Chad and Rachel's House Story
Chad came home from work one day in the fall of 2004 and told me that he wanted to buy the cabin that his grandparents were talking about selling on Sylvan Lake. He always wanted to live on the lake where he grew up, so how could I refuse. Everything fell into place for us. Our house sold within a couple of months and my aunt and uncle had a house for us to live in while we built. We found an architect who knew exactly what we wanted and started us on our journey. Chad and I learned a lot about variances, permits and patience as we started our project. This part took us a lot longer than we expected, but we did have a new baby and a four year old in the house that needed us first. In the mean time we took down the trees on the lot that needed to be removed and had them milled into lumber that we later used as trim in our house. We altered our plans a bit and received the ok from the city to start. The cabin was demolished in July of 2007. We started digging the footprints of the house in August and it rained almost every day. We re-dug the footprints with help a few times before they were inspected and poured. After that, it seemed like everything started to move fast. The neighbors gawked at the weird foam blocks that were delivered and set up. After a lot of bracing, we were able to pour the concrete in the walls for the basement and the house started to take shape. I remember it started to get really cold quick that fall and the guys were moving quick to get some walls up for the main floor and the cement poured in the basement. It started to snow, so that meant that many times before they could get to work on the house after working all day, they had to shovel the house out first. It seemed like we had a lot of snow that year. We also realized that we probably would not be moving in any time soon. Chad and our dad’s were at that house every day until it was finally completed in March of 2009. I’m pretty sure that everyone in our families worked on our home in some way or another. We also had some great friends that came out to do some pretty hard work too. We learned a lot about family and community during these years and knew we could never repay everyone for all of the help we received but that we would sure try. I knew that Chad and I were strong, but I knew that after building this house we could make it through anything.
I am so thankful to have had a husband who loved me and his children so much. Every day I wake up and am reminded of this by just looking around my home and out into our yard. He was a truly amazing man.
The completed house in October 2010,
and Chad at home with his family in the house that he built.
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