Our Dream Home

 We have talked, planned and saved since we got married  to be able to get to a location where we could raise our family.  We wanted to be able to be somewhere before Taytum entered school and we were able to make that dream come true.  In November we purchased a lot in Elk Ridge, UT.  It is such a beautiful city, very quiet, away from the busy streets we had lived on. Everything was right about this place, its only set back was that it was far from our family and we were so used to having them so close but after much prayer and talk we knew that this is where we needed to be.  We sat on it all winter and finally got our house in American Fork sold in April.  We hired, Kyle's friend construction company, Degelbecks.  They broke ground in May.  We came down as often as we could to watch the process so the next bajiliion pictures will show the progress each week.  It's amazing how different it would look from one time to the next.

Taytum picking flowers in our "yard" while the crew marked  the boundaries of where the house would go.

We now have a hole where our house will be - so exciting.

 We stopped one afternoon after a weekend of camping and they had the foundation poured.

 We have a basement.

 The framing begins.  Front side of the house.

 The girls were playing on this stack of wood, and it was too cute.  They get to accompany us on the many drives down.  Taytum understands that we're getting a new house, Kylee is obviously oblivious and just comes along for the ride.

 The roof and shingles have begun.

 Looking into the front room from the kitchen.

 Front entrance.

 Master bedroom

 Master bathroom and closet

 Stairs to the upstairs

 Taytum's bedroom upstairs

 What a spectacular view.

 Kitchen

 Basement

 Backside of the house.

 A quick crazy picture with my Tayter bugs

 It really was crazy how fast it went up.  This was the 7th of July.

 Gramps came and helped us a bit one afternoon.  We added boards between the studs so that it would be easier to hang all his animal mounts.

 They started the rock and stucco. Funny story behind the stucco.  When we went in to choose our stucco we had a picture of a chocolate brown that we had liked.  When we showed the supplier the picture he pointed out one that he was 99% sure was the right match.  It was called chocolate phizz.  When I saw it on the house for the first time, it appeared more orange than brown.  It shocked us because we had a different color pictured in our minds but after we studied it for a bit it looks great and we are really happy with how it turned out.

 Priming the walls for paint.

 Master closet.  Can't have enough shelves.

 Tile!  We love the tile we chose for the house, it looks really good.  We had them set it on a diagonal instead of the square.  

 Pantry

 Play room bench

 Preschool room

 The outside is complete

 They were pouring the cement for the entrance to the downstairs french doors leading to the rock stairs.  Taytum was mesmerized by this process and watched for a long time.

 Granite counter tops in the Master bath

 The rock archway.  We saw this in Degelbecks old home and we knew we had to have it in ours.  It separates the kitchen and living room and we love it.

 Our new appliances are sitting there in the middle of the floor.

 The gas fireplace.

 Our cupboards went in, they look awesome along with our island.

 Kylee likes the new counter top.

 Carpet time.

 Our Deck out the back.  Kyle found a guy in Idaho that made the buck and bull cutouts for our railing.

 My parents came down one weekend before the house was even cleaned and we started decorating the preschool room since school was starting the next week.

 It is now the middle of September and the house is done!!  One final walk through before we bring in all our stuff.  Kitchen is gorgeous!

 Living Room

 View from the back porch

 Master bedroom

 Playroom upstairs

 Taytum's pink room.  When they painted they had also painted the ceiling pink.  It was overload on the pink so Kyle and I came and painted the ceiling white.  Much better.

 Looking down from the upstairs

 Mud room

 The trophy room

 Preschool

 Out the basement door to the backyard. 

 Bathroom.  Except for the master bath, all the bathrooms look the same.

 Office

 Storage room, it also leads into a cold storage

 Just a few days before Kyle was to leave for a week long elk hunt we rented a moving truck and brought in all our belongings.  We got most of it in just two truck loads.  Now if only somebody would unpack all of this for us.

 They still had not turned on the hot water before Kyle left so he didn't get a chance to stay in the house before the hunt.  A few days after he left and the promise that the hot water would be on the next day the girls and I headed to stay at the new house.  The girls are eating cereal at their new kitchen counter.

 My parents did come down one day and helped me put the kitchen away and Dad was able to get the beds put together, except for the crib.  The crib was still at Paxman's so Kylee slept on the crib mattress surrounded by boxes for a good week.  Taytum's first night in her new room.

 The hot water did not come on until the fourth day we were there so these girls (and I) were very excited for a much needed bath.

That whole rest of that week while Kyle was hunting I felt that I was in somebody else's home and we were just house sitting.  It's hard to believe that this house which always seemed like only a dream came true.  It's beautiful and it took a long while before the house really felt like ours.  We are so excited to start our lives here and make new memories and friendships.  Kyle got home from a successful hunt and there you have it.  

Our Dream Home Come True!