hike it baby 30 | september 2020.

 We participated in our EIGHTH Hike It Baby 30 Challenge this month, an initiative to get families to spend more time outside. These challenges are always so fun for us, because we keep a detailed record of all the memories we're making. I don't always keep track of how long we're outside on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis -- but I always do during challenge months. This time, we spruced our mileage tally up a bit. Every time we walked / hiked a mile, Braxton (sometimes with Bethany's assistance) colored in a rectangle until our chart was full. They loooooved this part!

The challenge, itself, is this: hike/walk/bike 30 miles with your kids and/or spend 30 minutes outside 3 days a week with your kids. This challenge was a little more normal than the last one, because we reincorporated a few trail miles. Hallelujah! One of our goals for 2020 is to become Ultimate Outsiders (visiting all 47 SC State Parks), and we visited five new-to-us parks as we work haaaard to meet our goal. We are officially over halfway there, but we still have a lot of park hoppin' to do if we want to make it happen! Can we do it?! We shall see!

Most of our miles were logged from walking around our beloved neighborhood, taking in the sights and sounds of home. We always get honked at at least once every time we walk our streets, and it's one of my favorite things.  I love our small town and the friends-turned-family it has given us over the course of our lives! I especially love that friendliness is something my kiddos are familiar with because of this, too. I had the best neighbors growing up, and I am grateful that my little ones know the power of good, dependable company at an early age, too.

During this challenge, we logged a total of 38 miles between the pavement and the trails, and spent 111 hours outside during the month of September! That's an average of 3.7 hours outside each day. Considering that we've also been trying to get into the swing of school for the first time, I am especially proud of these numbers! I think we are all definitely happiest when we are breathing in fresh air, so it's a fun to be intentional in making sure we get as much of it as possible into our systems. Extra perks if my kiddos can get dirty while breathing deep, too. LOL!

I remember being quite (ahem) emotional last September, because I was expecting that to be the last fall challenge with Braxton with us for all the miles. One blessing of Covid-19 has been all the time we've been able to spend together as a family, and this challenge was one of them. My first baby hiker got to be with us for every mile, and we even got to spend two "school days" exploring in both SC and NC. What a precious gift! These are the days that become memories so quickly, and I'm thankful for the gift of more time and adventures with both my babies in tow. E-learning may not be everyone's favorite thing, but (unpopular opinion comin' atcha...) I have genuinely loved it. 

Here is a glimpse of our fun month, doin' what we do...

Trail Hikes: 3

Trail Miles: 6.5

Total Miles: 38

Total Minutes Outside: 6,630

p.s. 2020 may not have looked like we all thought it would, but there is still so much good all around us. Look for the good, friends. A small act that does wonders for the soul!

April 2016 || September 2016

April 2018 || September 2018

April 2019 || September 2019

April 2020

bargeron barn | doors.

As of the day before we left for our recent (epic) two-week vacation, the barn is officially closed in! Our goal was to get to this point before we left our house vacant for so long, and we were puuuumped when we actually pulled it off. We used the same material for the barn doors as we did the ceiling because we loved the look of the panels, and we looooove how they turned out.

Side note: my man can BUILD things, y'all! He's such a freaking HUNK!

Okay, I just had to get that out publicly, because he has been suuuuuch a force in working to finish this project. This has been his baby since March, and I'm so proud of the ways that he has learned new skills and not given up until he's mastered them. He's quite the perfectionist (which is sometimes frustrating and others times amazing, LOL), and it has definitely paid off for us this time. I'm proud of him, and the best part -- he's proud of himself, even if he doesn't admit it.

I love catching him in action.

And here is the fun part -- the big reveal!

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see a few before and after shots. The transformation is amazing and so, so beautiful!

Isn't she beautiful?! We are sooooo in love!

Here are a few fun before and afters, just so we never forget the humble beginning that this building had.

We went from three open bays and a shop room to three enclosed rooms that each have a unique purpose.

Side / Frontal View

Tool Room / Man Cave

Before: three open bays
After: two distinct rooms with doors.

At this point in the process, we only have finishing touches left to go. And aren't those the most tedious part of the process? LOL. The lights have been purchased, we just have to install them. The outlets have been wired, we just have to get the breakers situated and get the power turned back on. We need molding for the floors and ceilings. You know, little things like that that add up to one big thing. The hardest parts are over, and now we just have to finish this beauty and start enjoying her!

It's crazy that I only have one more post to share about this, but it's true -- the next time you see an update, it will be the finished product. EEEEK!! Here's to hoping that it happens sooner rather than later. Like I said, we are soooooo close!

This sure has been fun.

Who would've ever dreamed that we could have pulled something like this off without killing each other or financing our dream. I love living inside every day miracles!

bargeron barn | electrical + dry wall + ceiling.

It has been quuuuite a while since I've shared an update on how our barn / garage is coming. My lack of updates hasn't been because there hasn't been anything happening, but rather because there has been SO much happening in regards to this project. We have been little worker bees over here!

We have devoted an enormous chunk of our lives and finances to this huge project since we officially "broke ground" in mid-March. This project has kept us busy and laser focused for nearly six months now, and I'm grateful that we are nearing the end. I think TJ an I have both loved taking something broken and making it so beautiful, but I'm thankful that we'll be able to check this off our list in the coming weeks and turn our focus to being able to enjoy the space instead of trying to create it. This is the biggest project we've ever taken on, and I think we both feel like we can conquer the world now. LOL!

The next few things we completed were basically done simultaneously, hence why there are three focuses of this post. First, TJ ran electrical throughout the whole building. This was a tedious part that included drilling holes through wood and running power through them. We needed lots of guidance on this part because we had never done anything like this before, and we were soooo thankful for the friends who coached us during this phase. Whether it was through a quick phone call or someone stopping by to give us a visual, this part of the process would have been a lot harder without their wisdom.

