W-A-L-L-S

The post titles says it all. The day we've been waiting for has arrived and our concrete walls have been poured.

Bryan awoke at 5am today, got dressed and set out to pour the walls for our new home. Concrete was scheduled to arrive at 8am, and thanks to the help of many good friends (Luke, Jon, Blex and Ben), all preparations were made and the pouring of the walls began shortly after 8am.

Without going into too much construction detail, it's quite simple. You put together these foam forms that will serve as the mold for your exterior walls. The key word is "the mold". Without proper bracing, the weight of the wet concrete can easily blow out the foam mold at any weak seam. Bryan did a great job bracing and patching any seam with OSB (plywood) but the chance of a blowout always exists. I anxiously awaited to hear from Bryan this morning. It was the first time I had ever prayed this prayer "Dear God, thank you for all of the great blessings you give us, and by the way...please no blow outs, God!" Thanks to Bryan's great preparation, and I'm sure, some help from God, we had no blow outs.

God has continued to bless us with decent weather (most days) and very little snow. He knew we needed to get these walls poured. THANK YOU GOD! Tonight and tomorrow we are scheduled to get over 12 inches of snow. Walls, just in the nick of time.

Wood is good!

Yes, folks...take a look at the below picture. We had our FIRST load of lumber delivered to the job site last week! What an exciting thought to know that soon the hammers will be swinging and the walls will be erected. Boy, this post kind of went south with the references to wood and erected, didn't it? GET YOUR MIND out of the gutter people, we are talking about home construction here!

I've also included some pictures of the walls, as the foam forms are complete and ready for concrete. Bryan has done an amazing job thus far, and has not complained for one moment about having to go out and work on our house in 0 degree weather AFTER he finishes his day job. He works nearly every night of the week until 10-11pm.
Thank you Bryan. Carter and I love you very much.

Saturday, the cement trucks arrive at 8am to bring the concrete for our walls. I'm so excited, it's like I'm a child and its Christmas morning.

Family time is a great time!

On Saturday, the Nelson's came down to Brainerd so Troy could help Bryan work on the basement. While the guys worked, the girls and kids "chilled". Carter enjoyed playing with Nicole and he newest cousin Gavin. Nelson's went home on Sunday morning and we were sad to see them go. I have to say, it's been a long time since I spent the night in the same house with a 5 week old. Thank goodness Carter sleeps through the night as I was tired for Anne and Troy the next day.

On Sunday evening, Bryan and I and Carter AND Scout enjoyed putting up our lil' Christmas tree. We decided we just didn't have room this year in our little apartment to put up a full sized tree so we opted for a 4 foot Wal-Mart special. What a great decision. We had so much fun putting it up and together. Last year, Carter was just 11 months old and didn't really know what was going on, but this year, LOOK OUT, he is all over the ornaments and lights. It was such a great night, spending family time together. These moments are some of my most cherished.

A Thanksgiving full of blessings

Our Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing. We had Bryan's sister down and the 4 of us enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Carter enjoyed the pie the most...IMAGINE THAT! Bryan was set on making the mashed potatoes and I didn't argue. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of him when he got the hand mixer cord caught in the beaters. It was truly a memory I will not forgot. Scout even got a plate of her own. We were thinking that if she got one of her own she wouldn't beg. Did we seriously think that would work? It was a great Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for each day, Thank you God for the great blessings.

Lego-Land at the new Miller homesite

Progress is being made on our new home.

Bryan continues to work nightly and every weekend to keep the project rolling forward. Here are some pictures of the massive stacks of foam "Lego's" that will soon be our basement walls. Instead of doing concrete blocks for our basement walls, you put together a massive puzzle of foam forms. In between the forms goes poured concrete. When the concrete sets or hardens, you have cement walls instead of block walls. A great bonus to this type of basement is that we increase our "r" value or insulation rating and we can attach the sheet rock directly to the foam on the inside. This means we don't have to frame up the exterior walls with 2x4's?
Too much shop talk for those of you that aren't "handy"? Take a look at the pics, it will make much more sense.

Could this kid be more like his parents?

