Moved in!!!!

We aren't completely done with the upstairs of the house but it sure feels like we've came a long way in the last four months! We moved in two weeks ago and just got our countertops, kitchen sink and range last night! We've been cooking outside on the camp stove and it was so nice to have a regular, hot dinner! We still have all the trim work, kitchen back splash and paint touch-up's to do but it really feels like our home now. My mom and dad drove up here last weekend and "lighted up" our house! We also were able to spend a pre-birthday weekend with my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

A winter walk to the creek

Guest Bath


Master bath

I can't fit it all in one picture......

fat, lazy kitty on the couch!

The cabinet next to the range has to be replaced, so we still are missing some countertop!

I'll send more pictures later.......we miss you all and hope everyone is doing well. Sending all our love............Russ and Julie

Almost Ready to move in

We hope to move into the new house sometime later this week. We finally have our carpet and wood floor in so it really feels like a home now. We are still 10 days out on out kitchen countertops and our range was cracked when it was delivered.....so we'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while! We should have a functioning shower tomorrow and hopefully we'll get to put the varnish on the wood floor by tomorrow night. We still have a lot to do to complete the house but right now we just want to be able to move in!

This is Russ' assistant Harriet......she brought over six pug puppies for us to play with. Russ wouldn't let me keep one!!

1am in the morning and handling a floor-nailer! Luckily we both made it home alive!

Russ sanding the wood floors....we were pretty nervous about this but it turned out great

The finished product minus the varnish


Starting to install the kitchen cabinets

I'm proud of this light....we got it for $5.00!

More installed cabinets

We had one cabinet that came with a broken door.......cross your fingers for us that it doesn't take 6 weeks to get the replacement! I can't to see what our kitchen will look like when it is finished....so far we really like how it is turning out.

The Remodel....3 months and Counting!

It feels like we have been working on this house forever!! Russ and I have both had moments this past weekend when we wondered why we thought it was a good idea to take such a big project on. We have finally started painting and getting the tile put down. We still need to touch-up the paint and grout the tile but it is coming along. Our kitchen cabinets and appliances will be delivered in two weeks so we want to try and have as much done as possible before they get here. We just started tiling the showers and the wood floors are next on our list! As you can see from the picture.....sukha has been helping us paint!!

We were just starting to paint....it took me forever to pick out paint colors. The colors don't really look the same in these pictures but hopefully you can get an idea of how things are starting to look.

The kitchen floor....the paint on the wall is an olive green....I think it looks pretty brown in the picture.

The master bath

Guest Bath

Dining area

I wanted to paint this white wall around the pantry a deep red but I chickened out!

The view into the living room.

We've also heard that there is a wolf and a mountain lion that have been hanging out pretty close to our house. Russ thought he saw wolf tracks on our walk the other day. We had bear scat in our yard this fall and deer sleep in our back yard.......I guess moving across town can really change your opinion on letting your cat go outside!! Probably not a good idea in this neighborhood!

Finally.....We Have Dry Wall!!

Here are some more pictures of the house. We've been at a stand-still for the past two weeks while we have been waiting for dry wall. It has also been really cold here. Tonight it is going to be 35 degrees BELOW freezing! The pipes in our rental have frozen twice, we thawed them out the first time but we are still waiting to see if they thaw out tonight! I've been keeping a close on on all our deer that stay in the backyard. We have five that are trying to stay warm under the trees out back. We put straw out under the trees to help keep them warm. Poor Deer!! Nothing else is new around here! We can't wait to see everyone next week!!

We are still waiting to have the walls mudded and taped but at-least we are seeing progress. This is a picture from the living room looking into the kitchen.

You can see our cupboard door in this picture. We ordered our cabinets this past week and got all of our bathroom vanities. We even got the tile for the kitchen and our wood floor was delivered today!

Russ is putting down "hardy board" so we can put the tile in the bathrooms. He is doing such a great job! I'm so lucky to have such a handy husband! It takes me forever to do the same stuff that he does in no time at all!

These are the colors for our kitchen.

Sukha's New Dog Bed

Sukha got a new dog bed for Christmas and we had it embroidered with her name. We were so excited when it came last night until we took it out of the box and saw that her name was spelled "SUCKHA!!" Maybe you had to be there but we couldn't stop laughing at our sweet little doggy's new name!

Remodel Update

Russ with his new table saw. He got up at 4:30am the day after Thanksgiving to go to Sears to get it. He also went to Home Depot! It looked like Christmas at our house with all of his new tools scattered around!

Our new patio door and window!


Russ built these closets in the master bedroom. He is going to build a built-in desk in between them.



We finally have the backerboard up around the tub and shower! Next step is trying to find tile!

This is part of the kitchen (the pony wall is where the range and more cabinets will go.) The room where the new window is will be the dining area.

It doesn't seem like much has changed with the house in the last week or so. We are waiting for drywall to go up and then hopefully we will have time to texture, paint and put the tile in before we come home for Christmas. We finally have our new patio door and window in the house....I think it will look really nice when it's all finished. We took Thanksgiving off from working on the house, it was the first day Russ has taken off from working on the remodel since we started! I've had 3 days off....and I always cherish those days!! We'll post more after the drywall goes up. We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and we are so excited to see you all during Christmas!

One Year Ago.......

Joe playing music for Russ!

Russ, Jenelle, Ewa and Jeff at Russ' benefit party!.... These guys are trying to plot how to get all the amazing raffle items that Joe and Jenelle put together for Russ' benefit!

This time last year Russ was in his car accident. We had just celebrated an amazing Thanksgiving with our friends and family and felt so thankful to be happy and healthy...... Today, we are even more thankful to be happy and healthy! This post is really about saying "Thank You" to everyone that helped us out after Russ' accident. We will never forget the love and friendship that you all gave us during Russ' recovery. We especially couldn't have made it through that time without my friend Beth, Joe and Jenelle. We will never be able to express our gratitude for the endless help you gave us. You were there for us every single day and we love you so much! And, for everyone that brought us wonderful meals.....Thank you!! Also, Thank You to the entire Blackhurst family for the amazing family contribution when you built carports to help us out. You are all such amazing people..........and WE LOVE YOU!!!