Post Wedding Visitors

We've had a great visit with Lisa (Laurie's twin sister) and 3 of her girls (April, Abigail and Alivia) this week.  They live in the Memphis area and we don't get to see them that often.  Both our kids spent the entire time saying "you sound just like my mom" to Laurie and Lisa.  

It's funny to see how much they (Lisa and Laurie) are alike and how much they are different.  Alike - they sound the same, have many of the same expressions and have a love for reading and crafts.  Different - Lisa is a nurse and nursing is the last occupation Laurie would choose, Laurie loves black licorice and Lisa hates it, Lisa loves the City and Laurie can give it a pass.

Anyway, they have to head home in the morning and we will miss them.

Wedding Photos

Here is my favorite photo, so far, from the wedding.  I love the look Gen is giving Aaron as she anticipates them feeding each other cake (cheesecake in this case).

Here's another favorite. My Mom and Dad giving Gen some sage-like advice.

Rough-In Inspections are Complete!

Yes! And approved!  Except for a very minor adjustment (which won't hold up anything) the inspection went great.  David said the inspector was "impressed" with the mechanicals.  That means we can proceed with closing up the walls without further delay.

Tomorrow all the wall insulation will be installed.

Thursday morning will be an insulation inspection. All the drywall will be delivered and loaded into the house.

Friday drywall will be installed.

After the drywall is loaded on Thursday then the stucco can be finished as well.  The stone order is delayed a little, but that won't really hold anything else up.

I guess we better decide on some paint colors.

Wedding Recouping

It's now the day after the wedding. Is it normal to feel sad every time we walk by Gen's bedroom?  We just miss her a lot and it was just yesterday she was here getting dressed for the wedding.   We are so happy for her and Aaron.

The day was wonderful.  A bit on the hot side, but clear blue skies.  We had great representation from our families.  Both sets of Gen's grandparents were able to make it down from Vermont and a total of 20 out of state family members coming from as far away as Memphis.  It was also cool to have both the church families represented (Covenant and Souderton). 

Ok, so I know everyone is curious to know the answers to the "How well do you know Aaron and Gen" quiz. Here they are.

Where did Aaron and Gen first meet?
- Valley Forge

What act of service did Aaron do for Gen at that first meeting?
- Changed her tire

What is Aaron's and Gen's favorite candy?

- Reese's

Where did Aaron ask Gen out?
- Parking lot

Who takes credit for setting Gen and Aaron up?
- Matthew Witter, Benjamin Witter and Emily Witter

What is the only thing that Gen can beat Aaron in?

- Shuffling

Where was their first official date

- An Italian Restaurant

Where did Aaron first buy Gen dinner?

- Texas Roadhouse

When did Aaron first meet Gen's family?

- Second time they met

What food do both Gen and Aaron dislike?

- Tuna

When did Aaron first see Gen?

- NEXT/ NA

What did Aaron buy Gen for her birthday?

- Watch necklace

What did Gen do with the old sweat-shirt of Aaron's that he gave her?

- Burnt it

What was their first fight about?
- Hugh Jackman

What did Gen do the first time Aaron took her shooting?

- Shoot the target board off

Where did Aaron propose to Gen?

- In a park at NEXT

What phrase of Aaron's does the Petit family now say?

- Yeah!

What is Gen's favorite color?

- Purple

What is Aaron's favorite color?

- Green 

What is the name of Aaron's dog? (bonus point if you know who it was named after)

- Baxter from "The Anchorman" 

What was Gen's bunny's name? (bonus point if you know who it was named after)

- Percy (Sir Percival Blakeney) from the Scarlett Pimpernel

Approximately how many hours have Gen and Aaron spent driving back and forth to see each other since they've known each other?

- 630 

How old is Aaron?

- 27 

How long have Gen and Aaron known each other including emails?
-14 months

Wedding Day!

We're less than 3 hours away for the start of Gen and Aaron's wedding. Wow, what a roller coaster ride it's been.  I collapsed in bed about midnight last night after the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I had just finished up putting the music together for the ceremony and reception.

As many of you know I tend to be pretty mushy when it comes to my girls getting married.  They tease me a lot - like... "Dad, are you crying?" at the end of a Hallmark commercial involving a dad and his daughter.  But I've found that I wasn't getting very emotional or mushy as we approached the wedding.  I think it's partly due to having so much to think about (with the wedding, rebuilding the house, etc.) as well as just not ready to have it be here (her wedding day).  Up until last night it was sort of surreal and felt like I was helping with someone else's wedding.  So as I lay in bed last night (having the typical experience of waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back to sleep) I prayed, "Lord, help me to enter into this joy filled occasion, let go of the details and watch my little girl marry her sweetheart."  Stupid!!

As I walked down the stairs this morning to make the first pot of coffee I was thinking that she'll never come to this house again just as my little girl, but as the wife of this Godly man whom she loves with all her heart.  Well, I had my first real cry of the day.  Yes, I had a little tear here and there yesterday, but not a real cry.  It continues now even as I type this entry.

But I am so happy for my little girl.  And I love this man Aaron. He's a Godly man to be sure, but he loves my little girl so very much because she's his dream girl.  I love him so much for that too! He sees the beauty that she is.

So the day is here and off we go to the church!

