An Even Surer Foundation

Is surer even a word?  I don't think so, but you get the point!  On Friday, December 2, the rest of the foundation was poured.  We went and watched it happen, which was actually pretty cool. (Something like that is probably only fun to watch if you own the house or if you're building it, lol.)  Nate and his family were there also, and Cole enjoyed playing with his boys. 

Nate suggested writing something in the foundation, an idea we really liked.  Nick thought Joshua 24:15 would be perfect and I definitely agreed, so we went back to the lot later in the day and added that scripture, along with our handprints, to the foundation.  The cement was almost dry, so we couldn't do Cole's handprint and we barely got ours to show up.  That's okay though - the scripture was our #1 priority, and we got that in.

A Sure Foundation

I think I took these pictures on Thursday, December 1, when the first part of our foundation was poured. I didn't see it happen, and everything was covered by time I got to the lot, but I wanted to take a picture to remember the occassion because a foundation is a very important thing! 

 Helaman 5:12

 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your  foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I'm grateful for the effort that was put into creating a sure foundation for our new house.  Even more so, I'm grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, our Rock, upon whom we will build our foundation for our new home. We are striving to build our personal foundations upon Him,  as we know that He is the surest foundation of all.

A Really Big Mud-Hole

We went back to our a lot a couple of days after seeing our really big hole because Nate told us they'd filled it w/ water.  We wanted to see all of that mud!  Unfortunately it had dried up a lot by time we got there but we didn't mind - we're always excited for an excuse to take a trip to the lot.

See the red stick, the one w/ about 8-10 inches that are covered by dirt? When we first mapped out the house on the lot, that's one of the sticks we used. The bottom of the stick barely stuck into the dirt.  This shows how high up Bill piled some of the dirt he dug up. Our home will probably be about 3 feet higher than our street, although it really doesn't look like that because it's a gradual slope. 

A Really Big Hole

As I mentioned, Nate didn't waste any time getting started on the house.  By Friday the 18th he was having dirt moved.  It was all done in only about 2 days by an awesome guy named Bill.  Seriously, he's amazing. I can't believe what he can do w/ that huge machine in so little time!  He not only dug the huge hole, but also added dirt to the front of the lot to bring it up by about 3 feet and made piles of all of the extra dirt based on soil type so it could be used for other purposes.  Wow.

Before the dirt was moved, we actually met Nate and Bill at the lot to decide where we wanted the house located and what direction we wanted it angled towards.  We used sticks and strings to draw it out.  Once we were done it seemed like our house would end up really small.  I knew it wouldn't be, but boy can your mind play tricks on you.  When we came back the next morning and saw our really big hole, it suddenly felt like our house was going to be huge!

 The Hole

Family shot by the monster machine

 Bill was nice enough to pose for a shot with us

 View from the front of the lot looking right over the hole

Another view from the front of the lot, w/ Bill driving down into the hole

Securing Funds

When we bought our lot, we basically cleaned out our bank account.  That's why we thought we'd need to wait at least a year before building - to save up some money to put towards the house loan. We figured the smaller the loan we had to take out, the better.  When we were discussing this with Nate (our builder), he pointed out that it might be smarter to just take a loan out for the entire house cost and then put our funds towards debts w/ higher interest rates (which we have plenty of).  Hmm....good point. 

We realized that Nate was completely right, but that brought us to obstacle number two - getting approved for a loan.  Well, little did we know that Nate was already doing everything in his power to get us that loan (he really wanted to build!).  He found us a bank that was willing to offer us a loan, despite the fact that we had very little money to put down and the fact that Nick had only been working for 1.5 years.  He also worked with the bank and the lot appraisers through every step, pushing them and using the business he'd bring them as leverage, to make sure we were approved and given a good deal and just completely taken care of. 

We were hesitant all along the way, not believing it would really happen, and not sure if it really should happen.  We spent a lot of time discussing our options and praying for guidance.  We set some basic financial goals and guidelines that we felt would keep us within our means, and decided that if the loan were to be approved according to those guidelines, then now was the time for us to build.  Much to our surprise, it actually happened.  We were approved for a loan that fit our requirements in mid-November. After the actual approval we still felt good about our decision to build, so we made things official and signed our lives away on Thursday, November 17. Nate didn't waste any time. The paperwork was signed on the 17th and he had dirt being cleared the very next day. That was a bit of a shocker, but also made us realize that we weren't still dreaming - things were really happening!

October and November were a whirlwind and a roller coaster of emotions all rolled into one.  We went from owning a lot & thinking we'd be building in a year to having home plans put into motion all within two months.  Craziness....but happiness and extreme excitement too, as well as a time for us to again see the Lord's hand working in our lives.  At times we still feel a little shocked that we're actually building, but then we remember the many prayers and the guidance given, and we again feel reassured about our decision.  What a blessing it has been to be able to come closer to the Lord through this process.