Each day, Bryan and I notice more and more things that Carter does that completely resemble us! I have a tendency to walk around while I talk on the phone, multi-tasking when I can. Now, granted, I don't do it in only a diaper, but the attire aside, this kid is a spitting image of me! Bryan shot this video while I ran to get a movie one night. Please disregard all of the toys and junk lying around, its been quite busy around the Miller house lately.

I should also mention that Carter now knows how to "toot" on purpose. I'll let you, the reader, decide who he's imitating when he does that.

Let's get this "potty" started!

The day has arrived and Carter is interested in the toilet. He has managed to pee-pee in the potty at least 5 times. He now goes into the bathroom when Bryan or I do and wants to sit on his potty chair. Sometimes, we come up empty handed, other times, we are successful. Carter is not even two years old yet, so we are naturally very excited. It does seem that he's not quite as interested in pooping in the potty as he is peeing. That's a shame because retirement from changing poopy diapers could not come soon enough.

Oh well...we're not going to wish our little boys life away, so we'll keep changing, and doing the pee-pee dance until he shuts the bathroom door on us for some privacy.

Fun misc.pictures

We got a bit of snow overnight, so Carter and I and Scout played outside this morning. It is nice and warm out so who knows how long the snow will last. It was fun because last year at this time Carter was only 10 months old. It was a little hard to play in the snow with him.

Deer Season-2008

What a great weekend! Per our tradition, we spent the weekend at my parents, while Bryan, my dad and brother Tom attempted to slay a day so we could "have food on the table" for the winter. I always have to laugh at that statement because I'm pretty sure that the Indians, when living off the land didn't have deer sticks and summer sausage "on the table". Regardless, I really enjoy this annual tradition. While some hunt, the rest of us sit around and eat, drink and be lazy. Well, almost lazy. This year there were a few kids around. Tom's 3 month old, 16 month old and 6 year old PLUS Carter PLUS my sister's 2 week old and 7 year old. It was a blast watching the kids play and also EXHAUSTING! (Tom's other two kids (14 & 12) were hunting with their grandpa Fox in Hill City for the weekend.

Bryan got a 4 point buck at around 7am opening morning and my brother got a doe and a buck later that day. It was a great weekend, and I'm relieved Bryan was able to "put food on the table."

The big day arrives!

FINALLY, the big day arrived. Friday, November 14th, the concrete trucks arrived. Well, they almost arrived before they got stuck in our driveway. BOTH trucks!

It took over an hour to get the trucks out of the mud and close enough to the basement to use the GIANT conveyor belt to bring the concrete to the footings.

Carter and I went out and watched for a bit and he was very interested in the trucks.

Next on the "To Do list of building a house" is the insulated foam forms that we will use. Once those are put together, they will be filled with concrete (instead of using concrete blocks). They are like a giant puzzle. Bryan will be working very hard to put the puzzle together as quickly as he can because we are working against the weather.

And our home project moves forward

For the last month, Bryan has been working very hard setting up the forms for our concrete footings. A month ago, it was still nice out and he could enjoy the fall weather while working. Carter and I and Scout visited every time he was working out there. 2 weeks ago, everything changed.
#1...Daylight savings time-Fall back an hour! Obviously the people that agreed losing an hour of daylight was a good idea have NEVER tried to build a house in the dark. We worked around that by using construction lights.
#2. Old Man Winter decided he would make an appearance. Last week, Bryan worked every night using a pick to get through the hard, FROZEN earth so he could continue with the footings. He did not complain once.

A fun fall weekend

Bryan had a hunting weekend away from home so Carter and I played and had fun while he was gone. We attended a Halloween party at the Moose club. He and Hayden posed for a picture while in costume. After the party, we headed over to Hayden's house for a sleepover. Hayden's mom had been my friend since 3rd grade, so we had a sleepover too. We had so much fun. After the boys went to bed, we sipped Cosmo's and watched Sex and the City, the movie. We had a great time. The boys enjoyed playing with Playdoh and also enjoyed a bath together. It sure makes bathtime more fun for the boys. What a great weekend for all of us.

A new Nelson arrives!

On October 22nd, my sister Anne Marie gave birth to our new nephew Gavin Troy. He is a precious little miracle. I think he looks so much like Anne! Nicole is a very proud big sister. Carter is very lucky to have 7 cousins.