From the back yard, looking into the front/side yard.

Looking from the back door. Who's in charge of the weed pulling??

                                     
                                      

 The front yard from. The roll of sticks was the dead vines that were all over the chain link fence. 

The little brown building was used many many years ago by my Great Uncle Rex Gibson. He and my Great Aunt Ruby Gibson lived in the house to the left of ours. Aunt Ruby passed away almost 2 years ago. Rex had a shoe repair business that he ran out of that little building.  They also lived in the yellow house before they built the brick one next door.

Taking out the big stump in the front yard. The kids have loved riding on the backhoe with Dad!

Day 2

The front of the house, before Heath started tearing everything apart!

The back yard. Where all the vine weed was growing used to be a huge garden. The one tall tree, Heath wanted to leave, just because it's a Cedar Tree. Isn't that sweet?? 

Heath worked so hard to get the fence down that was around the whole property.

The back of the house. The big vine covered the laundry room window. Notice the attic door? Don't know what's up there yet....

The front gate that our dogs, Kona and Gus, have escaped from many times! If this gate could talk. All the people that have been in and out of it over the years. 

Day 1

We signed papers at Lawyers Title on Monday April 30, 2012. It has been a loooooonnnnng process. 6 months felt like years. We first moved into this house just as a "temporary" rental until we either built a house, or found one in this neighborhood. One day Heath and I went for a walk to pick up the kids from school. As we walked out the front gate, we were looking at the house. I said "why don't we buy this house" kind of jokingly.... We talked to my cousin, Jean Simmons, and after a few little problems, we got the ball rolling. Little did I now what the next few months would bring. Patience is a trait that has to be applied when buying a home. 

The morning of May 2, 2012 we started the destruction of the house!

                                                 

                                     

The carpet in the dining room was really, really stained, and really gross. With kids, you just can't have carpet under your table! We shampooed the carpets twice and I scrubbed when I could, but it just never looked good. So that was the first thing that had to go! I had NO idea that much dirt could be under your carpet! I would like to know more of the history of this house. I'm not sure how old this vinyl flooring is that was under it, or who even put it down. It cleaned up pretty good. It's nice to be able to sweep under the table instead of vacuum.