We’ve learned life is a little different when you live outside of civilization a bit. We plan a lot more. Like when to take shopping trips, and we carpool..a lot. But it’s all so worth it, because after a long day of teaching and programming, when we drive up to our house, we really do breathe a little deeper and relax a little more completely. And the quiet…oh the quiet. We sleep our 7 hours straight, without waking up. Glorious.

A few things we’ve learned in the last couple months:

We like to BBQ and grill things on our new grill! (Thanks Ole and Bridget) We bought some natural beef from my dad this year and we have been lovin’ it. Fits well with our new “down home on the ranch” life style.

We eat a lot of burgers and jalapeño poppers.

A fire in the new fireplace is the most definite way to make a house warm and cozy. This was actually our first fire, which is why I’m showing it off.

We have armadillos rooting around! We watched this guy completely ignore us for about 10 minutes while we stood 5 feet away and then…

Keith got him. But don’t worry, we have more. This is a nice close-up for those of you who have never seen a real armadillo.

We have started cleaning up the property, and when you are ready to get rid of the extra, you burn it. This is slightly scary since a part of Austin burned to the ground this past fall due to our awful drought. But this year, we’ve already received so much rain, the burn ban has been lifted, at least out where we are. So we are free to burn stuff. This pile smoldered for over a week, by the way.

The smaller pile in the front. This is actually a really good shot of the finished outside of the house. The brown stain on the front of the columns is a result of all the rain we’ve had, and the red mud splashing up. Another reason we put a concrete sidewalk around the perimeter of the house. Luckily, it’s nothing a good pressure washer can’t fix.

When we get too much rain, we have flooding, and can’t go to work! This is quite a perk in my opinion. (Probably not in my mother’s) The road to work.

The road to my parents house. If you look carefully, you can see a tiny blue Ranger on the other side of this…uh…river. That’s my dad. And this is how wide this thing gets. At one point, its about 7-8 feet deep. Nothing to mess around with.

Yeah, that’s a field.

Everything is turning green even though we’re in the dead of winter. We have had only 6 freezes this year, with the promise of more rain. Keith and I are thrilled because we intend to plant our lawn this spring, and we would like it to come up!

We have been busy. I have hundreds, yes hundreds, of pictures that I’ve been meaning to post. I’m quite sorry for yet another delay in updating, and I know many of you have been waiting patiently. This is going to be a long post, but I’ll try to space it out and fill it with mostly pictures.

Update: We love our new home. We feel so comfortable and happy here. It’s as if everything we’ve worked for the past 3 years (I can’t believe it’s been 3 already) of marriage have led us to this home. It all worked out, and we could not be happier. So I will quit gushing and begin. When we left off in….October (cringe)…the drywall had been hung and we were preparing for painting and staining the vast amount of wood in the house. This was the final BIG step and we were currently living at Mom and Dad’s house for the last few weeks of finish work, while all our belongings hung out in our new garage. I’m sure this picture screams something terrible to most people, but this day, where we moved everything into the garage, was one of the happiest days of this experience. Because this was the day that it all became real. We saw our stuff, in our house. And we realized, we have a lot of stuff. (This is a small snapshot of the stuff)

We had new cabinets in the house at this point, awaiting stain. Notice the ceiling now, because it’s about to get a makeover.

The living room in pre-stain mode.

Our massive 8 foot front door, pre-stain. A little lonestar, in case we forget where we are.

The office. This desk was not something we initially ordered. It was a gift from the cabinet guy.

And so, everything was taped up, ready for stain and then paint. Including the fireplace.

Everything happened really fast after that. Our paint guy is quite skilled. He transformed our house into a beautiful, custom home. Check out the beams and the cabinetry. We were blown away. Appliances started going in, light fixtures went up and rock made its way inside.

Living Room is finished!!

Countertops in guest bathroom.

Tile in the kitchen. I find it necessary to say that Keith and I had nothing to do with picking out this tile. We put the decision in Dad’s hands, and he just did it. He’s got an eye for these things.

A close-up of the rock. These pictures may be slightly out of order. In some, there is still cardboard on the floor to protect it from the stain and paint. We pulled it all up about a week before move-in.

