It all started....

two years ago when we bought a piece of land in Beavercreek, Ohio in 2006. We had been looking for a piece of land in B'creek or Bellbrook that we could afford for about 2 years prior to our land purchase. We knew when we bought it that it would be awhile before we could start building, but our phrase that we say to each other is, "enjoying the process". Jason has always wanted to act as the general contractor and build a house. The land is a little over half an acre. The first 150 feet or so was heavily wooded, then there was a small clearing of grass, followed by another area mostly covered in underbrush and large weeds.

We have spent the past few years clearing the lot which has been a lot of work. The first thing we did was clear out the underbrush in the front.

This is us with our first "small" chipper chipping what we thought at the time was a large pile of sticks and trees. (Special thanks to Jason's Dad, Eric, and my brothers (who will work for Chipotle)).

Next, came the cutting of the large (60-80 ft) trees in the front. Jason admitted that he could not do this himself, but he was not going to pay any more than he had to. So, we ended up paying to just have trees "dropped" (which means cut down but everything else left). So, we had to do all the cutting, clean up/chipping, and removal. This took place over several months.

The people who came to cut the trees would actually climb up the tree to cut them. This is a picture of a guy who could climb up a tree with a chain saw strapped to his belt while smoking a cigerette...quite an impressive skill.

Here are a few pictures of us cleaning up the trees.

The land after the front clean up.
Now: Fill in the span of about 7 months where we finalized house plans, got quotes,composed a budget, got a loan, winter came and went, and we had a baby!

Back to the land...there were a few more trees in the front that Jason and his dad cut down and we needed to clear the back of the lot. In the back of the lot there was this huge vine growing out of the ground and up on the trees. It was so big we could swing on it. The back was more work than we thought it was going to be, but nothing like the front.

PRESENT DAY
Ok, now we are to present day. A few weeks ago we had all the stumps pulled (we hauled them away) and a construction driveway put in. Jason and his dad also put in the culvert pipes for the driveway and yard.

Even though we were paying to have the driveway put in Jason still helped out with the rocks.

Then a few days later we had the basement dug.

Xander liked watching the big digger.