Kendra gets down and dirty:)

Yesterday (Friday) Kevin and I ventured out to the lot to do a quick bit of work. We braced (I think that's what we did - I may be changing this post once Kevin reads it and corrects me) the forms to get ready for pouring, which I was actually able to help with! My main duty was to hold the 16ft 2X6's in place while he drilled them in... which may sound easy but to a pregnant woman. It's a good thing it was a "quick" job b/c one more hour and I'da been done for. These are the frames for the basement entry in the back of the house. What may look like an ordinary pole is actually a 45ft utility pole which we have just put in and will be receiving a bill for shortly. It's especially large b/c the wires have to clear the surrounding wires, most of which belong to Telus and for some reason are extremely high. But here's the catch - we don't need it! Apparently the town failed to mention (by phone, in person, even on our permit) that there was a new bylaw passed requiring all new residents to use (and pay for) underground power. !!AAAAAHH!! So here sits the unusually large $700 pole and another $1000+ of labour to install it. And who gets to foot the bill??? Well if nobody takes blame, us. Us. I could scream... but instead, Kevin and I will pay a little visit to our buddy in the town office next week and calmly plead our case. It's a difficult situation to raise a little hell in a small town where "everyone knows your name" and they all join together to help one another out whenever they can. It's a great town but they've had some MAJOR adjustments to make since having a massive growth spurt in realestate this spring and have had to hire a new coordinator to manage it all. There have been more than one case where new residents attempting to build have been misinformed, or uninformed of new rules and regulations. It's a little messy right now and we're one of the unfortunate ones to have to try and sort through it. So that's the story behind the pole.

Sweet sweet sweetness!!!

OK Ma, this post is for you! Do they look anything like yours???

We've got family!!!

On Friday we had some family come to visit us:) Kevin's sister Lisa and her husband Sam, with their 3 kids, Jerah, Andrew & Alisha. We mostly sat on the deck visiting but eventually made our way to a park for the kidlets. Here's some pics of the day: Here we have some pics of Atalie eating her banana the next day. We took off the dress she was wearing so she wouldn't get lasagna all over it... the banana was desert. We think she's part monkey b/c she looks so much like one when she stuffs her little cheeks. A nice cuddle to end the day:) As for a building update, Kevin wasn't able to get too much accomplished this weekend as he only had a helper today (Sunday) and the work they'll likely be accomplishing isn't terribly noticeable at a glance... so I'll be posting more pics next weekend when we pour the walls.

Sweating Swimming & Spending

Thursday evening we went to Windermere Lake, which is now conveniently just 2 blocks away, with our friends Devon & Ethan and Jen & Adam (and kids of course). Kevin had some more help this weekend (this morning) with putting in the forms. We're hoping to pour next weekend and have the foundation done within two weeks (ambitious perhaps??). We'll see... Attie and I came down to visit Kevin and Matt with our friends and had a picnic at the lake. It's been 37 degrees here the last few days so a swim was definately a necessity!! Friday was spent in Home Depot in Cranbrook. Kevin was in need of some tools for the next stage in building so we bought the big stuff where it was cheapest. We opened the trooper up and attempted to stuff in a table saw, mitre saw and table for the mitre saw, when we discovered only 1 of the 3 would fit. Crap. It was so hot outside and our vehicle had no air conditioning, so we decided to skip the rest of our errands and just go home... after having a quick look through the car lots for a deal on a truck... let's just say that 3 hours later we walked out of one lucky dealership with air conditioning and space for all 3 tools! :) Woohoo!!! 2003 Dodge Dakota SLT, Fully loaded quad cab with a meager 83,000km! This decision to buy a vehicle came at a critical time for us actually. We have been trying to get ourselves back on track financially while balancing a builders mortgage and a vehicle which needs alot of repairs. We had been praying for quite some time that God would provide some means of a vehicle (preferably a truck!) so that Kevin could actually bring materials and tools to the site every weekend instead of having to rely on our friends every time. The opportunity to buy this truck was a huge blessing (although an obvious and somewhat large expense) b/c we are now able to pay off our accumulated debts by selling the Trooper and motorbike, while making sacrifices in other areas to afford the payments. It has all turned out quite well and we're so greatful for such a reliable vehicle (with air con!)!!!

Moved in & Poured Concrete

This weekend was by far the busiest of all, so it seemed! We moved on Thursday evening (with the help of 3 wonderful friends!!!!!), Kevin was at the lot allll day Friday roasting his skin while trying to get the footings finished... so we could pour on Saturday. Tyler was kind enough to come up Friday night to help for the weekend. As soon as he arrived we snagged him to help Kevin move a washer and dryer into our place, then put him to work pouring concrete on Saturday - can you believe he even stuck around to help strip the footings on Sunday? Ya, a very productive weekend... and a very tiring one!! Here's a picture of the footings once poured and another after having been stripped:

July-long in Revelstoke

We met up with our good friends Chris & Yvonne Novak, from Kelowna, this weekend! Revelstoke happened to be the half-way-point so we made a day out of it. Here's some pics:) As you can see from the first one, Yvonne and I are both "quite" pregnant! She is 8months and I'm 7months: We drove up to the Crazy Creek Falls: Then headed back down to take a tour of the BC Hydro Dam: Columbia River from ontop of the Dam: We headed up to the lake to cool off for a bit and let Atalie run around: