Inside and out...

As 2010 ends...

It has been such an amazing year! The house is just months away. We were hoping to push for a late December finish but it was definitely a dream. It has been cold, rainy, and snowy. It is very hard to build a house in the snow haha. In about 3 weeks I think it will be safe to say we will be indoors only, until it's time to landscape. This has been such an amazing experience, and has shown us so many things. We have definitely realized alot about people in our lives and their committment to us.

((This photo was taken a few weeks ago, all of the siding is now done.))

We have both been working alot. Justin is working two jobs and I as well. I have been doing a nanny job for the last 8 weeks, early in the morning, and then working at PETCO 40 hours a week. I also received a promotion at PETCO, where I am the new "District lead Mentor", meaning, I am in charge of training for our district and I start training seminars tonight for 21 dog trainers. So needless to say, I am definitely busy.

Even through all this chaos and exhaustion, it has been a year to remember. We started building a house, celebrated our one year anniversary, had many memerable experiences with our friends and family, watch my sister grow and have been very proud of her, bought an amazing new car, and learned to love eachother more than ever.

Options..

We are at that point in the building where it is now time to pick the "fun" stuff. We are picking out our cabinets, flooring and counters..

here are some pics of what we are thinking for our counters and cabinets..

a little love goes a long way...

This past Friday we had a huge group of about 30 volunteers come out to help us with our homes. Volunteers make all the difference in the world. I can't thank them enough for their hard work and great attitudes. If more people volunteered on their days off, just imagine what this world would be like? I can't wait to help the other groups building once we are finished. As of now, since we haven't been getting any help, I am putting in full work days on the house, on my days off. It is really exhausting and I am feeling burnt out. I can't really expect things to change though because the weather is only going to get worse. If you don't volunteer in the sunshine, why would you in the rain? Oh well. Just got to keep my sanity and we will be done before we know it.

Here are some updated pictures of what a little help can do. Thanks again volunteers!

let there be.. windows?

As we passed our 3 month mark we now have windows!

and bath tubs..

and electrical wiring (and stairs) ..

Everything is coming along wonderfully. Of the 8 homes we are building, we will be receiving the roof trusses for house number 5 : ) The flooring package came in for house number 6 and we will be working on that very shortly. The 1st and 2nd houses now have their siding up. (we are house number 3)

will post more later : )

up and over.. a few hills

It has now been over a year since we got married. You would think that I would be happy to celebrate our anniversary and the many more to come, but really it makes me sad to think that each day we grow farther apart from August 1st 2009. I loved our wedding and everything about it. It was the most magical day of my entire life and not a day goes by that I don't think about it. Sometimes I wonder if everyone feels the way I feel about our wedding day. But at the same time, I don't know how many people do everything their own way. For us, we didn't know what we were doing when we started planning, we just did everything that sounded amazing to us. There are little things we forgot, like taking engagement photos or having our parents ushered to their seats, or getting a photo of me and my new mother-in-law. But of all the minor things we forgot, it didn't make a bend in the perfect of that day. Our special day was completely about us. You know that today photographers convince you to take your pictures before the wedding. That it isn't bad luck to see the Bride before the wedding. Well we decided to NOT see each other prior to the ceremony and I strongly recommend it to anyone. It was so magical walking down that aisle, seeing Justin for the first time since midnight the night before. It was the most beautiful moment of my life and will always remember it.

enough about the wedding....

here is the progress on our house : )

house progress....

all the framing is done! The roof is being put on. You can see the windows laying against the garage wall. They will be going in soon and then the actual roofing and then the bath tubs!! whaawhoo.. so much progress!

summer is going by so fast...

It sure has been a busy summer. I had two close

girl friends get married this summer so it has been really crazy and busy trying to balance all the events with work and building our house. With the two weddings also came two bridal showers and two bachelorette parties, so I had 6 saturdays busy busy with wedding events this summer. Yesterday was the last wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful. I have happy that they are now over though so that I can focus on work and building the house and not have to stress about events.

The house is coming along quickly! We have made so much progress in the last 2 1/2 months. It has been really exciting and I hope we can get alot more done in the next few months so that we can be indoors during the rainy seasons. I hope and wish we will be done by Christmas. But that is a huge huge goal!

1 year since marriage.. 2 months since breaking ground : )

Sunday, August 1st 2010 was our 1 year wedding anniversary : ) This picture was taken at the fort (where we got married). We had a wonderful anniversary. First we drove to Fort Worden, toured around the Fort. Walked the trails and walked around where we said "I DO". Behind us in this photo is where our reception was held. It was truely the most magical day of my life. After we were done wondering around the fort we went to check into our hotel, The Tides Inn. This is where we stayed on our wedding night. Then we went and walked around the town and went into shops. Port Townsend is such a beautiful town and has so many friendly people. We ate dinner at a very nice restaraunt, wish I could remember the name.. hmmm? We then made a list of 50 reasons why we loved each other, and then read them to each other. It was very romantic : ) All in all we had a wonderful anniversary.

It has been two months since we broke ground and our house is coming along beautifully!

The exterior walls are up and the interior framing (on the first floor) is complete : )

Antsy pants

I am feeling very antsy today!
This sunday will be our 1 year wedding anniversary : ) We didn't know what we were going to do because we are on a budget. This morning I called the hotel we stayed at our wedding night (Tides Inn Hotel in Port Townsend). Suprisingly they give a good special for Sunday nights so we were able to book the same room. I can not wait! It will be hard to leave the puppies at home but I am really looking forward to our mini vacation. We are planning on hiking arond the Fort and visit our ceremony site as well as reception hall. We haven't been back since the wedding.

This saturday we are going to Justins Aunt and Uncles for his Grandpas 80th birthday celebration. We have a very busy weekend ahead!

I am also getting really antsy about our house! It has been 7 1/2 weeks since we "broke ground". If we only do our minimum hours then it is going to take forever! We need more hours in the day so that we can put in more hours! As of now our house has the excavation (digging, dirt moving, leveling) complete, as well as the foundation. Today and tomorrow the floors are being set and then the walls will go up shortly after. We really want to be done by Christmas but we need more volunteers!