WEEK OF SUMMER

Summer already seems to be flying by too fast. But are we ever staying busy!

It's been nothing short of glorious.

The epitome of manliness: Andrew off to build stuff.

He marched out of the house singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" at the top if his lungs.

I babysat my cousin's kid.

We sat in my living room, and stared awkwardly at each other for several minutes. Then, because I couldn't think of anything else to do, I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

Apparently, she thought that was pretty funny. Thanks to the icebreaker, we got along just fine afterward.

I've been all sorts of crafty this week.

For example, I bought this thrift store table with a vision. The transformation turned out BEAUTIFULLY...but you'll have to stay tuned for the reveal in another post.

We bought thirteen trees on Saturday at 5 dollars a piece. Not a bad deal, I'd say...even at itty-bitty heights of 3-6 feet tall. Poplar, red maple, spruce, and chokecherry.

We'll get them into our new piece of ground this fall.

I consider myself a pretty good teacher. I get those third graders whipped into shape in no time! But handling three-year-olds is a whole different ball game. This sunbeam calling has been really, really hard for me.

It's my experience that you have a calling as long as it takes for you to love it. Then you get released.

I plan to learn to love this calling real fast.

And of course, this week's progress on the house.

Footings have been poured.

Framing should start up in the next couple days!

IDAHO IN A NUTSHELL

                                                                   {source}

haha!

Sad, but true. 
Though it does make summer-time all the sweeter.

PLAYIN' IN THE DIRT

The house is making headway. Instead of looking like weeds on an empty lot...it's a great big hole in the ground. 

That's progress, right?

 

To give Andrew more time to work, I bring meals to the site and we eat in the shade of the trailer. It's kind of romantic in a dusty sorta way.  

By the end of the week, the plan is to get concrete poured for the footings. Andrew had planned to pour concrete himself, but after adding it all up, it's actually cheaper to sub it out and pay someone else to do the work. And cheaper is good.

This route is also faster. And faster is fabulous, as I am all about getting moved in by Christmas!

GOOD MORNING, ASHTON

With Andrew working from  sun-up to sun-down  to work full-time AND build us a house, we take advantage of every opportunity to be together. 

About 6am Saturday morning, Andrew needed to drive to Ashton and pick up a skid steer to work on our lot. I dragged my behind out of bed to accompany him. 

Now that's love. 

We watched the sunrise and talked about our ideas for the house. 

{Upon seeing this picture, Andrew laughed and said: You look all pretty and I look like a...hick! I made sure to give him a kiss for saying I was pretty. I mean, that's definitely a behavior I want to encourage for the future. And just so you know ladies, positive reenforcement when training husbands works like a charm.}

The skid steer was at this old house that Andrew is doing a major remodeling overhaul on for work. 

Old houses have such charm. Especially when there's a red barn in the back. Have I mentioned that I love red barns?

This particular house also has quite the view. 

Andrew's always excited to show me his work projects. 

And I'm always happy to see them!

So he gave me the grand tour. 

The place is stripped to the barest of bones. 

There's something strangely beautiful about aged wood and plaster.

And early morning sun streaming through it all. 

There's also something about a construction site that makes me wistful somehow. 

It may be because I was around them so much as a kid.

Just the smell brings me back every time. 

Then we hooked the skid steer up to the truck and headed back to Rexburg.  Andrew had a long day of digging ahead of him. 

OUR PIECE OF LAND

I thought I'd give you a better idea of what our property consists of. I'll do my best to make this weed-filled piece of dirt entertaining for you folks at home.

Tah-dah!

I love views of rolling farmland behind the trees.

If I zoom in a bit--depending upon where I stand on the property, there's a clear shot of the temple.

Hopefully, we have this from our back windows.

Now, what I'm about to show you is not on any land we own, but it's still really, really cool. And it takes less than a minute to walk there from our property.

Behind us is this big open field.

{Do you like how I helped you visualize where our house will be?}

If you walk across the field and reach these trees...

...you'll find a little path.

If you follow it--in a matter of seconds--you'll come across the Teton River!

Just think of the adventures to be had back here!

This week, we saw a red fox darting through the trees. The neighbors say we'll probably see all kinds of wildlife wandering into our yards from the river. I won't mind the occasional moose or raccoon.

I just can't handle anymore run-ins with muskrat. My last encounter left permanent emotional scarring.

Anyway. Besides that, does this give you a clearer picture of why we're so excited? Hooray!

IN THE MAIL

SUMMER PARADISE

I cannot even express the joy of being home all day.

Quiet. Calm. With lots of time to do...whatever the heck I want.

For example, I can't remember the last time I made myself a beautiful lunch, sat down, and ate it. Without the phone ringing, cafeteria duty to be to, kids needing to make-up work, lessons to plan, materials to gather, papers to grade, messes to clean, copies to make, e-mails to answer, and band aids to apply.

I can arrange flowers from my yard and be at home to enjoy them.

I can spend all morning weeding and seeding and enjoying the sunshine.

I can get started arranging past blog entries into a printed book.
{Something I've wanted to do for a long time. And what a great family journal/scrapbook to have!}

I can even sit at my window and watch that tree go from this...

to this...in less than twenty-four hours.

The best thing is that I have the time to take pointless pictures of weeds and daydream on a piece of land that Andrew and I own as of 8am this morning.

That's right. Breaking ground this afternoon.

Boo-ya, baby! It's gonna be a great summer.