Wednesday's Work on the Deck

Dad and I have been working on the deck every night. We have most of the facia up. Mike Pedersen helped us tonight. It really picked up the speed.

Jonathan and Ethan Summer 2007

I am in the process of making slide shows of all the grandbabies/kids. This is a slide show that I made yesterday of Jonathan and Ethan(although Ethan is in only one picture - he was asleep in the stroller the entire time) at the beach. Dad flew in for Ethan's blessing and during that time we spent a day at the beach - it was wonderful, the beach is down a hill in a beautiful area surrounded on one side by houses. Jonathan played near a stream that fed into the ocean and we relaxed, flew a kite, and just enjoyed the day together. Hope you enjoy the slide show.

Dad and Uncle Brent last Saturday

Here are some more pictures of Dad and Uncle Brent working on the deck. We needed to rent an auger to dig the holes for the casings for the portico. Also, we rented a cement mixer to finish the job. Sorry about the picture that is sideways, I can't figure out how to delete it.

Preparing the ground for the flagstone

Last Friday I asked a landscape professional to give me advice on how to lay the flagstone in the area on the side of the house. He told me that I needed to even out the ground(it was on a slope) and keep the area low near the fence for drainage(we are in a flood zone). So Taylor Shapiro came over this morning and helped me by stacking all the flagstone and shoveling the rocks into place. I still have to compact the rock and maybe even add more. Then I need to put landscape boundary and sand on top of that - long process but it will be beautiful when it is done.

The new flagstone terrace

Earlier this week we inherited quite a bit of flagstone from our friends Milt and Carol Grover. The missionaries, Elders Williams and Corrado, helped me move the heavy pieces to our house. I plan to create a fountain out of some of the larger pieces (these are not pictured here). The pictures show the layout that Elder Williams made as we handed him pieces over the fence. You can see that I have my work cut out for me on this project. Well, the deck will be first and then Dad and I will work on the terrace. In case you aren't sure where this is, it is outside our dining room window. This space has always been an eyesore and I have planned to spruce it up "one day" so here I go! I plan on putting plants inbetween the flagstone and planting some bushes and flowers around the area.

Building the new deck.

Dad and I have been working on the foundation for the deck since May. I am the Gofer -and general holder-upper of the heavy beams so Dad can place them properly. (Dad really misses his boys help!) Yesterday (a hot - thus the umbrella - July 4th)we accomplished quite a bit. All the beams are in place and now we are on to the facia and end pieces. We still need to make the holes for the posts that will support the arbor. (That will be next year's project.) Brent came on July 5th to help Paul use the auger which we will use to dig the holes for the posts. We rented the auger -the rep thought I was going to help Paul with it - we all had a good laugh. He told me that I would be off the ground in an instant. That was quite the mental picture! I'll add the pictures of them usig the auger later today.

Slide Show of Ethan's Birthday

On June 2, 2008 Ethan turned one year old. In order to make Ethan's birth day a special event, Andrea and Keith decided to take Ethan to McDonalds for his first Happy Meal and later in the day to Chuck E Cheese. Jill and Randy (Granny and Grampsy) joined us at Chuck E Cheese for birthday cupcakes and pizza. Jonathan played all the games while Ethan played with his new toy dune buggy and crawled/toddled around. I created a slide show of his June 2nd birthdayevents. (His large family celebration took place the Saturday after Paul joined us. ) Hope you enjoy the slide show!