New Family Room Floors

I know that both of you who check this blog every once in a while aren't checking it to see photos like this one, but humor me...

On Christmas Day before we headed out of town I got the first coat of polyurethane on and due to the fumes we spent the night at Marta's family's house. Then yesterday I went up and sanded, cleaned, and applied the second coat of the poly. Here is the finished floor when I finished yesterday. We used a satin polyurethane so it won't be shiny like this when it's dry.

It has been a lot of work - the sanding took three times as long as it's supposed to - but I think they have turned out great.

Christmas Photos

We had a very nice Christmas. Beau was very excited to see that Santa had eaten one and a half of the cookies he and his mom made on Christmas Eve. We spent the morning at home seeing what Santa brought and Beau was stoked
to find a Tonka dump truck and the Thomas the Train roundhouse. Blake and Emmett are almost too big to hold together so I have to take advantage while I can. We spent the afternoon with Marta's family in Orem and as you can see Beau was so tired he fell asleep mid-bite of his quesadilla.

Two Laughing Boys

Hidden Message

This was kind of cool. We took up our flooring in our front room and found this message: MCA 4/12/31. Our house was built in 1905, so it's fun to see real indicators from past inhabitants. We just put in a fireplace and so this has motivated us to leave some markings of our own inside the wall we're putting up around it.

Got Foot?

It has been a while. The boys are getting big. Blake's hair is getting better and better while Emmett has started rolling over a bit and found a fond enjoyment in eating his foot.

Halloween 2007

Beau has been talking about being a giraffe for about three months. Since we couldn't find a pattern, Marta had to wing it. It turned out great. This is from our Trunk or Treat with Beau's friend Brooklyn. Blake and Emmett were obviously pretty excited to be pumpkins.

Three's Company

Three boys all getting bigger...

Dinner With Dad & Katie

Dad was in town last weekend so he and Katie came up for Sunday dinner. We had a good time catching up and since then I've gotten some pictures from when we were all together that I don't think I had ever seen.

First Smiles

We have long been waiting for this day that all the work begins to pay off with the reward of a smile. Emmett has been smiling for a about a week and Blake has just started showing us his.

Spare Moments

It's kind of amazing that spending the 5 minutes it takes to update this is hard time to come-by.

Another Glimpse...

Emmett is in the red and Blake is in the blue...

Here's Our Life...

Just thought I would give you a glimpse into our days (and nights)...

I took this a couple weeks ago and I must say that these moments are now more rare thanks to a lot of hard work from their mom.

Fraternal Brothers

These straight-jacket blankets are great...Our boys are growing some hair!

Beau's First Day of School

Ok, so it's preschool, but Beau was stoked even on his first day. From last week when he found out he got in he has pretty much been sitting by the front door with his shoes on waiting to go.

Blessing Day

So yesterday was blessing day for the twins. For the record, I am against these little outfits, but you see how much pull I have when it comes to things like this...

Three Boys

Check out Beau's new haircut!

Big Boys

Time for More Photos

Time is flying by, I can't believe these two boys are already over three weeks old. I would have guessed that time would go slow with as little sleep as we're getting, but that's not the case. Actually the boys are doing pretty well sleeping most nights. Sorry it has been so long, but here are some new photos. The top photo has Blake closest, in the middle one is Emmett's first bath, and I promise we didn't pose them in the bottom one. These guys will do everything in their power to touch each other and seem to sleep the best when they can do so.

Lots of Binkys...

Seems like all three of our boys are into their binkys. We weren't sure if all three car seats would fit in the back seat of the 4Runner, but found that Beau loves sitting next to his brothers back there.

Some Kinda Finished House

Just thought I would throw a house update into this. We were excited to add some living space (although I'm seeing that it is never really going to be done) just before our new arrivals. Here are a couple of photos. This is the new dining room, kids room, and then our bedroom.

More Photos

A few more photos...

They're Here!

So we didn't have to wait too long after all! Marta had to go to the hospital for her weekly non-stress test and they found that her blood pressure had risen to the point where they were unable to discharge her. So I got the call to come and meet her and we got checked in. Labor went very quickly after her water broke, and by the end of the day we had our first kid. Blake Matthew was born Friday (7/13) at 11:49pm. He weighed 5 pounds and 12 ounces. Emmett Wright was born shortly after on Saturday (today, 7/14) at 12:04am weighing 5 pounds 15 ounces. Did you get that? Our twins have different birthdays! I'm pretty sure that's the coolest thing I've heard of in a while. In the photo, Blake is baby "A" in the one and is on the left in the other.

Still No Babies

Tomorrow (7/13) is Marta's due date that the doctor was planning to induce if the kids hadn't come yet, but come to find out, her doctor is in "meetings" until next Tuesday so she won't induce until then. That wasn't such good news to Marta who is very ready to start sharing some of the kid duties. She has hit the point where she can't get comfortable enough to sleep well. I guess that will probably continue for a while even after these guys are born though.

I will let everyone know when there is some action to report. My prediction for the last couple of days has been that tonight may be the night, but we'll see.

July 4th Photos

We spent the 4th of July with Marta's family down in Orem. The bbq was delicious and Beau was excited to see the fireworks. With this final push to get everything done in full-swing, it was nice to be able to sit back and relax to celebrate the holiday.

Moving In Day!

We have been waiting for this day for a long time now. We finally have moved in to our new space. The floors got their final coat of polyurethane on Monday, so after a few days of airing out, last night we finally moved our stuff around. The walls are painted, the floors are in and stained, and lights are in. Moving was a serious endeavor as everything has been stacked for months now, but it feels good to actually have this new space. These photos show the floor going in and then the finished floor. I'll get some move-in pics up next.

