Ran into the first snag of the project - we have orangburg sewer pipe - which meant nothing to me until yesterday when now we have to replace the pipe clear out into the street. The pipe has not gone bad yet, but it is just a matter of time so we decided we might as well do it now while our driveway is gone and they can dig it all up. The hole in this picture about six feet underground is the original septic tank for the house and the old sprinkler lines that we figured ran right beside the original driveway.

The hole for the sewer - you can see the ladder sticking out is about an eight foot ladder. The kids wanted to go play in this hole last night after the excavator left until I told them what it was for - not as interested any more!

By the way - It snowed yesterday....I am so ready for a real spring!

The driveway is gone - along with the grass that Sandy (Ryan's sister) and Ryan would always argue about! (Sandy would always have it perfect looking and Ryan would drive on it)

The sidewalk is gone - the grass is going eventually.

The starts of the hole - it is a little scary sitting in your home and hearing a backhoe scraping against your back wall. I wouldn't let the girls go downstairs incase the wall happened to collapse....


The yellow just to the left of our neighbor's house is Morgan - pretty big dirt hills - she was watching at the window for the excavator to leave so she could go climbing!

The Difference A Day Makes

The last bit of the walnut tree.

The carport coming down.

Carport is down and cleaning up.

The view now from the backyard - alot different than my before picture a few days ago.

The spectactors! They were having fun watching the tractor. **And notice my cute swing I found at a garage sale and sprayed blue! We love it**

It was an exciting day but also kind of sad to see so much history gone. The clothesline that was in the backyard probably had 3 feet of cement around them that Ryan's grandpa had dug out the hole and poured himself. And the walnut trees roots left huge holes in half of the sandbox from a seed that Ryan's grandpa planted lots of years ago.

It has Officially Begun

Three of the 4 trees are gone and the clothesline as well.

It doesn't look like much but we are excited!

A Big Day Tomorrow (Hopefully)

Paper work is all completed and will be signed by the end of the week, we picked up our building permit today, and the excavator should be here tomorrow morning! I am very excited. Here are some pictures of the house as of today with some major changes coming soon!!

We went to Denver over the weekend for our spring break and had a wonderful time with the Wilcox's. The kids all played so well together and had so much fun. Ashlyn was in girly heaven with Amanda, I'm not sure what Morgan and Ali did but they love being together, and Maddie and Ian had a blast playing everything from the drums to the trampoline! We kept ourselves busy going to parks and walking around this beautiful area in Evergreen. Wish our trip could have been longer but enjoyed every second we had there!!

This last week has been full of paperwork - it seems like a never ending cycle. I keep thinking that we are close but not quite there. Our building permit is ready, our excavator is lined up and ready to dig, we are just waiting on the title work for the house to be completed. Hopefully soon! Other than that we are just keeping busy with the girls, work, and all the other things that seem to keep us going!

A Successful Week

We were able to get the countertops and mirrors in the vanity area and bathroom in the basement. I love how they turned out. This is the vanity area (where the kitchen used to be). I figured with three someday teenage daughters and one bathroom would not work so hopefully this will help out in the future!

This is Ashlyn's room, mostly finished. I finished the flower quilt and she loves it and the windows turned out fun above her bed!The part of the remodel that I was really sad about was having to cut down this tree. This is a walnut tree that Ryan's grandpa planted from a seed in the backyard. It is huge and totally shades the swingsets and our backyard. Unfortunately the house and the tree would not fit together so the tree has to go. Ryan and his brothers started cutting it down on Saturday afternoon, this is about as far as they got because a branch was tangled in our comcast wire and took out our phone, internet, and cable as it fell to the ground. Needless to say it was a quite weekend with no phone or tv. (I loved it!) Morgan went and layed on her bed and cried when they were working on the tree, she has just discovered climbing this tree and was very upset that her dad was cutting it down.

Our building permit is done and we are just waiting on some title work with in the next couple of weeks we should be able to dig our hole!