After electrical came the beast known as sheetrock! Hanging the sheetrock was one of my favorite parts of the whole process, because we could finally see what the space would look like with each space being separated. We (TJ especially, of course) spent lots of hours cutting and hanging, and we decided to hire someone to mud and tape it because we wanted it done both right and quickly. We, also, had our faithful helpers stop by to hang and cut, too.

Like with several stages of this construction, what we thought would be less thinking and more manual labor turned out to hold its own challenges. Fortunately, however, we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning the day before the the mudding/taping began to finish all of it. I, also, did some cleaning this night for the first time in a few weeks, too, and it felt so good to do some tidying. Contruction dirt is no joke!

We started on the ceiling during this time, too. This was a bit of a doozy, because our original plan for them went out the window when it looked horrendous. You know how some things work better on paper but not in real life? This was one of those times. We were trying to save money by doing it one way, but we ended up deciding to spend extra to get material that would 1) not drive us mad trying to hang and 2) look great for a looooong time. By the time we got to the ceiling, we were already projected to be over budget, so we just resolved our minds to be content with a better built space for more money than we originally planned.

Verdict: we are SO pleased with how it turned out! Definitely worth the extra cash.

And here you have it! All three rooms with drywall, mud, tape, and fresh ceilings! WAHOO!!

This is the tool room / man cave.

This is the place where the Chevelle will call home.

And this is the large center room that will be used as a gathering space. See that good lookin' shiplap on the back wall? I loooooove it! Especially how it flows so perfectly with the ceiling.

Stay tuned for what comes next! We are SO close to finishing this beast of a project!!

bargeron barn | siding.

Of all the steps we've taken during this reconstruction thus far, this one wore on me the most. Whew! It wasn't so much that it was hard, but that it was a lot. A lot of hanging. A lot of waiting. A lot of thinking. A lot of hurrying. A lot of cutting. Just a lot. This phase took us about three weeks from start to finish, and I'm grateful that this beast is behind us. LOL!

I'm, also, grateful that we decided to start this project in the spring before the weather gets too hot. There were even a few genuinely chilly days mixed in here, and they were nice for working in the sun. The kids played with the scrap wood (as usual) while we hung nearly each wood plank, making this truly a family bonding experience.

Regardless of how it felt like it dragged on (even though three weeks really isn’t that long), this phase definitely shows off the transformation the most. It finally looks the way we want it to, sans doors!

We bought rough-cut wood from the same man we bought from our first build, because we love the look and quality of his work. We weren't disappointed once we started hanging the planks up - we LOVE how it turned out! He is located in Gray Court, too, so we were glad to support a local business.

Braxton helped us often, of course. He loves to help with whatever we're doing - especially so with this project, because he currently says that he's going to be a builder when he grows up. Sweet thang!

Both Methus (our friend) and Pops (TJ's dad) pitched in with this milestone, and we were thankful (as always) for their willingness to jump in and offer their brains, hands, and experience to us.

Braxton was excited to get some experience on some new tools, too!

Bethany could care less, hence why she's no where to be found on the jobsite. LOL!

I, also, learned that Teesh thinks I'm quite the looker with a nail gun in my hand. ;)

And just like that, after three weeks of buying, picking up, measuring, cutting, and hanging wood, we put our last piece on this past Friday. Wahoo!

Here is what is currently looks like...

The next things on our list are to build / install barn doors, run electrical to the building, install drywall in each room (3), and close in the ceiling. After that, we'll be all done. We are sooooo close! And we are soooo excited. We haven't compleeeeetely busted our original budget either, although we are projecting to be about 8% over our initial number. I know, I know -- it's kiiiiind of nerdy to have it down to a percentage like that, buuuuuuuut it works for us. Anyway, we had a pretty conservative budget for this big project, and we're pleased with the decisions we've made that have cost a little more than they could have if we'd chosen to cut corners.

Shameless plug about our debt free journey: although we are very early in our journey toward becoming financially independent (meaning, a high savings rate with retirement, net worth, and hopes/dreams in mind), this project has been the biggest confirmation that we are on the right path. Until we changed our mind and habits around money two years ago, this project was just something we had *hoped* we would get to complete *one* day. Now, we are witnessing the fruit of our labor in a way that's pretty extravagant for us. I will never not be out-of-my-mind grateful that we took that step on our Day One. Praise!

*steps off soap box*

Here are a few before / after peeks at the progress we've made since we started at the end of March:

Side view, from our backyard.

Side view, from the street behind us.

Front view, of what used to be three open bays.

It's amazing how different it looks now. Hardly recognizable, especially when you look at it from the front. I think that it looks so much bigger now that the color is lighter, too. Isn't it crazy what color can do for a space?!

Many of our neighbors (most of which have lived in their homes for a long time) have stopped by as we've been working and shared how proud the previous owners would have been. This always makes me smile, because we genuinely want to honor them with every project we complete here. They say that a lot of fun was had out in this building years ago, and we're grateful to continue that legacy while adding our own flare to it. We honor the fact that it was someone else's before it was ours, and we hope that they would be proud of what we've done to their old home.

This is what our little slice of heaven looks like from the road. My hydrangeas are blooming (swoon!), my ferns are still hangin' on (it's been a little touch and go if i'm being honest, LOL), annnnnd you can see our barn tucked in the back there on the right. The grass still needs some TLC, but we've been tryin', y'all. LOL. It's pretty surreal to see something come to life before your eyes after sketching it out so many times on paper. We are so proud of and thankful for all the fun we've had turning our home into the best version of itself.

Full heart over here, y'all. A full, full heart.