"The Project"

The carpet for the basement finally came today so I figured it was time to give you all a recap of the project from Hades that we undertook this past summer. We were lucky enough to have a month to remodel the upstairs of our home prior to moving in. Thanks to the help of friends far more competent than myself, I learned a ton in the process. Special thanks to Woody for teaching me the ropes in electrical and plumbing...the house hasn't burned down or flooded...yet. :) Once we finished the upstairs, and after a few months break, it was time to tackle the basement (aka Project from Hades aka PFH). I am happy to say it is finally livable. Enjoy.

P.S. Word to the wise--wear a mask when painting with a sprayer.

Family Room

So this is the room I am most proud of. Here is a picture of what it looked like when we bought the house. Is that normal...to have your main water line running across the middle of the room? With craftsman Jeff's help, we threw in a Manabloc system and redid all the plumbing with pex...can't comprehend how people used to build houses with the old materials they used to use.

Though that doesn't seem like a lot of dirt, it was...trust me. I rented a 60 lb. jackhammer from Diamond Rental and went to town loosening the dirt that just as well had been concrete (dug a new footing for a new support beam first since the old one was sitting on dirt...real safe). After all the dirt was loosened up, I hopped in my pride and joy, the '84 4Runner (aka The Buckshot) pictured here:

and headed down to 4th South and 5th West to pick up some help for the day. Two full Saturdays and hundreds of 5 gallon buckets later, here is what it looked like.

Once we got it dug all the way back to the existing footing, we had to shoot rebar into the footing and then spray a new foundation wall in.

After we finished digging out the rest of the dirt, we sprayed the wall in and poured a new footing. We also poured a new porch cap, sidewalk and cut out big windows in the other rooms of the basement. From there, it was time to frame. Thanks to friends who actually knew what they were doing (Toby, Rasty, Miles and Tyler), the framing went rather quickly. Below is each room in a somewhat step by step process up through today.

Bathroom and Storage Room

Yeah...don't worry, there was a toilet in the middle of the room...and it was functional...creepy.

A little less weird than a toilet out in the open...unless that's your style...

Bedroom

I think the sweet cross-country ski finally found the garbage. Of course had to add as many closets as possible for a certain someone's crap... :)

Office

Love the small old prison windows...

Totally gratifying to see the final product. Not quite sure what we're going to do with ourselves on weekends now that we don't have this project to work on...more time with Tiff and Jax. :) Oh wait...still have a yard to worry about. If we're lucky, we should be able to enjoy it for at least a few months before we leave this fall. If you know someone that wants to rent a place, send them our way.

Happy Birthday Jaxon

For Jaxon's first birthday we had our family over for a little party. I attempted to make my first cake from scratch.

It was so much fun to watch Jaxon gradually devour his cake.

After every present he opened he would clap his hands. Thanks everyone for the fun gifts.
The Guests:
I can't believe my baby is already one! That year flew! It seems like yesterday he was this size.

Happy New Year

We had a fun New Year's Eve party at Cheri and Brandon's home. We all loved rocking out on Guitar Hero.

Big Log Lodge

We had a blast at the annual "Big Log Lodge" Chirstmas party - thanks to Angie and Spencer Vriens for hosting. It is always entertaining to see everyone's festive sweaters and white elephants.

Alex, Cole, Toby, and Bobby

Me, Katie, and Hannah

Hannah and Toby in their amazing matching vests

Spencer Little had the most festive outfit by far

Merry Christmas

Jaxon had a great first Christmas. He had fun unwrapping all his gifts. He was probably more excited about eating the paper than the actual gift, but I'm sure next year will be a lot different.

Uncle Jeremy, Nana, and Jaxon

Cole, Jaxon, and Grandpa VandenAkker

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving with the VandenAkker family this year. Jaxon came down with two ear infections the week before and was on amoxicillin for eight days until we figured out that he had an allergic reaction to penicillin. I felt horrible. After several phone calls to the nurse and three visits to the doctor we finally figured it out. Four days after taking the amoxicillin, he had a high fever that lasted for three days - at one point it was as high as 104.1, then shortly after the fever broke a rash started appearing on his back. We then were told he had a virus called roseola. When the rash seemed to worsen and had spread from head to toe we then were told it was an allergic reaction. Needless to say it was a rough week, but his ear infections have cleared up as well as his rash. I was very grateful this Thanksgiving to have a healthy baby.

All that turkey made him sleepy. This one needs to be added to our narcoleptic post. Notice his little monkey. He has grown attached to it and can not seem to sleep without it. It is fun to see how excited he gets every time we give it to him.

Jax, Grandma Nakker, and cousin Chase

He always wants whatever Chase seems to have.

Here they are big pimpin' in their Christmas outfits.

What have these two been doing??

Utah Utes

We love our Utes!! Jaxon dawned his black for the TCU
game and loved watching the Utes come from behind to win!

Jaxon loves going to the games. He has been to four out of the five home games.