More Progress!!

     It is now Christmas vacation!  I am so glad for this time off, so that we can get further along on the house!  Jim installed our new 96% proficient propane hot water tank last Saturday, and has been working on installing our in floor heat since then (around Christmas and work and everything else).  He did have someone come out to help us on Sunday, which got us a lot closer to our goal- and last night we ran water through the lines and started circulating our in floor heat!  This morning when we woke up, the floor was wonderful to step on, and it was 60 degrees in the bottom of the addition!  There is still a bit of work to be done on it, but it is working!!  Yesterday I spent the day at home and got the grout put in around the tile behind our stove, and finished insulating behind our sink.  I also drew out some designs for my corner trim pieces upstairs, and Jim picked out one he liked for our bedroom, so maybe I will get a chance to woodburn those today and get them in.  I was also able to get out my cross country skis and went for a little ski with Arlo down the snowmobile trail that is about 1 mile from my house.  I didn't make it too far, but for my first time out this year (and for being about 8 months pregnant) I thought I did pretty well.  It was really calm and quiet out- which was pretty relaxing.
     This morning I woke up with Jim and I have spent the day so far organizing the downstairs (taking some things upstairs and to the storage containers, and organizing things, sweeping, etc) so that the carpenter who is helping us with mudding and taping can start the downstairs today.  He should be here in an hour, and I am hoping he can get the first coat on today.  My mom is also coming soon, and is going to help me put primer on the baby room walls.  I just got back from Nordstroms, the construction store in Melrose, 7 miles from here.  It is snowing out, and hwy 54 is not that great, but my Jetta made it just fine (until I tried to get up my driveway which took a couple tries). 
     I am getting really excited about my new addition- I can't wait to get flooring in and actually start moving around some furniture! Christmas was a lot of fun too- Katie and Matt and the kids made it up this year, which always makes it more fun!  It was a bit of a zoo with 6 kids running around Christmas Eve, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  I love seeing them have so much fun together!  Thank you to everyone for all the great gifts- especially the baby ones.  I am getting so excited for her to come!

Building, building.....we should have a month+ left....

Our container garage!  "My" container is on the right, and Jim and his Dad helped me build 16 feet of shelving along one side, so I have started organizing all my "stuff" from the storage shed.....though I am only about half way done!  It is really nice to have some of my stuff close to home and organized though!  I have also cleaned out the shed, which was storing some house things as well as wood and tools.  After moving some things to my container, I can now walk into the shed and get things I need without squeezing and tripping!  We have one side of the garage roof tinned.....I'm not sure the other side is going to get done before spring, as winter and snow are already here. But, Jim did get the electrical lines dug and put in last weekend to the container.

A few weeks ago I finally got tile put up around the stove.  I love how it looks, and wish I had moved on it sooner.  Now I just need to get the grout in and trim around it!

The outside (back) of our house.  Christopher came out and helped me stain it the last nice day before it got cold- right before Thanksgiving.  I feel so much better knowing the siding will be protected this winter!

A picture from when I started putting the pine walls up in the mudroom.  I finished this last weekend.

....and going up the stairs.  I have about 3 feet left to do. The sheetrock is now pretty much up downstairs as well- though no mudding and taping yet.

Our bedroom!  This week we also got it painted (Thanks Wayne!) and trim put in around the door and closet, crown molding along the top, and baseboards put in!  Jim also put in the lights this weekend and has about half the outlets wired.  We are so close to having this room completely done!  Now we can start mudding and taping the rest of the house!  I am so excited to have the sheetrock done!

A built in shelf that I started for the baby room.  I figure I will put the dresser, with the changing pad on it right underneath, so that I can put all the diapers and things I will need on the shelves.

I was able to finish this today!  And, I got wood up in the closet cieling.  So, I had a fairly productive day, for a snowday!  I am debating whether I should start something new or work on cleaning my house and wrapping Christmas presents.....Arlo is snoring on the couch, though he hasn't done much today but sleep, and follow me around when I worked on a few things in the yard.  He seems to really enjoy the snow- he has been rolling in it, and chasing the snow that I shovel!
     I am due on February 9th....they have adjusted my due date by a few days.  The baby has been growing a lot, and I am still feeling good! (I just get winded very easily)  She really enjoys kicking me, and has been getting in some good ones, enough to surprise me and stop me sometimes!  I like feeling her move and knowing that she is growing strong.   Sorry- we STILL don't have any names picked out!!  ha ha!  I guess we need to get on that pretty soon!  Things have been pretty busy though.  Jim was out of town for 3/4 of November, going to Nevada, Colorado and Alaska for big work projects, and I always stay busy enough with work.  Our focus has primarily been on getting the house ready for "Baby, baby" as Jim likes to call her.  We did have another ultrasound, and all looks good.  We were excited to see hair growing on our baby already!  I am excited to see what color it is going to be- though I know it can change a lot the first few years.  I will post more pictures later.  I haven't been too good about it, but life is busy.  Today we had a snowday, so I thought I might get caught up at least a little bit!