The Plans

Nate, our builder, works with an awesome home designer named John who is talented, super nice, and very inexpensive!  This was exciting to us, since we thought we'd end up paying a ton for our house plans after checking w/ the designer who drew up the plans to the Utah parade home we love.  (He would've charged us about 4X as much as John did.)  We started working with John in early October by giving him a few drawings of house plans that Nick had put together (seriously, he did...Nick basically designed our house for us!). John then put together some basic plans and sent them to us.  We responded with likes and dislikes via email, then took a few hours to meet with him and Nate to discuss the plans.  This happened a few more times over the next few weeks.  It was quite the process - not terribly hard, but a little harder than expected. There are a lot of little details to decide on that you don't think about until you're actually designing.  It was fun, though, to do it as a couple and to be able to create a home that will fit our family's needs as it grows. 

Overall I'd guess that the process took us about 6 weeks or so.  Luckily we were able to base our original plans off of the Utah parade home, since we loved it so much.  We then tweaked things to fit our budget and our preferences.  Without those plans, it might have been super hard to even know where to start.  We were also lucky to be able to work with Nate and John, who were both more than willing to give their professional input as well as personal suggestions, but who were also very respectful of our preferences.  We now have a set of plans that we love and are so excited for. 

Our Builder

 The second home parade we attended was the one held annually here in Grand Junction.  We were a little disappointed to discover that the GJ parade only included 8 small homes (as opposed to the 21 large, custom built homes we toured in Utah Valley).  We were pleasantly surprised, though, to hit the jackpot after touring only 1 home.  We did end up touring all of the homes, but it was that first one that made it all worthwhile, as that is where we met our builder, Nate Porter.

When thinking about finding a builder, we were a bit intimidated.  We wanted to use the builder of the home we loved in Utah, but that just wasn't possible.  We needed to find someone in GJ, but we had no idea how we'd go about finding someone who was trustworthy and who built quality homes.  Luckily the Lord was looking out for us.  We honestly felt like he directed us right to Nate.

We toured that first parade home on a Friday night after Nick had worked all day.  We were just going to wait until Saturday to see all of the homes, but decided to squeeze one in on Friday. When we got there, they were about to close for the night so it was just us, the homeowners, and Nate (he built the house we were looking at).  Nate and the homeowners gave us a personal tour through the home, and then chatted with us about the process of building.  The homeowners just raved about Nate, and when we mentioned we'd be building within the next year, he asked us to come meet with him the following Monday.  We did so, even though we really were planning to wait for a year before building.  After that meeting and a few subsequent ones, we knew that Nate was the builder for us.  We could tell that he was a really good person  (honest, ethical in work, hardworking, religious, family man), he received awesome reviews from numerous people, he offered amazing prices for quality work, he had a designer who also offered unbelievable prices, and he was willing to make the extra effort to help us secure funding for our home. So far Nate has made our home building process a great one, and we're so very grateful to the Lord for making sure we met up with him.

The Inspiration Behind the Design

When we started looking at houses and lots, we thought it would be a good idea to also start touring home parades. They're actually really fun, and we thought the homes might give us ideas. We luckily decided this just weeks before the Utah Valley Parade of Homes, which includes tons of homes that are all top of the line. We also luckily had a doctor appointment in Pleasant Grove the weekend of the parade, meaning we were already planning to be in town. And Grandma Lexie was luckily able to get time off work and meet us for the appointment (because Nick had to miss that due to work) and the parade.

Everything seemed to fall into place, so we made plans and headed to Northern Utah in the middle of June. The doctor appointment went really well, and the parade was more than we were hoping for. We spent a Thursday evening and all of the next Friday touring homes and got tons of ideas of what we did and didn't like in homes. What made it really worth our time, though, was one home in particular. It was the first home we toured on Friday, and we all immediately fell in love with it. We loved everything about it, from the outside design to the color choices to the backyard, etc. If we had the money and if we lived in Utah, we would have placed a bid that day:) We of course couldn't buy the home, but it instead became the inspiration for our dream home. We're learning that designing and building a home is quite the undertaking, and the amount of decisions you have to make is just astonishing. Having this Utah home to base our decisions off of has been so wonderfully helpful and has helped to cut down on the overwhelming enormity of it all.

The inspiration.

Bucket List #1 - Dream Home

Our Lot

At the beginning of Summer 2011 we began looking at homes and lots.  Through the help of our friend and realtor, Jackson Berry, we scoured the city. We visited a number of houses and, after finding nothing we truly liked, came to the conclusion that we wanted to build.  It was then that we got serious about looking at lots.  We finally found one that we loved. The only drawback was that it was just outside of our ward boundaries.  Because everything inside the boundaries was too pricey, we decided we'd have to be okay with that.

After finding our lot, we continued to look around a bit. We couldn't find anything else that even compared, so we made an offer.  Things got a little intense when we discovered that another couple of was planning to make an offer at the same time.  However, thanks to the guidance and patience and sweet-talking of Jackson, we were able to endure a week of wheeling and dealing (the owners did not want to budge on the price!) and finally got our lot! On September 9, 2011, we signed the papers and made it official. We became the proud new owners of a 2 acre lot located in a new development in a great part of town, complete with a creek, 3 big trees, and several wildlife visitors!

 Happy Family

 View from the Back

Looking down at our hidden creek