The day has come and gone, but the house is still not ours.

June 20th, 2010. The date the our new home is to be substantially complete.  Well as of 6:30 this evening, there is still work left to do.  I guess some may call this substantially complete, but I believe the city of Herriman may not think so.  We have no steps from the sliding glass doors down to the ground.  It is not a big deal, other than it is an eleven foot drop.  Ginny and I have joked for a long time that we were going to ask the builder to replace the deck and stairs with a slide, rope and fireman's pole, because we thought the grand kids would love it.

If not having any stairs is not an issue, then how about the fact that the stove have not been installed and there are still electrical fixtures missing, of the fact that we have not hot water because the shutoff value to the water heater runs like a facet if the water into the house is turn on.  I do not believe the home is yet able to be occupied.

Oh, there are still lots of minor things to still be completed, but they were not required by the substantial completion date.  Hopefully things will get wrapped up by the end of business tomorrow.  Then the city can inspect things and grant an occupancy permit.  Our loan office is working to get an appraisal done this week and then we can sign on the dotted line.

It is looking more and more like we will be moving over the July 4th weekend.  I thought that was Independence day, but I am thinking it is more like Labor day.  If we do not get things squared away soon the fireworks may be seen at the builders office before Independence Day.

A break from the house to thank and honor our returning Marine

We feel it very appropriate to take a break for our reporting on the progress on our home to pay a tribute to our nephew and cousin who has spent the past 8 and a half months in Afghanistan performing responsibilities to defend our freedom and our great nation as a Marine. 

Jacob Chesley you make more than your mother proud.  As a family we are extremely grateful for you and your service to us and our nation.

This is Jake's second tour of duty.  The first was in Iraq and this time was in Afghanistan and we are happy to have him home safe and sound.  Several of his unit did not have the opportunity of returning to see their family and loved one.  They paid the ultimate sacrifice in performing their duties.  These we wish all to know that while we did not know them personally we grateful for they service.  We will always reflect on the courage, honor and dignity with which they carried out they responsibilities.  For them any every one of those who have contributed to our freedom we can't not express of deepest gratitude and our sincere thanks.  For you see we know that FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.  We also recognize the not only are we living in a free nation because of the efforts of our military personnel, but many others of this world are also obtaining and establishing freedom in their nations.

To all who serve and especially Jake we as a family say THANK YOU and may GOD BLESS.

I'm Floored

Its getting closer by the day, but progress has been slow this past week.  The weather prevented much progress on the exterior of the house and not much happen on the interior, but we have seen a few things move along.  The exterior doors have been finished and the flooring in the kitchen, dining, entry way and both baths has been completed, and most of the light fixtures had been installed.

I think the contractor was hoping to have the exterior completed before the end of the week, but the entire week through Thursday had rain in the forecast.  As a result they were only able to complete the initial coat for the stucco and stone.

While it is only 2 weeks before the planned completion date and their is still much to do, we have the utmost confidence in our builder, and feel that things will come together before the completion date.  This next week we should see the cabinets be installed, the exterior reach completion, maybe even the driveways and walk ways being put in place.

While there are still some big things to be completed (deck and stairs at the back of the house, master shower, and the remaining floor covering to name a few) most of the remaining work can occur in parallel with each other.  This includes things like the remaining light fixtures, hanging the doors, rain gutters, sewer hookup, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, etc.

David is also planning to return this next week to finish the HVAC installation.  He will need to install the condensing unit for the A/C, the unit heater for the garage and the registers and return air vents and a few other minor finishing touches.  Then there will be the paint touch-up and minor damage repairs that will need to be completed before the next two weeks come to an end.

Once we have possession of the house, we will need a little time to install shelves in the basement for storage and then there is the 3 day job of painting the garage floor.  For the most part this is a case of hurry up and wait for the epoxy to dry before the next step.  I want to get this all done before we attempt to move in so that we do not have to deal with the paint fumes once we are moved in.

For the first time we also attended out new ward for church today.  That was exciting.  As many may know it was in December when we had came across the lot and builder for our home and Thomas was dating a beautiful little gal that he works with and I happened to ask Thomas if he was coming ice fishing with us. Well Megan (the little gal that Thomas had been dating) was there and she said that both her dad and her Bishop loved to ice fish, so I invited them to come along, and so they did.  We have a great time.  Then about a month and a half  latter we were talking about where our new home was going to be located and Megan says that she thinks we will be living in the same ward.   We it is true, we will be in the same ward.  To make a long story short,  Thomas and Megan are officially engaged as of yesterday and so we went to her ward today.  We were only guests there today, but it will be our home ward in less than a month.

Congratulation Megan and Thomas.

We look forward to having Megan as a part of our family.  Thomas and Megan will be renting our existing home in Kearns.

And so the excitement of another week builds. The excitement of a new home is being followed by the excitement of having another beautiful daughter-in-law in our family.  When, you ask will she be our daughter-in-law.  Well I will let Thomas and Megan share that, but just suffice it to say that the big day is less than 3 months away.