You know you're behind when the title of your blog post includes like, three major holidays that have gone by since the last time you wrote! I'm really slacking. Ever since gramps passed away, it's kind of hard to find the motivation to update this. But I will persevere for the sake of our family journals! Here's the brief recap since September:
Ground-Breaking Day!
We officially broke ground on our house on September 23, 2021. We had signed the documents to close on our loan with Beehive on September 20th, and the excavator was there a few days later. Then within about two weeks, the foundation was all poured and the well was in the ground. Things moved pretty fast in October. We got the flooring system in place by the end of October and then Josh and Gabe (and a little bit Caleb) started on the walls. Here is a picture of Gabe on October 23. I remember thinking what an accomplishment it was that they got that floor done! haha (Lots still to come though...)
Family Pictures
Typically, I would make a whole post just about family pictures, but here we are. We got our family pictures taken in the fall (I think late September) and they turned out great! this time, we used a girl named Britt Hendrickson and we went to Twin Bridges in Archer. Caleb was just about three inches shorter than Josh in these. I think by next year, he will have passed up Josh because now it is January and they are super close. Gabe and Josh are very close, but Gabe thinks he may even be an inch or so taller. It's hard to tell. Avery and Caleb both still have braces on in these, but Caleb got his off about two weeks after these were taken. Two kids done with braces forever! YAY!!
Fall Fun and Halloween
We didn't have a TON of fun for fall activities this year because Josh and the boys were out at the house trying to get framing done every chance they could get. By the end of October, they had just a few of the exterior walls built. Then in November, they were basically able to finish up the exterior and interior walls. We managed to get out to the Treehouse Nursery in Hibbard one day and watch the pumpkin cannon, play on the big slide, and eat scones. For Halloween, Caleb wore his Ironman helmet and a red sweatshirt and walked about Summerfield with Benson (the marshmallow guy from Ghostbusters) for a little bit. Then, he and Benson and Cole came back here and watched a movie in the basement until about 11:00. Avery (who decided to be some fortune-telling girl, based on the fact that she liked the purple dress) of course went trick-or-treating with us in Summerfield. Kendalin's family (The Milners) I THINK were just barely moved out by then. They sold their house and are now renting at the Meadows near us. Their foundation is in right now (they just barely got it in before the snow came) and they are waiting to start framing. Anyways, back to October. We went around Summerfield with Avery and came home and relaxed afterward. Gabe decided to go out with some friends (Porter, Amos, Devin, Connor) and drive to the Haunted Mill. This was the first year he's actually gone someplace with friends (like, in a car, far away) and hasn't been with us on Halloween. I guess he's growing up! He came home and said it was a really fun night.
Caleb finished football season and started wrestling
I think football season ended sometime in mid-October if I remember correctly. It was the worst year they've ever had with his team. They didn't win one single game. They had been bumped up to the A-league because they did so well last year, but then like half their team got hurt in the first game and it was a losing battle from there. But still, Caleb loves his team and it was still fun.
Then, one day while he was watching a girls' 8th-grade basketball game in the junior high (and I had taken off that day to go pick out cabinets) apparently a couple boys from the football team came and found Caleb and said, "Caleb! We need you! We have a wrestling meet starting right now and we don't have a heavyweight guy! (I guess he quit.) Will you come sit on the bench and just ACT like you are on the team so we don't have to forfeit? Don't worry, we don't think the other team has a heavyweight guy, so you won't have to actually wrestle." So of course, Caleb puts on the spandex singlet and sits on that bench! I remember him calling me and telling me he was doing this at about 4:00, and I said, "Well Caleb, I hope you don't actually have to wrestle!" (Since he's NEVER done that before.) He assured me he wouldn't have to. Well.... guess what. The other team had not one... but TWO heavyweight guys!! He ended up having to wrestle. Twice. Apparently, he didn't beat the first one, but it was a decent fight. Then he DID beat the second one!
It was enough to impress the coach, Aaron Petersen, and he was calling Josh for the next three nights to try and convince him to let Caleb join the wrestling team. Caleb DID end up joining and having a very successful season. There were about 3 guys in the area of southeast Idaho (two from Idaho Falls and one from Rigby) that gave him a hard time, and he actually DID end up beating the one from Rigby once in a home dual. The two from Idaho Falls consistently took 1st and 2nd at the tournaments and were VERY good. Other than that, I think he would typically beat about 8 of the other heavyweights from around the area. Not bad for never having wrestled before! Here are some pictures of football and wrestling. Wrestling ended mid-December and Caleb took 4th overall (out of about 10 boys) in the district. He was SO close to getting 3rd!
