All Hands On Deck

We built a deck this weekend. By "we" I mean Kyle, my Dad, my brother Joel, and my brothers-in-law Wayne and Jonas. I was mostly support staff, although I did a bit of manual labor. Hey, someone had to watch the kids, bring out snacks, refill water bottles, make fruit smoothies, take lunch orders, etc. The unfortunate thing about the deck building was that it took place during the heat wave that hit our fair city. It was about 95 degrees for three days straight. And then, when the deck was done, the temperature oh-so-conveniently lowered to a pleasant 73. I think we might have gotten the step platform and built in bench started if the weather had been more cooperative. But I'm satisfied with what we accomplished, and I'm excited to decorate my new outdoor space, just as soon as we save up some money to do it. Here are some photos from our first major building adventure as homeowners.

Figuring out the ledger board which we attached to the foundation of the house. Tricky stuff.

Jillian was a very popular person when she brought out the snack tray.

Jillian helped Grandpa measure and stuff.

Digging holes for pier blocks. Getting those things level took about 5 hours, I swear.

A ha! Finally, something that is beginning to look like a deck.

Getting ready to lay the decking boards. This was the fun part.

Final touches -- sawing off the edges and making everything look nice.

The tough work crew. They all did a great job. I hope they had fun, too. Is it possible to have fun when it's that hot?

Wow. Doesn't that look nice? A brand new cedar deck. It was christened with and orange soda spill and my niece peeing on it within 24 hours. Can't wait until it dries out so we can seal it!

Thanks so much to Dad and Joel for all the hard work. I don't think we could have done it without you! The finished deck looks really good. The wood is so pretty. I'll have to try to get a better picture. It's so nice to have somewhere to sit while we're outside. Can't wait to get a grill and entertain there. And after the work was done, we played! But that's a later post.

Amy