We have basement walls!!!

WooHoo!! There are walls up for the basement! Jeremy made a trip out to the homesite last Thursday (9/4/08) to meet with the engineer from the electric company that services the area and planned on getting some pictures while he was there, but he couldn't because his camera batteries died. On Thursday the walls were nearly done, so he was just as excited as I was (after he told me about the progress) to see if they were done like they told him they probably would be. So, since there were no pictures on Thursday, we got some pictures of the finished basement walls when we went up as a family on Saturday (9/6/08). Talk about excited! At first I was a bit puzzled when I looked at the portion that will eventually become the walk-out as there is no brick there for the walls, but then I remembered being told that that particular wall is going to be finished like the other walls in the house, so that one won't be bricked. The brick that goes around the base of the garage and front of the house is also finished, so now the drainage gravel that goes around the grade of the house will be poured in, followed by basement floor and garage floor (I think!). We are going up again this Thursday to see more progress on our way up to meet with the plumber, builder and cabinet people and choose items for the interior. I'm beginning to get the sense that it REALLY isn't going to be long before it looks like a HOUSE and not just a set of walls coming up out of a hole in the ground... I can "see" more and more of it with each passing week! And just to share, here are a few more pictures that we got this past Saturday:

Here's a really good shot of a footer "at work"- as Jeremy explained to me. This is actually right where our garage and main part of the house meet.

This view is looking into the basement from outside. The open space with no wall is where the "stick" construction portion for the finished wall will be in the basement. It's like that because it will be a walk-out and will be more appealing both inside and out.

Here's another view of the basement. Looking more and more like the real thing, huh?

And another, closer view of the basement...

This view is from the side of the house looking toward what will be the garage (straight ahead). I am standing outside of the house next to where Megan's bedroom will be located.

This view is looking directly into the garage... Can you tell that it's going to house two cars???

It's hard to see, but off in the distance toward the trees, there is a deer. I was trying to get a picture of it- zooming in with my camera- and I missed. Jeremy got two pictures, but you REALLY have to look for that deer. It was staring straight at us- so beautiful! Deer in our back yard!!!

And yet another view into the basement. Pretty soon it won't look like this anymore!

So, there you have it. Another week of construction and progress! I tried to post this last night, but for some reason couldn't get the pictures to load, so it's a day late... but not a dollar short!!! Check back later this week for more updates!