A floor, some walls and (more) mud

So I promised another update on the progress of the house. Like I said earlier, I can't seem to keep up with posting about the progress, but that's a good thing!


Wednesday afternoon, our framers showed up and immediately got to work. The picture below is from the first half day.

There are only six guys, but they work at an incredible pace. So they framed the walk-out basement wall and set the i-joists for the first floor. 

They arrived early Thursday morning for a full-day of framing. I was in town getting Baylen's pictures made so I stopped by after lunch to take a look around. They were installing the subfloor while I was there. I was very impressed - it was starting to look more like a house. 

The gravel area where there is no floor or framing is the garage.

This is from the backyard looking at the house. 

The empty area on the back is going to be a porch.

I took this shot from that to-be porch. We actually have a backyard now (it was just a dirt pile). After we clean up some of that brush, we'll have a beautiful view!

This is from the left side of our property. That's Heath walk-out basement.

Imagine him gutting deer down there.

Looking into the basement. It's not going to be a finished basement other than a workshop and a "hunting room."

Stairs! (sort of)

So that's the progress as of Thursday afternoon ... and here's the story. As I was leaving the land that afternoon, I backed up and out the driveway (with a sleeping Baylen in the backseat). I was super proud of myself for not getting stuck in the mud up close to the house. As I was getting closer to the road, I turned the wheel to back into the neighbor's driveway so I could pull out, and yep, I got stuck in mud. I tried forward, and I tried reverse, slinging mud everywhere -- all the while a sleeping baby still in the backseat. 

I wasn't making any headway, so I called Heath (who was in Nashville). After laughing a bit, he called a neighbor (who wasn't home) and then he called the framers. After awhile he called me back and informed me that the framers were coming to help. How embarrassing ... I looked up and five Amish guys were walking down the driveway. After surveying the situation, I got back in the car and they pushed me backwards out of the mud (only after mentioning something about deserving donuts) and I was free (Baylen still asleep, too!).

                                       

My mess - you can see the framers walking back down the driveway... sigh

A friend commented after hearing the story, "God has a way of humbling us."

Friday brought even more excitement - at least for me. I hadn't been completely excited or pumped over the house (my focus was more on two little boys). But when I saw these pictures (and the video Heath took), I started to feel different.

We have two of the exterior walls! Woo hoo!

And here's those same two walls from the other side.

There you have it. The last three days of progress and a funny (ha ha) story. I'll be taking a trip to BG this week to pick out a bagillion different things - from bathtubs to fixtures, cabinets, counter tops . . . I get a little overwhelmed just thinking about it. Anyone want to help?