Building....again!

 After finding someone to do our concrete, we were set to get started on our house at the end of September....until they pushed back the date 3 weeks, and then later canceled on us altogether!  Things were looking a little desperate if we wanted to get our addition built before winter and before the baby arrived, but Jim found someone that came in and put the slab in with just 2 days notice- though he had to rush to the store and get all the foam, etc.   But, we got it in!  And we were able to get the plumbers out on short notice to put the pex tubing in the floor- so we will have radient floor heating in our addition.  The contractors that put in the concrete also aid they would turn in a quote for building in a few days- and the next week Jim had them out again putting up the first part of our house!  These guys showed up and got to work right away- and they moved fast!  I had conferences both days, so I had to work late- but Jim would text me pictures throughout the day, as he ran back and forth to pick up supplies for them.  By the first day, they had the bottom framed up and sheathed, and 2 walls to the upper story. By the end of day 2, they had the other 2 walls on the top floor and the roof up and sheathed- with metal on half of it. 

 The following Monday, they came back and finished up the roof, put in stairs to the upstairs, and framed in the wall between the 2 bedrooms, and put in the windows that we had available.   We now just need 3 more windows and the back door before the house is dried in.  Now we need to get siding and soffit on before it starts getting really cold!  We decided to get 4 foot high windows (instead of the 3 foot), which will be less efficient- but I absolutely LOVE them!  It really opens up the view a lot- letting you see the skyline and the tree tops.  Our 2- 6 foot windows are going to be wonderful and let us get a great view of our backyard- my favorite part of our property....and I can still see my birdfeeders from my bedroom window, hanging from our giant pine tree.

Because we like to take on a lot of things at once....we are also building a "container garage".  Jim ordered up 2 connex boxes- seen below.  We each have one to store things in, and we are going to put a roof across the 2 to house the cars and the tractor.  We have the trusses in, and some metal tubes that Jim is going to put on top of the containers to make the roof just a little bit taller.  Now we just need decent weather for roof building!  It has been raining for about 36 hours.....
     A couple weeks ago, Jim's dad came out to North Bend and helped us build 16 feet of shelving along the inside of my container.  Since then I have begun sorting through all the things in my storage shed and getting everything moved out here.  Hopefully by next month I will have everything out here and I will no longer be paying for my storage shed at all. Jim also rigged up some good lights in the ceiling and a light switch, so I can see in there at night.  He has begun digging to put in the electrical lines to the "castle"- his blue house.  In the meantime, we can plug in an extention cord from the solar panels outlet.

I am currently sharing the couch with Arlo.  He has about 3/4 of it, and is still kicking me.....what a couch hog.

Baby Jarvis

 photo from the 4D ultrasound

I am now 5 1/2 months pregnant- and we had our 2nd ultrasound at the beginning of the month!! It was amazing to see HER little hands waving at us.  We were quite surprised to find out that we are having a girl, as after the first ultrasound at 13 weeks, we were quite convincved that we were having a little boy!  Now we have to agree on a girl's name!...after we finally picked out a boys name.  I'm sure we will eventually find something that we both like.  I have been feeling pretty good, and still have a lot of energy to get me through the day of teaching preschoolers, which is good.  I have noticed that it is getting harder to bend over and tie kids shoes lately though- makes me wonder how well that is going to work for me in a couple months!  It is unbelievable to think that in just 3 1/2 months she will be here with us!!!  I am so excited!  Of course we need to finish our house by then....we did hire a crew to come out and start our house- and I am so glad that we did!  We have the 2 stories framed up- 16x24 foot addition, and all but 3 windows in, and the roof on.  A very good thing this weekend, as it started raining Friday night and has not stopped yet!  It has made for a pretty unproductive weekend.  We have the trusses in for the garage, but haven't been able to put them on yet.  Anne and Chris came Friday night- so Jim's parents and mine came out as well and I made a big spaghetti feed, and we ate out in our soon to be living room.  Anne and Chris spent the night, which was really nice.  We were able to visit with them a little bit before they took off for a wedding Saturday, and before I took off for a family potluck at the old Haake farm (formerly the city dump, and now being turned into a great park).  It was a lot of fun listening to Roy and Grandma tell stories about growing up there...I just wish I had brought something to record them!

