Construction Update

Sorry, I've gotten behind on posting photos. As you can see, they're still moving right along!

Backfill and underground ductwork

Today they continued backfilling the dirt around the basement walls. The HVAC team was working full force all day and got all the ductwork finished (the big white PVC pipes). The HVAC guy told us that in the past, when underground ductwork was done with metal, it could have problems in 20 years or so due to corrosion; but the PVC pipe they use now can last more than a thousand years. Brief Google searching seems to confirm this.

Things are moving along quickly. It looks like we're on track to pour the floor on Friday.

Construction update

Yesterday they removed the forms from the basement walls and today they began backfilling the dirt. The kids discovered how fun it is to play on the dirt mounds.

Basement walls

Yesterday they poured the basement walls. If all goes well, they'll pour the floor next week and start framing the week after. We thought the snow storms this week would slow things down, but they've kept working right through them.

We visit the site once or twice a day. It's pretty exciting to see the plans on paper become real. The kids love to ride their scooters to the lot, run around to the back of the house to get a good view of the construction, and then play with the kids next door for an hour or so. It's great to see them having such a good time with the neighbor kids who live on both sides of us--it's one of our main reasons for moving. Even though it's just down the street, I think it will make it a lot easier to let the kids run around outside with their friends.

Construction update

So that we don't spam everyone on Facebook, I think I'll keep our construction log here instead. I'm a little bit apprehensive of this being taken the wrong way. The last thing I want to do is gloat about the fact that we're building a new home. But several family members have asked to keep them updated with photos, etc. This is for them.

So far everything has been going quickly. If we can keep up this pace we might actually be done in six months, as our optimistic builder thought we could be. The top photo is looking toward the front of the garage. The bottom photo is looking toward the front of the opposite side of the house. The sand in the bottom photo looks like it was brought in, but it wasn't--it's from a natural sandbar that was once exposed to Lake Bonneville. It actually makes for a very good foundation, our builder says, since water passes right down through it. So much for the primary song about the foolish man building his house upon the sand!

Here's the basement floor plan and the front elevation:

Abuse!

Yes, there is abuse going on in our home ...but the guilty party may surprise you-- NOAH!!!

Yes, Noah gave Nate a black eye and himself a lip laceration in the space of 3 hours. You may think he looks small and sweet, but watch out!!!

Learned Behaviors...

Noah has been sleeping in our room for the last two nights because he has had a little cold. He doesn't sleep well anyway and the congestion makes the poor little sleeper a horrible little sleeper...Aarrgh! My philosophy is that it's better for me to be awake all night than Cannon, so that's that. This morning as he was crawling all over me (trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep--HA!) he found a box of tissues. He proceeded to take a tissue down to the end of the bed where the dogs sleep, hold a tissue up to their nose and command... "Bwow! Bwow!" Then he took it to the other dog, "Bwow! Bwow!" Then he left the tissue for the dogs to rip to shreds (because that's what our dogs do with every tissue they get their paws on--they especially like the snotty ones). Noah then went back to the tissue box, retrieved another tissue and repeated the process.

Speaking of Noah copying behaviors ...one of my new favorites is when I tell him "No," which happens more often than I would like to admit. At first I think he may have confused the word "No" with his name. But now he thrusts his his finger in the air, back at me, and says, "NO,NO,NO!" (except it sounds more like "Nyo, Nyo, Nyo!") and then he busts up laughing because he thinks he's so funny. Of course, I think he's funny too, which isn't very good for the reenforcing/discipline side of things.