Tomorrow, the ground breaks

So I verified with my PM that we are still on schedule to begin digging tomorrow.  Forecast shows for rain tonight and tomorrow, so I am realistic it could be put off.

I have perused a fair amount of Ryan home building blogs.  I am happy to find some that have just started the process.  Checking their blogs along the way will be interesting on how it's going, what they are doing etc...

A little more "catch up" info as I started this blog late.
-The lot - a little more "not flat" then we first hoped when looking, but the front yard and about 15 feet out the back door is flat.  It slopes down from there.  Works for me because I am not a big fan of mowing grass.  Ryan wanted to too much money to cement the front/back yard and painting it green!

- The Ravenna - We came close to pulling the trigger on a Naples, Milan, and a Florence.  I don't have anything negative about those floor plans.  Our sales rep is fantastic and listened to what we wanted in a house and she matched us up to a couple choices.  The Ravenna won out.  I can't lie, I am looking forward to NOT hauling laundry downstairs as we will have a second floor laundry.

- Some (but not all) Options -
    Covered front porch (approx. 6ft X 20ft) - this has always been on my wish list for years, very happy to get it.
    Upgraded hardwood through out first floor except Family and Living room.  Shell wanted it to stretch into the Dining room.  Now this dining room floor thing was funny.  We both agree that we may not see a lot of use in there, but she still wanted to lay the hardwood and then plans to cover it with a decorative rug. I didn't really care, but it was fun to give her some grief about it.  <insert her calling me a bad name here>
    Kitchen is getting the can light option, gourmet island, 42" cabinets....upgraded to "Rushmore Square Maple Glaze Butterscotch"  it's a mouthful!  We are sticking to laminate counters, but upgraded that.  And it has a nicer edge (versus squared off-not a fan of that)  Ryan wanted something like $6g's for the granite counters.  Granted I really wanted them, but decided to hold off for a few years and revisit upgrading counters then.  I plan to put the under cabinet lighting myself.  I completely remodeled my kitchen a few years back and can handle the tile backsplash, under cabinet lights, etc... my self at a cost savings.
    Morning room with fan rough in.  We decided to skip the extra windows (put that money towards extra windows in the Master Bedroom)
    Family Room, Upgraded carpet with 10lb pad (with moisture guard...we have dogs)  and.....AND..... I got my upgraded, kick ass, stone fireplace!  This was a "bump" after we saw a model with it.  We also have a fan rough in AND four can lights.
    Nothing fancy in the master bedroom/bath aside from the extra windows.  We decided against upping the bathroom except better cabinets and a double bowl.  The garden tub is not that important to us nor is the cost to bump it.

I won't bother with color selections here.  I will wait for the pictures to show off.

There is more to yap about, but this hits the major stuff.