Day 1 of Rafting

Taking off from Tangle Lakes...

Thursday morning Wind Generator Install

 This is the helicopter that took us from the Inn, right up the mountain.  It was about a 3 minute flight up! At other times, this helicopter is used by the miners, who are looking for gold in the nearby mountains....funded by a Japanese company. 

 Jim installing his C9AM turbine.

 This is a pole I found up at the top of the peak

I had some sitting around time, but I really enjoyed the view! And it is fun to see what Jim does, and how fast he can make things come together =) I married an interesting guy!

Back in AK

Last Tuesday evening, Jim and I flew into Fairbanks AK for Jim's work.  On Wednesday we drove down to Tangle Lakes Inn, taking the beautiful Richardson highway south.  Thursday morning we flew up to a nearby mountain via helicopter where Jim spent the day putting in one of his turbines for Copper Telecom with Chris Mishmash.  I handed tools when needed and hiked a little more to the peak of the mountain.  It was a beautiful view- and I was really happy to see tundra again!  Friday we headed out around noon with the Mishmash family on a 2 day raft trip- starting at Tangle Lakes and going down the Delta river.  We wound through some beautiful mountains and enjoyed a sunny beautiful Friday afternoon.  We found a great campsite above where we would need to portage.  We woke up to rain the next morning, and spent quite a bit of time in our tents trying to wait it out.  Finally, we had a little break and managed to take down our tents before it started to rain again.  We then took off down the river again and soon made it to the portage site.  We portaged about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile (with a pond to cross in the middle).  It was a bit of work- especially getting the raft across- but we made it!  The next part of the river had more rapids- though nothing scary (to my relief) before we found a campsite under some trees, where we decided to try and dry out a bit.  We were all pretty soaked, and Jim didn't have muckboots, so his feet were pretty cold.  We quickly set up our tents and crawled in to warm up a bit.  We came out for a little while to dry our clothes a bit by a fire and eat supper, then soon crawled back inside to escape the rain.  The next morning there was a little bit of rain, but by the time we got going it had stopped, and we all had at least one dry layer of clothes on.....Jim wearing my fleece pants I had dried by the fire.  We still had a ways to go, and passed many beaver dams, eagles, ducks and birds.  When the glacial waters joined into the river we were hit by a colder air, but it was fun to see all the silt mixing into what had been pretty clear water.  It was harder to avoid the shallow spots with the water so unclear, so we hit a few snags, but otherwise had a pretty easy going trip.  The kids did really well- and did a lot less complaining than most would have!  By the time we got to the car, we were a little cold again, but the heaters worked great and we were soon feeling wonderful.  A big thanks to the Mishmash family for taking us on such a great trip!  I'm sure I never would have planned such a trip on my own- and I will remember it always.  Jim and I are now in Valdez, where he was supposed to fly out to Boswell Bay to check out another site today.  However, the weather isn't allowing for flying, so the trip is post poned, and we may be off to Anchorage shortly.  On my agenda: stopping to see the Worthington Glacier and the St. Elias/Wrangell National Park along the way! =) It is great to be back in AK for a bit!

Summer plans, and summer changes

Just about a month ago I joined Jim at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair.  He had left a few days earlier to attend the Small Wind Conference, and then I joined him that Thursday.  I mentioned that I hadn't been feeling that well the previous few days-feeling sick to my stomach and tired.  We agreed I should probably take a pregnancy test, just to be sure, though I really didn't think I would be.  After all, I was taking contraceptives, and even if I had missed a couple, most people said it took awhile after going off them before you would get pregnant.  I probably just had a slight flu....that didn't get better or worse.  So, I took a test and it looked mostly negative....there was one slight other line, but it was faint.  Negative, right?  The next morning Jim suggested that I should take the other one that came in the pack anyway....apparently morning is a better time to take them.  Again, just a faint small other line.  Wait....that could mean.....what?  Now I was completely uncertain. Why can't these things just be clear? So, we took a little trip to the local clinic at Stevens Point.  Better to have someone just tell us, right?  So, we went in, saw a nurse practitioner, and she said it would take about 10-15 minutes to find out after I took the test.  So, I went in and took it, came back and talked to Jim for about 1 minute, and she popped back in and said it was positive.  Begin talk about vitamins, etc....

