operation: new home!

Not to sound ungrateful, because I am very grateful! But our house was a bit of a "project". It was only 9 years old when we bought it, but was seriously not maintained. From the overgrown yard and green pool, to the cobwebs and dust, to the nasty carpet and filth, we definitly had our work cut out for us!

Ben had taken the week off to work on the house, little did he know he would be working way more now, then days when he would go to work. He worked from 7am until some nights 11pm. What an amazing guy! I wasn't a ton of help because Jared was brand spankin' new (as in brand spankin', he was born on the day we got our keys to the house) but luckily my family was! A huge thanks to Mom, Erica (out from Utah), and Brenda who came a runnin' as soon as they got word that Jared was born, they also knew that we were starting our huge project that day and knew we could use all the help and support possible. Mom and Erica stayed the week and were a complete life saver with baby Jared, packing, cleaning and painting new house, and cleaning old house as well. Couldn't have done it without you! By the way, thanks guys for putting up with Ben's perfectionism!

Before:

The house needed to be painted from top to bottom.  A lot of primer and paint

went into this house.  From sealing in the pet stains on the subfloor, to 

wall, trim, and ceilings.  I don't think there was a surface that didn't

get some paint on it.  A long and tedious process, for sure.

And the carpet had definitely seen better days.  I must admit, though, 

that new carpet is amazing, and I feel super spoiled.

During:

Luke wanted to be right in the mix of everything, and help 

with every project.  He loves having a big huge back yard to play in and 

the fort is going to be a huge hit...we just need to prune the apple tree off it first!  

So much painting needs to be done.  Halfway through this project, we

had a huge thunder storm, and lost electricity.  That didn't stop Ben 

though.  He pulled out a super powered flash light and rolled out the walls

right through the storm.  What a trooper!

Oh, Luke.  We just adore you and all the spunk you bring to life.

You have so many people cheering you on, and loving you

every step of the way, little dude.  

Carpet going in!!  Seriously one of the most exciting days 

we had during the whole process.  The kids loved reading and playing 

on the new floor, and this germ-a-phob mom didn't mind one bit.

Our house is still bare, not a whole lot of pictures and decorations, but it's a work in progress. And, yes, there are still projects we are working on (refinishing the deck, and getting the waterfall working on the pond, etc.) but we are getting closer!

Things I've learned: What an amazing process! It has been really fun to see the progress

 we've (and all who helped) made on our first home! It has been extremely gratifying to 

have a vision and see it evolve! I can't even imagine the man hours spent on this project, 

but how worth it it has been to see the end result! Ben is amazing, his hard work and 

dedication, especially that first week when Jared was so new to our family and he was so torn between working on the house and getting to know his new little man. 

I don't think I could ever convey how much I admire you, Ben!

And pretty sure, the kids love everything about this new house...including this (not green) pool.