Almost There

WE ARE ALMOST DONE!!!
Wow, I can't believe I am actually saying that!
We are just about finished with the house and we are really excited. There has been a significant amount of stress on everyone these past couple of weeks but its almost over and we can (hopefully) say we survived it. Last time I updated, we were painting and we thought we were just about done. Which was a mistake. Ha! We ended up needing more paint for the living room and the lovely man at Home Depot performed a color match (something I found out later was a mistake) and after touching up white spots and fixing several places the paint turned out to be the WRONG COLOR. So after recieving 4 gallons of free paint at Home Depot we got to work repainting the living room, kitchen, master bath, and guest bedroom. Then touchups included the other guest bedoom and cut-in on everything else. Dad says the house will not ever need to be repainted! So fun....not. BUT, we have discovered that my mother in law JoAnn is an EXCELLENT painter. I think she should go into the business. Not sure how it would work but man she's good! Brandon's parents have travelled out to Amarillo going on 4 weekends in a row. Wow!
One contributing factor to repainting was the installation of cabinets/staining of cabinets/painting of doors and trim which were all performed by a painter. We were so glad we did not have to attempt this huge task but man what a clean up afterwards! Whew! But its all over now and the paint looks awesome!
Speaking of cabinets, they are BEAUTIFUL! My uncle Mark is a custom cabinet maker and what beautiful work he does. Just gorgeous. Love my kitchen. After the cabinets were installed and stained the countertops were installed. This actually happened yesterday and the nice granite men drove out at 2:30 am from Dallas to install them. They are gorgeous! The appliances have also been put in/halfway installed and next up is a backsplash.
Last week a landscaping company here in Amarillo installed a sprinkler system as well as sod. What a difference a yard makes!The fence is also finished! Never thought I would get excited about a fence but it means I have a yard!
After the cabinets were in, the tile work was grouted and finished. I love how it all turned out. Brandon's uncles came out and laid down hardwood floors and carpet. It seems just about finished with carpet!
On the agenda: finishing the hardwoods, replacing the front of the house shingles (Amarillo wind needs to just chill for a bit-please pray my dad doesn't have to do this again or he might just have a complete coronary and keel over), plumber finishing up a few things, front door install, electrical work and then moving day! Its here! Yay! Now if we can make it there!
I say this everytime but my dad...words cannot even express our gratitude. Between the driving at 3 am, the NUMEROUS phone calls, the sheer volume of work...its just overwhelming. What a wonderful man to sacrifice so much for his daughter. I'm getting teary eyed thinking about it. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.
My in laws also deserve more thank yous than I could ever give. They have spent so much time and sacrificed so much to be here working. We cannot thank them enough!
Ok now that I've gotten all of my emotions out, here are some pictures. :) Enjoy!

Painting a Picture

Well, it has been over a month again since I posted. I need to get better about this! We have been very busy and making lots of progress on the house!
First off, the brick was finished and it looks WONDERFUL! It's so pretty. The colors are really great.
Second, the sheetrock as well as tape, bed and texture have been finished as well. It was amazing how quickly it went from looking like the frame of a house to an actual house! The sheetrock made a huge difference. It also made me realize how HUGE the great room is. What an awesome idea my dad had to make the ceilings in the living room and kitchen 10 ft. This made these two rooms seem very large. We love it!
Next, the tile work was started. The guest bathtub and floor is now finished (except for grout) and the master floor and shower have been done. They look so good!
Then, over Christmas break we got to work painting. I say "we" lightly...I had to work a few days while Brandon and his parents slaved away and basically painted the whole house. They had most of the rooms painted by the time we ate lunch on the first day! Crazy! Also, Dad brought his sprayer out and did most of the ceilings.
After working on the inside, then it was time to paint the inside. It was so nice to get the real color of the outside instead of the ugly yellow that had been on there from the trim. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering if we were ever going to paint it.
Next on the agenda is finishing the tile work, installing a tub in the master bathroom, finishing the paint, and installing cabinets. Things are starting to wrap up and we have set a closing date as January 30th!!!!! So exciting. We are so ready to be in our new home.
We are so thankful to my dad for all of his hard work and my mom for allowing him to be gone so much as he does such a wonderful thing for us. It has been a crazy ride but we have learned so much and grown so much closer. We also cannot thank Brandon's parents enough as they spent their Christmas vacation helping us paint. We could not have gotten near as much done without them.
For now, here is picture overload since it has been so long so I posted. Have a great week!

Master Closet

 Living Room

Guest Bedroom

 Master Bathroom

 Master Shower

Master Bedroom

Brick.....House.....

