Our new HOUSE...part 1!!!

As some of you may know- we bought a house!

It was quite the adventure so I will water down the details and give you the highlights!

The dig. Sept 16, 2009

Isn't it a beautiful hole?

Starting to resemble something.

Me and the Tray-man playing in the rocks! He really enjoyed this stage.

It is growing...

Yahoo! The basement, and I see windows!!

Our neighborhood.

Our master bedroom.

Now it is starting to come together.

Tray and Dad goofing around. Tray loved coming to the house every day. He ran around exploring and loved that he was able to walk through the walls.

Almost have walls... look at that smile. Priceless. I hope he never loses his big grin.

Tray exploring.

A roof. We have a roof!

The walls are going up and we can finally see the rooms. It was such a fun routine we had. We would drive to the house every night when James got home from work. Each day they had something else done and it was so fun to anticipate what was going to be done next. They flew building this house, and they still managed to do a really quality job. We had a lot of fun seeing the process unfold and I must say I learned a TON about building and buying houses. I also gained a whole new appreciation for how houses are made.

Our bathtub. I cannot wait to take a bath. I don't think I have actually taken a bathtub for 4 years. I am kinda a germ freak and I never dared to bathe while we were renting. Lame, I know. Who knows what has been in there. With that being said, I am really looking forward to a nice relaxing tub!

Tray really loved seeing the house come together. All day he would say, "house" and when we would get there he was instantly hyper and laughing. He loved playing and exploring things. I know new houses can be a little treacherous so we made sure to keep a close eye on him. Daddy and Tray smiling as usual.

It was amazing how messy the whole process was, literally. I was so worried we were going to move into a mess but James assured me not to worry. WE moved in and it was spotless- a miracle!! How did they do that?

Tray's fun playroom. James envisioned a man cave with a flat screen TV bellowing calls from the football umpire, a fridge filled to the max with Diet coke, and a manly pool table. Sorry babe, that dream was crushed with bouncy balls, and building blocks. I promise someday you will get your man cave. He is such a good sport!

Our fireplace. James promised to build me another awesome mantel. I love being married to a Handy-man.

It is really starting to resemble a home. We fell in love with the vaulted ceilings and open floor plan.

Tray taking on the stairs.

Like I said, they went so fast on this house. We were so impressed with how on the ball they were. WE had some minor bumps along the way but the end result was amazing!

The roof going on.

The stucco. I don't know why all of a sudden the font goes to blue. ODD. Anyways...

First coat of stucco. We were the most nervous about the exterior colors b/c we had to pick them off a tiny sample and there was not very many options. You just never know how it will all look together. I was nervous...

All of my worrying was in vain, as usual. It turned out beautiful and we were so relived. I love the stucco and the stone together. It actually looks like a house!

Pretty much the end result. Just missing the shutters on the window above the garage. It was such a stressful process but it was also so exciting. We are so happy with it and feel so blessed. We were definitely ready to have a space to call our own.

Of course Tray was thrilled to have wide open spaces to run around and new rooms to make messes in.

They finished our house in Nov 25, 2009. It took them about 2 1/2 months start to finish- I was blown away by that. We were such picky homebuilders so I really do feel bad for everyone that worked with us. But, I can't imagine not being picky, houses are not cheap! It was such a fun experience and quite the adventure. James and I were a great team getting everything figured out and I loved that James was so involved in every little detail. We picked the colors together and it was so much fun! I almost miss it! We have been moved in for about 1 1/2 months now and I still can't believe this is OUR house. It seemed a little more real when we made our first mortgage payment :( ha ha. It has been so wonderful having space where we can paint it and know that in 2 years we wont have to paint it back to white. We feel so blessed and so fortunate to be here back with family and have a good job and a healthy family. We know it is not about having a house but they memories you create inside and making it a home!

Stay tuned for the inside of our house...