House Pictures (Part 3)

Happy would be an understatement when describing how we feel about the house progress!

The outside walls are up and you can even start to see the shapes of the rooms. This is a picture of the left (when looking at the entry) side of the house. The rooms you see are the two bathrooms, our walk in closet and our bedroom. We realize that these rooms are not big. It is funny to understand Brian and I as a couple. We are such a great fit. Most couples experience a lot of disagreements while building, we have been on the same page the entire time. So, when it came to having big bathrooms, we opted for rooms that were efficient and easy to maintain. No need for two sinks and a separate shower for either of us.

Every night we come up to the house after the workers are gone and walk through the entire house. We love being on site! This shot is looking towards the front of the house. The rooms with the big windows are the boys rooms. They are going to share a room and have a playroom while they are little.

This shot is the looking toward the back of the house. I love all of my windows! When they were designing the house I must have ask for big windows a hundred times. The designer told me the sizes of the windows and I just laughed and politely asked..."but are those going to be big." The mobile home had the standard mobile home windows and was dark even during the day time. Winters were really hard for me. Now with these windows and our 9ft ceilings, I think things will be much "brighter."

This is the "big" side of our house. We strove to have our space in the living areas of our home. Here you get a look at our entry way, the open kitchen with an island, our utility room with guest bathroom and of course my dream scrap room (which could always be turned into an amazing rec room - right).

Tomorrow you'll be treated to an outside view of the house up!

House Pictures (Part 2)

Standing at this point, you used to look at the front of the mobile home. Once it was down, we stood in awe of how pretty our property really is. We are so lucky! What looks like a pile junk up there is actually all the wood to start building the house.

In just one day they framed the floor. We have a nice crawl space. It is taking shape.

Another day later, they have the floor covered. Conner is just in heaven. I was teasing him that he was being naughty and telling him to go to his room. He'd giggle and run over to the space that will soon be his. After that he just ran laps. And yes, I know it isn't the safest thing to let my son run barefoot in a construction zone...but unless I duct tape the shoes on there is little choice.

Piles and piles of dirt is a little boys dream. Can't you just feel the joy oozing from him?

My sweet little bug boy. He can pick up nearly any bug and not get bit. Now granted potato bugs are big biters (lol), but he had been picking up fire ants before this.

Until the cozy house is finished, this is our "tub." For most baths we visit our family members. Without a doubt the boys would prefer that we always bathe them in this tub. Look at how dirty they are! The water looked the chocolate milk after this cleaning.

The walls go up! And isn't it fitting that my scraproom wall would be the first to be raised. Dreams are becoming reality.

Okay, now you have to wait until tomorrow for a new set of pictures. I promise they'll be good ;)

House Pictures (Part 1)

Phil Wills was amazing and did all of our excavating. There was an impressive amount of cement beneath the mobile home. Phil made it "disappear," thank goodness as it would have been very expensive to haul off. As it was we ended up needing three dumpsters to get rid of the mobile home.

Blake enjoyed all the equipment on the property. He does this funny little thing of tucking his bottom teeth behind his top teeth.

I think that this was one of my favorite parts. The amount of dirt moved was amazing. Phil levels this pretty much by eye, he has been in the business forever and has worked on the projects of many of our family and friends.

The framing crew came out and in just a short time laid out the foundation wall frames.

These got filled in with the cement and created the first stage of our foundation.

I was always a tomboy, so when the pump truck came out I was thrilled. It is so cool! With this one truck they were able to reach all the way across our property. Without the pump truck I think they would have had to run the cement by wheel barrow.

Check Back Tomorrow for More Pictures
(I've even scheduled the post)

Ready for pictures...

I was all set to start posting pictures several days ago. Imagine my surprise when I went to download my photos and my computer flashed a warning of not enough space. Out of 80GB, I only had 130kb left.Yikes! So, yesterday I ran to the store and picked up another external hard drive. Today I removed all my documents/photos onto my first ext.hd and have them backed up on the second one. Now I am ready to start sharing :)

I have so many pictures I am going to share them over the course of several days. The post are scheduled, so be sure to check each day for a new set of pictures. I'm such a tease, I know.

I'm still here...

I am back from Convention and have been for some time. Internet is finally up and steady. Now if only I could gain several more hours (and the needed energy) in each day. I'll be back soon with some pictures. Rather than wait until I have the photos (my computer says I don't have enough space - but I have a plan) I like to update you all.

~~ House ~~
The progress on the house has been amazing. If you remember we tore down the mobile home the first week in July. Now just a month and half later, we have the foundation, all the walls up and today they are roofing it. Friday we finalized our cabinets and they should be here in four weeks. Tomorrow the plumber comes out. I look forward to sharing pictures, it really is unbelievable. Please pray that the progress continues at the same speed, we'd love to be in the house before the weather turns.

~~ Artwork/New Catalog/Convention ~~
I am sure that you are all wondering where all the pictures of my artwork are. I have decided not to share those quite yet, I'd like to keep them a surprise for the release of the new catalog.

The new catalog is AMAZING! I know that I got to see much of the product early, but I'll tell you what...the product that I didn't get to see until Convention blew my socks off. Close To My Heart never fails to impress me. Here are a few tidbits until my launch, think clear (album), organization and rub ons.

Convention was a blast! We got to stay in the Gaylord Palms Resort and never left the hotel (except to go to the airport). That may not sound like a positive to some of you, but for me I don't do well in the heat and loved that I was comfortable the entire time. I met some super duper Consultants that kept me up all hours of the night. One of those ladies, Corinna, joined Nona and I in the courtyard until nearly midnight every night giggling. We had unbelievable Create & Takes that I can hardly wait to share with you (have to wait until the launch).

My favorite announcement is that Close To My Heart has refined our donation committment and now exclusively supports Operation Smile. The company has promised $150,000 this year and you have a hand in those donations...a percentage of all stamp sales goes to Operation Smile. We spent a morning touched by the pictures and the changes in the kids lives who are benefited by Operation Smile. I have made a promise to myself to raise enough to cover 5 surgeries with the help of my customers.

On September 6th, I am hosting a catalog launch party to benefit Operation Smile. All proceeds from the party and online orders that day will be donated to Operation Smile where for just $240 we can cover the cost of a surgery and change a child's life. Within the next week, I will be releasing the complete details and opening up registration.

If you have actually read this entire post, thank you. I'll be sure to post pictures soon since I know that is what I enjoy myself.