And so it begins!

Well, it's day 1, or what our builder calls "movin' dirt!"  That's right, Day 1, and we're over budget already.  Like the title of this post, "and so it begins..."  Whatever, at least we're finally getting started.  It seems like it's taken us forever to get to this point, so even just to see a little dirt moved around was exciting for us!

Here are some photos of the lot pre-construction - This was taken on a yucky, record-setting cold day last October.  I have lots of sunny day pics but can't find them at the moment!

Our land is most of the end of the cul de sac and then shoots back and outward on both sides.     

And here we are on Day 1 - July 30, 2013 for those of us keeping track!  Heck, we were excited just to see trucks parked there and dust in the air!!  (Sorry neighbors!)

Brent's standing just in front of the front door, and I took the picture from out in the street.

We're standing at the front door.  Clearly, I hadn't considered that it might be a day I'd be photographed.  :)

You can't really tell from the photos, but the lot slopes by 4-5 feet from front to back.  When we walked the lot before purchasing, our builder didn't think it was quite that much.  So we already had to make our first in-construction decision.  To build up and have a big drop off in the back yard?  (Budget wise, read that as, add piers under the foundation plus a bunch of retaining wall$$$$$$)  Or to build down and have a hump in the front yard.  Our decision, unlike my diet nearly everything in my life, was "moderation in all things."  We asked them to find a middle ground, no pun intended, where our slope in the back isn't too bad, and the hump in the front isn't so severe.  Hopefully we passed our first test and only dipped our toes in the contingency fund pool.