Our House in Heber

***Warning*** This post is going to be very long with LOTS of pictures but our story would not be complete without mentioning our house in Heber.

Several years ago we had a wonderful opportunity to purchase a home in Heber. Some may not think it was wonderful but we did! It all started one lazy Sunday afternoon when we were at LJ's parents house. We were laying out in the grass in the front yard enjoying the beautiful cool summer air. I noticed a little old yellow house that was very close by. I knew an older man lived there who was by himself. His wife had passed away and he didn't have any kids that I knew of. I told LJ that when ever he passed away, we should try & buy his house. Although it wasn't very pretty & it was very small, it was in a perfect location in this beautiful canyon. We could fix it up & it would make a great summer home & a place of our own to stay in for the holidays when all the Crandell's get together. LJ's the oldest of 9 kids so you add spouses & children on top of that and it's a very large crowd. He agreed & that was it. We didn't even mention it to anyone until much later.

Another time we were visiting and LJ did mention to his mom that we'd want to buy that little yellow house when ever he did pass away. It was only a few months later when she called us at home to give us the news. Bill Parker had passed away. I felt bad that I was actually excited about the possibility of getting that house. He had been very sick and I knew he was in a better place and much happier now. It was actually a couple more years before his sister (who had inherited the house) decided to put it up for sale. We jumped at the opportunity and even bought it before we had ever step foot inside. We knew we would be completely remodeling the thing so it didn't matter to us what it looked like.

Well, here is what it did look like:

I just love this kitchen faucet!

Pretty scary hugh? We got right to work. The roof was about to cave in and winter snow was not very far away so that was the first project.

Then we completely gutted the inside. The only thing left was the studs and a hardwood floor that we decided to try and save.

Next we had to rip off the back porch because it was about to fall off and we wanted to make way for a new addition. This will be the much larger kitchen and laundry room.

Another addition on the front will be a new Master Bedroom. The house had 3 bedrooms with only 1 bath. We decided we were going to make another bathroom in one of the bedrooms and add on this larger bedroom.

I should also note that a few years have gone by at this point. Money is a factor of course. We're doing the work ourselves a little at a time as we save up the funds and then have the summers to work on it. With the addition of 2 kids to our family and a business that started & ended in the mean time, we've been pretty busy.

It has been a family affair from the beginning! Andrew is showing off his large muscles here carrying a bag of cement.

With the new additions we needed to redo the roof again and tie it all together.

Here's another view of the front in progress.

My favorite addition is the front porch. I can't wait to get a rocking chair from Cracker Barrel!

OK, so we hit a milestone this summer. The outside of the house is now finished!!! This is huge for us because there will be no more worrying about the roof leaking with the rain & the snow. It is sealed up tight and now we can work on the inside year round. Take a look at the transformation...

These aren't the best pictures. No landscaping has been done of course.

This picture may be too small to tell but we have a red front door. I love it!

There is still LOTS of work to do. This is what the inside now looks like....

So if anyone has remodeling skills and some free time, come on up to Heber and we'll put you to work!

Now 3 years, 2 new kids & one business later....we're still loving every minute of it!