Thanksgiving and the House Framing Continues
By Thanksgiving, the walls of the house were pretty much all framed. It was a really beautiful fall and it really only snowed a couple of times before mid-December at it wasn't the kind of snow that even stuck to the ground. We really lucked out! Brittaini and Jay Milner (our former and future neighbors) even convinced their contractor to pour their foundation like the first week of December!
For Thanksgiving, we went to the church in Rigby with all of the Rhodes side of the family and sat with Charm and Devin's family as we ate. Canon is just getting ready to leave for his mission to Africa! Gabe said as we left, "I really hope I don't get called to Africa." lol I'm hoping for Hawaii for him! That way we can go visit!
Here are a couple more house progress pictures before the snow came...
Christmas Fun
In the month of December, the house basically just sat there for a few weeks while we waited on our trusses. We ordered them mid-October, but building a house in 2021-2022 means waiting on a lot of things. Our country is still trying to claw its way back since the Covid peak and many businesses are still short-staffed and there's a real supply chain issue. Plus sleepy Joe Biden keeps trying to dig us further into the ground with more lockdowns, so yeah... it's going well. We finally did get our trusses on January 3rd, but let's talk about Christmas first!
In the days leading up to our Christmas break, I somehow got roped into competing against another teacher in the school's "Wish Assembly." The principal was going to do it, but then at the last minute, he confided in me that he may have to fire this other teacher at the end of this school year, so he didn't want to get all cutesy with this situation and do the wish assembly. So on December 21st, the day before we got out for Christmas break, I ended up having to compete in this big thing in front of the whole Junior High. It involved digging in a tub of food to find a paintbrush, painting a picture with my mouth using Hershey's syrup, hopping on one leg, balancing books on my head, doing a handstand, and stuffing 30 Sour Patch Kids into my mouth. It was quite the experience. But I WON! Yay! I took down Mr. Donkin. Poor guy. He was pretty sour about it. He's even been trying to get a rematch to happen and I told the administration, "I have NO desire for a rematch." lol
Also at the Wish Assembly, Caleb had filled out a "wish request" to pie me in the face! I told the student council that I would allow that, as long as I ALSO got a pie. Then, another student of mine named Ace ALSO wanted to get in on that, so we ended up having this 3-way pie fest where we all pied each other. I got sooo messy that day. I immediately showered right when I got home.
Then, we had a lovely break from school from December 22 - January 2. We went ice skating, made gingerbread houses, played Ticket to Ride, watched movies, ate lots of food, had Christmas morning at home, and then went to see the new Spider-man Movie ("No Way Home") on the afternoon of Christmas Day.
Avery got lots of toys, including L.O.L. dolls, Hatchimals, Polly Pockets, and Beanie Boos. Gabe is very hard to shop for because he says he doesn't need anything, so he got some clothes, gift cards, and cash. (Santa literally brought him a $50 bill this year. How sad. lol) Caleb got a bunch of random stuff, mostly having to do with the PlayStation. He also decided he wanted to go snowboarding a lot this year with his friends, so we got him a season rental from Al's for a snowboard and all the gear and we paid for a few lift passes for him.
January House Updates
Now it is January! I am officially writing this on Saturday, January 15th. The current status of the house is that we got the trusses (Josh and his dad drove to Montana with two trucks to get them) and Josh has hired Blake Garner and his crew to help put them up. I think probably within two weeks, the trusses will all be on and the roof guy will be starting the shingles at the beginning of February. That's the plan anyway!
School started up after the break and it's been going pretty well, but there seems to be a lot of sickness going around. Everyone is so sick of even talking about Covid, but part of it is maybe related to Covid/Omnicron variant (whatever we are calling it these days) and part of it is just the general colds and cases of flu that happen in the winter. We actually got quite the surprise on Thursday because right after we dismissed school, the superintendent sent out an email basically saying, "Due to staff shortages, there will be no school on Friday, January 14th." The teachers had NO idea this was happening! I was totally telling my students as they left, "Study for your stems quiz tomorrow!" The plan was to have MONDAY, January 17th off for Martin Luther King Jr. day, but not to have FRIDAY off too! Not that I'm complaining...but... it was unexpected. I didn't think that many teachers were out sick, but the truth is we just don't have enough subs. Our sub list is so tiny that like five teachers take off and there's not enough subs. I often get asked to cover classes for other teachers during my prep hour because there's such a shortage. It's a crazy world we are living in these days! No one wants to work anymore so the ones that do get stretched REALLY thin.
So that's the update! I am trying to pick out lots of things right now: siding, shingles, stone, cabinet colors... all the things! And once you order them, you have to wait for months, so you REALLY hope you make the right choices! Maybe by the next time I write, it will be summer! haha I will try to update a little more often. Here are some last pictures of the current status of the house on January 15th. We have most of the trusses up, but there are still a few more to do and then they will put the sheeting on. Avery is standing in her bedroom in the last one! ;)
