At one point, my parents' builder/remodeler estimated that they'd be able to close on their house by the 20th of March. There were cheers and lots of excitement, and we made plans to spend our spring break in Idaho helping them move in. Well, the closing date kept getting pushed back again and again, but by then, we'd been collecting things for my parents to go into their new house, and we decided to still go and help with things over Spring Break. We loaded up our van and rented a U-haul to haul a few beds and other furniture items to take to their house. As we were leaving, we decided to change the ball to the bigger size, since we were worried that the smaller ball would cause problems along our way. Ethan and Cal helped Brian change it out.
Finally, we were on our way. We had a small stop in McCammon for a pathetic dinner and pit stop. Michael found this hat, and we had to take a picture of him modeling it to send to Grandpa.
Our backseat view:
It was lots of fun seeing what had changed at the house since Thanksgiving: drywall, paint, cabinets, some of the flooring. It was so fun! My childhood baseball field was now lots and lots of dirt, thanks to the newly installed septic system and draining fields. The boys loved playing in all that dirt...a little too much for their parents' taste.
We were there when the countertops finally arrived. Look at all the men it took to bring that granite in!
Brian wired up the ethernet ports.
Michael and Gabe eventually lost interest at the new house, and Michael carefully walked Gabe back over to my grandparents' house.
Progress!
In this picture, I'm standing on the East wall of the original house. From here, you can see down this remodeled hallway, down into the old laundry room that is now a hall connecting into the new addition, clear down into the mudroom doorway and new garage door. And, of course, Grandma Linville.
My mom was SO happy to finally get those countertops!
The excitement for this kitchen and the house finally being completed was really mounting!
And when it wasn't, we hung out at Grandma Linville's house
But we made frequent trips back to the Grandma Chadwick's new house to watch the workers.
From this picture, you can see the old house on the left, and the new part starts where the exterior facade dips back and that extends to the new garage.
What used to be the old living room is now split up into a laundry room, hall, and office. The old kitchen and bedroom/office towards the back of the house is now the master suite, and my parent's old bedroom is now a guest room. It is SO different! You have to really look to see the old house.
Brian also installed the bathroom lights while we were there. Here's one of the master vanities.
We were there for General Conference, so we watched it at Grandma Linville's house. It brought back so many memories to pull out these old boards and crayons for the kids to color during conference.
My grandpa's dog, Brutus (bottom left corner) was quite jealous of this fake dog
and this other little guy taking up real estate on Grandpa Linville's lap.
He got over it, but it's pretty funny how jealous Brutus gets of the great-grandkids and visiting dogs--real and otherwise.
They're clearly pondering deeply about Lehi's dream here.
I'm sure I mentioned this before, but one of the things I loved about this remodel was that we got to stay with my Grandma Linville so much. I have so many memories of playing in her basement, in her yard, and even sleeping in her basement. I loved that my kids got to experience this piece of my childhood that they wouldn't have been able to otherwise. My parents, however, were highly tired of not having their own space by this point, and were quite anxious to move back into their house. In just a few more weeks, they'd be able to, but that's a story for another day.
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