lost my running water! We'd plug the sink, fill a 5 gallon bucket with hot water, dump it in both sides of the sink and then wash and rinse. If kids were home we'd dry and put them away. If not I'd put them in the dishwasher to dry. I could then drain the sink but remember we're not hooked up to plumbing! So everything went into a 5 gallon bucket!

I would then take that bucket and go water our fruit trees with it. It was hard, water is heavy and  I hated every second of it. It really made me appreciate those woman who use to fill their water jugs in the river and carry them home. We are spoiled! 

A few days during the week my Mom became my angel. She'd come collect my dirty dishes and take them home with her. A few hours later she would show back up with all my clean dishes. It was so helpful! I will forever appreciate those days! 

Kory came home from lunch on Monday the 13th to see my mom delivering my basket of clean dishes. He decided that 9 days without running water had been enough and he and I moved our sink and counter back over to the water hook ups. It is so, so nice to have running water again! He also re connected the electrical wiring so that I can have a dishwasher and garbage disposal. The things we take for granted!

Monday, May 13th after work while I was doing the dishes Kory and the kids started to lay down the flooring of the upstairs. I hate, hate, hate being up high! I can not find the words for the anxiety it causes me. Just know that I hate it. The anxiety gets worse when I hear my kids running up there. Eeeeek!

So to make sure no one accidently runs off I dragged my tushy up there and helped. My heart raced the enitre time I was up there. So glad my kids don't feel the same way. 

Miss Kylie started out by making sure the ones of us with drills had screws. 

Brayden got pretty good drilling the screws in. 

He was doing awesome!

Emily helped screw the sheets down too. 

Only having 2 drills we had to take turns. 

So Brayden volunteered to draw the lines for all of us to follow while Kylie took a turn at running the drill. 

This has been a busy week with the end of school fastly approaching. Starting this past Monday we've had a school event almost every night this week. So it's mostly been Kory, my Dad and Hunter if the school event wasn't for him and then of course the 2 littles. By Wednesday the entire floor was layed and screwed off. Yippee! This Friday and Saturday we hope to get the upstairs framed. This is so exciting! It is so awesome to see it coming together. 

Floor Trusses

Saturday, May 11

Being it was our Father n' Sons weekend we got a little bit of a late start this morning. Kory and the boys didn't get home till a little after 10. But once they got home we jumped right in on finishing up the framing. We had this last exterior wall to build. It really was nightmare! One wrong thing after the next kept happening and it seriously took us hours to get the one wall up! But it did eventually get up! 

My Dad and brother Jonathan came up to see if they could help for a little while. Having some extra hands was great help! Together we got the entire exterior walls sheeted.

It's looking so good!

Next came the floor trusses. No one from our group has ever hung floor trusses but they ended up being so easy! A little time consuming only because at each truss Kory had to cut the old sheeting away from the front part of the house for the trusses to fit.  

It went pretty fast! 

My brother had to leave so we called a neighbor asking if he could come help me lift them to my Dad and Kory. He made those suckers look so light. 

By about 7:30pm all the trusses except the very last one was complete. Kory needs to make an adjustment to the front part of the house before we could put that one down but we are so, so close! It's been a long, long week. Besides working on the house every single day this week I've also gone on 2 field trips this week with my younger kids and had a few projects to complete for our upcoming Girls Camp. I am in charge of their journals and I needed them done by this Tuesday.  I'm exhausted! I am so looking forward to tomorrow, Sunday! 

Our day of rest!

Framing The Main Floor

Friday, May 10th

Kory tries to work 4 10's during the week so that they all have Friday's off. It's super nice when it comes to working on the house. Including Saturday's we've got 2 full days that we work our little hearts out!

Kory started building our 1st wall early Friday morning. We got that first wall up before I had to run the little kids to school. 

After a few hours we had the entire 49 ft length of the house framed. 

Then we began to work on some of the interior walls. We needed to get the walls tied together before a gust storm hit us and knocked everything down. It seems like it gets super windy every single afternoon lately! It can be quite miserable. 

Friday is an early out for the kiddo's so soon everyone was home again ready to help us frame some more!

Besides the 49 ft wall we also got 2 of the 3 interior walls done before we had to call it a night. It was our Father n' Son's weekend and the boys were anxious to get out there with their friends. Although we didn't get all the walls up I was pretty pleased with the amount we did get done. After all it was mostly just Kory and I for a few hours. Then I was gone a good hour that afternoon running around picking everyone up from school. We did good!

Rainy Day

Thursday, May 9th

Today was a rainy day!

It has rained several days over the past few weeks we had our house torn apart. But this morning we woke up to water inside. 

Uggghhhh!

Didn't know we had water inside until I got out of bed and my floor was wet!

Coming in from under our insulation back door. 

And in the corner of our temporary kitchen. 

It looked worse than it was. I was really worried about the sheetrock but it barely touched it.

We've had so much rain this season. I know we need it, really I do. But seriosuly I'm so done with the mud and that it stops us from working on our house. 

Several times throughout the day Kory and I would take our big shop broom outside and sweep the water off the slab. It helped the water from seeping inside the house. 

Being I was stuck inside all day I tried by best at organizing all our food storage we had to bring inside the previos weekend. I seriously don't know how we fit all that we do! 

I saved the one and only metal shelf that was in the cellar that wasn't bent all to pieces to store a lot of our canned goods. The rest had to go under kids beds. 

Our 5 gallon buckets of flour, sugar, wheat, etc and of course the water bottles have a new home in our hallway leading to the bedrooms. There just isn't any other spot for it all. So we're making it work. 

 Some days are hard. I feel like my house is closing in on me. We've got wall to wall of furniture and now food all over the place. But this too will pass. Hopefully sooner than later!

Cement

Wednesday, May 8th

It finally came! Was only an hour in a half late but it did come!

Let the fun begin....

Kory took a few more hours off of work again to help get it poured. 

We ran out of cement. While waiting on the truck to come back Kory decided now would be a good time to pour more cement where the bottom of the stairs is going to go. We're going to have a heavy beam right there and want to make sure it has a good foundation to sit on. So we moved the kitchen table and cut a big square out of the existing cement. 

When the truck go back they shoveled and swept the cement in. 

I will have a nice little mess when everything dries! 

It's done!!!

It needs to sit for a day or two and then we can start framing!