Thursday, July 30, 2009

4 houses down...sort of

Sorry, still no new pictures. My camera ran out of memory and I have to make a CD before I delete any of the pictures. We have started our 4th house, but technically we are still working on the first. Its almost finished. Aaron is just working on putting the windows in and then that house will be ready for stucco and drywall. The second house and Jason's house just got trusses and now we are working on sheathing them. After they are sheathed then we can do the shingles. The 4th house was started, but there is so much work to do with the 2nd and 3rd that we've stopped for a while.

We still haven't started on our house. Sorry. Its probably not very fun to read about other people's houses. We consider them all our homes. After all, we are a team and all the homes are something I build so I am proud of them all. We don't mind much because, well, we can't move in until they are all finished anyway. It will most likely be next though, so keep checking back. I will for sure have pictures of that.

Its been a lot of fun for the most part. Our supervisor is a little cranky, and hasn't trained us very well, but we manage well. Most of the group gets along really well and we are moving pretty fast.

In terms of regular life it has gotten difficult. Aaron is gone most of the time so that leaves me with the kids almost all the time. I miss his helping me with the kids as well as just his company. Yesterday we were both working on the house and it was great! It was like a date because it was the first time we had been just the two of us in a long time. We had so much fun!

I guess that's all for now!

Friday, July 10, 2009

On to the next house!

So we finished our part of the Prather house, for now anyway, and have moved on to the Wilson's house in Santaquin! We started on Tuesday and its been going slow. Maybe that's because the first house's first day we finished porch cap, greenplate, and basement walls, and even rim joist. Then again that was a Saturday. On Saturdays everbody comes in. I am guessing this Saturday we will probably be starting on Lisa and Jason's house.

So far we have the basement walls up, greenplate on, and Lisa and I just laid the rim joists yesterday! Porch cap is still moving slowly, but they are close to finishing.

Sorry there aren't any pics. I would think from an outsiders Point of view most of the pics look familiar, especially because this house is the same plan as the last one we worked on.

Our house has been backfilled and the window wells put on, so I am guessing we will be starting it in about a week. Once we start building our house I will post more pictures.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Almost done...with the first anyway!

After two weeks of building we are almost finished! This last week has been kinda rocky for us. Aaron was sick at the beginning of the week. Then Joseph got sick, so I couldn't work. Then I got sick and couldn't work. Then Aaron hurt his back and almost sprained his ankle! But, today they were finishing up the shingling! I am not sure if they finished because Aaron left before they were done, but he said they didn't have much left to do. Last I heard they were delivering lumber to the Wilson's house on Wednesday and Jason and Lisa's house on Friday, but Aaron said they were going to try and get the green plate(that is one of the first things you do) on Monday! Woohoo! And once we are in Santaquin we are hoping that things go faster.

That was one of the most frustrating things this last week. There wasn't much left to do and too many people without anything to do, but we couldn't move the trailer with all the power tools until we finished this house. So now we will be building two houses at a time, if not, more.

The house looks great too! You can even picture where their kitchen will be, maybe even their living room setup. It feels so good to know that I helped build it. And now I know all that went into it and how it went up. When I talk to people about the building they kinda all just stare when I say things like double top plate, sheathing, green plate, or anything else. I was the exact same before we started. You pick it up fast, so don't let it scare you from coming to volunteer. ;)

Here's what it looks like...


These are the stairs that Aaron built with Lisa's dad.


My dreamy husband...


My dad also came out to help with his sister Jan. They kinda cam at a bad time since there isn't alot left to do, but he helped Aaron out with the shingling today.

I also went out and bought a washer and dryer. We had a really old Maytag in Santaquin before we moved, but it weighed a ton and we didn't want to move it. We gave it away, and I planned on doing laundry at my mom's until our house was built and buying new ones when we moved in. That way I wouldn't have to move them. Well, that last about 2 months. My mom's machines just take FOREVER, and I hated taking the kids over their for hours to do laundry. So I payed for a month of consumer reports and did a ton of research from customer reviews and talked to the guy at Lowes and got a...(drum roll please) Samsung set. I know what your thinking, what about Maytag and Whirlpool? Well, aparently Maytag had a ton of class action lawsuits a few years back about mold and mildew in their front loaders, so Whirlpool bought them out. Now whirlpool is having the same issues. The Samsungs that I bought got great reviews from customers, consumer reports, and the guy at Lowe's highly recommended them. And savvy little me got them while Lowes was having an awesome sale. They started at 898 each. I got 20% off the washer because it was energy efficient, 10% off the dryer because it was over 400 and then I had a 10% card from the whole purchase, so altogether I saved about $300! And then I am getting another $150 in mail in rebates! Yeah for me!

Then tragedy strikes. On the way out of the store both Vaeh and Joseph were screaming! I picked up Joseph and put Vaeh in the cart. While pullling the cart with one hand and holding Joseph we were walking towards the car in the parking lot and we hit a speed bump. Vaeh was standing up in the cart when it happened and she fell out! She landed head first on the pavement! I couldn't do anything because I was holding Joseph, but I can still see it happening in my head. She's okay, but it sure was terrifying to watch. Now she has an awesome bruise though! It looks like her head has been stamped. It didn't break the skin, so she just has a bunch of blood blisters.


Poor girl...


But isn't she pretty?

That's it for now! Happy fourth!