It's Been a While

Over two months since my last post. Unbelievable. It has been a very busy couple of months. I did all the electrical in our house and even passed the inspection on my first try. It's amazing how all plans change as you get going, but usually for the better. The house is now a complete dive. We have drywallers there this week so I went ahead and took out our living room dropped ceiling and the wall in between the living room and front bedroom. It will soon become a living room and family room once we can get it patched up. Ever seen the movie "The Money Pit"? Once the couch moved into the kitchen I had Marta and Beau go stay with her mom for a few days. I feel like I'm camping, but am able to get right to my second job after normal work. Tomorrow is 5 weeks away from twins - although that's the day that Marta would be induced if they haven't already arrived. Contractions have begun, but hopefully those are just the fake kind...I'm a couple of weeks of work away from these kids having a place to sleep. I guess there's always the couch in the kitchen for them!

Concrete Basement

We think we now have our permit issues "resolved" and so we are finally moving forward. You will notice that resolved is surrounded by quotation marks but I probably shouldn't go into those details here. Last week we had our basement floor poured and our rubble pile that has built up over the last couple of months was removed. I wouldn't put any money on it, but I've heard that this week the plumber will return and finish rough plumbing upstairs, our dirt piles will become back yard, and we should have ducts installed. I have nearly finished the rough wiring on the main level and am now moving upstairs. I have 3 months 1 weeks and 3 days to turn framing into a bedroom for our coming additions. Sounds like a lot of time, but then I look back on the house progress of the last three months.

Current View

It's kind of a long story, but we are currently working through some permit issues that have halted most progress. All of a sudden there are issues with the city Public Utilities Division regarding our basement laundry room. They don't want to approve it unless we redo our main sewer line that we have no issues with and also runs underneath the entire length of our driveway. Digging out our sewer line under our driveway and then replacing both is definitely not in the budget that is now already empty. I'm learning why so many people do work on their homes without getting permits and the city involved. So I am spending the time doing electrical wiring. Today I hung the main level lights and have almost finished all the dining room and main level bedroom wiring. It's fun to see it come together but we now have less than four months to get this done.

80% What?

Our doctor was 80% sure that one of our upcoming additions to the family was a girl. In her defense, the kid wasn't giving her what she needed to give us that 100% assurance. We had our first comprehensive ultrasound last week and found out that we are having twin boys! Everything looks really good as far as their development and health. I guess we're going to have a house full of boys running around. So far Marta's parents have six grandkids - all are boys.

Dried In

We are finally "dried in" as the framing has now been extended from existing house to new addition. We (of course) got rain just after the roof sheathing was finished. It had been tarped but the wind blew it off so I got to climb up on the roof to get it re-tarped to stop the dripping that was happening in our existing house. We are now water-proofed though so no more tarps. The long dormer on the north was done first and now the bathroom dormer on the south, which is the visible side, has been completed. This photo is taken from where our bed will sit looking through the office to the existing upstairs. The doorway on the right leads into the new master bathroom.

One Dormer Done

So we have moved a couple of walls again and found that we could extend our shed dormer all the way from our bedroom to the end of the planned office. We're pretty pleased as this will open up a few extra feet of space that we weren't accounting for. The shed dormer on the back part of our house now extends 27 feet and really makes a huge difference on the feel of the space. Here is what it looks like this morning. You can see in the photo our bedroom windows, where the wall will be and also some of the office space just off the master bedroom. From these windows (although you can't tell in this picture) we have a pretty decent view of some of downtown and the mountains to the north.

The Big Announcement

Most of you who whould be checking this periodically already know this, but here is the official "We're Having Twins!" announcement. We had our second ultrasound yesterday and we are pleased to report that both are looking very healthy. They are in an "ideal" twins situation each having their own embryonic sack and their own placenta. It is still a few weeks early, but we're pretty sure we have at least one boy in there. Our doctor was about 80% that the other was a girl! The bottom photo is Beau's brother and the top is a closeup of his potential sister. Marta and I are very excited for these additions to our family. Stay tuned, I have a feeling that July 13th is going to be right around the corner.

Another Layout Change

One of the things that stood out to us about our General Contractors as we were interviewing different companies was that they had done enough remodels to know that things don't always go exactly as planned. Well, we've hit that stage. Now that some of the upstairs has been framed in we can see that the layout that we had decided on is not going to work. It actually had changed from the layout a few posts ago and now it needs to be revamped again. With the steep pitch in the ceiling it just didn't leave enough room to walk through the bathroom as it was. So in this new plan we will move the hallway over to the other side of the room, which is great because then we can utilize our full ceiling height in the bathroom. To use that side for the hallway though means adding another big shed dormer, which means more expense and we lose some outside asthetics. Usable space is king though when it comes to a seldom-seen back portion of our house, and if we can afford it I think this is the route to go as we will also gain enough space to put in an office nook.

Are We Building a Church?

After a few weeks of little progress our framers are back. Today they got the back wall of the house framed. The plan is that tomorrow they will set the center beam of the roof and then frame out the whole north wall and dormer. And yes, of course I climbed up the ladder to check out the view.

Beau Turns Dos

I'm sure that you all have already figured this out, but time goes by so fast. Beau turned two last week and was very excited about his chocolate Mickey cake that Marta made for him. You can see that he also likes building things and in particual knocking the things down. He spent an hour with two of his cousins, Caleb and Jensen, building towers and then knocking them down. He is all boy.

Here's The Master Plan

Here is the big picture, and when I say big I mean long term. Within the next month or so we should be done with the shell of this design, but all we are able to do currently is the shell, so I will be left with three unfinished spaces. I'm developing my insulating, electrician, plumbing, hardwood floor, drywall, and finish carpentry skills as we plan to finish these spaces over the next couple of years. I think that I won't be out of things to do for a while...