Thursday, December 17, 2009

Merry Christmas from our new house!

Just thought I would send out one last blog before I'm cut off from the internet for a few days.  Tonight we had our open house!  Most of the group was moving in, but we decided we would move on Saturday just to make things easier.  We did move a few boxes over and our plants and it was pretty exciting to see our things in our house!  We are for sure going to need to get a gate for the stairs because, of course, that is the highlight of the whole house for the kids.

Here's a few pictures from our open house, plus (almost) all of the houses.


We're thinking of sending this as our Christmas card.


All the families in our group at the ribbon cutting


House #2 (house #1 is in Payson and I didn't want to drive there, but it looks just like this one)


House #3 Jason and Lisa's new place


House #4 Monica's house


House #5 Our house


House #6 Rhiannon's house


House #7 Carina's house(my only neighbor so far)


And house #8 the Fraser's place


And there you have it. Our 6 months of labor and we finally have our houses.  Almost feels too good to be true!  Merry Christmas everyone!  

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

We Did It!

6 months, 8 homes, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later we are finally finished!  Our open house is this Thursday, and we will be moving in this Saturday!  Its going to be an exciting end of the year!  We finished all the outside work the day before the huge snow storm.  It was perfect.  Almost if someone knew we needed decent weather to finish :)  We've been inside cleaning ever since grateful that we finished in the nick of time.

Its funny how when you are in the midst of something difficult it seems like it will never end at times, and then when its all done you think, "that wasn't so bad", and you even miss it.  That's where I'm at right now.  I am excited for the landscaping in the spring, and for helping the next group that will be starting soon.

I'm not particularly excited for the actual packing up and moving part of it in the snow, but its supposed to be 37 and clear on Saturday, so it shouldn't be too bad.  Still, if anyone wants to help it would be very much appreciated!  We are also sad to leave our awesome neighbors.  Vaeh has made good friends with their foster son and they play so well together.  We'll have to make frequent trips up to keep the friendships alive.  I am excited to have Jason and Lisa as neighbors again though!  For those of you who don't know we lived together for a little over two years, and even though its GREAT to have your own place its nice to have family close by.

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity!  We have made great friends with our neighbors, have learned a TON about building, and in general it was just good to work with our hands to accomplish a goal.  Even though there were many a hard time, it was generally a fun experience!  I would do it again!

I was going to send Christmas cards with a picture of our family in front of our new house, but it will most likely come after Christmas.  If anyone wants one email me your address!  Merry Christmas to all as I probably wont post again until after the holidays!


Our lot before the building started.  We are holding a golden shovel in case you can't see.


Here's Jason and Lisa's lot


Here's the mostly finished house.  I don't have a recent one.  One of theses days I will post a picture of all the houses finished.