We're Building a House!

So, after our house sold in 24 hours, we decided we'd best start looking for a house to move into!!  The search began.  Although I've heard people say they love looking at houses, I personally find it exhausting, annoying, and a little depressing.....wading through other peoples' junk, wanting more than you can afford, in and out of house after house after house.  After a while of looking at existing houses, we decided to look into new construction.  We assumed we couldn't afford to build, but thought we'd at least look.  As it turned out, a lot of the new construction was comparable in price to many existing homes.  And of course, after looking at brand NEW houses, it's awfully hard to go back!
To make a long story short (at least a little shorter), we found a builder that had a model we really liked that was in the subdivision that we really wanted to be in.....Brad Dildine with Hallmark Homes in Paramount Subdivision.  The model we liked is the Sedona.  He had one that was in the framing stage, but still early enough to "get" to choose everything.  We made an offer and found out that day that another couple had also made an offer.  We did not get the house.  UGH!!  However, the builder said he would build us that same model on another lot in that subdivision.  Sweet!?  But, it would take 4-5 months to build.  Ugh, again.  Luckily, my mom was willing to take us in (and had room to take us in).  We decided to go for it!  
They started digging on April 22.  It's been so crazy and fun to watch as it's gone from dirt to a house.  While they've been busy digging, framing, painting, insulating, drywalling, and texturing, we've been busy making all sorts of decisions of what we want our house to look like.  OH MY GOODNESS, I had NO idea how many decisions go into building a house!!  Thankfully I have a patient husband, a very helpful mother, lots of family and friends willing to listen to me ramble on about cabinets, floors, paint, door knobs, trim, etc, etc.  It has been fun (in a weird way), and I'm very excited (and terrified) to see how it all comes together.  I believe we have actually made almost all decisions (hallelujah) and are on the downhill slide.  And stayed a reasonable(ish) amount over budget.     

These pictures are from dirt to walls....April 22 - June 12.....less than 2 months!  I think from now on it will be more detail work and won't quite change as quickly as it has been.  But it is definitely looking like a house!  We are VERY excited and feel so lucky to have this opportunity.  They're saying our final walk through should be August 1, and hoping to close around August 12.  WOW!!