House Progress

We finally have a slab!!  The rain let up enough for us to pour concrete, and the framing package was delivered yesterday. So, here are a few pictures of the latest progress on the house.

Everything prepared for concrete.

I actually helped lay and tie some of the rebar.  Thankfully they have some nifty tools that make the tying pretty slick.

Our slab was so big we had to hire this big pump truck to come pump the concrete from the concrete truck into the house.  It was kind of cool to see.

The finished slab.  We will prepare the garage and porches for concrete and get them poured in the next week or two.  But, in the meantime we can start framing!!!  Hooray!!!

I'm not sure that the kids are all that keen on getting walls put up in here.  It has provided a great place to run and ride bikes.

They have also enjoyed jumping around on all the stacks of lumber and sheeting.  We have at least this many bundles at the back of the house as well.  A good week of progress for sure!!!

Rain Rain Go Away

Normally in Arizona we are over the moon about a good wet season.  We are so water deprived that we have been known to just sit at the window and watch the rain pour down with huge smiles on our faces.  But lately, the ample rain we have been blessed with has been a sad sad sight for me.

You see, heavy rain makes it impossible for the plumber to do his underground work, or for the concrete slab to be poured.  We were planning on getting all of that done last week, but the rain has caused us to push the slab back a full week.  If we keep having delays like this, I think it will be 2018 before we get into the house.  :(

On the bright side, it did dry up enough for the plumber to come and put in the underslab plumbing.

Remember that nice level lot?  It has now been trenched and the plumbing has been put in and covered.  It passed inspection and now we have to level it all out again.

I would never have thought a sight like this could bring me such happiness, but any kind of progress on this house brings me hope.

Now we just have to get it prepared for the concrete and pray that it does not rain next Saturday.

Why I Blog

 (This was the first picture I ever posted on the blog in 2008)

When I first started blogging I did it because I lived so far away from my family and friends and I thought that they might be interested in getting a little glimpse of what we were up to every now and then.  At the time Dallin and Thomas were preschoolers and Jack was a tiny baby.  I had a lot more time then (even though I thought I was insanely busy), so it was also kind of fun for me.  After several years of blogging, I have accepted the fact that the reason that I started blogging is not the reason I have continued.  My parents are not great about checking it, but my sister, one of my sisters-in-law, a few of my friends and some cousins mention that they read it on occasion.  I guess it keeps some of them in the loop, and I am happy that they are interested in knowing what is going on with us from time to time.  But - - the real reason I have continued to blog, even when almost everyone I know has abandoned their blogs, is because I love the record of our lives that I have inadvertently created.



Every once in awhile I will go back and read through some old posts and I am so glad that I have taken the time to get on here and write and share pictures when I can.  I love looking at those pictures of my kids when they were so little and reliving old memories.




So, for those of you who actually do check my blog, you have surely noticed that there are lots of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors in my writing and my pictures are never edited.  Sometimes when I take the time to go back and read a post I am pretty embarrassed by some of the mistakes I have made in my writing, but at the end of the day, I can assure you that you will continue to see them.  I am lucky to get a post up and I don't have time for picture editing, or proofreading.  If I tried to make every post perfect before I published it, this blog could not continue, and I personally need it to continue so that seven years from now I can look back at the posts from this year and appreciate how little my kids looked and all the memories we made.

These boys are the light of my life and they are growing up way too fast - so I had better document these times the best I can.  With all of the challenges and frustrations that come along with raising a bunch of boys, I still  cannot imagine another period of my life being better than these years of raising my family.

Pinewood Derby and House Progress

We had our pack pinewood derby a couple of weeks ago.  We can never seem to make our cars very fast.  I think that some dads are just way way way more into it than Jeremy is.  However, Jeremy has always been good at woodworking and he is pretty creative, so the boys always do well in show.  This year Dallin took first in show and Thomas took second.  That was nice since last year Thomas took first in show and Dallin's first year he took second in show.  This was Dallin's last year of pinewood derby.  All three of his cars are red and they will look really good together in his room in the new house.  I would take a nice shot of all three of them together, but that will have to wait until he has that new room because right now his first two are buried deep in storage.

Dallin with his champion red Mustang.  (I know, I totally get mother of the year award for getting my boys'  awards sewn on their shirts in such a timely manner.)

Thomas with his 2nd place red angry bird.  Both of the boys cars were really cute!!

Thomas has one more year and next year Jack will be making a pinewood derby too.  With five boys we still have a lot of pinewood derby cars to look forward to.  We are down five, just ten to go!!

