Thanksgiving at the Ranch

Last weekend Katie and I flew out to North Dakota for Thanksgiving. Her family has a ranch in central ND, so we stayed there for the weekend. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and get some R&R. I also got to go hunting for the first time. We warmed up first shooting some trap. So I figured I probably wouldn't do that well, but Katie would keep me company because she hasn't really shot much...she hit the first three in a row. In the end we all did pretty well though. We didn't have much luck with the real birds, however. We only saw a dozen or so over the two days of hunting, so we didn't have many opportunities either. It was still a lot of fun, and we had great weather for it.

And what would a Thanksgiving be without a hicup or two? The night before Thanksgiving the, oven decided it had had enough and wasn't going to work anymore! Luckily a very sweet lady in the nearest town offered us her electric roaster, so we were able to have turkey! She also decided that wasn't quite enough, so she baked us a few homemade pies, homemade rolls, and a homemade pizza for lunch the next day! You just don't find that kind of hospitality everyday, we were very thankful for all her help!

The last day, Nick, Randy and I got to working on an entry for the ranch. I'm still a bit baffled that we actually built the thing, it's huge! But a little planning, elbow grease, and heavy machinery can go a long way!

Rylan and Mackenzie were as cute as ever and are getting more and more fun as they get older. Mackenzie is walking all over the place now, and Rylan will carry on a conversation with you until you're blue in the face! We had a great time with everyone, and we can't wait to come back for Christmas in a few weeks!

Katie just before she blew the clay out of the sky

We didn't get any birds, but at least we looked good!

Rigging one of the posts for the new entrance. Heavy machinery is so cool!

The finished product

Oh something else I fogot to mention...Katie almost got thrown off a horse! He reared up, but Katie held on like a pro!

We had some awesome sun rises/sets

This is the original homestead on the ranch. It's pretty crazy to see something like this and realize somebody used to live here hundreds of years ago...and built it with their hands!

DONE (well, kinda)

Hello everyone, we are finally finshed with the outside part of the addition. Brian put the final coat of white trim paint on today!!

Soon we are getting new windows for the other bay wondow on the right and we will match the trim. It is really coming along!!!

The drywall guys were here today and sanded down all the mud so we are finally ready for our final inspection. This is our closet which we doubled in size and I am super excited about it.

Here is the inside of our room, this gives you kind of an idea how much room we really added on. The aqua wall is where the front wall used to stop.

That is all we have for now but we will keep you updated!!

Progress

Well we've been making some good progress on the house. We got the roof on and the windows in a week and a half ago. The siding is almost done, and we're hoping for a few days of dry weather this week so we can get it painted. I got all the electrical done and signed off, and we have light in the room again, which is great! Over the weekend, my friend Nate and I got the insulation in. I had never done much insulation before, and I now understand the motivation of the guy who invented the spray-in insulation. It took the full weekend to get it all done. But we're now ready for sheetrock, which should go on mid-week.

On a non-house note, Katie had her wisdom teeth removed on Friday, so it's been a veg weekend for her as she recovers. Her cheeks are a little swollen, but she's not in too much pain thanks to the pain-killers.

After a long weekend, our addition is now energy efficient!

The cedar siding looks nice, it's a shame we have to pain it! It sure made the garage smell good.

Quick Update...

Here's just a quick update before bed. The new walls are up and the bay window is framed in. We're praying for dry weather tomorrow, but it's not looking good! Thursday through Saturday looks okay though, so hopefully we'll have a roof by the end of the weekend. The new bedroom is taking shape, and is going to be a very nice size. Overall things are going well. It's crazy to see it all coming together!

Before...

After!

This picture doesn't really show how big the room is, but you can see where the old wall stops, anyway.

So here's the completed shower. This is main bath outside of the bedrooms.

In case you don't remember from previous posts, this is what the shower started out as.

Time for bed, hopefully I'll get pictures of a roof posted this weekend!

Let the mess begin...

Well we started our major remodel project on monday. We're adding on to the front of the house on the second level which will add to the master bedroom/bathroom. Unfortunately things are progressing slowly due to the weather, but I guess that's what we get for starting a project in October! The new floor is already built, and we should have the new walls and trusses up by Tuesday as long as the weather cooperates a little.

While the pros are busy with that project, Katie and I have been busy trying to get the hall bathroom finished up. We have finished grouting and are now waiting for that to cure before we seal it up and call it done! Of course then we still have to finish part of a wall and find a vanity, and replace the window...but we're getting closer :). We have moved out of the master bedroom and into one of the guest bedrooms. It's a tight squeeze for now, but it will make our new bedroom seem that much bigger. We have been helping out with the bedroom addition a little bit too, I suppose. I ripped out the ceiling sheetrock in the garage, and the other day Katie and I ripped out some sheetrock in the bedroom. We had fun with it, it's not every day you can kick in your wall!

The first morning of construction

Day 1 results. The roof is gone, you're looking at plywood they put over the new floor for weather protection, which we definately needed the last two days.

Who need's a hammer??

This is where our job ends, and the pros job begins

I got the tub surround grouted while Katie grouted the floor...almost done!

Slowly but surely we're making progress. We're learning a lot along the way and are having a lot of fun with everything, which is good since it takes up almost all of our time outside of work! We've been good so far about taking progress pictures as we go so check back for more updates!

Remodel

Well we've moved on from just painting. Katie's parents came to town a couple weeks ago and they helped us start to remodel our guest bathroom along with a bit of landscaping. Katie's dad, Randy, had the bathroom ripped apart before lunch on the first day, and we've been working at putting it back together since then. Its a good thing we decided to redo the tile around the tub for two reasons: A) The tile was a nice '79 vintage brown-ish color and B) There was definately a moisture issue previously. We found a lot of the insulation had gone from pink to black with mold.....mmmm. While we had the walls open we put in new plumbing for a new shower/tub fixture, and then we put concrete board up on the walls and ceiling. We're almost done mudding the walls, and then we'll start tiling! Things move very slowly when you only work for a few hours each day...but we're making progress :).

During a week of record-setting heat before we bought the house, a few of the front bushes died. None looked that great anyway, so we decided to rip them all out and start over.

Here are some "before" pictures of the bathroom for reference

Apparently people in 1979 were shorter than they are today. The shower head came up to about my chest. All of you who come to visit can rest assured I moved it up when I put in the new plumbing.

Hall bathroom, after the demo (and some new paint)

It took us a little while, but we finally got the walls back on. We'll be starting to tile soon!

Welcome Home!

Well, for those of you who don't know, Katie and I are now homeowners! We found a great house in a neighborhood not too far away from where we were renting. We moved in a couple weeks ago, and have been busy making it our own. We moved ourselves with the help of our friend, Nate. It was a lot of hard work, but we were successful.

The new house!

The living room

The kitchen...tile countertops suck to clean, fyi

We lucked out with a pretty nice deck, two levels, and a nice backyard for Bruno!

The Big Move and Painting

Nate and I unloading the U-Haul...4 trips later and we were done. Movers definately earn their money! The interior needs a little help, most of which is a fresh coat of paint. So far, we have most of the interior painted, and we have some remodeling on the docket as well. I have been pretty busy at work, so I can't lay claim to too much of the painting; Katie has been doing a great job!

Whoa! Painting the ceilings got a little messy :)

Dining room before... Dining room after (imagine the chair rail is installed)

Living Room

We also decided the pink in the guest bedroom had to go. I don't have a full "before" picture handy, but this one shows the difference.

"After"

As you can tell, things have been a little crazy around here, so we'll try to keep you all updated with pictures, but be patient with us :). We will be sending out an email with our new address soon, too.