Painted closets, stained baseboards. Love.

Close-up of completed fireplace.

Then it was time to move in! It didn’t take long to look like home.

Our dining room looked like this for a while.

After a couple months, we’ve slowly started to decorate. The dining room now.

Living room with new rug and furniture.

Great room shot from the front door.

Mud room, laundry area.

Hallway looking toward the guest bathroom.

Guest Bathroom.

Office.

Master Bedroom.

Master Bathroom, sink area.

Master Bathtub. Yes, that is a sheet hanging over the windows. We haven’t ordered blinds, or thought about curtains yet. And even though there is no one around to see us, we still are getting used to that very fact. In time.

At this point, we’ve slowed down a bit and are just enjoying the moment. But come this summer, when school is out, I cannot wait to plant things, buy things and decorate things.

We are so close to move-in! We put in notice with our current place, and we are starting to set up movers, etc. We picked up our first “house” purchase this week, a new refrigerator!

This last week, the rock was completed on the house. It is perfect. Here’s the front…

…and the back.

They have started the rock on the garage and finished the carport side so far…

and are just starting to wrap around the back of the garage.

We went inside to find pink stuffing that created interior walls for the first time. So exciting!! Living Room shot…

Kitchen shot (yay!!)

Main area, facing the master bedroom, kitchen on the right.

A couple bedroom pictures. Notice the very large stacks of sheet rock. To be put up shortly!

Our fireplace! Just in time for winter, we’re just hoping it will get cold enough this year to use it. We figure it if gets below 60 degrees, that  will be cold enough.

This picture is for Keith, who is so excited about the capabilities of these many wires, and because I can’t believe what a huge pile that is.

We dropped by again on Wednesday night to find….SHEET ROCK IS UP! It really feels like we will be living here now. This stage is by FAR the most fun This is the living room.

Main area-kitchen on the right, master bedroom entrance straight ahead.

Master bedroom entrance.

Dining Room.

Looking down the hallway.

Master bedroom.

Master bedroom, entrance to bathroom.

Close-up of the bathtub. Love love love.

Master double walk-in closet! The ceilings are HUGE.

The Garage..and it’s main occupant.

We’re heading out to check out the current status tomorrow. I’ll post more pics soon!

I realized today that I am WAY behind on updating the blog, but honestly, the weeks are flying by. We’ll start with something non-house related. Keith celebrated his birthday over labor day weekend and his present was a gun! He’s so good at being Texan. We had a steak at Mom and Dad’s and Keith practiced shooting at some trees. It was a good day.

After Keith broke in his new gun, we ventured up the road a few miles and spent some time at our house. We discovered that our roof had been started!

This is the back of the house.

Logan tagged along, so of course he provided some additional entertainment.

This picture is from a Saturday about 3 weeks ago that we were hanging out at the house. We came around the corner and much to our surprise…we found several piles of limestone! Over the last few weeks, it’s been so fun to watch it slowly creep it’s way around the house.

Front of the house.

Close up of the front right side.

Right side of the house and the breezeway…almost all finished!

Close up of the breezeway. Notice the beauty of the limestone framed windows.

This is a shot of the front living room windows. I love how they framed the entire group of windows and kept the pattern going in between.

A wiring update: We are all wired! Here are some pictures of a few can lights and a shot of the back door light switches, just for fun.

Framed site of our future master bath tub.

Master bath shower pan.

We are tentatively scheduled to move in the last week of October and while Dad is somewhat confident we’ll make it, we are sure of it! That means we’re only about a month away! This week the insulation and sheet rock are going up, more pictures to come next week of all that, I promise!

Thanks for checking in. Think of us as we begin the daunting task of “furniture shopping.”

The last couple weeks have been very exciting and I warn you now…this is a post with A LOT of pictures. So I hope you have some time on your hands. Here are a couple pics of the roof. The dormers have been completed and the porch, gables and eaves have been primed.

The front porch framed and primed.

Main area with ceiling completed and a shot of the arch that frames the entry to the kitchen and the dining room.

