And It's A House!

Ok, so it's been a while. But I can explain, I promise. I took some pictures a few weeks ago...and put the camera on the hood of the truck while I went back to work. That was a mistake. You should never put a delicate instrument on the hood of a vehicle that has the potential to move. Which it did move, when I ran home to get some lunch. A very nice gentleman found the camera and recognized my truck from looking through the pictures, and found me before I even realized that my camera was gone. :) That camera is TOUGH. It still works. Some dents, some dings, and a few scratches, but still in good running condition. So here's a shout out for Canon cameras! :) That being said, I lost my camera cord when my camera case (which it was in) went flying off the hood. It was (sadly) never recovered. But now I have a new cord, it's been a few weeks...and we have made a ton of progress! 

The framing party was October 12 (and to those of you who know of our bet...yes, I owe Josh a golf game, because it was framed by the time he said it would be) and we had to work super hard to get everything ready by then. We actually stayed home from October Camp, which was a huge disappointment, but a necessary one. That weekend we finished the floor joists and the subfloor. (Thanks a million, Todd for coming over and helping us with that!) That week, we marked where the walls were to go and ordered lumber. 
Friday: Chad and Todd came over and we got all the top and bottom plates of the house built, marked and laid out. Plus the front and back walls of the house built. And we were ready for frame day! 
Saturday and Sunday: We are so blessed to have all the friends who came over and helped us out! We got a ton done :) All the walls were framed, all sides sheeted with plywood, and three sides Tyveked. Plus all the roof joists where run and we put up the front walls for the three front dormers. 
This last couple weeks, we have finished the walls for the upstairs office, put in sheetrock backing and towel backing (so our towels don't jump off the walls someday :) and cut the door openings. This coming weekend my wonderful brothers are coming down and a couple friends are coming over and we are going to put the roof on! I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, EXCITED. :) I can't wait to see the roofline. SO...............here are all the pictures you've been waiting for. I unfortunately forgot to get a picture of just the subfloor when it was all done, but I got one of when Todd and Josh were working on back walls. Enjoy!!

Todd and Josh working Friday

David helping some of the kids :)

Starting to look like a house!  

 Jonathan and Ethan trying to figure out what to do

 An example of Lydia's photography 

 And another...

 Dad's addition to our house - a mouse hole! It says, "Home Sweet Home" and "Mice Welcome"

 Holden working hard

 The front of the house

 One of our many helpers

 At the end of the weekend!

Stay tuned for more after this weekend...we should have a roof on that structure! To all who helped us: a huge thank you for all the hard work! When it's finished, we look forward to having you all over for dinner and fun times! 

Until the next update, 

Josh and Rebecca

More Progress!!

We are starting to feel like we're getting somewhere now :) Finally, all the concrete pouring is done...the stem walls went really well, Keith, Terrell and Caden Gardener came and helped Uncle Marty, Josh and I pour them. It was so nice to have the three extra people and it went a million times smoother than pouring the footings! So, the stem walls are up and we are now working on putting in the large beams that support the span of the house (almost done with those, we are one board short...it should be delivered today to be installed this evening) and we started the floor joists! I am so excited about floor joists...(lame, I know) but as you all know, I'm a quick project, don't make me be to perfectionist type of girl, and this house is trying my project type! But the floor joists...ahh, they are awesome. And you get to see results FAST :) Yay! We hope to finish them tonight! Our framing party is in one week (the 12-13) so we are working hard to get the subfloor up and the walls marked. I am getting super excited about the framing party, by the end of the weekend we should have a structure that is actually looking like a house instead of just a flat platform. Oh! And on Thursday we had the garage pad and approach done (we hired that part of the concrete work out...hooray) and got our well dug! We don't have running water, because we don't have electricity yet, but if you want a drink all you need are thin buckets and a long, long, long rope....drop it 200 ft. down and you can dip some up! ;)

Here are the latest pics! 

Until the next update,

Joshua and Rebecca

Caden and Uncle Marty

Keith and Terrell

Stems!

I was digging out the pipelines that run beneath the footings

Looks like we're getting somewhere!!!

The well:

This was taken last night, we worked til 9:15 or so with job lights and got the laundry room joists up and about a third of one side of the house.