Utah 25 - Michigan 23

Strangest thing...they use the golf course to tailgate on...weird.
They mess up the lovely, carpet-imitating grass.

See all that red. I was surprised at how much Ute representation there was.

We had a nice spot which was in the shade the whole time and had TV screens for the instant replays.

Yeah, there were a few minutes with nothing to do but play with the camera. Someday maybe I'll show some of the bloopers...and then maybe not.

The marching band made some pretty cool designs.

After the Utah win, all of the red fans stayed to hang out.
The maize and blue, not so much.

Starting the HVAC

So, the plumbing passed it's pressure test and they have a good start on installing the HVAC system. (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system)

This was pretty interesting, it looks like they are using all of the walls of the pantry and coat closet for an air return.

Yes! we have a fireplace!

This is looking through the laundry room into the master bathroom.

Here is that cover that I was saying was made for our tub. The underside of the plywood is covered in this foam padding so that it doesn't scratch the tub, yet it is strong enough that when the drywallers decide to climb all over it (which they always do, whether the tub/shower has protection or not) it will prevent damage. Smart.


Well, we are off to the Michigan/U of U football game at the Big House. I will update when we get back. Fun times.

Roofing and Plumbing

They have again had a very busy 3 day work period. I am amazed.
Our house is roofed, windows and exterior doors are in, and the bulk of the rough plumb is complete.

We made our goal of getting the house dried in without going through any major rain storms. Hooray!

Yeah, I took many, many photos of all of the plumbing. But I will not subject you to even a fraction of them.
So, as in most residential construction today, they have installed pex water lines instead of copper. Pex is an amazing material. It allows you to label hot and cold lines (red and blue) and it's done great things for construction schedules. You can probably imagine that cutting out hours of saudering and welding would do that. Plus, if they find a leak, you would be pretty shocked at how easy it is to fix the line.

They've got most of the sub plumb done too.
The construction schedule is in a slightly different order than the ones I dealt with in Utah and in Arizona. So, it's interesting for me to see the changes and compare how they work with how I am familiar with, and decide which works better. Overall I'm leaning toward the schedule used on our house here.

We have a front door!

The tubs and showers are all installed.
They have these coverings for all of them that will protect the tub/shower floor throughout the damaging part of the construction.

Our master tub...the covering for this is off to the side...I'm guessing they will set it on top soon.

Master shower.

Man these pex lines and their accessories are cool.

Windows!

Party animals

So, last night we had an occasion to break up our normal, boring, elderly-people simulating schedule. Some real nice friends from our ward, Springer and Tyson, asked us over for dessert!

And what a dessert it was. Tyson made angel food cake (from scratch), raspberries in a raspberry glaze (from scratch), vanilla pudding (from scratch), and topped it off with real whipped cream. Yeah, it was every bit as good as it sounds.

This is our hostess Springer (on the right) and 1/2 of another couple who came, LeAnn.
Springer and Tyson, LeAnn and Jonathan, and Curt and I represent all of the childless couples in the whole ward.
*I think I am exaggerating, but only slightly*

It was a fun evening as we played a rousing game of phase 10 after eating.
And yes, our family phase 10 book was in attendance.

Labeling

You know those people in the office that go around with the label makers, marking a place for everything to go?

Yeah, that's our home builder. Pretty entertaining.
Don't get me wrong, it's a very good thing...it shows organization and cuts down on mistakes.
I find humor it in though.

Exhibit A: Labeled floor joists.

Exhibit B: Labeling where the cabinets and appliances go, marking out their dimensions on the floor. Marking it "gas range" so they remember to run a gas line to this spot.

Exhibit C: They snapped a chalk line down the plywood where all of the floor joists run.
This labeling already came in handy for them as they came in and put a million more screws in the subfloor, following these chalked lines (they had previously glued the floor down).

Exhibit D: Labeling that we have an electric dryer, not a gas one.
Apparently we are an abnormality here.

Exhibit E: Labeling where the toilet goes.
You would think that this would be a no-brainer for the plumber.
Well, then you would be surprised at how dumb some plumbers can be.
I have run into several instances where the toilet is either set too close to a cabinet or a wall. One time they had put the drain for the toilet so close to the back wall that the tank couldn't be installed. When this happens you have to go back and mess up the floor putting an elbow on the toilet drain. It messes up the construction schedule and results in an imperfect product.
So, I am glad they dumb down the process by labeling.

Exhibit F: I have already mentioned that they went through and labeled all of the doors.
I will interpret these labels for you:
2 0 = a 2 foot 0 inch door
B.F. = bi-fold
Pantry = this is the Pantry :)
wrap = instructions to the drywallers to wrap around this door framing.
Normal interior passage doors come with frames that attach directly to these already existing framing members. All of the bi-fold doors in the house need to have a finished edge to be installed to.

Exhibit G: They have marked all of the centers of the window openings.
This is helpful to get centered and level window installations.

On a minorly distressing note, they stole the hill from which I usually take my aerial photos.
Whatever am I supposed to do now?

Oh well, I guess I will just have to live :)

You have got to be kidding me!

It is August.
Hottest part of summer.
Tell that to this tree will you.

Activity Day

So, they combined all of the boys in the senior primary, keeping Curt and one other guy teaching them. My new calling is for activity days with our 8ish year old girls.

Last night we had a fun craft activity where I had them paint some terra cotta pots and we put some fake flowers in them.

While I was playing with paint Curt was jamming out in the chapel. He gets to do a musical number in sacrament meeting at the end of the month.

Plus (and any of you who know him are so the opposite of surprised), he was given a second calling...

...wait for it...

...that of ward organist.

As he has pretty much regularly been a ward organist since he was 13, and since the current (way awesome) organist just graduated from law school and moved away, we were not shocked.