Splash park fun!!!

Yesterday we met up with some friends in Missoula to enjoy some water fun at a splash park. There are several around town and they are all free. The kids had a great time cooling off and it was a perfect day for it. Temps near 90 and construction loud and messy at home. We all enjoyed the break!

Construction as of July 16th

Forms went up for the basement walls. Cement arrived and managed to stay in the foam like lego type forms...it is amazing what they held! The walls are solid and level and gravel has been poured for under the foundation. Pipes are beginning to be laid for plumbing and tomorrow they will blast thru the basement wall to put in the connecting door.


The Front of the house was covered in uncut stone with heavy grout. It was really poorly put together. It all came down...with much sweat from the men and much NOISE! They had to demolish it with sledge hammers and drills. Here is the front house the next day. Window cut out for the new entry to be readied. The more they tore out the more they found wrong with the existing wall. By the time they left this hole had extended even further north on the wall. It is still currently only boarded up. They will be framing in the new window and then giving us some new drywall inside, hopefully tomorrow. The new entry will remain baorded up until the exterior is built up some more.

It is so awesome to see each step come togther. Minus the construction dust...I could do without that all together. It will all be worth it in the end! God has been so good to all of us...no injuries to the crew and no real setbacks at this point! We have even had a few things come in under budget already!

Our 5th 4th of July party on the property.

The 4th of July was a blast again this year. We had 65 in attendance, our largest crowd yet. We added a new attraction this year....the 55 ft. adult sized slip n slide. It was a hit with the kids for sure. Mark gave a demonstration of how well the adults could slide on it as well. He also won the mens potato sack relay! I opted out of both events this year. =) We enjoyed a great BBQ and all the sides were delicious! ( o.k.... so I didn't try them all, but they all looked great!) We had the construction "crater" and somehow managed to not have any accidents involving any part of it... the kids were very well behaved! There were over 30 of them! We played some games like sack races and soggy jog relay and the kids enjoyed some squirt gun action. This year they managed to not soak any of the adults, a good thing! Our crowd was smaller for fireworks but those who stayed got to enjoy over an hour of the colorful display. We did have 3 small spot fires, but the men were able to put them out and no one was injured in the process. Though, I'm told that someone sacrificed a good pair of crocs in the big water ditch. Next year we hope to start something new with a 4th of July grand prix!!!! The boys are quite excited already. Hope you all enoyed a wonderful holiday as well. God bless the USA!!!!

I'm in love with a Master Chief!

My hubby that is!!!! Today I was able to (partially) witness the ceremony of Mark's advancement on Skype. Though it was hard to make out everyone at times and I could not hear his speech, it was very special to be some part of it! I am told that there will be pictures and video to follow for our family to enjoy as well. We were unable to be there due to construction up here. I am so very thankful for my devoted, hard-working husband and the blessing he is to our family. His accomplishments in his Coast Guard career have been amazing and I am so proud of him!

Construction progress

Today was only the 3rd day into the construction up here and lots has happpened already. Here are some pics of the progress so far. Madeline has not been happy about the contruction. She was really upset with the demolition and I had to try to come up with something to tell her to ease her concerns. I tried to let her know that "does mens" were "breaking" her house to make it bigger and better. That didn't do the trick. I tried to tell her we were going to have new rooms and bathrooms. That didn't work either. Then I told her they were building her a princess room. That worked! The next day when they packed up to leave she quickly announced..." does mens didn't make my princess room!" Now I have just been working on explaining 3 months waiting to her. =)

Groundbreaking

After over a month of hurry up and wait with the bank, etc... we have broke ground on our construction project! It is so very exciting! They arrived this morning bright and early at 6 a.m. and have hardly taken breaks since. Here are a few pics of the progress in the last several hours.