Living Room.. facing the fireplace with book shelves on either side. The arches were Dad’s idea.

Close-up of the book shelf.

Close-up of the entry to the master bedroom. Clearly we’re going with the arches theme in the main area. It looks fantastic.

Here’s a far away shot of the house from the road.

Painted Gables!!

Our paint color is in the watered down beige family called Barely Dawn!

Garage side.

Gable/porch shot from the other end of the house.

Finished Garage!

front of the house, completed dormers.

close-up of the dormers. I love this shot.

front shot again.

Finished porch.

Carport completed.

A close up of our stellar paint job. Gorgeous.

Here are some shots of our painted doors. Garage Door, Mud Room Door, Back Door. Keith is serving as a comparison because our house doors are 8 footers. They are awesome!

Roof and chimney shots.

I know you all have seen our magnificent tree….but I got this shot the other night and I had to include it. I’ve never seen a tree like this one. huge!

Okay so this is a little pile of raccoon poo (bare with me), but I think it’s absolutely hilarious that a rodent snuck into our house, and decided to relieve himself on the one little raised area in the entire house…the place where the outlet will be in the floor. “Someone” is scolding us for building in his territory.

Next up for us…electrical, plumbing and a roof! Thanks for stopping by! More updates coming soon!

Sorry for not posting in a while. Our computer has been acting up and I couldn’t get my pictures online. But…thanks to my computer whiz hubby, we are back and I have a TON of pictures to put in this post! The last update featured the foundation and the driveway/porch areas but since then, a lot has changed. Our floor has been completed and it is to die for! We just love it.

The floor has been stained and sealed. Once the framers are finished, they will clean it, and then touch up certain areas, reseal it, and cover it up with cardboard for the remainder of the work. We will apply the wax once we move in to make it nice and shiny.

Please excuse the foot prints. I promise to keep it clean once we live in it!

They also started and finished framing…..in 6 DAYS and in over 100 degree heat every day. I am amazed that they lived to tell about it since we haven’t stepped outside for more than 30 mins at a time.

Hallway: Day 1

Hallway: Day 6

Kitchen: Day 1

Kitchen: Day 6   Notice our windows are already in! Keith wanted windows with no panes and I love how it turned out.

Main Area: Day 1

Main Area: Day 6

Here’s a shot of the inside of the garage.

Back Porch: Day 1

Back Porch: Day 6  We were amazed at how long and wide the back porch ended up being!

Looking out the carport, down the driveway.

Front shot! We have a house!!

Side Shot.

It’s hard to believe that this much is done already. Tessa and Eric were in town this weekend and they were able to see it. It’s crazy to think that the next time they’ll be here, it’ll be done! We are shooting for mid-October for move-in, and that’s going to come fast since summer is about over and I’m back to teaching in a week! We are meeting with the electrician tomorrow to discuss all the little details of light switches and wiring, Keith can’t wait.

That’s all for now…but here’s a couple cute pics from the weekend, just because I love all the little babies on Mom & Dad’s back porch.

I’ve been delayed on this post simply because I wanted it to end with a complete foundation. Which means…it’s all done! It’s becoming very real now to visit the property, feels like we really will be living there in October!

Can’t wait until this is our view off the front porch.

It started with the forms and the plumbing. This is a shot of the garage, ready to be poured! The house is to the right of the garage.

A close-up of the house, not completely finished.

Tuesday night we arrived, and….the house and garage were poured! Seriously, this was one of the most exciting moments. Can you tell?

This is the house, with Dad giving the concrete a little extra love. He’s taking good care of us.

The garage! (Keith’s mancave)

Altogether house and garage. Mom and I sat in my future bathroom and watched the sun go down. Gotta love that huge Texas sky

Yesterday, I was in the area and decided to stop in. We have porches! and driveways!

Close-up of the garage and breeze-way.

One of the things I loved when looking at homes was stamped concrete. The concrete guys stamp the still wet concrete with a granite looking stamp that makes the concrete look like the porch was chiseled out of rocks. We love it!

This is a picture of the front porch and then a close-up of the stamp. Both the front and back porches received “the stamp.”