Rough-in Inspections

We made some fantastic progress this week.  The Electrical Rough-in is complete and I believe it will be inspected by the end of today.  The HVAC is roughed in as well.  The Plumbing will require one more day - probably Friday.  So we have the township inspection scheduled for this coming Tuesday. 

 

Here are the next steps:

Insulation Installation - Scheduled for next week

Insulation Inspection - Should be at the end of next week

Drywall Installation (no taping yet)

Drywall Inspection (this may not be necessary)

Drywall Taping and paint prep

Painting

 

This could all be done in the next 2-3 weeks. WOW. That is so cool.  I guess we need to start picking out tile, lighting fixtures, colors, etc.

Sorry - It's been busy.

Well it's been a really busy week (thus no postings).  It's only 4 days until the wedding.  Most of the details are falling into place pretty well.  We just have to decide, based on the expected weather, how the wedding will be set up.  The choices are: Indoor Ceremony with Indoor Reception, Indoor Ceremony with Outdoor Reception and Outdoor Ceremony and Outdoor Reception.  We'll be deciding tomorrow night on which we'll use. Contingencies have been discussed ad infinitum. But I think we're ready.  God's grace has been abundant.  We don't want all the last minute details to steal away the joy of what this week represents in Gen and Aaron's life.

Please pray that everything will go smoothly, that we'll all be able to let the details go and enjoy the day.  But most importantly, that God would be glorified in everything we do and say.

We're Back

We're now back from vacation and into the routine :-).  Right! Routine? With the wedding and the house we don't seem to have a routine these days.

So only 12 days til the wedding. Wow. My little girl is getting married. Sniff, Sniff as Sarah would say.

Speaking of Sarah, she got a new job today working at Target. She starts the week after the wedding. That is also the week she goes for her drivers test. She has gotten quite proficient behind the wheel.

The house is moving along well.  We had a follow up meeting with Jonathan Bard regarding the cabinets.  That seems to be all set now.  The HVAC, plumbing rough-in and electrical rough-in are all moving forward.  It looks like we may be able to have all the rough-ins completed and inspected by the end of next week.  My goal all along has been to hit that milestone by the 1st of October. So we are right on track.

Sweet Girl

Here is a message that Sarah left her mom in the sand.

Past the Mid Point

It's Wednesday night and we are now past the mid point for our vacation. The weather has been fantastic so far.  Today the biting flies were out, but besides that there's nothing to complain about.  There was a emergency on the beach about a mile south of us.  The emergency vehicles included a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the area for about an hour.  I believe the search was for a boogie boarder that had fallen off his board.

While I'm at the beach there are two things that I like to do that I normally don't get to.  One is to read a book from cover to cover so that I can still remember what happened at the beginning of the book. Usually it takes be a couple months to get through a book because my reading time is limited to about 5 minutes each night before I fall asleep.  I've read one book already and have started on my second.

The other thing I like to do is to build sand castles.  I usually get at least one person, who is observing me building a sand castle, that asks "Do you really like doing that?".  The reason they ask this is that it does take some work if you really want to build something big enough and solid enough to carve.

Here are some photos of what I built today.  Laurie and the kids got me a book for Father's Day this year (http://www.amazon.com/Sandcastles-Made-Simple-Step-Step/dp/1584797673).  I looked for this book for years as a used book because it was out of print, but it was recently reprinted. Anyway, I got some great ideas for details that I incorporated into this one.

Systems Update

The last I provided an update on the plumbing progress I think we had visited the showroom and made up a preliminary fixtures list.  Well, we got the quote back.  It was somewhere between "Ouch" and "Boing".  Ok, maybe I'm naive, cheap, sheltered or all three, but really - $1,200 for a kitchen faucet?

Needless to say (though I'm going to say it anyway), we had to rework the selections.  We finalized that yesterday morning, the order has been placed and the major items will arrive on Thursday.  That's when the plumbing rough-in will begin.

As for timelines (inquiring minds want to know) we still don't have a date for when it will be finished.  The inspections of all the systems (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical) will determine a lot.  If they go quickly and well then we are on a pace to finish up sometime this year.  If they don't then we'll have to see how much delay they add.

The electrical rough-in is going really well (what else can I say with much of it being completed by my future son-in-law :-)). 

Vacation

We are currently enjoying the sun and surf of the Outer Banks.  Earl got out of here just in time.  The waves were a little intense the first day, but it's been wonderful ever since.  Earl created a great sand bar right where we normally hit the beach so that makes a really nice "lake" behind it with very warm water.  Below is a picture of most of the gang.  The rest of the week looks good for weather.

Here's a Mushroom house Sarah built. I girl after my own heart!

Progress Notes

I don't have any new photos to show today.  Unless you get real close you can't really tell the difference anyway.  It looks like the first layer of stucco is now covering the entire house. There might even be two coats, but I haven't been over there enough to know for sure.  The electrical is also moving along nicely.  Looks like most of the 2nd floor is roughed in along with part of the first floor.

We spent about 90 minutes at the plumbing show room tonight.  Wow, who would have thought that you could go see all this stuff on display.  We picked out all the sinks, faucets and fixtures.  The only thing still outstanding is whether to have a double bowl kitchen sink or a large single bowl. Any opinions out there?