Just in case you thought I was joking about all the rain we had... Here's exhibit A. That's our "driveway" completely washed out by mud. All this while they're trying to put on the roof and siding. It was a joy. (Not.) Needless to say I'm thankful we made it through this challenge unscathed.

Soooooo- We went with steel roofing and siding. It was a decision that I tossed around a lot just because I was afraid of it just looking like "a barn." Considering the style I was going for was "Modern Farmhouse," I decided the durability, and low maintenance of the metal was the right choice for us. In the end, I'm even happier with the result than I was hoping for.


 Bright white siding- charcoal roof- black framed windows. All the heart eyes.






 It turned out so dreamy, though! I've got a video of it in action I'll be sure to post soon.

Next up: Electrical, Plumbing, and Spray Foam!

 















Now onto siding, roofing, and windows!

UPDATE- We sold our little house on Younger St. and moved to Hamilton and we're building a house! I thought I'd better catch up on our life real quick.
We got 5 acres on the edge of city limits- here's a picture of me being really excited about it:
The land is so beautiful and the kids have loved running around and playing. So much more space and so many adventures await!



First things first, we put in the beginning of our driveway. We had a guy come and scrape off the grass. Come to find out there was an old driveway under there! So, we laid down this awesome driveway underlayment, staked it in, and dumped a bunch more gravel on top. And, VOILA! Driveway.


Next up was prepping for the basement, so lots of digging. Ezra loved the diggers. Best days of his life.







Our concrete crew was awesome. They got the forms up and poured the basement/garage footers and walls first.










Our framers came in and framed up the basement before they backfilled so that the walls had good support and wouldn't shift or buckle from the weight of the dirt.





Then, we needed more dirt to backfill said basement sooooo, we built a pond. Which we thought was an awesome idea, the neighbors not so much. But, that is a story for another time.


Once everything was backfilled, Jake had to trench out the electrical, the gas company ran the gas lines, and the plumber did the ground rough all before they poured the slab for the other half of the house. (Kitchen/Dining Room/Living Room area). They cut big 4.5 ft squares on point into the slab to make it look like tile.




Next, they poured the GIANT front and back porches.


and TODAY they started framing walls!



Yes, ladies and gents, things are happening! We are building a real house! So, move over Ty Pennington we are going to move that bus.

So follow along and I will do my best to keep you up to date on all the lame stuff like keeping concrete covered for 28 days or what size gravel to order for the driveway. Basically, I want to remember this journey. I want my kids to be able to look back and see what we accomplished as a family. Although this has been some of the most stressful times of my life, it's such a dream to have this opportunity. Thanks for following along and give me a heads up if you have done this before and have really good advice (or a really good therapist).