Getting closer, I think

We had our first final inspection on Monday. Yeah!! I thought that it would never come. There were a few things (mostly things we knew about) that they wanted us to finish or change, but not too bad. They call it the final inspection, but you keep having final inspections until you pass. We will be having our second final inspection on Thursday.

I haven't had a lot of time to blog, but we did get our new carpet. My cousin Brad, who works for a carpet company and who sold us the carpet, was a life saver. He found us some carpet and had it shipped from Georgia. We got it installed on Friday and Saturday. It looks beautiful. There is just something about carpet to make a house a home.

We also got our shower door for our master bathroom. The rest of the bathroom stuff that we had to work through will be there on Thursday.

Our backsplash for our kitchen just got finished too. I can't wait to use my new kitchen. Most of the appliances are in and installed. We even have ice in the ice maker. It turned out really nice.


But with all good progress there have been a few set backs. The guy installing all of the door knobs was just working away when I realized that they were the wrong color. You can only image that he wasn't very happy. They had installed a couple of door knobs a couple of weeks ago (so we could use the restrooms) and they were right, but the new ones they sent were darker. So he had to take all the wrong ones off, repackage them, and then install the right ones. It has taken him 3 days.

Also, I was cleaning my new ovens and following the "do this before you use" instructions, when I found out that one of my ovens isn't convection. I thought both of them were, so I called the company and I guess my salesperson was new and didn't know. So they are going to ship me out a new one. Of course for a higher price. So this is a picture of the ovens that won't be in my house.

I almost forgot that we also got our handrails. They really give the house personality. I like them. The deck is coming. Slowly but surely. They have until tomorrow to finish. So we will keep our fingers crossed.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year.
First we went to the elementary for the Halloween parade. My mother-in-law, Lu, came with me. It was so much fun to see everyone in their costumes.


Next, Lu watched Maren while I volunteered in Ashton's kindergarten class for his Halloween party. They had root beer with dry ice. All of the kids thought it was so cool.

Later, we had my family over for pizza (a long time family tradition). We took pictures of the cousins in their costumes.

Then our neighborhood had a Trunk-or-treat at the church, where kids could go from car to car getting candy. I stayed at the van and gave out over 300 pieces of candy and there were still more kids that I had to turn away. Crazy huh. Ryan and Lu took the kids around and filled their bags.

Logan and Ashton are pretty good about rationing their candy, but Maren could eat her candy all day long.

It was good to have a fun day in the midst of all the chaos in our lives.

Maren's Birthday

We were planning on having Maren's birthday party at our new house. But since we had problems getting our carpet in, we had it at my parent's house.

It was a nice party and we are thankful for so many family members that came to support us.

Abundantly Stressed

These last couple of weeks have been very stressful.

Our bathroom countertops came in the wrong color and since their printer they use to create the countertops is broken, there is nothing that they can do about it. We have been fighting with them on what they can do for us. I have had to talk to 5 different people and finally the manager had to come out.

Next we got our carpet. Exciting huh. Well when they tried to make seams, they found out that the color was not consistant and the seams stuck out badly. So they had to stop. All three rolls of carpet were bad. I had really had it by this time that I had to sit down and cry.

Next our cabinet panels, which we had ordered for the third time, came in. I was so excited to have the cabinets finally done after working with these people for a month and a half. Well, when the panels came in, they were the wrong color again. So they have had to order them again for the 4th time. I just had to laugh by this point.

Next, we needed a deck before our final inspection. The bids that we got for decks were much higher than we wanted (after waiting 3 weeks for a bid). So we decided that Ryan would build our deck. After 3 days of slow progress and wanting to get in as soon as we can, we opted to have some other guys finish the deck.

Finally, I called Qwest so that they could put in my phone line and they told me that I needed to dig a trench so that they could put in the phone line. They told me that I needed to contact my contractor because they should know this. Well, since I am the contractor, and I didn't know this, I will have to figure out something.


This was on top of railing people, alarm, heating and air-conditioning people, and my ever trusted Rick that has been doing electicity, tile, painting, and plumbing.

By the way, DON'T EVER BUILD YOUR OWN HOUSE. I'm sure I'll feel differently later, but it is a lot of stress!!!!

Abundantly Blessed

This week I have been extremely blessed. Last weekend we were able to watch conference. Usually my kids won't let me really watch, but this time they did. In fact Maren watched most of it with me. What wonderful messages of hope and faith were given to help us in these trying times.

We were also blessed with an addition to our family. Kristy Wells, Ryan's step sister, had her baby, Wesley Glen Wells, on Sunday October 5th. He was 8 lbs and 8 oz and 21 inches long. He is a beautiful baby and a welcome new member of the family.


Our house made so much progress this week as well. We had the concrete poured including our front steps. YEAH!!! I have been jumping up to our porch for 7 months now and I'm so excited for real steps.



We also got in our bathroom sinks and window seals. They look great! We also got toilets in on Friday. Yeah again!! Tuesday they will come fix a few things in the bathrooms and then after that, my bathrooms will be all finished. No more port-a-potty!

They also finished the tile in the basement kitchen and finished up the built in hutch. Everything turned out so nice. We also got the hanging bar stools put installed. They turned out really well.



I did manage to have a little fun this week when I got to visit my friend Tammy who just moved back. It was fun taking our kids to the park and just talk. Tam, I'm so glad your so close.

Last but not least, I gave my first Relief Society lesson today since I got the calling. Everything went so well. It was poignant that so there were many talks during conference about trials and that was what my lesson was on. I am grateful for my opportunity to teach.

Halloween Routine

My mom before she left on her trip put up her Halloween decorations. Maren loves to look at them and give them love. This is a short video of her with the decorations. We do this routine 5-10 times a day. It never gets old...for Maren.

Priority and Postponed

This has been another exciting week for our house. I have been trying for a week now to find out who is supposed to run the gas line from the street to our house. I found out Monday after much back and forth that Questar has to do it. So they sent me a contract and a bill (of course) late Monday and I mailed it off on Tuesday. They told me that it would take 10 to 14 business days to get done. Well I must have been on somebody's priority list because Thursday morning they came to dig the hole for the pipe and today they are filling it in. Yeah!! I will have heaters before winter.

We also got priority treatment from our concrete guys. I have been getting estimates on concrete for the past week and on Tuesday I found out that they wanted to start on Thursday. So Ryan and I quickly decided what we wanted done and they started laying it out yesterday and will be pouring today and Monday. Wow. I never thought that I would ever be to this stage.

However when one door opens, another closes (or is that the other way around). Anyway, our bathroom sinks and window seals were supposed to be here this week, but they weren't quite ready, so we got postponed until Thursday next week.

Also we were supposed to get our basement kitchen countertop and laundry room folding table countertop yesterday. But their saw was having problems so it won't be here until next week either. Of course they failed to call me to tell me this, so I waited all day for them.

But I haven't blogged about the countertop that we did get on Monday for our main kitchen. I decided to go with Quartz since you can put hot pans on it and cut on it, but you don't have to seal it or do any maintenance. That is just the kind of girl I am, the one that needs low maintenance. It turned out so beautiful. I am ready to use my new kitchen.

Oh we've also had some more tile laid. Here are some pictures of the tile.