So the foundation is complete!

The next step is to complete our flooring. We decided to do stained concrete throughout the house. This means that there will be no other kind of flooring put in! They will score the concrete to look like giant tiles and stain it a lovely dark brown color called, Cola. This process will be completed before any framing is done! Meaning..we will have a completed floor before we have a house. We are not far away now! Framing starts a week from Monday, and from what I hear, it goes up fast. I will try to be equally fast in putting up pictures.

As for us, we are off to the bottom tip of Texas for the weekend, the beautiful beaches of South Padre Island for 3 days to be exact. Keith hasn’t been, and school starts in just a few short weeks, so bring on the relaxation and the sun! We are staying at a beautiful resort right on the water…and I’m so pumped.

Have a fabulous summery weekend!

We have broken ground! And dirt has never looked so good.

I can’t even tell you how giddy I was when we drove up and saw tractors and a pad! Our pad…for our house.

And a road. The most beautiful road, really.

Red dirt. The reason I’ve been arriving at Mom & Dad’s on Wednesday nights with dust covering my shoes and all the way up to my knees.

Tonight we head out to check on even more progress. The entire hilltop has been leveled and base rock has been added to the pre-foundation. There are also “forms” (new construction lingo) set up and plumbing, with the foundation being poured at the end of this week! Things are really starting to roll now.

In an entirely different direction, lets talk baby animals, one of my all-time top 5 faves. Mom and Dad have recently adopted 2 of the most darling puppies and 2 sweet little kittens! I can’t even look at these pictures without wanting to squish something and spew baby talk.

This is boy puppy, Doc.

Our blue-eyed bombshell, Dixie.

Sweet baby, Jelly.

And very naughty boy, Boots.

Cuties, all of them. I’m sure there will be many more pictures and/or adorable stories about them in posts to come.

Another top 5 fave: ice cream. And I haven’t had nearly enough of it this summer. Here in Texas, it’s too hot NOT to eat ice cream. So this past weekend Keith treated me to an ice cream date…at Sonic.

It was so pretty I had to take a picture. Happy happy Wednesday!

Hey there, friends.

I believe Keith sets a record for the longest blog hiatus of all time. That’s right, he has been demoted due to his lack of activity on our family blog and so there’s a new captain on this ship. I haven’t had much, or any, experience writing a blog, but I’ve done the research and I think I’m ready to give it a try.

First up, a little update on life since A LOT has changed since we’ve last chatted. Last June, Keith was hired at Night Owl Games as a game developer in Austin, Texas. We packed up our whole life in 2 weeks, piled it all in a Uhaul, and drove to Texas in 3 1/2 days.

What a handsome game developer, he is.

I immediately started interviewing for teaching positions and got a first grade position at the same elementary school where I started my teaching career 3 years before. One year later, I am so happy to say we love living in Austin and are starting a brand new chapter in our lives, building a home! Keith and I have thought about living outside of the city for a while but didn’t know if it was something that would ever happen for us. A few months ago, we found 15 acres of beautiful land about 30 minutes outside of town and….we bought it!

We immediately began to dream about building a house on that hill. Luckily for us, my dad is pretty handy when it comes to building homes and he wasted no time jumping on board and devising a plan. Before we knew it, our dream was coming true and that brings us to the present. We have just broken ground and the dream is taking shape before our eyes. I will be updating frequently so that our family far far away can watch this exciting event unfold.

One of the things that we’ve encountered in this completely new experience is the mustang grape vine. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. Apparently, these guys attach themselves to our large and tiny trees and take over, eventually killing them! Our little corner of country is COVERED in them. This piece of land has been untouched forever and is in need of some TLC. Well, we’re on it! Or at least Keith is. He got himself a chainsaw and was off to work.

There’s no messing around with this guy. Mustang grape vines don’t stand a chance.

Told ya. They’re tricky things, those vines. It’s going to take more than that to kill our trees!

This vine is a beast!

Here’s a before shot of the vine-covered trees…

And after….brown leaves=dead vines. Success!

We can’t wait for it to all come together, but are loving the process.