Now, onto a house update.  We haven't made a lot of progress, since we went to Oregon on spring break and then Jeremy spent the next week down with the flu.  But finally today he finished getting the fill dirt in the foundation and getting it compacted.  I was shocked at how much time this took, and I was even more shocked at how expensive fill dirt is.  Yikes!!

 
This is a shot from the other side of the house.  We obviously haven't prepared the porches or garage yet, as they will be poured later.

But - - the portions for the actual house are all nice and level and compacted - - - - just in time for the plumber to come in and dig them all up!  :)

Spring Break Trip - Day 5

Our final day in Oregon started in Cascade Locks.

This was our view from our hotel room in Cascade Locks.  It had a nice view of the Columbia River and The Bridge of the Gods.

We drove back through the gorge and stopped at Horsetail Falls.  This picture was taken by a nice German man that we met there.

I snapped this picture because I loved all the pretty work along the roads on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

We stopped again at Multnomah Falls.  It was way less crazy first thing in the morning.  I was glad we stopped again because I could get a good picture of the beautiful lodge there.  You can see the falls in the background.

I, of course, took advantage of the calmer atmosphere and snapped a few more shots.

I believe these were called Wahkeena Falls.  They were another easy stop right on the road.

One last look at the Gorge as we were driving out.

After spending part of the day in the Gorge we drove to the Portland Airport and checked in.  We had lunch there, which I only mention because I had my first Banh Mi sandwich, and it was delicious. ( I am wishing I was at the Portland Airport right now so I could have another one.)  I will have to find a way to recreate that sandwich here at home.  Jeremy is pretty good with Asian food, so we will probably be able to figure it out together.

We flew to Phoenix and picked up our little boys at Emma's house.  They had a great time there with Emma, Ben and their cousins - - thanks guys!!  We headed back to Taylor and we are glad to all be together again.

I asked Dallin and Thomas what their favorite part of the trip was.  Dallin said he loved all of it, but he loved the ocean most of all.  Thomas said he couldn't pick a favorite it was all perfect.  I said "Wow, there is nothing you would change?"  He said "Stay longer."  They both keep asking when we are going to take a trip to Oregon again.  It was a successful trip for sure!!

Spring Break Trip - Day 4

Our fourth day in Oregon started in Tillamook.

This was the view from our hotel room in Tillamook.  Not as impressive as our room in Yachats, but still pretty.

We drove out to Cape Meares for some more spectacular views and our final looks at the ocean on this trip.

More spectacular views. I love all these pictures, but they are nothing like seeing it in real life.

A good look at the Cape Meares fresnel lens.  We learned on one of our lighthouse tours that each lighthouse has its own signature signal.  You can tell from the lens that Cape Meares flashes red and white.

Another view of the ocean from the trail walking down to the base of the lighthouse.

The Cape Meares lighthouse is the shortest in Oregon.  It is built on a cliff, so it didn't need to be very tall.  It was fun to see this lighthouse.  We visited four lighthouses on this trip and they were all so interesting.

 More ocean views as we hiked around Cape Meares.

We hiked up to see the Octupus tree.

A look at the forest side of Cape Meares.

We then drove a couple of hours inland to visit the Columbia River Gorge.  Jeremy and I did not visit it while we were on our honeymoon, and always regretted it, so we made sure that we carved out time to include it in this trip.  It did not disappoint.

These are a couple of nice views of the gorge from the Portland Women's Forum Scenic Viewpoint.

A pretty view from the Vista House.

This was from our stop at Latourell Falls.  There are sooooo many waterfalls as your drive through the gorge.  My boys were trying to keep count of all that they saw, but the numbers got too high and the waterfalls were coming too fast.

We took the hike to see Bridal Veil Falls.  They were so pretty.  Totally worth the hike.  It was nice that our boys were big enough to hike themselves and I didn't have to pack a little one.  It made for some fun hiking.

Dallin pretty much ran the entire time on the hikes.  My little soccer player is in great shape.

I took this picture because I love how everywhere you look everything is covered in moss.  This is so different from the water deprived life we live in Arizona.

The famous Multnomah Falls.  They are the tallest in Oregon and they are incredible.

No hiking is required to see these, and so this stop was a little crazy with people everywhere.  But still a definite must see.

We stopped in Cascade Locks to see the Bonneville Dam and fish ladder.

 We also took some time to drive out to Hood River and drive across the bridge into Washington. We drove down the river a ways and had dinner over there and then drove across the Bridge of the Gods back into Cascade Locks.  We saw so much on day four. The weather was nice and we had a great time.