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We spent another weekend at the lake.  Emma got to bring a friend along for the first time.  Her friend Jena from up the street (at our main house) came out with us and spent the weekend playing.  Her family was headed to Spokane (lots of driving there and back in two days) so we offered to take Jena out to the cabin with us.

Emma and Jena had lots of fun playing with all the toys at the cabin and they also spent quite a bit of time down at the lake.  We went to a friend of our’s house for a party on Saturday night and Emma, Jena and Bella (Emma’s friend that lives out at the lake) all had a great time playing together.  Jena was a little scared of the dogs there but she did pretty well being around them.

I spent some more time working on the cabin.  I tested some of the wiring circuits (I’d hate to cover them up with sheetrock before we know for sure that they were done right), installed some outlets and a few lights so that we can see as it gets dark and also painted more of the trim.

Next week we are planning on working on the deck and we’ll also try to finish the cedar peak above the deck.  We will also be calling for the framing/mechanical inspection and, if all goes well, will proceed with insulation and sheet rock before long.  WE CAN’T WAIT!!

Anyway, everyone has said that photos are the best part of these posts so here are a few of this weekend:

I guess we are little late posting this but we wanted to put a post up about Emma’s birthday.  Emma had a birthday party with some of her friends the day after her birthday.  We had it at our house and had a couple different crafts for the kids to do and also had a waterslide in the backyard (Thanks Brent and Tonja).  The girls got to decorate their own notepads (with foam pieces) and also made foam sun visors.  The theme for the party was “Ladybugs” so the gift bags were made by Katie in the shapes of ladybugs and the “cake” was 35 cupcakes with a giant ladybug on top of all of them (like a cake).  The girls had a great time.  Emma invited a few girls from her class and a couple long time friends.

It took 7 months but now Mom is finally back in her house.  She moved back in last Monday and has been busy ever since.  We’ve all spent some time over there helping her go through boxes and finish various things in the house.  The place is looking amazing on the inside!  We can all tell that she is happy to be home and the sheer amount of work she has in front of her has kept her mind busy as well.  Aunt Jean is staying with her for awhile so she’s been happy to have company.

Basically, they are living upstairs right now.  Darren continues to do more work on the house but is getting very close to having the inside of the house completely finished.  Pretty much everything upstairs is complete and he is wrapping up various things downstairs.  She has phone service, internet service, TV etc already hooked up.  She lost her previous phone number due to a mistake at Qwest but Kathy sent a note to the president of the company (She has worked for Qwest for many years) and mom got a call from the President’s assistant and is talking to their other customer to see if they will give the number back to Mom.  While we doubt that will happen, Kathy is also working them over to compensate mom.  It pays to have family in high places……  :)

While mom is in the house, there is still plenty of work still happening.  Here’s what still needs to be done:

• Shop needs to have a framing inspection and then insulation and sheet rock
• Basement needs to be cleaned and painted (below kitchen)
• Outside of the house needs to be pressure washed and painted
• New gutters need to be installed
• Lights and outlets need to be installed (although electrical is signed off)
• And various other things still need to be done (like sprinklers hooked back up etc)

Needless to say, we are all very happy she is back in!

On another note, we had power hooked up to our cabin so we can now have lights etc inside.  It’s nice not to have to pull power in from the temp pole anymore!  Next up is getting the framing/mechanical inspection and then we’ll be ready for insulation and sheetrock.  I’ve just about finished painting the outside of the cabin (still need to finish trim) but the weather hasn’t exactly cooperated the last few days.

Sorry, no pics this time.  I forgot to take pictures at both the cabin and at mom’s house.  I’ll snap some next time I’m there.

Here’s another short video of Emma teasing Pam and Andrea on the 4th of July.  She had a lot of fun hanging out with them during the picnic!

 Emma had a great time riding on Steve’s tractor.  Here’s a short video of them driving back up the gravel road to put the tractor away:

We uploaded a bunch of the pictures that we took this last week while we were out at the lake.  They include 4th of July pictures, construction pictures, time at the park, tractor time with Steve :), and working on the trackhoe.  Basically, just a misc chunk of different photos.  I guess you could call it a photostream not unlike Flickr.

Anyway, click here to check them out.

I painted a bit more trim this morning while it was still cool outside.  We are waiting around for the electrical inspector (corrections) and then once that is done, we’ll be heading out.  Here’s a shot of the front:

It’s been a great week out at the lake.  The weather has been fantastic and we’ve gotten a lot done.  We finished up the dirt work around the cabin, completed the electrical and had it inspected, painted the outside and had gutters put on.  (And a few more miscellaneous things as well).

Emma has had a great time playing down at the lake and has made a new friend named Bella.  They have had a great time playing in the water and they both got to stay up until 11:00 at the bonfire while we had drinks and watched fireworks.

We’ll be heading back home soon, although every time I come out here I think I’d prefer to just stay forever.  Going back home and back to work just doesn’t sound all that appealing.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our time out at the lake.