House update (footings)

These pictures really don't do the footings justice since there's no point of reference to show how deep they are, but I wasn't about to climb in one so you'll just have to use your imagination. If I were to stand in the deepest footing the dirt level would be over my head. Barefoot I am 5'1". That is a short girl and a deep footing.








For the record I should include the fact that it is still hot. It is currently 99 degrees on the thermometer here. But I would rather stomp around in dusty dirt than in the mud.

Fun at Kings Dominion

It was almost a perfect day to be at the park. The weather was a little warm but at least it was overcast most of the day making it bearable. It wasn't crowded at all and we didn't have to wait in line for many rides. It was fantastic. The kids had so much fun riding all the rides in kiddie land. Tanner had an anticipated meltdown after we had lunch so I took him to the car to let him sleep. He slept about 45 minutes and then woke up happy as can be. After that we took the kids to the water park where they enjoyed splashing around in the kiddie pools. Of course I have no pictures of that since I didn't want to get the camera wet.






The Merry-go-round.



Old fashioned cars.



The kids seemed to have fun on the bumper cars until they got pushed into a corner and Lana couldn't get the car out. She cried until the ride was over. Oh well. Tanner didn't seem to mind.




All the go-in-a-circle rides were a big hit.






Even the adults got to ride some rides.

It was a good, but long day. Lana was asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car and Tanner conked out after eating some dinner. On the way home we drove through the most intense lightning/thunderstorm I'd ever seen. It was like a strobe light there was just lightning strike after strike. It was amazing and yet a little bit nerve racking at the same time. We were seeing lightning almost from the time we left the park to the time we got home. I wish I'd had the camera within reach to take some of those lightning pictures.

Can you tell who's who?

We jetted off for the weekend to DC to meet up with the rest of Paul's siblings. We celebrated a bunch of the little girls birthdays, took family photos, went to King's Dominion and just hung around and had a great time. For the first time we noticed how much Tanner and Brayden actually look a like. It was a little humorous especially considering that Shirley had packed Brayden the exact same shirt Tanner was wearing, so she changed his clothes so they could be twins for a day.



Do you know who's who?



Brayden on the left, Tanner on the right in both pictures. Crazy huh? It's hard not to see the resemblance here. Those Judson genes are proving to be very dominant!

Clearing the lot

I'm feeling a little bit bad for making people work in 100+ degree weather. But not bad enough to postpone building the house until fall. According to Paul (who is much more reliable than the local weather people), he says the weather we are experiencing is unseasonably warm and that it wasn't this hot last summer. Usually we have these intense afternoon downpours that help cool it down. We haven't seen rain in over a month. This is just miserable! Our poor garden. We've lost a couple of things, like our peppers and most of our beans. Our cucumbers got eaten by some unknown rodents (most likely bunnies) and I only got to enjoy one.

Paul met more of our neighbors and one was disappointed that we didn't save any of the trees we took out because they wanted them. We will probably get rid of a few more of the trees on the back of the lot. They're pecan trees and they tend to be messy. Anyone want a pecan tree?

Tomorrow we're bringing in a bunch of dirt.

"Mommy, what's that smell?"

I think we've hit that stage of how many embarrassing questions can my kid say loudly and in public? This is Lana's favorite question. "What's that smell?" It is not said in a sweet innocent tone. It's in a very loud accusatory tone (with a hint of a southern twang). Insinuating that you are the culprit of the smell invading her sweet little nose. However, most of the time it's an everyday smell such as dinner cooking, something baking, or the after-vacuum smell. But it never fails that every time I hear her say that, I sniff around the apartment to make sure that nothing is actually stinky. She's making me slightly paranoid. Sometimes she asks that question over and over again just to have something to say. That's when I answer with "It's you." Then she sniffs her armpits and with a big grin says, "No it's not! I'm perfect."

Ready, set, go...

Finally! We closed on our construction loan today. We've been waiting for 10 days. 10 long days. 10 long days of nothing but intense heat, endless sweat, no blogging material and a little bit of stress. It's the beginning of the end result we've been waiting for since we moved to the 'burg.

Our grader Wayne will be out at the lot tonight clearing the debris. And since we have a ward activity going on tonight Paul and I will probably be out at the lot at 6am tomorrow staking off the house so the pad can be built tomorrow. I'm not always keen on sacrificing my Saturday sleep-in time for things but this is so worth it.

Oh, and "Happy Hour" at Sonic is my new best friend. Nothin' like a large slushie or vanilla Coke to cool us all off in this horrible heat. Seriously, I think I block this miserable time of the year because every year I think to myself "I don't rember the heat being this bad." But it most likely was. And swimming is not really that helpful when the water temperature is 90 degrees and the heat index is 104. Oh well.

Pictures to come soon.

Saying farewell to the Taj-mah-Paul

It wasn't our first house, but it was our first house we built ourselves. (And when I say "we" I really mean Paul.)

A lot of time, energy and hardwork went into this house. We loved this house and we will miss it. However, after 8 months of not actually living in the house we are ready to move on.


Coming up...The Taj-mah-Paul 2.0. Not bigger, but better!

(Future site of the Taj-mah-Paul 2.0)