Napdesign Co

We framed and lifted one last wall, completing our South side of our new house, before leaving later that morning. Josh went back to work on his clients' projects and the rest of the family had homeschool events. It was a beautiful morning and a good stopping place until we could come back together and continue working on framing our new house. Josh gave us some pointers when using a skill saw. This wall went up quickly and dropped right into place over the anchors. We should have paid better attention where Clementine put that wrench, we were looking for it all morning! The kids are glad to be included in our house building process, and it's just another opportunity for us all to practice patience with each other. Also, we will have the video memories to look back on and reminisce over how little they were and how far we've come.

Here we are checking in on our most active and largest hive, the "SURPRISE SWARM" that we found 2 weeks prior! Instead of swapping boxes like we were originally expecting to do, we ended up adding another box! We found some CROSS COMB and had to band some frames, what a beautiful "mess"! Mark is teaching us about beekeeping and helping us out along the way. This is the fifth of several videos! Check out Mark's website, www.lavacacountybeekeeper.com for more info and if you have a swarm that needs a bee removal expert!

After transferring the bees out of the swarm trap, we prepared it with frames and lemongrass essential oil to be ready to hang again. Then Josh hung up the swarm trap in a different Crape Myrtle a few trees down. We were all TOTALLY shocked to find it had attracted another swarm the very next day! This was our 3rd caught bee swarm, two of them back to back! Mark came back over two weeks later to help us transfer the bees into our new bee hive boxes. We used mostly foundation-less frames and found cross combing so we had to use rubber bands to attach the comb to the frames for support until the bees fix it. Mark is teaching us about beekeeping and helping us out along the way. This is the third of several videos! Check out Mark's website, www.lavacacountybeekeeper.com for more info and if you have a swarm that needs a bee removal expert!

This was our first adventure and lesson in beekeeping, learning how to transfer bees into a hive box from the swarm trap we put in the tree about a week prior. Our friend, Mark Kelnar, is teaching us about beekeeping and helping us out along the way. This is the first of several videos! Check out Mark's website, www.lavacacountybeekeeper.com for more info and if you have a swarm that needs a bee removal expert!

We decided to invest in a new concrete approach in front of our shop while we were having our concrete house slab done, since the concrete trucks and concrete crew would be here already. After removing the previous approach, we leveled and compacted the area, then set forms and rebar to be ready for CONCRETE DAY! Vic and his concrete crew made fast work of this project after finishing our house slab. We are impressed by their expertise, hard work, and good attitudes and are so thankful for them! After brooming the concrete, the whole family made handprints in the corner of the concrete approach before it set. We also put concrete in front of the side door on our shop. Josh used a finishing technique he learned from Ryan at @VictoryOutdoorServices which is one of our favorite YouTube channels to watch together as a family!

CONCRETE DAY! The concrete crew arrived very early and set up lights. The first concrete truck rolled in just before 5AM and there was excitement in the air! I don't know how Vic and his crew do it but WOW! Seeing up close, all the preparation that went into getting the foundation to this point, and then the whole day of pouring and finishing concrete, we have a new appreciation for sure! These guys are so experienced that they make this look easy! We are so thankful for their hard work and good attitudes! Vic, thank you so much for your standard of excellence and all the effort from you and your crew! Watch the whole process here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTJP_jn3_TSRasKoLsXFX_wjV7SgZPPYB Also, we wanted to give a "shout out" in our intro to one of our favorite YouTube channels, Ryan/Victory Outdoor Services - Our whole family watches! https://www.youtube.com/c/victoryoutdoorservices

Vic and his crew made the final preparations for the concrete house slab by laying the plastic and rebar. So much rebar! So much tying! So much work! These guys are so experienced that they make this look so easy! We are so thankful for their hard work and good attitudes! Josh attached a grounding wire to the rebar grid as an extra measure for the electrical. Then we did a little cleaning up around the area to get ready for concrete coming very early the next day!