Seth, Shannon, Piper and Quinn Dunlop
The story of our little family and our modern day journal

Sunday, April 29, 2012

More garage

Saturday morning when I left for work there was no garage. When I came home we had a new garage. So happy. They did an amazing job. Clean and on time and well built. Couldn't ask for more. Our yard feels so much more secluded. It is a much nicer place for the kids now. The Hunger games are gone. No hornets or old rusty nails. This project has been worth every penny.
Total thumbs up!! 
Oh and I am thinking I might want to do a sit up this year.

I loved just the cement pad. I am a big fan of cement. It is a really nice material.

Being built





Nana bought our garage a Forsythia bush. Now we can have beautiful yellow branches of our own.



Thursday, April 26, 2012

Garage project

The site of our soon to be deck. Once we locate some money, this part can happen
All cleared and ready for cement

Team P and S flattened the old lady in less than an hour


Carharts, muscles and a beard. Love my Seth
Piper girl on her egg hunt.

The lovely people we bought our home from 10 years ago had some seriously funky ideas. As Seth and I would say, I wonder what their thought process was with this one. They built the garage so it was literally touching the south side of the home. So that means the kids room, bathroom and our room had a hideous garage right out the window. If you opened the windows you could touch the roof. We have wanted to tear it down for years and build a new one in the obviously natural place the garage should have gone.
Building a two car garage is not cheap though. I am a firm believer that you just need to jump sometimes and go for it. So that is exactly what we did. Life without risk is so dull.
I got some bids from companies and had to play a little hard ball with them. Construction guys aren't my favorite people, (except for my brother-in-law Jason. love him tons). I told our guy we'll pay this, take it or leave it, and guess what, he took it.
So uncle PP and Seth tore the garage down Friday April 13. The kids and I were eating breakfast and heard a big boom. We looked out the window and it was as flat as a pancake. Tearing it down reminded me of the hunger games. It was covered in hornets nests, and old rusty nails. I have never parked my car in a garage. I can't wait to pull my car out next winter and have it completely dry.
This is the first home I have owned. It's certainly not like many of the amazing homes that dwell in Salt Lake, but we think it's pretty great. She's ours, and we want to make her beautiful. Over time we have drained our savings many times to do these projects. The thing I like about it is just that. We aren't mortgaging these projects. When they are done, they are done. We own them free and clear. That feels pretty good, even if we do have to eat top ramen for several months.
Anywho, we should have our garage done any day now. Our little nest will be that much better.
One of the great things about children is they drive the desire to make every aspect of our lives better. We are afterall their role models. The drive to be better and make the world a better place filters down. Piper and Quinn wouldn't know the difference right now between living in a dumpster or a home, but one day they will.