Backyard Is FINISHED!

After 6 long weeks of working hard in the Porterville heat, Jeremiah and his friend John Lujan finished our backyard! Definitely a learning experience for Jer! It's crazy how the yard pictured here was just dirt 6 weeks ago! And well, it was just dirt up until a couple of days ago too! But so much was done to that dirt to get it looking the way it does now! He dug these huge trenches (felt like we had a graveyard for a backyard for some time), put in an entire sprinkler system, planted gorgeous plants and trees, raked the soil, installed 5 yards of dirt chips, got rid of any weeds that dared come up, and finally lay down sod. Another coworker came and helped do this last part because he wanted to learn how to do it for his own backyard...Now Jeremiah feels like an expert on backyard landscaping...but says he doesn't really want to put anyone else's backyard in... perhaps it was all that work in the 100 degree weather that got to him!

We LOVE our backyard, and Sandy & Clara can't wait to run all around it (the sod has to settle in for about 2 weeks before we allow them on the grass). The home officially feels like HOME! Our little paradise in Porterville :)

All moved in!

Well, we moved in last week and surprised Jeremiah's mom, her fiancee, and his sister this past weekend by having all of our furniture moved in for their visit here on their way to Lake Tahoe. We weren't supposed to have our furniture moved in until this week! We've been working so hard to move all the little stuff in, we've put up curtains and blinds on most of the windows, we've gotten our appliances in, we've cleaned A LOT, and Jeremiah has been working hard with his friend / co-worker on the backyard landscaping. We're loving the home!!! Here are some pictures of our master bathroom and our main room that consists of the kitchen, dining room and living room. We also had a dog door installed (pictured), but Sandy and Clara are with my parents for awhile until the landscaping is finished!

Carpet and Shutters

So, the home is ready! Shutters are up, and the carpet is installed!

Garage, Rain Gutters, & Finished Bathroom

The outside of our home is just about complete now - just waiting for the shutters on the windows. The garage is up! We were able to walk through the home this morning before school and saw that the master bath is almost complete now too - the bathtub, sinks, toilet, lighting fixtures, and shower seat are all in! Just waiting for the mirrors and doors to the shower! In the kitchen, the microwave and dishwasher have been installed, as well as the sink. The chandelier is hanging from the ceiling too and gives the dining room a nice look! Today, the carpet goes in!

By the way, today is the last day of school!!!! :) :) :) Year two in Porterville FLEW by!

Landscaping & Lights!

Today's pictures show two days of work... May 31 & June 1st. The first picture is the house with GRASS and PLANTS! Our friend did the landscaping for us and chose beautiful trees and flowers, and he he even put some nice plants along the sidewalk of our home. It's neat to see what the lawn looked like before and after the grass & sod was put was put in.

Also pictured is the air conditioning unit... it's about as tall as my husband...

The carriage lights, patio lights, garage lights, bedroom lights, and dining room chandelier are all in now too. We couldn't get inside the house, so the picture of the dining room is taken outside through the sliding glass door. If you look carefully, you can also see that the floor is in - though it's really dirty right now & covered in dust! :) Also pictured on the garage is the address of our home!

Almost Done!

So, we finally got a chance to go inside our home this morning! It's been awhile!

Here are the updates! The side of our home is now painted - we love the contrast of the front and side.

The tiles have been added! Below are pictures of the master bath, shower (before the glass enclosure), the sinks, the hall bath sink and tiled floor, the tiled kitchen backsplash, the kitchen countertops, and the laundry room countertops.

Below them are pictures of our dishwasher, and our sink before they are installed, as well as the bottom half of the rain gutter that has been been placed into the ground.

Lastly, you can now see that the backyard has been completely fenced in!

So, it's ALMOST finished! Yea!