Wow! I can't believe its been a month since my last post! The first part of November was a little slow while Mom and Dad took their wonderful vacation to Hawaii. When they returned it was back to work. These past couple of weeks there has been a lot of progress. The brick has been started (and almost finished!) and it is so awesome to see. Its so fun to see how different it looks with brick on the outside. This past week Dad came out and installed the fireplace (YAY!!) and I'm excited to see the finished product. It has and will be EXTREMELY cold in Amarillo this week and I cannot wait to have a fireplace to sit by at night.
We were also blessed to have all of the inspections these past two weeks and everything passed. The electrical inspection took longer than we had hoped but the inspector called the electrician and told him it was some of the best electrical work he had ever seen. WOW!! We were not expecting that. The framing inspection also took place this past week and it passed as well. So now once it warms up a bit, they can begin with the spray foam insulation as well as the sheetrock. There are a few places that already have sheetrock and it looks so different! We were also blessed to find tile this past week for a great price and will be able to lay that when the sheetrock and tape and bedding are finished. Its all coming together!
On another note, we had a few setbacks this past week. If any of you live in or have been to Amarillo you know that the wind is relentless. This past weekend the winds were sustained of 40 miles per hour with gusts up to 60. Well this was not a good thing for the shingles and the roof my dad just put on. Most of the shingles on the front of the roof blew off. Just to give you an idea, the shingles are about 2 foot long and about a foot wide. My dad put 8 nails in each shingle and they STILL blew off. That is some powerful wind! Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about it. Its so frustrating to do the work and then have something like that happen and have to go back and repeat your work. We are already pressed for time and small setbacks like this are frustrating. But, there are lessons to be learned and PATIENCE is a big one that we are continually being reminded of throughout this process.
Once again, my dad has been so gracious and wonderful throughout this whole process. We are so blessed to have him doing this for us. We can't thank my mom enough for allowing him to come out and be gone for such long periods of time. It has been a frustrating time, a fun time, a growing time, a learning time, and a time of many blessings. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can't wait to be in our new home!
Below are some pictures of the brick as well as the fireplace. Emjoy!

Odds and Ends

Time for an update!! I have some pictures of a few odds and ends that are going on with our new house. First off, Dad has been working very hard to finish the roofing and get that all taken care of. We had a snow storm here last week where we got almost 5 inches of snow!! Well some of the felt paper wasn't on the house yet so that made for a huge mess! Lots of muddy sawdust! Hopefully the weather will cooperate for the rest of the building and we can be finished before winter really rears its ugly head here in Amarillo.
The plumbing in the house is also starting to take shape! The bathtub in the second bathroom is in and the plumbing for the laundry room is looking great!
We have also had the air conditioning put in. A nice subcontracter from Ft. Worth was kind enough to come out and do the house for us. It looks really good!
We are making progress! Its so exciting to see everything happening. I know I say this everytime but we are so grateful to my dad. Brandon and I have gotten to spend some quality time with him and we are so grateful for that. I enjoy the evenings when we get to hang out and chat about life. This has been the most I have seen my dad since I have moved away from home and it has been wonderful! Lots of memory building!
Next week Mom and Dad are going on a MUCH needed vacation to MAUI!! So fun!! We will surely miss them while they are gone but they definitely need the break!
Here are some pictures of the latest work! Enjoy!

Windows and Wiring

It's been a while since I have updated! We are now finished with the framing and moved on to electricity, heating and cooling, as well as roofing! Dad has been working himself to death and Mom has been worried about him of course!
The first weekend of framing we had Brandon's parents come out and help us. They have been such a HUGE help in the process. Jack has been learning framing and helping tremendously with everything.
The second weekend of framing Jack rode out with Dad to help as well. I was back in Ft. Worth but when I returned I could tell they had made a ton of progress.
During the week Dad has made several trips out to work on things during the week such as putting in windows (YAY!), finishing the trim work and decking the roof.
A cool story with the windows that only God can do...I had wanted double windows (Dad says I have "expensive taste"...go figure) but we didn't think we were going to be able to do it. When he contacted the window salesman he was informed that someone had previously ordered two extra wide windows and had not picked them up. The salesman offered to sell them to use for the same price as the standard windows. So cool!
This past week everyone returned and Jack had the fun job of nailing on brick ties all weekend! Dad had an even more fun job of finishing the decking.
As I write this, Dad's good friend Mike and another worker Randall are wiring the house for electricity! So exciting! It is so fun to see things go up!
I cannot express how thankful we are to my dad as well as Brandon's dad. They have worked until they couldn't work anymore and it has been such a blessing. We have got to spend quality time with both of our families and we could not be more grateful for that. I'll leave you with some pictures; the last two are of the amazing vaulted ceiling in our bedroom. Its going to be so pretty! Hopefully next time I post we will have shingles and air conditioning started, and maybe, just maybe some brick!! YAY! Have a great week everyone!

All the Walls

Hello again friends! Time for another update. This past weekend my dad, Brandon, and Brandon's dad worked very hard and were able to get all of the walls for the house up! They were also able to get most of the ceiling joists up. They worked very hard for three days straight and boy does it look wonderful. Its so exciting to see such progress so quickly. Next up Dad is coming back this weekend to work more on the ceilings and to finish up the framing. We want to thank my dad and Jack (and Brandon of course) for all of their hard work and for sacrificing their weekend this past weekend to help us out. More updates coming soon...for now here are some pictures!