Merry Christmas

We have not sent out Christmas cards this year. It is strange to just be in a temporary situation - and know this will not be our permanent address.  But, we do want to do a brief update.

Of course we moved from Tooele this year and are building a home in north Orem.  It should be finished in late January.  Though we are NOT looking forward to the process of moving again, we are really looking forward to moving into our new home and actually unpacking.  We only unpacked the necessities here, but inevitably, we are down in the basement or garage searching for the box that has ... (fill in the blank)  When we move in, we'll send out cards to share our new address.

The kids are adjusting to their new schools, and so far we are happy with the programs and teachers and new friends they are making.  Heather is in two choirs and loving it.  She also made the Pro-Start chef team and will be competing in February.  Haylee is in the advanced choir and in band.  She also enjoyed ball room dance this term too.  They do have real classes too (Heather has 2 AP classes and they both have honors core classes), but they love the arts and the opportunities they have had here.

Quinton is ANXIOUS to move so he will have friends nearby.  Right now, there are no small children to play with, but there are about a dozen in his Primary class in the new ward.  He is doing online preschool called "Upstart" through the Waterford Institute.  He is learning a ton and can read at a mid Kindergarten level.  I have been impressed with the quality of the academics of the program (this coming from a 15 year preschool teacher).  It is very developmentally appropriate (even if it is a bit repetitive), entertaining, and engaging.  A lot of music is incorporated to reinforce skills.  We have been supplementing it a bit and participating in the amazing library story times here.  He misses his friends, but has adapted to all the changes remarkably well.

Amanda reached a major milestone and has completed her degree from USU.  She was blessed with a great internship for the last six months as a technical writer and intellectual property specialist for the church.  Now she is looking for a new job in the "real world".

Wes started his Freshman year at BYU and has LOVED it.  He is studying mechanical engineering, but is contemplating other majors too (this one is HARD).  He has his mission papers completed and will submit them this week.  He hopes to leave early in the summer after he finishes winter term.  We'll update you all when he gets his call - feel free to leave your best predictions/guesses of where he'll be sent in the comments below.

Troy is still working hard at UDOT, and missing his calling as Gospel Doctrine Teacher.  I (Pam) enthusiastically accepted a call in our new ward as the Primary Chorister (a calling she held for a only couple of months before we moved.)  It feels like a tender mercy from the Lord as this is absolutely the BEST calling in all of the church.  It has been strange to not teach preschool this year and I do miss it more than I thought I would.  I have been teaching computer classes at the Provo Senior Center, and just got hired at Sylvan Learning.  I also just completed all of the points I need to renew my teaching certification and am in the process of getting my license.

We do miss running in to people we know and still feel a bit insecure with all the changes of this year and those still to come.  But, we know change is the way we grow.  We are grateful for the support and love of our friends and family.

The Beginning of the Finish Work

On to some of the finish work - the carpenter has been installing doors and moldings and the stone work is progressing.  I love how the door trims are turning out.

House Update

The house is progressing so nicely.  Shingles were put on and window installed December 1, and that night it rained.  To me it was a minor miracle to have been able to get the house completely closed in before it was exposed to any precipitation.

These first weeks of December, things are going on like crazy inside.  Insulation was blown into the walls, then drywall went up.  The outside is being prepped for stucco.  Dec. 12, this is how things look -

I really like the arches - so cool.

Last week, they finished with the mudding/texturing inside and did the stucco and stone work on the outside. Since it has been super cold, the house is draped while they do the exterior.  Haylee affectionately calls it the "ghost house" right now.

Excitement builds

The roof is finished.  A lot of progress is being made inside as well.  The HVAC is is place, and the plumbing is roughed in with tubs in place. Things are moving quickly.  So far the weather is holding - we are almost in the clear.  We've had awesome 60 degree weather - amazing for November.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

We are swimming in decisions this week, trying to make final selections for the house.  Building a custom home means you can have it just the way you want it - well within your budget at least.  But the choices can make your head swim a bit.  The last time we built a home, the selection process was basically pick your shingle color from one sample board, your siding from another, and your carpet color from yet another.  Then choose which of these three cabinet finishes you want -- all done.

This time around, we can practically pick any style or color that we can dream up for cabinets.  Walls and walls of tile and carpets await our decision.  The stone yard was full of exterior stone styles, textures and colors, and then that could be matched with any paint color to mix in to the stucco.  There have been hours spent pouring over the lighting catalog, and multiple trips to appliance stores.  And then, there are shingles, window frame colors, glass textures, door knob styles, faucets, wall textures, molding styles, and on and on.  This really has been the fun part, and it's going to be so nice to have our home truly reflect our tastes and style - it's just been hard to identify exactly what that is amongst the seemingly endless options.  Honestly, our heads are swimming a little and I have been obsessing a bit - ok a lot.  But, we feel like we 're narrowing it down, and we've only changed our minds at the flooring store 3 times now.  I've been spending a bit too much time on Pinterest  collecting ideas that exceed our budget - too many cool kitchen things.

We have a roof

Walls!!

