Concrete.....whoo hoo!

Ok...I kinda hate the term whoo hoo but I really can't think of a better way to describe our excitement to finally pour concrete. We had a break in weather this week and were able to start the footings process. As you can see we have lots of mud.
This is the approach at the top of our driveway. Even though we have put in gravel it's just too wet for it to be effective.

Quinn fell in the mud about two steps out of the car. It went something like this: Quinn- "it's too muddy" (lots of crying). Thomas- "are you a boy or a little girl?' (more crying). Let's face it the boy does not like to be dirty, and this muddy mess kinda ruined his day.

Garage Footings

Future Mud Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

Future Main floor (a bit fuzzy)

Well we are very excited about starting the process of our house. Hopefully the weather will hold until the foundation is completed. Have a Merry Christmas!!

Rain, Rain, go away...come back when we have roof!

I was hoping this weeks posting would have some photos of a foundation. Unfortunately all this rain is really holding us up. We are waiting for a few dry days to get the footings started.

 

 Here lies the problem...water is everywhere

The next problem has been the water system. When the community wells were not producing enough the neighborhood made a deal with the city to provide an additional water supply. In all their wisdom they put the water line right through a future home site. Hmmm....its a good thing Thomas is handy. He moved and fixed water pipes all weekend. We owe a few of our new neighbors a huge thank you for being so patient with their water being turned off most of the weekend.
So far Thomas has finished the road, dug our foundation and put in all the utilities. Poor guy has been working every weekend and almost every night after work in the cold and rain

 

I don't think Thomas can deal with my impatience much longer. Thanks to a certain bank, I won't mention names, we are three months behind. The weather is not cooperating so we remain at a standstill on starting the actual building process. BUT...this is our future view. It is beautiful. As I took this picture the birds were singing and it reminded me that this will be worth it in the end.

Hopefully next weeks posting will include some concrete....hopefully!

Our little hole in the ground

Thomas reviewing the plans for the foundation

  

Setting up the laser level. Thomas is standing in our future mud room.

Proof of my contribution; running the laser level. At one point Thomas made a loud boom with the backhoe. I jumped about 3 feet in the air. Thomas leans out the window and says 'I've never hit anybody on accident". You can imagine my reaction.

Working late

House Plans

This isn't the best picture...but the top picture is what the back or the view side of the new house will look like. The second story will have two balconies, which are connected to our "princesses" bedrooms.

This is the front of a house that is similar to what we are building. Thomas found this craftsman style house over 2 years ago and has wanted to build ever since. I figured since he was going to be doing most of the "sweat equity" part, he should get what he wants. It really is beautiful!

Down a Hill

So I have a whole new respect for my father-in-law. This trench he dug is over 4 feet deep and ran down a steep hill about 350 feet.

Trench for power

This picture doesn't show how steep this hillside really is.

 

Thanks Kimmy for doing a job everyone else was too scared to do!

So the day couldn't end without a little drama, right? A water pipe was accidentally dug up, cutting off water to a few of the neighbors. Locates were called in but this was pipe for the old well system maintained by the association. Thomas was able to fix it himself but not without some work and few frantic phone calls. Good news is that we did get to meet a few of our neighbors and Kimmy was able to impress everyone with his impressive equipment operator skills.

Stuck

So it's been raining here is Southern Oregon. While delivering our base rock for our driveway the dump truck got stuck.

The dump truck weighed so much that it moved about 5 feet while waiting for the tow truck. While pulling it out the pulley broke. Thankfully, no one one was hurt.

It's moving....both tires are back on the ground again.

Quinn was mad that he couldn't watch. He stomped his foot and said "this is not fair, I'm going to miss out on all the fun". He got over it pretty quick once he got to ride in the backhoe with his daddy.

The corner was a little tight and the bad weather didn't help, this is how far it had slipped down the hill. Although it was a tough day for the dump truck, our curve in the driveway was widened which worked out well for me!

Well this may not be exciting for anyone but me, this is the entrance to our driveway.  Kimmy is on his way over from Idaho and is going to help Thomas start digging the foundation tomorrow.

Finally....

So we finally closed on the property. Qualifying for the loan was the easy part. Banks are nervous to loan money especially for something that hasn't been built yet. So they were very picky about EVERYTHING! But...Thomas got it done and now we are starting the building process. This is where the house is going to sit.

And the garage.....

Raw Land

Well here is where the new house is going to sit. It's located in beautiful Grants Pass, Oregon on about 5 acres.