Finishing Basement to Birthday Parties

Look at that poor guy. Over-worked and under-appreciated (or so the saying goes). He has been workin pretty much every night for the past couple months on our unfinished basement, and I wanted to give an update of the progress. The picture above was an after picture of what is below: Yes, that's a jackhammer. Jake rented a jackhammer and had a few hours to destroy the cement in the unfinished bathroom downstairs. The people who laid it out didn't account for a tub, and had drains and toilet hookups in weird places, so Jake fixed that. I went down to see how he was doin, and I could barely breathe! As you can see, it was quite dusty. And loud. He got blisters through his gloves from that beast, and then he carried several trips worth of bucketfuls of cement out to the truck for the dump. I should have gotten another picture when he was done, with the huge pile of dirt that he dug out to access the pipes. We hired a plumber to come, who did an excellent job (as far as we know- we'll see when we flush the toilet in the end). Then Jake poured new cement over the new pipes with his dad. The first picture occurred when he was trying to throw out the excess wet cement, and it ripped through the bag and slopped all over our tile. haha. It was kind of funny.

Jake has a-m-a-z-e-d me with his knowledge of building. Where does he get this stuff? He framed the whole basement, installed canned lighting in the ceiling and all the outlets and light switches on the walls. He somehow figured out all the wiring himself and moved the power box. The doors are hung, and with the help of Ike he cut out the doorframe going down to the basement and installed a bigger door so it's easier to get furniture down. The gas fireplace and framed mantle have been set to go for a month and the tub is installed in the bathroom.

Yesterday he spent 9 hours putting in the insulation, which turned out to be his least favorite part. I don't know how he wasn't hacking up a lung by the end of the night, because he had to cut so many strips to fit. I should have gotten him some saftey goggles and a face mask. But he managed to finish all the walls and ceiling, which means we are now ready for dry wall! The guys are coming on Tuesday, and I'm excited to get this part over and done with, because then I can step in and start helping with the easier more decorative parts. :)

Aside from that, he still has time to work every day and work some Real SL games, clean the church a few times, do his scouting thang, and be with us. THANKS Jake, for ALL you do!

This was at my nephew, Matthew's 3rd Birthday party the other week. The family got together and had some good food and enjoyed hanging out at their house. (Hmm I don't think Cami built that tower....) Mama and Cam, who's showin some attitude.

Bryan and Matty, doing what every kid loves best- opening presents! Matt's favorite thing he got was quarters, so he can buy bouncy balls from the machines. :)

She matches her favorite Auntie Bree! We had a fun time- thanks Britt!

And on a totally random note, the other day when Jake came home from work he brought in THIS:

Apparently one of his co-workers got it at work and said he has a real snow cone machine at home, so he gave it to Jake. Woo hoo, a little hand held snow cone machine! Complete with colored sugar water entitled "3rd Rock From the Sun", "Coach", and "The Addams Family". Ohh the random perks of working at KJZZ.