 
So, I am headed in tomorrow for my first real doctor's appointment. I am excited, and also a little nervous.  Of course, I just want them to tell me that everything looks fine and my baby is growing and  healthy. I think I have been doing a good job of eating healthy....I still eat pizza and other things occasionally, but I haven't had hardly any soda, no coffee, and I have definitely been getting a lot of calcium.  I take my vitamins, and have been eating fruits and vegetables very regularly. Thank you Kwik Trip for carrying peaches and pears now!  I am not really sure how far along I am....but I figure about 9 weeks.  This means (according to google) that my baby is now 1 inch long, has 4 chambers in his/her heart, has fully formed eyes (though they are still fused shut), all of the extremities are there, and even the sex organs (though you can't tell what it is yet). I can't wait to find out what it is going to be- though I will be equally excited either way.  I can't wait to be a mom =)  Well, I guess I CAN wait- I am not at all ready yet, but I AM looking forward to it!  We did just get our land use permit though, to put on a 16x16 foot addition onto our cabin....more than doubling our living space!  Now hopefully we can find somebody to frame it in for us cheap, then we can finish the inside and hopefully have it ready by winter.
   Other summer happenings?  I have gone to the Boundary Waters twice- and Arlo has slept for 3 days after each time.  And- Jim and I are going up to Alaska next week!  He is going to be putting up two of his small wind turbines, one at Tangle Lake (near Denali) up on a mountaintop, and one at Boswell Bay (near Cordova).  The telephone company is going to fly us in via helicopter to both sites.  I can't wait to be back in Alaska for a bit!  And, we are first flying into Fairbanks, so I should be able to see Nellie and her family! =)  I may be joining Jim for a week in Nevada in August, putting up a building for his wind turbine testing, and we are going to Pennsylvania for a wedding.....and then I will be back getting ready for another school year!  This summer is going to fly by! Now, I just hope I start feeling better.... morning sickness is the pits.  It has been lasting most of the day, and often in the night.  The worst part of my day is brushing my teeth.  I finally decided that sometimes listerine will have to do.  After all, what is the point if you brush, then that makes you throw up....so you brush again...which makes you throw up again....this could be a never ending cycle.  So sometimes I just have to change the routine.  Enough on that though.  It is worth it....or will be.  And I am so much better off than most pregnant women.  I am on summer vacation, so when I feel really awful, I can lay down.  And, I can take naps when I feel exhausted!  This baby may be a year ahead of schedule, but there is a definite plus side to his/her timing!
  

Kids having fun at the weddig

 At our wedding we had a lot of kids!  And I love kids....so I set up a little play area for them, with some big boxes, big bubble wands, and a table with crayons I made shaped like animals.  Some of the kids even went on the ropes course with us!  Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture from the ropes course yet.....sooooo....if anyone there has some, please send them my way! I didn't carry around my camera that day!

My cousin's daughter Hannah said as she was leaving, That was the best wedding EVER!  Nothing can ever beat it!"  That sure made me smile!  I wanted my wedding to be fun for the kids too....I sure remember going to a few when I was little where there was absolutely nothing for kids to do.  It was kind of torturous. I'm glad my wedding will be a good memory for everyone!

More wedding pictures!

 Getting ready

 Arlo did great! So glad he could be part of our wedding, too!

 This is about as close to a smile as we got out of Alaina for pictures- but she sure was cute!

 Getting ready for the ceremony

 Taking the easy way to the river....

 jason and Priscilla made all our cupcakes and the "grooms Cake".  They were all delicious!

With Sarah- who did an amazing job cooking for all those people!

We got MARRIED!

Yes, yes, I know these pictures are a little overdue!  But, I just got them back about a week and a half ago from our photographer- so I am not that late in posting!  Besides, things have been a little bit busy around here. 

Our wedding was a perfect day!  The only thing I was worried about was the weather- but I could not have asked for anything better!  I absolutely loved our wedding, and will treasure the memories forever.  I liked how laid back and casual it was- it was outside, and nobody cared that I took my shoes off for a large chunk of time.  We had our pictures taken about 11, and didn't get married until 1, so we weren't stressed about getting everything in, and after we got married- we could just go have fun! We got married overlooking the Root River- by an arbor that Christopher and I made.  Jim wrote the introduction, and surprised me with a beautiful story about how we met....when Logan (Jim's friend that married us) finished the story, our niece Elizabeth said, "That was a great story Uncle Jim!"  After we were married, we then followed the path through the woods to where the reception was held- under a tent on the lawn of Eagle Bluff.  Sarah (Squires) cooked most of our food, and it was unbelievable!  I know she worked really hard.  We had so many left overs, that we used them at a Potluck at our house the next day.  Around 4:00 we opened up the ropes course, and young and old took to the treetops!  I was pretty nervous at first, because I am afraid of heights, but I followed Jim, and that helped.  It was truly beautiful up there!  Thank you to all who were able to make our special day- I hope you had as much fun as we did!