Floor...and Walls!

Well we are finally reaching that point where things seem to be moving much quicker on the house. We are already putting up walls! But first Joe & Bo had to lay out all the I-Joists which started out like this:

Grandpa, checking out all the finished joists (the house is so wide it's hard for me to get a full picture).

After the joists were done, Joe, Jason and Justin all worked hard and super long, late nights to lay all the plywood for the sub floor. Finally we have a floor to walk on!

 Then it was time to start on the walls! First, the material was delivered.

These little machines were super cool. Their front wheels turned completely sideways so the loader could go sideways into the building with a load of lumber.

Lumber in the building....sorry it's so blurry.

Jason came out Saturday to help with standing walls. And another one of Joe's friend's, Andy, came out Sunday. I was amazed at how fast they were! It seemed like they got a lot accomplished in a small amount of time.

And we have walls! This picture was taken before Sunday, so even more walls are up.

We are so excited and are anxious for each new stage in this process. Next stage: Windows! On an unrelated house note, I realized I have not yet posted a picture of my adorable nephew. SO....here he is in all his glory:

He is just an incredibly cute (I know I may be biased), lovable, kissable squeezable little boy. He's all smiles and into eating his hands. These pictures do not do him justice, especially his striking blue eyes. My sister is so lucky she got a blue eyed baby! Anyways, he's the light of our family's life and definitely the center of attention right now whenever anyone is around him. We just can't get enough!

That's all for now! I will post more updates as they come.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

House Update

Well I'm finally getting around to posting an update on the house. In the last several months we've gotten a lot done, although it may not seem that way! Joe has been busy workiing his day job as well as his "side job" and trying to work on the house in any spare time he has...which is pretty much non existent. Over the past few months we've had gravel delivered, concrete poured, forms poured, a driveway/whistle put in, and lumber for the floor bought. First we had gravel delivered and my dad & Jason came out to help spread it around in the building and help build our driveway.



Joe's brother Bo came out for awhile too and helped us water down the dirt to help pack it.

 

Packing down the dirt.



Jude helped too.



 Then came time to start preparing for concrete. First the concrete guys layed down plastic and metal...

They came and poured concrete while I was at work so I have no pictures of that actual process. But below is the finished project! A perfect skating rink.

After they poured concrete in the building they poured concrete around the whistle so it will be nice and strong when we get all those heavy rains in the spring!

And again, the finished project. Except for the gravel...we still have to put more gravel down.

Shortly after the concrete, Joe, Jason & Justin took a roadtrip to Nebraska to get the lumber for our flooring. It's quite the load!

The most recent thing has been pouring the concrete forms for the floor. We are so blessed to have friends and family to help us out. Jason came and helped Joe get all the forms done in one day.

And that's where we are so far! Joe plans on starting on the floor in a few weeks. More updates to come!

Jude

Because I only have one "baby" I take lots and lots of pictures of him.

Don't for a second be misguided by these pictures and think that he is spoiled. Nothing could be farther from the truth! We adhere to strict doggy rules at our house, as you'll see below.

He's too cute for his own good, although his daddy would beg to differ at times. I remember when he looked like this:

 

A cute little blue-eyed dumbo. Poor thing..he eventually grew into his ears.

 

He was adorable then, but really, I am thankful those puppy days are over. The potty training, the chewing, the obedience (or lack thereof) training. I'm glad I can say "go lay down" and he (generally) does. Or point somewhere and say "get" and he goes. He is super affectionate and very attached to me. Luckily for him, I'm pretty attached to him too.

 The white dog in this picture is Lily. That's Becca's dog and her and Jude are buddies!

 Mom. Quit it with the pictures, I'm trying to sleep.

He hates water. We found that out a few weeks ago when we went to the river with Becca and Brandon. No swimming for Jude, thank you.

 Can we come in?

Jude loves to ride in the car. He used to fall asleep sitting up all the time, now he's so lazy he lays down and sleeps the whole time. I love it though because we hardly know he's there!

He is one of the best dogs I've ever had he will be missed terribly when he passes away someday. Until then though, he'll continue do a lot of this:

 His favorite pastime.

 





Long Overdue

Well, I must admit I feel pretty bad about not posting for the past oh, 2 months. We have been very busy with various things, none of which have been our house. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of news a far as the house goes. We are hoping in the next few weeks to begin making more progress and I'm looking forward to posting more updates on the house soon! So since two months have gone by I'm going to try to post a whirlwind summary of some of our activities. Easter flew by and we had a nice dinner with the family. Smoked pork loin, and too many other items to list. My family comes from a long line of gourmet cooks and we are not afraid to go all out. Here we are in our sunday best:

Mothers day followed qickly after and we celebrated with the Joe Martin Stage race and lunch at Jose's on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. The whole family was there which is a rare occasion these days.



Not long after this my grandma was in town for a conference and we had a mini wood family reunion. I hadn't seen my cousins or aunt and uncle in awhile. They are all growing so quickly! At the end of May we rented a mini-ex to aid in cleaning out a large ditch area on our property. I took some pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. I was honestly working so hard I didn't take very many!






We had a small get-together for memorial day at my parents. I just had to post these pictures of Hannah. Love. Her. I don't think I have any recent pictures of her looking serious.




And this cuteness.


Can't get enough of this child. And then Becca. I love her too. But especially love the small child she is carrying. It's getting so close! Cannot wait to hold my nephew, but I know she can't wait even more.


My birthday followed Memorial day. The girls at work took me to Abuelo's for dinner and drinks and my family gave me a nice party. And of course, there was plenty of food including a homemade Italian cream cake made by Becca. Joe surprised me with gifts and beautiful flowers that lasted over a week and a half. My flowers never last that long!





And in true redneck fashion, we went with some friends to the monster truck show. We had fun, but it was loud!


Yes, we are rednecks. We drank carnival "fresh squeezed lemonade", skipped the funnel cakes and did a LOT of people watching. The past few months have been a whirlwind, but I am determined to blog more often in the coming months. Be looking for house updates soon!