Timberrrrrrr! Daddy and Jordan.... "There's a lot of Sap!"

Well today was a pretty interesting day to say the least! Jordan and Daddy worked outside most of the day in the yard at our future house! You see, my great aunts and uncles, Granny and Papa, and Great Grand Parents all loved bushes, trees, and anything flowerish! Of course I like flowers and green (it is my favorite color), but I am completely OCD (CDO actually in alphabetical order) about organization and things having their "proper" place, even if it is in the yard. Jordan, on the other hand, is not as OCD, but he LOVES, I mean, LOVESSSS for a yard to be trim and proper. So, like lumberjacks and Clark Griswald at Christmas, my Daddy and Jordan tackled cutting down a very old cedar tree.

The Cedar tree is the one blocking the house, behind the other plants (boxwoods and bushes that will also be removed). 

Here it is, "Isn't it a beaut?" Huge right.... and blocking the house.

Here is a road view of our future house. We have dogwoods and LOVE those, they are in a straight line, and have order. It makes sense where they were planted, the others, not so much. This is one of the last looks at the Cedar tree before it came crashing down. 

Daddy hard at work sawing off some of the lower limbs, so Jordan could drive the truck and pull it out. It was tied with a long rope about 3 feet above where Daddy is trimming.

Going to town on the tree! See it is HUGE.

Lot of wood!

And it's down, "lot of sap." We decided that Daddy looked like Clark Griswald from Christmas Vacation dragging the Cedar tree out into the old tobacco field next to our house. It was PRICELESS. 

This was only half of the tree by the way. 

This half is going to be used inside the house. Jordan and I discussed some of our renovations with some of our good friends, Kelsie Roper and Taylor Miller. Taylor does construction and sees a lot of different types of wood being used for mantels and such. He suggested using this cedar tree for two mantels that will be used on the fireplaces in our house. 

Boy was he right; this wood will make a beautiful mantel. All of the knots in the wood and the different layers that cedar trees have will make a mantel full of character, just like our house. 

Now, all we have to do is wait for it to dry out- get it cut into mantel boards and put them up when it is finished. 

Needless to say, I am very thankful that my Daddy and my future husband, Jordan can do all of this handyman stuff. I absolutely do not know what I would do without either one of them, even if we do act like the Griswald's from time to time. This is just the next step on our way to making an old farm house and yard, OUR own.

Tearing Down the Old.. Getting Ready for the New!!

Well, the past couple of weeks have been very eventful! We FINALLY have gotten things situated with the bank and officially can start moving forward on OUR house. Yes, OUR HOUSE... it's hard to believe that I am even saying those words. I remember like it was just yesterday when Jordan picked me up to take me to my junior prom in high school... 8 years later here we are finally engaged.. (the perfect engagement by the way)... and remodeling the house, that including us, 4 generations of my family have lived within. It is amazing needless to say.

These floors had the UGLY shag carpet on top of them. Jordan and I became adventurous one day after we came home from work and ripped up the carpet only to find beautiful "quirky" pine floors underneath. 

The pine floor, I was told, was probably cut off of the family farm and taken to the local saw mill to be cut into these differently sized boards. Some are thin and others are pretty thick, but it adds character to the house that will be our home. 

The floors were just the beginning of all of the demolition. 

We are so ready to get everything started and see some building, but we have had a lot of "tearing out" to do! I mean this house was built in the 30s. Flowers and trees were planted EVERYWHERE! Jordan and I want to keep some of the old- especially the charm of the interior of the house- but we also want to add some new, this will most likely be done in certain areas in the yard. Of course, there will be some updated additions inside the house as well like around the fire places.

This is a picture before we took the face off of the fire place. This certain chimney has two fire places- one in what will be our living room, and the other in this room pictured, Jordan's "man room." 

The chimney's are pretty well kept, and have lots of that character that we love!

We are going to place rock on the chimney and make it appear slightly more rustic than it already does. 

We even found cast-iron "horses" that use to hold firewood that heated the rooms of the house. These will be fixed up, preserved, and used once again!

Also, several weeks ago, my cousin's Hanna and Sara came to visit and helped do some demolition inside the house! They ripped off paneling and knocked holes in walls that were to be torn down later that week. They had the best time!

This picture is from the 10k race in Pilot- I came in 1st in my age group 20-29 and was in the top 10! So fun, but I have been recuperating from a knee injury ever since!

Did I mention that I am one very lucky, and blessed lady to be marrying into a great family, and to come from a fantastic family? Well you see, I do have one of the BEST uncles in the world. He is so talented and has worked hard all of his life- living the life of a tobacco farmer- among his other creative traits. He has owned his own grading business for as long as I can remember, and for our early wedding present- my Uncle Sammy removed hundred year old tree stumps that we had cut down, and fixed our yard! It looks so much better, and it is certainly ready for the addition!

This is where a HUGE pine tree was taken down!

Behind the Pine was a Pecan tree!

This is where an apple tree use to be!

Also, last week, we had one of the chimney's ripped out of the house! It was a huge mess, but it has opened up a lot of space in what will be the center of the home, the kitchen.

 This is a picture of the original setting of the chimney.

The chimney was used at one point in time to heat the house as a wood-stove. This is why it protruded out quite a bit from the existing wall. The boards seen leaning up against the chimney were pulled off of the original built in cabinets. It is the same pine wood that we found on the floors. Jordan is going to make a table out it for us!!

No more chimney!

Jordan and his dad checking out the ceiling and the wall!

Yep, that hole goes into what will be our master bedroom- use your imagination folks! :)

We are well on our way to getting things accomplished. A good portion of the demolition is completed within the house- now all of the new additions and "re-fixing" of old items has to take place! Next week, we will be doing the footings for the addition, and moving forward with our future southern home! We are so very blessed and thankful that we have the opportunity to make an old family home, Ours.