surprise! there is a pool under there...

I always hate it when other people are right!  I guess when it comes right down to it, there is a possibility that other people are as smart as I am.  But, when we heard people who we knew had built their home and they loved to tell us all of the stories about all of the things that could go wrong, I just assumed that those problems would never happen to us...and, I sure did not think that we would experience issues on the very first day! 

Apparently, the lot cannot be graded, cleared, and readied for the foundation if there is an unidentified metal pipe sticking out of the ground where the master bedroom is supposed to be.  So, our builder advised us to call Atmos and have them remove the pipe to confirm that it is not active.  I guess an explosion would be frowned upon.  Atmos told us that it would take up to 20 business days before a technician from Atmos could perform the work.  It also didn't help our cause that this all happened around the holidays, but it did take nearly a month for them to cut the gas off and work could actually start happening!

Awesome, right?  Yes...until they discovered that there was a pool under the enchanted forest (a portion of the property was covered in ivy which I called the enchanted forest...it stuck!).  Behold, the enchanted forest!

Of course it wasn't an enchanted forest, because at one point there was a pool there!

But, after countless hours of jackhammering and lot clearing and grading, the crew readied the property for the foundation team.

Let the waiting begin...