Few people in their early forties can say they own a beautiful log home free and clear. Glenn and Angie LaBar proudly make just such a claim, however. They nurtured their lifelong dream with careful planning and frugal planning.

Glenn, an Air Force major and New Jersey native, was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the early 1980s. "I drove out to the Granite Reservoir area," he recalls, "and I knew this was where I would build the home in which I would retire."

Wyoming is also where he met Angie. After they were married, the couple returned from a duty station in North Dakota to Angie's home community and began planning for their new log home, 25 miles west of Cheyenne in the Medicine Bow National Forest. Though Angie anticipates working several more years at the Wyoming Department of Employment, they built the home with their retirement in mind.

"During the early years of our marriage, we lived in apartments and slowly began the purchase of furniture, all the while considering if it would fit into our new log home," Angie says. After 20 years of apartment living, they also were tired of white stucco walls and wanted logs for the interior walls to add a warmer feeling. They tried to use as little drywall as possible, although, Glenn says, "Angie did convince me we should have at least one white wall."