Dirt Piles Mean Progress.

Three days into our construction project,

we find that we are experiencing totally

awesome sunny glorious weather and

are one day ahead of schedule.

Seeing footings dug brings a leap of

joy to our hearts and more than a glimmer

of hope that our dreams will become

reality.

Building our new home is a strong

reminder of the fact that our God has

our back! Moving to a new city is exciting,

yet presents many challenges when

embarking on a project such as this.

Boys and dirt piles . . . We have seen

this a bazillion times during the

building of our homes. Oh, how I miss

those grimy muddy little boys playing

for hours upon hours on the newly

constructed dirt piles.

Sam could not resist, however. Here

he is . . . in all his glory, fresh from

a golf match for McQueen High School.

We so love, love, love our amazing

views from our new homesite. This view

is to the rear of our home. I will have

this view from my kitchen, dining room,

great room, and bedroom. We have

witnessed deer roaming across these

gorgeous foothills.

Praising the Lord for his devotion to

our family and for his will in this

project. He has not only located awesome

subcontractors for the project, but once

again proven Himself to go above and

beyond our expectations. God has led us

to an amazing builder and contractor who

is literally running the entire project! He

is a master CARPENTER and builder.

We are once again amazed and grateful

for our many, many, many blessings.

Here's to day four of our construction project!

Court of Honor.

After a very LOOOOONG and pretty crazy

housebuilding day, we rushed to Luke's

Court of Honor where he was awarded

his Tenderfoot Rank. It is so hard to

believe that this is our THIRD boy to

go through the scouting program.

We were trying to estimate the number

of courts of honor that Luke has been

to for his older brothers . . . we determined

that there have been too many to count.

Scouting is a wonderful program and we

are so grateful that Luke has the

opportunity to participate in such

a marvelous troop.

Congrats Tenderfoot!

Terrific Tuesday . . . Counting My Blessings.

45. Terrific husband, did I already

say that one? I need to say it again

and again!

46. Wonderful birthday girl's weekend

with my mom in Las Vegas.

47. Amazing crew . . . I am so thankful

for all that they do.

48. Wonderful support system.

49. New home construction!

50. Sunshine!

51. Egg beaters.

52. My sewing machine.

53. The gifts of energy and

organization.

54. Opportunity to stay at home

and raise our family.

55. Boy Scouts.

56. Boys' golf.

57. New friends.

58. Old friends.

59. MEMORIES!

60. Android phones!

Construction Project . . . Underway!

Drumroll please . . . Our new home is

now officially UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

After months and months of planning

and great anticipation, the big day has

finally arrived.

Our family is so excited to get the

ball rolling . . . we cannot wait to

become a part of this amazing

community and have our own home

back!

Our home will be built on a crawlspace

foundation, so this phase involves

trenching footings two feet deep around

the perimeter of the home.

The garages will be on a slab foundation

and do not need to be trenched all

the way around. Crawlspaces work

much better for homes located in

colder climates.

As it is plain to see, many hands need

to be on deck in a supervisory capacity

for a project such as this!! Wink! Wink!

Day 1 . . . a huge success! Here's to many

more productive days at

2485 Mountain Spirit Court.

Bestest Pal.

. . . missin' this gal today!!! I am so

thankful that we have SO much fun

together!!! We are all so excited that

they are going to be moving to Reno

and building a brand new home!!!

Moms and daughters . . .

gotta.love.it.

48!

Like all good things, my two-week long

birthday extravaganza cames to an end

tonight with a little b-day celebration

with my Las Vegas pals at Claim

Jumper.

This also brought an end to my

Girl's Weekend with my Mom at

the Red Rock Hotel and Spa.

I am blessed beyond measure to

have such an amazing Mom and

great friends.

Thanks Diane for the pic!

. . . cannot wait until you gals

head up this way.

Yep, I would most definitely

say that 48 is going to be great!

Hot Rocks.

Yep . . . These were for me today!!

Hot.rock.massage.

This the ONLY way to fly after

weeks and weeks and weeks of

studying, carpooling, reading,

typing, residencies . . .

I was at the tender mercies of

Nicole's fingers and it was

truly marvelous.

Red Rock Birthday Bash.

48 is most definitely proving to be great!

I am spending my SECOND birthday

weekend in LAS VEGAS with my

bestest gal pal, my mom. We are having

a totally girl's weekend . . .