We have all the walls now -- so cool.  It is also awesome to have all my kids home for Thanksgiving!!

Oooo, and a cool arch!

Framing

This week the progress on the house has been amazing. The framing has gone so quickly - it seems that the house has just sprung to life. We love seeing it take shape and finally getting a feel for the spaces that so far have just been dimensions on paper.

Monday - Basement

Of course another fascinating big machine - "mom take a picture of that one"

Tuesday - main floor

More progress

This week they placed the window wells, back-filled around the foundation, used a machine to vibrate/settle the floors,  and today, poured the cement in the basement floor and garage floor.  It started raining about 2 hours after they finished, but didn't seem to cause any problems. I feel very blessed to be building a home in November, and so far to not have weather cause problems.  Quinn liked the big pumper truck, but he still loves the backhoe (he calls it the claw) the best of all the big machines so far.

Drains

Today they laid out the drain pipes in the basement floor, and did the tar coat.  I know - exciting huh.  Sadly, every little thing is incredibly exciting to us.  It snowed several inches over the weekend, but it has all melted and should be good the rest of the week - hope the weather will hold out through the framing process (fingers crossed).

Basement view

We can see windows now.

Foundation Stones

Something cool is happening every day.  The foundation walls were placed today, and the great big pumper truck was filling it all up!  So fun to watch.  Quinn says now he wants to be that guy that runs the cement truck.

There was a great little story in the October 2012 Friend that we read for Family Night.  It was called Abby's Scripture Rock.  The children received rocks, and then wrote the reference for their favorite scripture.  The rocks were then included in the foundation for the Newport Beach Temple.  Since we are at the foundation stage for our house, we decided it was a perfect activity for us to think about what scriptures we want for the foundation for our home.  We each came up with a scripture or two, and even got the kids away at college involved.  We wrote them on our rocks and dropped them down with the foundation before they backfilled.

Footings

We have footings.

Hooray they finally started digging today!!!

The construction of our new home has finally begun.  Digging started Nov 2.  Our builder says 90 days from the time they begin digging, maybe sooner.  It has taken so long to finally get to this point.  It was a long summer of ups and downs trying to get our house sold - it only took 4 different contracts, but it finally worked out. We originally had a lot in American Fork that we loved, but had to back out when our sale failed and then we lost it.  Somehow, through a series of interesting events, we ended up with this lot in Orem.  We are delighted with our builder so far and are excited to be able to watch the construction - waiting for the permit was torture.

Here is the lot before:

Here is the beginning of the digging (Quinn says he wants to be that guy using the big digging machine when he grows up)

Here is the big hole - can you believe all of those rocks?

Halloween

Here is our little buckaroo.  He has been sooooo excited about the handcuffs.  Don't you love our little flip flop wearing cowboy?

The older girls got to wear costumes to school for the first time in their lives.  Isn't it sad that they never got to celebrate Halloween at school in elementary school?  It was a Tooele thing - no costumes.  Here they are accompanying their brother trick-or-treating.  The warmest Halloween I remember.

Graduation Day is finally here

We had two graduates this past week.  Wesley graduated from high school.  He thought it would never come to an end, but it finally happened.  He just missed Valedictorian and Salutatorian being ranked third in his class. He was however quite decked out with a lot of "bling" for all his accomplishments.  The silver gown is for earning an honor's diploma (only 6 in his class completed these requirements), the silver sash for being Math Sterling Scholar, and the cords are gold - high honor roll, sage - two diploma enrichments in math and science, maroon - completing the engineering tech pathway, red - donating blood at least 3 times.  He also had a medal for being academic all-state for tennis and a medal for being a regents scholar.  We are of course very proud. He has worked so hard.  He will attend BYU this coming fall and has 4 small scholarships to help out.

When Wes was all dressed up, Quinton had to get his graduation cap on and pose too.  He graduated from preschool.  He was not exactly what you would consider the top of the class being the youngest.  He pretty much embarrassed Mom and Dad by rolling around on the floor the whole time.  Oh well, we hope twelve more years of school will work out well for him.

Hyer Family update

We did get Christmas cards mailed this year, but didn't include a traditional Christmas letter.  No one wanted to write it and all claimed to have nothing to say.  So here's a brief update about what our family has been up to.

TROY - still working hard, still the Gospel Doctrine teacher, finally retired his PALM and upgraded to an IPOD touch
PAM - still teaching (preschool☺, AND now teaching in the computer lab once a week at the elementary), still YW President, still trying to find extra time in the day
AMANDA - still at college, still studying hard, just 2 semesters to go
WESLEY - severe case of senioritis, Math Sterling Scholar, still trying to choose a college
HEATHER - still learning to drive, still counting down the days 'till age 16, FINALLY got her braces off (picture was taken just before this eventful milestone)
HAYLEE - still playing the flute and the piano, loving Junior High, FINALLY joined the teenage ranks and coming to YW
QUINTON - still superhero obsessed, still keeping us on our toes, loving attending preschool (he thinks it's fun to call his mom "Miss Pam")