Really...No Joke!

Last night we spent our first night in our new house!  Although still in complete disarray, it was so much fun!  I even had a bath and as I sank deep into our beautiful tub I felt tension release from my body...it was amazing!  There are still a few things that need to be done and hopefully now that we are there permanently those things will get done much quicker.

This next week will be focussed on putting things away! 

My first bath, and it was soooooo nice!!

The Parts Manager at John Deere asked Jared if we needed a coffee table.  Jared said we did and so Jonathan offered theirs to us.  They were getting rid of it because they were moving and didn't happen to have room for it.  He told Jared that he got it 20 years ago and it has served them well, he also told Jared that it had a cougar on it.  Jared assumed the cougar was engraved in the wood or maybe even etched into some glass.  What he didn't realize was that the coffee table itself was a cougar!  Jared brought it home and set it up in our living room without me seeing and then phoned me late one night from our house and told me to come over and look at our new coffee table.  When I walked in the door, in my housecoat and hair dye in my hair, I should have known something was up because he was waiting for me with his phone to video my reaction.  When I saw it I was quite shocked, I was sure it was some kind of cruel joke, but no joke...Jonathan really did love this table and hoped that it would make us as happy too!  I hate to say this but it is growing on me, I do like it and it does suit the rustic look of our house.  Although once in awhile I will look quickly in the direction of the table and think one of dogs has managed to get into the house.  Sometimes I feel like it is also staring at me and plotting its next kill.  I am pretty sure it is going to stay, it adds character to the house and will be a good conversation starter!!

Excuse the mess, it is still a work in progress!

Our super beautiful railings, Jared only has a little bit left to do. 

Looking up the stairs from the basement, I even got a "curved" staircase, something I have always wanted!!

Calum's big boy bed, we didn't even have to lay with him to fall asleep!

The boy's closet

I truly am so proud of Jared and all the work he has put into our home.  He has been hit hard with responsibility these past few years.  After moving from Carmangay to the farm just 2 months shy of 5 years ago, Jared not only continued to work full time he also helped his dad a lot more on the farm.  He helped during the busy season's while we lived in Carmangay too, but now that we were all out here it was easier for him to be out until well past dark every night, instead of 4-5 times a week.  After a year of weighing out our options of what we should do, we decided to build a house on the home quarter.  This was strongly encouraged both by David and Myrna, and that made the decision feel much more right.  They have always been our best friends and we couldn't think of anyone else we would want to live so close to, I guess that is why it worked out so well for us to live in their basement for the last five years!

We had the hole dug and all the concrete footings poured and then Jared framed the entire house, basement and main floor himself. He did it pretty quick too for never having done it before.  The spring after we started the house Jared had a run in with a tree while Snowboarding and broke his knee.  This laid him up for a good six months.  Despite the broken knee he did still manage to finish up framing the house, he did however hire a local builder to put our roof on.  He put in the windows and doors to make it water proof and helped a friend from Church do our electrical.  He was going to do the plumbing himself but decided to hire that out as well.  He hung all the drywall but had a local guy do the mudding, this same guy also put in all the tile...on the floors and around the showers and tub, as well he also laid the hard wood and put in our kitchen cabinets.  Myrna and Jared worked many long hours painting the entire inside, and Jared has also worked many long hours siding our house.  It has definitely been a process, but one with very rewarding opportunities.

Just before Jared started putting drywall up my step dad passed away forcing Jared to decide what he wanted to do with the cows Dick kept care for us.  Dave and Jared decided it would be a good idea to become partners with the cows and got busy fencing the grassland we have in the sand.  They also built corrals, and more fences around the home quarter.  This of course had to take priority over our house because the cows would start to cost us too much money if we didn't have our own system set up.  That winter David passed away throwing another curve ball our way.  And with Dave living in Coalhurst it put a lot of strain on Jared to keep care of the 57 cows while still working full time.

Just as we were about to start calving for the first time Jared quit his job at Big Sky and started working at John Deere in Vulcan.  Which was perfect timing really because he was much closer to home if there ever happened to be a problem with the cows.  Again our house was put on hold until calving was done, and then we had to move the cows to the sand to graze for the summer where we actually ended up having to haul water to them for a few weeks while Dave was getting their permanent water set up.  The cows have become more familiar to us and Jared is able to work on the house in between checking, feeding and tagging, walking cows into the barn to pull a calf, milk ones with bad utters or just walking through them at night when it was too muddy to drive anything into the field.  Despite all this we have finally moved in, and although Jared looks like he has aged five extra years he has done a wonderful job at balancing out life as best he could without letting us, his family, feel deprived of his attention.

I am looking forward to the many, many, MANY years to come as we make our house a HOME!  I couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law to be able to put up with us invading her space for so many years, and also becoming squished into one small corner of her own house as our family grew from only three members to five in 3 years.  It has been a blessing in my life to have her as a friend, an example and a huge support in my life.

We now get to watch Dave build his home and move his family to this wonderful farm.  He will soon get a taste of what it has been like for Jared these past few years with juggling family, work, building a house, checking and feeding cows, his church calling...and then whatever else was thrown his way.  I have pity on them but I know if they are as patient as we were it will all come together eventually!  Like I tell my yoga students, "Yoga is a journey not a destination!"  So, too, has our house been a journey, a journey we are still on to make it a home, to fill it with love and security, to make it a place our children always want to be and always want to come back to.