Temple Lights

Basement Christmas #2

Some Finished Projects

It's good to see some finished projects as we continue to make progress on the house.

This photo is a corner of the master bathroom. In this photo you can see:
1. Mounted mini-split
2. Finished rough electrical
3. Run speaker wire
4. Insulated wall
5. Installed attic baffles
6. Installed radiant guard

House Update: Ready for Insulation

Upstairs hallway insulated

Craft room all ready for insulation inspection

Master Bath shower. Look! I have soldering skills!

Our assistant. Very skilled at demolition

Ensign Peak

What do you do with a set apart missionary the day before he goes into the MTC?

Ensign Peak! It's a nice little hike just north of downtown that looks out over the whole valley. The spot has a cool history.

It was fun to see Nathan before he checks in - he's going to be a great missionary.

Arrow of Light

We are very proud of our scout. Beau is a part of a great pack and earned his Arrow of Light.

We had a nice little cookout and presentation for the boys as they take the next step into the 11 year-old troop.

Stonewall Grandon

A year+ ago we tore out a huge stone fireplace that ran through the house. These big rocks were authentically 1970s and we really wanted to keep them incorporated into the house. We've used them to help solve one of the challenges of our location.

One of the tricky parts of our location is the driveway/parking. We've got kind of a long driveway over a bridge to get home, and it's shared with a neighbor on each side.

Earlier this summer we poured a new circle drive in front of the house to add some extra parking.

From digging the trench, setting the foundation, puzzle-piecing the rock, and mortaring it all together, Marta built this whole thing - and it really turned out great.

First Day of Fifth & Second Grades

Two Baptisms

We had a very exciting weekend as Pierce & Cash were baptized! It's one of those milestone days that I've thought about even when my kids were really little.

With so many friends and family out to support them, you could tell these guys felt really special.

We put together this video for our friends to watch while we were changing out of our wet clothes. A lot of really great memories of our sweet boys.

Two More Birthdays!

Monday was Pierce's birthday!

Legos!

Tuesday was Cash's birthday!

More Legos!

I feel like I should have ownership interest in Lego considering all I've done to keep them afloat.

I'm pretty sure Pierce may not get his new roller scooter back...

No Cutting Corners

We've finally finished installing and painting the outside of the house! There were several times throughout this project that I had to seriously question my mental health. About halfway through I was convinced we would hire out the remainder of it - but we stuck with it.

Typically when installing cement-board siding, you run a vertical trim board up on the corner and all the lap siding is a straight cut into it. We did the back that way, but for the front we decided to do something a little fancier (and more old school). Each of these ends had to be cut pretty precisely and at a 4 degree angle for this to work. If you look closely you can see that every other row overlaps. Then we'd give them a little putty and some sanding and they were ready for paint. It was a bit of an exercise in patience, but Marta became an absolute pro at these cuts. We had a guy come out to bid out our gutters and he was blown away at how good we had done these corners. It was some extra work, but we're pretty happy that we put in the extra effort.

Underwear on I-80

I'm not a big fan of Wyoming. At least, not where I-80 cuts through the windy, barren wasteland that is our 44th state.

Kids and stuff both don't fit in our Highlander, so we got a Skybox carrier for the roof. It has served us well on every summer trip, but Wyoming was just waiting for the opportune moment to exact her revenge.

Driving home from Denver I heard a strange sound on the roof as we passed Laramie. I looked up into the review mirror just in time to see our suitcase rolling down the Interstate in an explosion of clothes. I quickly pulled to the side and, fortunately, the box/our things hadn't hit any other cars. Marta and I were able to track down almost all of our belongings - even the kids dirty underwear flying across the road. The clips holding the Skybox to the roof rack had broken, and the box proved to be no match for Wyoming.

Eddie's Baptism

Don't ever get in a rickshaw with Beau

Hold on tight or Noelle will be a tiger snack

It's a big year for us with Pierce and Cash about to turn 8. They are planning to be baptized shortly after their birthdays so we were extra excited to make a trip to Denver to be with Eddie for his baptism.

It was great to hang out with the Gardners for a few days and be a part of Eddie's special day. We also had some time for some swimming and the Denver Zoo.

Poser

Last night I said, "Smile Noelle" and this is what I got.

The White House

We can see the finish line of our exterior.

We still have one side of the house to install Hardie and paint, and the garage to paint, but we're getting there!

One Month Later...

We moved to the front as soon as we could, and after a month we're now feeling like we're making some progress. Most of the back is now also done (except the highest part), but we have most of the two sides still to go. The brownish color that you see is the primed Hardie Board.

We're planning on painting it white so we had to put a first coat on in a couple of spots to start to get a feel for what it'll look like in the end.

I love how you can see through to the back windows from the front of the house. We've taken quite a bit of extra time to put these corners in. We have a couple of lights that will go up above each window and the bottom hole is for an outlet.

We've had quite a bit of rain, so some odds and ends things are also getting wrapped up inside.

Tyvek & Shingles

Working on the back of the house was very unrewarding. It's not done, but we've now done enough to see how the planks will line up in front, so we've moved there. At least the neighbors can now see that there is some progress happening - even if it is slow going.

We're planning to paint the house white, so it's fun to see the white against the shingles. We're also going to put in the Hardie without the vertical corner boards. It'll be a lot of extra work, but that's how we roll.

Hardie Going Up

A couple of days off work and this is how far it got us...

The problem now is that the work slows way down when you have to climb up and down of 30 feet of scaffolding.

It's going to take some serious time to get the siding done.

Easter Eggs

Noelle got the hang of finding hidden candy-filled eggs really quickly. One of the advantages of being the youngest I guess.

Matt's #38

My next birthday better be upstairs in the real house!

Tres Leches cake + some great kids + Marta = great birthday.

Today's House Tour

 Here's what we're looking like today. Our focus has shifted outside so that we can be better neighbors.

We've got soffit and fascia going up right now, soon to be followed by the last of the trusses across the front of the house. We'll then work on pouring some new concrete for our landings, then Tyvek house wrap. We'll then be ready to start putting up the Hardie siding and some paint.

Inside all the new canned lights are up and strung. This photo is taken from the dining room looking toward the kitchen (on the right) and living room on the other side of the 2-sided fireplace.

Our Summer Plans

It's going to be an exciting spring and summer for us. Just looking at our garage right now gives insight into where we'll be. Spoiler: we'll be wearing our work clothes. 

In this one photo we have at least 5 projects ready to go. We have some small jack-trusses that will span the front of the house on the right bottom of the photo, shingles for the mudroom (we already re-roofed the garage), a huge stack of exterior siding in front of the garage, the mudroom tile waiting to go in, and three pallets of heating/cooling equipment ready to be installed.

It's going to be a fun year!

Mudroom

Before

With 4 kids we're always tripping over boots, coats, shoes, and backpacks. So early on we worked a mudroom into our remodel plans.

Now the first steps have been kicked off. The window was converted into a french door and the old slider was removed to be open between the mudroom and the kitchen/dining room.

After

We have patterned cement tile waiting in the garage for this space and have a bench and lockers in the plans to give each kid their own space. It's going to be really cool...