August 2009

A lot has happened since the last post. August brought a flurry of activity as we near completion of the ranch. The inside is almost perfect, just a few touch up things and we are done with the interior. The exterior is still being brought to it's full potential but it's hot and things are moving a bit slower. We've been able to start moving some furniture and things in a little at a time and it's starting to look more like a home every time we return. It has been an amazing experience and we are so pleased with how everything is turning out. So here are the latest pictures from the last few weeks.

The family room is great and plenty of space for a crowd, which we always seem to have. And we're glad that it's that way.

This is the 1/2 bath just off the kitchen. The architect made all the doorways and hallways handicap accessible because he knew that Brian and I were getting on up in age and he wanted to plan for the future I guess. Whatever!

These are the baths in all the kids rooms. It's so nice for them to have their own bathrooms in their bedrooms so they can be self contained and we can just send them to their rooms and forget about it.

This is the bar area off the family room. It's one of our favorite places to hang and have Brian serve us up pancakes as we all sit at the bar for breakfast and watch him cook. It's really cool!

The dessert bar, as I like to call it, turned out great and is waiting for someone to bring some dessert - anybody out there!

This is the outside grill area which will have a grill, sink and seating for 6 or more. It's actually finished now except for the top and putting the grill and sink in place.

The retaining wall in the back yard will be great for people to hang out on while they watch the horseshoe and washer pitching that will eventually be going on as our family gathers for fun times.

Here's the somewhat finished product in the family room. We still have some picture hanging to do and the bookshelves need some work, but all in due time.

The kitchen turned out just as we planned complete with coffee bar and red tea kettle. There's so much space to move around and the sonic ice machine is awesome!

The bar area is a great place to hang out and have some good conversation and you won't miss a thing because you're right in the middle of everything.

The area is massive and we love all the room to hang out and have fun with each other.

This is the dinning room that we are so overjoyed about. This is where we will eat, play games and enjoy good times. It seats twelve comfortably and we can squeeze two more chairs in if we want. The tables are made of reclaimed pine that was in the river in North Carolina and the chairs are hand made and will last forever.

I'm not sure who decorated the dessert bar, but I don't see any desserts and this will not do. Clear all this mess off and get me some sweets! The pictures are of different things on our land and there are several more scattered around the house. There awesome and it's great so see all the neat things that are on our property.

SIC'EM BEARS! This is one of our most favorite things that came from my brother and his wife. They have a place in Colorado and brought this cute little welcome bear back to us for our home. He's even doing the sic'em bears hand motion. You can turn the welcome sign over and it says GO AWAY. We hope we never have to use it, but we're not afraid if it ever comes to that. Cute. Cute. Cute.

Here's the best part of the day. We get to sit on the back porch and have views like this one every evening. The sky is beautiful at sunset and we sit and watch the stars come out. We don't even wear a watch when we're at the ranch - new rule!

We are more than excited at this point with the ranch. It has already brought us great memories and joy! The final things around the outside of the house are still being completed. The landscape and yard are being put in as I write this and the pond is just getting started. The fence and entry gate will start at the end of the week. There will always be things to get done for quite some time and lucky for us, we have time. It will be neat to see what this place looks like in 3, 5, 10 years from now. It's awesome today!

More pictures to follow as we keep getting things done, but I am easily distracted with just sitting on the porch and enjoying the views!