Coming Soon: The Laidlaws on Laurel Lane

Many friends and family members have asked us about the new home we are building. We are building in Saratoga Springs, a beautiful newer community West of Lehi, near Utah Lake, about 25 minutes North of Provo. We have loved our little red brick house here in Provo, but ever since Thomas was born its become quite crowded, and much too small for our growing family. Even with our excitement about our new home and the additional space, its hard not to feel sentimental about leaving our little "Love Cottage." We put a lot of time, effort and heart into remodeling our first little home when we bought it in March of 2005...it took us 6 months (much longer than we had anticipated!) and a whole lotta sweat, persistance and money! When we finished, it looked beautiful and we loved the results of our work, but we swore we would never remodel again.

We are now experiencing similar feelings as we are building a home. Ryan works in construction, so he has connections to a lot of contractors and sub-contractors through which he can get discounts and deals. This is a great advantage for us, but we are finding out more and more what a complicated business building a new home is. We are "sort of" working with a general contractor that Ryan's company does the drywall for, but Ryan has decided to start handling most of the general contracting himself...getting bids, organizing the sub-contractors, scheduling inspections, and committing himself to making endless phone calls and driving out to our lot every single day, along with handling his regular workload. We bought our lot in March of this year, but were unable to begin building right away, because the sub-division its in was so new it hadn't been totally developed yet...gas and water lines weren't in, etc. We had to wait for that to be finished before we could obtain a building permit and begin excavation. Even after we got the permit, we experienced many more delays before the excavation began. When we finally broke ground, we were very anxious to get going with things...only to be hit with another problem. The lot we had chosen, though ideally situated and with a beautiful view, just so happened to be sitting on bedrock. The excavation company had to wait until a giant construction jackhammer could be brought in to break it all out. That took quite some time, and then there were more delays before the foundation was put in. You can imagine our mounting frustration! But Ryan has been taking it all in stride, and we can finally say that we are able to see the beginnings of our home-to-be. Framing should begin in a couple of weeks and we are so excited!

We have long dreamed of building a home, and it seems almost too good to be true that its finally happening. Sometimes I start to doubt it will ever be finished and that we'll actually get to move in! I'm always daydreaming about it...where furniture will go, how we'll decorate, all the new conveniences it will bring to life. Its a rambler (one-story) with 3 bedrooms, a den and 2.5 bathrooms on the main floor, and a full unfinished basement. It has a wonderfully open kitchen and great room with a fireplace, and picture windows looking out towards the east, giving us a beautiful view of Utah Lake and the Wasatch Front. Our lot slopes down towards the back, so you can walk right out of the basement into the yard. Someday when we finish the basement we'll be able to add a few more bedrooms, a storage room and a theater room. There are two brand-new parks just a short walk away, and eventually there will be a community building for the subdivision with a pool.

We don't know for sure when the house will be totally completed, but it will probably be sometime in January or February. We'll add updates every now and then as contruction goes on. I am so anxious to finally see my house have walls! It will be wonderful to be able to walk around inside and imagine the memories that will be made and the traditions formed there. Who knows, maybe we'll live the rest of our lives there? No matter what, I know that those walls are not what will truly make up my home. My home is the ones I love--my husband and my son, and the other children that will join our family someday. They are the true blessings and dreams come true in my life, and for them I am so grateful.