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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

It's important to remember.

Confession: Sometimes I just want a weekend.

...this morning I wrote a post about how nice it would be to have a weekend every once in a while. It was short, but very whiny. Concisely, it was me venting about how much time we've been working on the new house.

2 years. Almost 2.5. It seems like we've always been working on it. For. ev. er. 

But then a funny thing happened...

I went back to add some photos of the house, ones that show how much we've done on it... and then I realized..

Ohmygoodness. We built a friggin' house. By ourselves.  With CASH. And when we move into it, whether it has trim or is painted yet or not: WE BUILT A FRIGGIN HOUSE.

Needless to say, I highlighted my entire post that consisted of "wah, wah, wah!" and clicked DELETE.

Now, for a little walk down memory lane...




July 2012. Wyatt was 9 months old the week we poured the concrete pad.
In August 2012, Colt and bro-in-law Kenny set the 6x6 posts and our trusses.
In September 2012, Colt and our great friend Justin put the metal roofing on.
In one day.
In November 2012, we were staying in our RV 3-4 nights a week, framing the exterior walls of the house at night while WL was sleeping. Lots of coffee was involved. And lots of layers-- it was getting really cold and our plan to have the house dried in before winter did not go as planned.

We poured the concrete slab for the utility room in December of 2012. The pipe sticking up through the center of the concrete in the photo is our well, which we had drilled while I was pregnant with Wyatt (Fall of 2011).
In January of 2013, on any pretty day we were blessed with, we added plywood to the house.
By March 2013, we were struggling to the house dried in, but finally, by the summer, we did it.

June 2013. Exterior closed up, and the windows were beginning to go in.




We actually put our housewrap on before plywood, because we wanted to do a faux board and batten initially (with plywood and battens). Later, we changed our mind, added a second housewrap (which the manufacturer assured us would not cause issues, then added actual board and batten from a local sawmill).

It's funny to look at this photo, because now that area of the house is split into two stories, with two rooms upstairs and the kitchen, pantry, and bathroom framed on the first floor. Crazy.

In August 2013, we added housewrap, built the porch roof, and began framing interior walls. Every weekend that summer was spent either a) building on the house or b)attending weddings. (We had two different weddings that summer, with the first being my baby sister's-- which meant I was MOH, Colt walked her down the aisle, and Wyatt was the ring bearer, and the second being my bestie from college, where I was also MOH. BUSY BUSY BUSY. Add to the fact that I went back to work in May 2013 and Wyatt went to daycare for the FIRST. TIME. EVER. We were super busy. Excruciatingly so.
The winter of 2013/2014 was spent framing the interior. By spring of 2014, we (read just Colt, not me at all) began running electrical and plumbing.
Summer was spent finishing electrical, plumbing, and we finished insulating the entire house in August/September 2014.
Ceiling too!
This past weekend, we installed our pocket door frame for our pantry, hung moisture barrier in the kitchen, and tried our hand at drywall for the first time. Jury is still out. We haven't tone a second coat yet or sanded, so pray for us.
One of us looks good during manual labor. Others of us do not and are therefore no longer pictured.
It's amazing what a quick trip down memory lane will do for you.

I'm so proud of my husband. He is the most amazing, dedicated, and disciplined man I’ve ever met. He works endlessly, 5 days a week at his real job, and then 2 days a week at our new home, and somehow he still finds the energy to try to work at the new house in the afternoons, 40 minutes away from our current home. (It should be known that this paragraph was in both posts I wrote today, because let's be honest- this cannot be stated enough. Colt=amazing.)

Something I need to keep in mind: it's important to remember how far we've come.

3 comments:

  1. Aw, I loved reading this recap :D At this point it probably wont be too long before you are in the house :D

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  2. This is just crazy amazing!! You guys rock!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you!! It's been a crazy, long journey-- but its looking like its going to be well worth it in the end.

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