Finally!! House pictures!

WARNING: Massive post!!
Ok, first off you should know that I lost ALL of the "in progress" pictures that show how much we demolished,tore down and shipped out (7 loads to the dump that Kathy and I made...I can't remember how many tons...a lot!). Consequently, it looks like we just took out the carpets and painted...but we didn't!!! :)

Closing Day! :) Happy first time homeowners...


On our first night Jerome came over to help us with our first project...taking down the rickety fence just outside of the living room...

Before...


During...

Still very enthusiastic...but need to take a picture of "after" will do and will repost...


Among our accomplishments:
*Tore out all existing built in storage closets

Below is a sample of the built-ins and "wood" paneling:



*Scrapped off all the popcorn off the ceiling (lost those pics)

*Completely demolished the bathroom down to the studs and subfloor. Even put in all new pipes. EVERYTHING is new...and I learned to tile!!
You have to love the black plastic tile! Before...


*Took down all the fake wood paneling in the main part of the house...discovered that it was covering up several barely covered former windows (you couldn't tell from the outside). So we tore out those walls to the studs b/c there was no insulation...re-insultated, re-wired, drywalled and textured (5 external walls).

*primed all walls, painted ceiling (repaired sagging ceiling)

*Tore out carpet

*Re-wired 3/4 of the house

*Added closet organizer THANKS MOM!

*repaired/painted side fence

It looks so good after dad's handi-work...


*Re-roofed side shed (all by ourselves!) see what bad shape it was in? just to the left (it was leaking badly and not functional). We also tore down the green lean-to in the foreground.


You can see the roofing felt Dave laid down and the facia board I measured(!) and painted...


Me measuring the guide lines for the 3-tab shingles...



The finished product...not bad if I do say so myself!


*Repaired/rebuilt side shed In progress...almost done (yay Dave!)

Did we do all this by ourselves?! Heck no!!! We were SOOOO blessed by our family and the help that everyone gave. We had work crews, cleaning crews, building crews and support crews. I think most all of you played some role in it. And for that WE THANK YOU!!!!!


Don't even ask what we have left to do!!! :)

I wish I had all the pictures I took when the family was here. It was amazing to see everyone pitch in like they did. Dave and I can't even begin to express our gratitude. There is so much more that wasn't even mentioned in this email.

I'll post more before and afters soon. I hope to be better about doing this in stages so it's not all or nothing. At least you have some idea of what we've been up to! :) I'll probably even re-visit some of the topics here for a little more detail and to give credit where credit is due.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has supported us through this major undertaking! We love you and couldn't have done it without you!!!!

Craziness!!

Just a quick post to apologize for how delinquent I've been with posting. But I think I've seen all of you periodically throughout these last 3 months so most of you have some idea about what's going on. Working like mad on the house. I will have pics up sometime next week (hopefully!!). We've made tons of progress, although most everyone still points out how much work we have left to do! LOL Well, if we weren't traveling every weekend or filling it with photoshoots or plans to take over the world (insert evil laugh here...I'll explain in a minute) then maybe we'd have more time to work on our place. Still, it's livable, less smelly, and ours! :)

Below is a picture of Mary's arms after spending an hour sanding drywall...let me tell you, we now know the value of feathering!!!




This is a (poor) picture of our living room the very day we moved in...Mom and I got to work unpacking the kitchen and Dave executed his vision for the living room. It has since met with several coats of paint, but you get the idea...


Plans to take over the world...
Most of you know that my beloved boss Sandy has given her notice and will be leaving BHB to move to Colorado. To say the least it puts a kink in things! I have been approached by several shareholders who would like me to make a bid for Sandy's Director position. That is what I've basically been consumed with for the last two weeks. You should also know that this comes at our busiest time of year! I'll keep you updated if there's anything to announce.

Other news:
Our car officially died three weeks ago! Talk about craziness! Since we only have one car it was rather traumatic. We spent all week looking for a new car. Thank God for Auntie Penny and Ken!!! Each night they would come to our house, we'd drive them back to theirs and head out to look at cars, then we'd come back to thier place and they would finally drop us off after a long night. In the end we went for another Saturn. It's a pretty cute wagon that we are really excited about.



And since I know that all of you would rather read a post that has pictures...