Birthday presents galore . . .

Martha's bio!!!

Cute, cute, cute new ballet flat

UGGS . . . which are just the tip of

the iceberg!!!! Cookbooks, clothes,

and many more fun girly items!!

I was treated to one of my most

favorite meals . . . lettuce wraps . . .

in THE yummiest Mexican restaurant

of all: Cabo in the Red Rock Hotel.

A must try, four fabulous salsas,

bean dips, and chips!!

Stay tuned! Tomorrow continues the

girly weekend . . .

(Also a mini celebration of my three

weeks off from school!!!)

Ready, Set, Build!

Now that it is snowy, rainy, and stormy

weather again . . .

Our building permit is READY!!!!

It is supposed to rain, snow, and storm

for the next four or five days.

We are checking the weather forecast

every ten minutes to see just when

this storm will let up.

The moment this weather stops, we

are ready to go. Our excavator is thinking

that we will be able to start digging on

Monday morning, bright and early.

We are so excited!! We CANNOT wait

to get the ball rolling. We are anticipating

that our new home will be done in

September. It cannot come soon enough

for us. We cannot wait to become

permanent residents of Somersett and

be right there in the community.

The kids have been making friends and

enjoying all of the amenities. They

cannot wait to be living there all of the

time.

Mountain Spirit Court, ready or not,

here we come!

Terrific Tuesday . . . Counting My Blessings.

Onward and upward with Terrific Tuesday

and counting my blessings . . .

33. Awesome birthday weekend.

34. Working on merit badges with Luke.

35. Sam making the varsity golf team.

36. Zach getting closer to reaching

his goals.

37. Great health.

38. Sunny weather.

39. Starting our new home.

40. Mike's job security.

41. Sewing machine.

42. Enough money to purchase

groceries and gas.

43. Snuggles, even though the

boys think they are getting too old.

44. Ship to shore call from my

special Tim on my birthday.

*This picture was taken when Grandy

and I went to Maui . . . from our

hotel room. Dreamy, isn't it!!

48 and Blogiversary!

Today celebrates two entire years

of blogging every single day!!

I am thankful for my family and

friends who are dedicated to

reading the blog about the happenings

and triumphs in my life. I realize

that I am incredibly blessed and

so very thankful to have such a

wonderful family and amazing friends.

48 is most definitely going to be

great . . . on the horizon:

*finishing last for PhD courses

*writing my comprehensive exams

*beginning my dissertation

*homeschooling

*scouts

*basketball team games

*golf team games

*Sam getting his driver's license

*Zach nearing college graduation

*Tim enjoying Europe

*Luke meeting goals in Scouts

*building our new home

*all of this and much more with

my favorite squeeze, Mike.

. . . I could go on and on!

most.definitely.blessed.

beyond.measure.

. . . and the celebration continues!

I had so much fun celebrating THE 48

with my favorite peeps at BJs.

Celebrating with family and making

memories is one of my very favorite

things. I am so grateful that I have

such a wonderful family.

Turning 48 has been wonderful.

I am looking forward to another awesome

year!!!

Granite God, Construction Fence, Birthday Fun!

Wow! What a busy, busy, busy fun day!! To begin

with, Mike and I got up at the crack of dawn to

drive to Minden to meet the self proclaimed

Granite God. Yes, he is!! He is going to work

wonders in our new home and we are so excited!

Battling high winds and 28* windy weather, we

were all too excited to go over to our new

lot and put up the construction fence.

. . . construction begins Tuesday!!!

The house and garages are stacked out on

the lot also . . . ready for excavation!

We are so excited with the fact that God has

been so amazing and put this whole house

deal together. We are so excited to get the

ball rolling and call Mountain Spirit Trail home.

To complete the wonderful, wonderful day, we

had Day #2 of my 48th birthday celebration.

Just like Martha, I now have a

CUISINART FOOD PROCESSOR!!!

Luke cannot wait for the "Mile High

Apple Pie"!!!

And, I can hardly believe it, but I am also

the proud owner of a SMART PHONE!!!!!!!!!!

My family planned such a fun birthday

celebration all by themselves . . . complete with

the yummiest raspberry white chocolate

bundt cake.

I do not deserve the crowd. They are

pretty darn amazing!!!!

Birthdays. gotta.love.'em.