Saturday, June 16, 2012

Our New Home

Since our last "baby news" post in May we have had a lot more happen in the Okray household.  During our house hunt the past few months we found a floor plan that we really loved.  There were two of these houses available in the neighborhood that we wanted, but one was sold to someone else :( and the other was very over-priced so on the recommendation of our realtor we decided to talk to the builder of those houses to see how much it would be to build a new house with that floor plan.  We were very excited to find out that it would be much less expensive to build this particular house with all the features that we wanted than to try and negotiate with the over-priced house on the market.

So on May 30th we signed a contract with Preferred Builders in Janesville, WI to start construction on our new 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home in the neighborhood in Janesville that we've been wanting to locate to.  On Thursday June 7th they officially put up the sold sign and on Thursday June 14th they began to dig the basement.  It is guaranteed to be ready by November 30th, but will hopefully be done ahead of schedule (we're keeping our fingers crossed!)  Once the outside shell is built we will have a better idea of when our closing date will be because at that point the build will not depend on the weather.

Us by our Sold Sign on June 9th, 2012

Digging out our basement on June 14th, 2012

During the past month we had our last appointment with our wonderful doctor of three years :( She will  finish her residency here in Janesville and will be leaving at the end of June to practice medicine in Australia!  We are really going to miss her, but we wish her well!  Don't worry we are in good hands with another doctor for the rest of pregnancy.  

Speaking of Baby Okray he or she is about 16 weeks along and doing very well.  Strong heartbeat and during this past week Amber has started to feel the flutter of baby movement every now and then!  Amber's clothes are starting to get a bit small, but she's still in the in-between-regular-and-maternity-wear right now.  Here are some pictures of Baby Okray's progress.





 We don't want Lambeau to feel left out!




Other than house building and baby news we've managed to have some other fun events during these last few weeks.  The weekend of May 27th, 2012 was spent in Milwaukee celebrating our good friends Amie and Brian become husband and wife.  We both took part in the wedding with Amber being a Matron of Honor and singing during the sand ceremony and with John reading a passage during the service.  We had a great time during the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding, party bus and reception.  It was great to catch up with our college friends as it gets harder to do with all of our busy lives.

Us at the rehearsal dinner on May 26th, 2012

Amie and Brian during the sand ceremony on their wedding day:  May 27th, 2012

Us at the reception on May 27th, 2012

The day after Amie and Brian's wedding we met up with Amber's grandparents (Betty and Norb) and Amber's brother Adam and his girlfriend Becky for lunch and to let balloons go at the cemetery as May 27th, 2012 was the 12th anniversary of Amber's Dad's (Vern) death.  And as Amber types this on June 16th, 2012 it would have been her brother Kyle's 26th Birthday.  Some bittersweet moments along with all the excitement in our lives.  


Sending ballons to heaven in honor of Vern on May 28th, 2012

So with those events came the end of May and during the next two weeks Amber wrapped up the 2011-2012 School Year.  She is now getting ready for the start of the six week summer school session which starts on Monday.  John is going on an eight day stretch of working (sometimes 12 to 14 hour days!) and we're both trying to beat the heat of the already hot spring and summer that we're having.

Well until next time!  Go Pack Go!