Scott+Brittani::6.22.08

I just had to share with you some of the pictures I took on Sunday. You may recognize the couple from the engagement sitting we did back in February. They are an incredibly beautiful couple and as sweet as can be. As you can see, we had tons of fun! I am totally honored they asked me to capture their big day. Let me know what you think of these pictures...it's been kind of quiet out there lately. ;)

www.brookwhitney.com

Wedding pictures continued...

Was it a beautiful day or what?! I was seriously craving vitamin D...















By the way, I got a killer sunburn on Saturday. I realized (again) that sunscreen is my friend. :)

Weddings and House Closings...

Last weekend Dave and I took my cousin (Riley) to Spokane with us so he could attend a basketball camp. He was a real trooper because we had to make a pit-stop in Hartline for Dave's cousin's wedding. Riley was a superstar! Not only did he go along with visits to the grandparents and a perfect strangers wedding, but he was the life of the party, teaching several people how to play lacross...well, mostly how to catch with the stick. :)

I've finally figured out how to make an online gallery of pictures, so periodically, I'll include a link in a post. You should be able to view them larger than if I posted them here and you should also be able to copy and save the files to your hard drive if you want to print them. I will save most of the pictures as 100%, but I'll probably forget that the default is 70%. You should still be able to make a print of the picture, so long as it's 4x6 or smaller.

Here is the link to the online gallery for Justin and Kristi's wedding last Saturday.

(if this doesn't show up as a link, then just paste this address into your browser)
www.brookwhitney.com/clients/oliver


And here are a few of my favorite pics from the day with more to follow (all of the pics can be viewed on the gallery above)...









THIS JUST IN: we just got the news that we can pick up the keys to our house tonight!! So, I'm off to grab a bottle of champagne to celebrate a little later at our new place! Prepare yourself for more house updates that you care to see. Since most of you don't live near us, I'm sure you will be breathlessly awaiting any new news on the abode. :)

Update...

Sometimes I'm left wondering what on earth I have to write about. I know you think I'm full of a lot of hot air, but life comes at me in pictures, not in words so sometimes it's hard to put it out there.

I'll start by saying a lot has come up in the last couple of weeks! The same week we announced we made an offer on a house, Geoff told us that he and Danelle were expecting their first child, Mary was graduating from college and dad had an irregular checkup.

Since then, God has still orchestrated our house buying, (we got to meet the daughter of the owner and her husband and hung out with them for 4 hours helping them with cleaning out the house...we listened to stories and bonded in a way that most new home owners never get to experience. Mr. Moyer was a sports radio personality over here for years, and Mrs. Moyer was a cartoonist for WB in Cali. We really enjoyed getting to know Carol and Phillip and have invited them back to the house when they come for a visit in August with Mrs. Moyer). We are closing on the house a week early!!! Next Wednesday (6/18) we will be proud first-time home owners!

Geoff and Danelle are taking care of their little bean, who we fondly refer to as G.D. :) We're trying to convince them that they should come over for the 4th since the rest of us sibs are going to be here together...it would be so much fun!!! Alas, with Geoff's 4 jobs and Danelles full time gig (yay!), we'll take them when we can get them!

Mary and Quinn are successfully adventuring across the country with their GPS which has come in handy. I'm thankful for safe travels! Can't wait to see more pictures!

And Dad is learning more and more about prostate cancer and the various treatments. Thankfully his case is only moderate and there is time to decide on the best course. I'm also thankful that he's decided to keep us all informed about what's going on. it's a lot less scary to know. It also means that Geoff and Sean should be more proactive...all us McLachlan kids should, cancer is so rampant in our family.

About a week ago (?) dad was over for Mo's heptathalon so the fam had dinner at Matt's house. Here are a few pics from that night. (Gee, Tess doesn't look at all natural with that huge camera, does she? She's already got a great eye.) :)

Dave and I have a wedding in Hartline this weekend and then we'll head to Spokane for a quick visit and dinner at Nonnie and Papa's. Let's hope my cold dries up in the next 24 hours!!!

Memorial Day in Coulee

I'm off to catch my bus but here are some pics from a couple of weekends ago. I'll write more later and actually update you on the house progress and the like. Enjoy!