Sunday, September 13, 2026

Flake Fun

The first wall raising went really well.  We had lots of the men from the ward come and both walls were up in no time.  There were 3 guys in particular who have all built houses that stepped up and nailed everything in tight.  It was awesome!


This is a view from the back. 

Yesterday we (Scott) built 2 more walls.  One has a couple more studs to add and the sheeting but we like to do that the night before we stand the walls up.  I am hoping that maybe we can get 2 more walls up on Saturday but Scott isn't so sure. 

North/garage facing wall. 

South facing wall.  Look at all of these windows!! 

That was our week in a nutshell.  Hope that you all have a great week. 

Sunday, September 6, 2026

Flake Fun

 It was so fun to see so many of you last week.  We had so much fun but we missed seeing Tori and JJ.  We came home renewed from so much family time. 

Scott has been very busy at work but is keeping his head above water. 

We spent all day yesterday sheeting the existing walls and getting ready for phase 1 of wall raising - tomorrow!! 



The power company came out and staked out the route while we were up in Utah.  Now we are hearing renewed grumbling from the affected neighbors.  Grrrr.  One neighbor keeps "joking" that we should just go with solar and the other one gets too stressed when I call him so I am having to work through his son that lives in Tennessee.    I keep telling myself that one day we will have power.  

School is going well and I feel like we might be finding our groove!! 

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Flake Fun

 The lumber package came along with nightly sprinkle showers and wind.  The days are hot and then the night make it difficult to build.  But, despite that and thanks to a knowledgeable cousin, we have two walls built. They are both 60 feet long O we are hoping to get a group of 10-12 men and young men to come and help lift them up...or Uncle Thomas.  



Our place looks like a private lumber yard! 

We started school and it is going pretty well.  We have also spent quite a bit of time catching toads and watching frogs. 

If you look closely you will see that the "leaf" is actually a frog. 



We are excited to see everyone this week!! Travel safely! 



Sunday, August 9, 2026

Flake Fun

 It has been a month since I last posted! Sorry about that.  

Robin and Rand turned 7 which was fun.  I think that they had a good day.  Randy arranged for them to go flying in a little Comache 250 plane with his boss and we all had a great time.  It has refreshed Scott's interest in getting a pilot's license.  

We had some flooding a few weeks ago and have been doing some reinforcing of the culvert as we wait for our lumber package to come.  

This showed up in about 45 minutes. 







We got our roof trusses and are now waiting for the lumber package so that we can build the walls to put the roof on!  




Hope that you all have a great week!  Can't wait to see some of you soon!  


Hyde Happinesses

 Wowza time flies when it’s hot outside. We’ve been spending the majority of the summer outside which has been awesome to say the least. We’ve ridden Daisy a bunch, and are currently building her a pasture. It’s been quite the project but it’s nearly done and we are so excited about it. She’ll be much closer and I’m hoping we’ll be able to ride her much more readily and frequently.

We had a good Fourth of July and a good trip to Coeur d’Alene Idaho for Debbie’s family reunion. It was long and tiring but the lake house is a blast. Kevin and Debbie actually purchased a lake house they visited while we were there, so that might become their summer vacation spot in a few years.

We had the Harts visit last week which was delightful as usual!! Elise helped a ton with the fence and we had good times chatting Emma M Lion and eating yummy food. 

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but the fence has absolutely consumed our lives for the past 3 weeks and I truly don’t remember what life was like before we began 😅 

Can’t wait to see you all in a couple weeks!  




We love our big puddles 

Puddles big enough to kayak in 










Poor Oakley 

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Flake Fun

 What a weekend it has been.  We poured cement on Friday which meant a lot of prep during the week.  Thursday night we finished up the prep and Scott got a couple of hours of sleep before returning at 4:30 AM.  

This makes the front porch look massive! 



We scored the garage and porch to minimize cracking.  Hopefully it works!!

But now it is poured and I think that we are done with cement for a good while!! 

Hope that everyone has a great week!

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Flake Fun

 It has been a while and we have been busy.  Summer temps arrived with a vengeance so we are working to stay cool.  

We are enjoying the summer reading program activities.  Most recently we spent an hour or so at the park with the Dino Crew meeting and learning about dinosaurs.



Scott had a good birthday and the kids had fun making him a little treasure hunt to help him find his presents.  



We spent a day in Mesa recently visiting Grannie Bailey and swimming at an awesome city pool.  There were several pools but the kiddie pool that we were in was 18 - 24 inches deep and had a water structure as well as 2 water slides.   The kids had a blast.  


As far as the house goes, we are making progress, slowly but surely.   We are scheduled to get our roof trusses on July 28th.  We have been working on getting the front porch area prepped and we are planning to pour the garage pad, front porch, back porch posts and fireplace this coming Friday.  Then walls will start to be built!! 


Rebar in the garage waiting to be poured.

Back filling the front porch trench. 

This is the front porch trench that needed to be filled in. 7-8 feet deep.


Front porch ready to be poured.

Setting the French drains

French drains covered and completed. 


Since we are nearing monsoon season, we purchased a 50'x70' tarp to cover the subfloor.  It took us several hours to get it placed on the house.  The next day it rained and we discovered that it did a decent job keeping the rain out but where rain did get in, it wasn't allowing the wood to dry out so we had to take it off.  Hopefully the true monsoon rains will wait until August to come!

Love you all!