I. Am. Tired.

What a week!

If I could have, I would have stayed in bed all day.

I wouldn't have slept the whole day, but maybe.

This week we:

Had more reinforcements come to help with my big brother Jon and daughter Nat and her fiance Kaden (sorry for spelling that wrong, if I did).

They, along with my dad, put nailing strips in the ceiling in both bathrooms and then drywalled the guest bathroom.

Meanwhile my mom watched the kids while I went to the house with my sister Laura and picked out a second color for the upper part of the house. Then we painted. It was good. I actually really love how it turned out and am glad we didn't use all one color.

On Tuesday it was just my parents and me, so Dad and I hung the rest of the lights and started electrical. We were both pooped, so we quit early and called it a day.

Wednesday I went to the house and sat in the newly drywalled bathroom on a lawn chair trying to figure out how to build the shelf that I'm going to build in there for a couple of hours. These things take time. I took some measurements and drew some lines on the walls planning out where to hang the mirror and light fixture. Then I  went up in the basket on the forklift to finish calking and painting the vent.

Thursday morning I had a photo shoot and was gone all morning with the kids and got back to town around 2:30ish. We went to the house and started building the shelf in the bathroom. I built it twice because the first time I used 1xs and the second time I used 2xs. I like the feel of the 2xs better, but only built the very bottom of the shelf. THEN I got the tile out and layed it all out and moved it around a bunch until I liked it, and then started cutting it. Then back to the basket Trevor and I went to calk the new siding on the side of the house.

The next day we layed around the house all morning, then got up and went to the house and started laying the tile. I'm not a good tile layer. The thinset was too thin. Lol! That's funny. Think about that one for a minute. The kids and I frantically worked to free the tile we had already layed down. We got it all cleaned up and tried again, this time getting the thinset to more the consistency of toothpaste. We got the tiles layed down only to find that we had run out of tile!! We probably need about two more tiles, but that's my fault because I cut at least two wrong. So oh well. I didn't need to go up in the basket this night because Trevor was killing himself digging in the window well.

This brings us to Saturday. We will refer to this day as the day of horribleness. You will see what I mean in a moment. Saturday morning we took a couple hours and hooked up the water main and a few other pipes. Then Trevor went outside and turned the water on to the house. The water swooshed through the pipes in the basement and.... nothing leaked!!! We went outside and turned the spicket on and water came out!!! Yay! Trevor is a genius! Then we got out the cement saw and put on masks and ear protection and went to town cutting the second window. This part went on and on. Trevor cut with the saw, Logan or I took turns following him spraying water to keep the dust down. No one could breath or see. Your lungs burned and your eyes burned more. About 5ish we finished with the saw. Then fine tuning with the air hammer and grinder. On and on. I hate.... HATE cutting out windows. I cut all the lumber for the window and we did a couple test fits and more fine tuning to the lumber and window. Finally we got the window opening square and shot the lumber in place. Then with one hour until sunset, it was back into the basket to finish painting the new siding on the side of the house. We brought a jar of that peanut butter and jelly mixed stuff and a loaf of bread to the house so we wouldn't have to stop for anything. We were so tired when we got home. Tired and smelly.

The end.

If you made it this far, you must really be interested in this house build. You deserve a medal!

I now have two priesthood holders living in my house.

It sounds so weird, and I definitely don't feel old enough, but I'm so happy for Logan!!

It was a good day today. Both sets of grandparents came, and even Aunt Laura!

Let's talk about what happened at the house yesterday. Two of my sisters and brother in law came to help, as well as two nieces and two nephews. And let's not forget my dad. So this huge group of people converged upon the exterior of my house. They calked and painted sealed and built stuff and ripped stuff apart and dug and raked and were just absolutely amazing.

And then they went home at dusk. !!! They gave me their whole day!!! Talk about a sacrifice!

You guys.... Thank You!!!!! I bought the gable vent tonight. I went with the circle. I'm so grateful you stopped by this blog to help me out.

Update time: We cut out an egress window over the weekend.

We are cool like that.

Just wanted to make sure you read what I said, and it sunk in....

WE CUT OUT AN EGRESS WINDOW AND FRAMED IT AND GOT IT ALL READY FOR THE WINDOW TO BE INSTALLED!!!!!!

We are rockstars!

Do you know the difficulty of cutting into solid concrete? And guess what these lovely people did when they originally poured the concrete walls?

Hint: You will never guess....

They only put a mold on the inside of the house, but used dirt for the outside.

Can we all say "LUMPY"?

This means that the walls were thicker in some places and thinner in others. They ranged from 6 to 10 inches thick. Yep. I can't make this stuff up.

The thickness variation made it extremely difficult to cut the walls since the saw couldn't cut all the way through in places.

I'm telling you, I'm so glad I'm not a boy. I hurt just watching Trevor wacking and wacking at the concrete with the sledge hammer. In the end he got it all loose and it turned out okay.

Tonight the hyster and basket got dropped off at the house. The siding is about to be ripped off, and the front of the house is about to be finished and changed for forever.

YAY.

I'm excited for this party to get started.

I think we are close to seeing things start to change at the house. We need to get the egress windows in, get our final building inspection, get the plumbing inspected, get the rough electrical and inspection done, and then we will be off to  insulation and drywall.

So close, yet so far away.

Hey ya'all.

I've got to get some lap siding ordered tomorrow to replace the siding on one side of our house.

It's a long story.

But while we are up there working, it's the perfect time to install the gable vents.

This is where I need your help, and I need it quick.

The first picture is my amazing artistic rendering of the triangular gable vent we will be putting on the front of the house.

The second picture is of the side of the house we will be installing the new siding above the stucco. It's pretty easy to spot the part that needs to be replaced.

The third and fourth pictures are more amazing artistic renderings of the vents that we can install on the side of the house.

So what do you think? Is it weird to install a different shaped vent on the front and the side?

And if you think it is okay, what shaped vent should we go with? Trevor thinks rectangle and I think circle.

Honestly, we don't care anymore. I just want someone else to make the decision so I don't have to.

Yo. I'm tired.

This has been a rough couple of weeks. I feel like it's all starting to catch up to me.

And photo season is upon me.

Heaven help me. Seriously. Help me.

Meanwhile,  the water lines are almost in.

I'll put up a good post with photos this weekend.

But I've got goals, and even though I'd like to lay in bed for a day or two and catch up on sleep, maybe have a few foot rubs, and watch This Old House, I've got things to do.

I guess that means I'm giving in to being an adult.