Let's Get This Party Started!! Form boards, potty and anniversary!

On Wednesday, February 25th they got this party started with form boards!!

I can really envision the house being there now! The girls and I went out there and walking around on the pad I was telling them where every room was going to go. We'd go stand in each of their rooms and run to the kitchen then to our room. It was fun, but right now it doesn't seem like all of the rooms are going to fit.

 

 

Friday they filled it with dirt and brought a port o potty. Yay for no more squatting in the woods!!

 



Yesterday Matt and I went away for the night to celebrate our 12th Anniversary! We had a great time and it's always nice to get away and relax and enjoy each other's company.

One of my gifts was that Matt said I can get the custom kitchen I always wanted! No manufactured, cheap plywood in my kitchen!! I went to college my first 2 years for architecture. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to design houses. Unfortunately things didn't work out with me getting my degree as an Architect but this is giving me a little bit of that. And it doesn't get much better than getting to design my very own!! So tonight I've been sketching out what I think I want. I'm so thankful and really appreciate Matt letting me do this!!

And I can't wait to see what work gets done on our house this week!

 

BIG Day!! Construction loan closing and permits!

Yesterday was a BIG day!! Not only did we get to close on the construction loan..........

 

 

We also received our building permits!!!!

 

What a relief and blessing! We have now been out of our house and in our apartment for 7 months! It doesn't seem like it has been that long. And while it's small, it has been nice not to clean as much square footage, be together more, have no yard to take care of, a free pool and gym to use at any time and a lower power bill. But we are SO ready to have this house built! It SHOULD be about 5-6 months until completion. They have already contacted the people to come out to start the form boards and the electricity company to put up the temporary power pole. Things should get started this week except its suppose to rain all week. Go figure! But we all know those weather people get it wrong all of the time. We're praying for a dry week!!

 





The ball is rolling!!!.......{well it was!}

Its seems like every time we get the ball rolling someone puts the breaks on. This time it was the city. We were under the assumption that the builder completed the building package and submitted it for the permits, but the city threw in a few curve balls.
First we found out the city has an arborist and we were "suppose to" have her come out and inspect all of our trees before any are removed to ensure you aren't cutting down any trees you aren't "suppose to." My first thought was "we paid for this, why the heck do we need your approval to remove OUR trees?!?!" And after the conversation between the arborist and Matt I thought we might as well hang up the idea of ever getting any permits approved. When she told him "Sir, do you know what global warming is.....???" all I could think was "oh no.....here we go!" It's safe to say Matt wasn't too happy to begin with about the whole situation so her comment wasn't received too well.
THEN........surprise! We also need you to get a drainage plan completed. "Oh sure! We love throwing money out there to everyone! Who else can we pay?!?!?" Ok yes.....can you feel my frustration?

So........we decided it was time to end the madness. We wanted no more surprises and needed to get this ball rolling and everything sorted out. So Friday Matt and I met with 4 different people from 4 different departments of the city building/development programs. I wasn't really sure how it was going to go but on the way there Matt said, "You ready to see me do my thing?" I didn't know what that meant but I will say.........he did his thing!! They were very apologetic for all of the trouble and headache we have been put through so far. They also vowed to make things as smooth and easy as possible going forward. They allowed us to bypass the full arborist part and just write a letter stating that we only removed tallow trees and all other "good" trees were transplanted to our neighbors. That saved us several hundred dollars (Whoo hoo! Finally score one for us!!) And as far as the drainage plan we already had the survey company on it and as of Monday EVERYTHING was submitted for permitting!! So in the end I think the meeting was very successful. They now have a name with a face and understand our frustration. Hopefully they live up to their word and make everything as quick and easy as possible going forward.

Now the dirt work is finished and our property looks like this:

And this last weekend we got to enjoy it with a cookout and bon fire with our family and friends.

We are so thankful for these moments to slow down, enjoy some peace and quiet and be surrounded by our family and friends.
As far as the house goes.......it looks like we might be ready to close on our construction loan by the end of this week or the next  and the arborist said she would make a visit to our property to check everything out and give her approval today. Please pray we can start the foundation soon!!