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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The Waldo Canyon Fire burned 346 homes in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood. Some of those homeowners have decided to rebuild, and for one family the process has already begun.

Joseph Boyd and his wife were two of the unlucky ones.

"The house just had 18 inches of ash in it, and everything was gone, just small trinkets were the only things we could find. It was a total loss," Boyd said.

He said when they heard the news that their home was gone they were devastated.

"You have hope that it will still be there, I mean you look around, there's still some houses that are up but we weren't as fortunate."

But he added that shortly after they decided it was time to move on.

"When we saw the final picture of our house it was devastating, but it made us think that now it's time to move forward and quit the emotional roller coaster."

He said from that point on the focus was on getting back home.

"We looked at different houses, and there's nothing. There's that old saying there's no place better than home and that's what this is to us," Boyd said.

With the help of State Farm, their insurance company, and Classic Homes the Boyd's already have the foundation in place for their new home in the very same lot where their old one stood.

"There's a lot of drive in all of us to get this done," Boyd said.

"We really have the best in the business out here helping our customers," Patrick Hall, State Farm Agent, said. "Whether it's agents taking phone calls, claims reps working specifically with policy holders to inventory their belongings, or whether it's our claim force that is helping folks kind of work through the recovery process. It's a real hands-on process, and we're doing everything we can to get them back to where they were prior to the fire."

Boyd said he hopes his progress will help inspire other families who lost their homes in Mountain Shadows to rebuild.

"Everybody takes their own time to come to a realization of what has happened and what to do, but I hope this inspires them to move on, carry on with life. It's not the end of the world, you can put this behind you."

Boyd said the fire has brought the Mountain Shadows community closer together than ever before, and he can't wait to get back.

"This is what keeps us going because there's something to look forward to, coming back home," he said.

If all goes according to plan the Boyds will be able to move into their new home by Christmas.

"I don't have words for that. That would just be the best Christmas ever," Boyd said.