Stairs!

While I was enjoying my busy weekend, Mike was busy working on the deck non stop. With some awesome help from family and friends we got quite a lot of the stairs completed! It is so amazing to see the end in sight. If only Mike didn't have to have surgery this well we could really crank it out, but maybe we can figure out how to finish the deck this week!

Fun weekend!

We had a busy and fun weekend. It started out with coming in 3rd out of 30 in a chili contest at Mike's work. I've placed in a couple ward ones, but this one we actually got a $50 gift card.



Then my sister Sarah's family and Jana helping us work on the stairs to the deck and pull a trash can full of weeds to prep for grass. That doesn't sound very fun, but with my sisters there is lots of laughing going on. We found out that Jana is the quickest at basically everything, and she can use a hand saw much better than Sarah and I. Then Saturday we got to go to our good friends baby shower. They are sister-in-laws and Kelly is having a boy while Christine is having a girl, so their friend threw a Dr. Seuss party and it was so witty and adorable! Then that night my sisters came up for the Relief Society broadcast and of course it was so nice to feel the spirit and be together. We then ended the night with service and lots of Drop Dead Diva episodes.  :-) I always love weekends with lots of family and friends.

Cute helper

While Carter is at preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings, Savannah and I have some one on one time which is fun because she is growing up so fast! She thinks she can do anything that you can do. One night Mike and I were working on the deck and all of a sudden Savi was by our side. She had climbed up the ladder and on to the deck without a sound! She is my independent child so I'm sure she'll give me gray hairs soon. So yesterday we went to the store real quick and she didn't want to sit in the cart so I gave in to letting her push the little ones. I was worried she would go crazy with it, but we had a good talk beforehand and she was absolutely perfect! I loved having my great little helper.

Corner railing

Tonight Mike finished an important part of the railing...the corner that we cut off at an angle. That decision looks amazing, but it was a lot of work every step of the way, and the railing was no exception! We had to order special brackets and gaskets to fit the corner, and the because of the angle Mike had to use his broken wrist to use the chop saw. Despite the pain and effort, it was all worth it because it looks beautiful! Just one more angle railing, two small railing areas, then the stairs and installing a slide off the side and our deck will be complete! Can't wait!

My Star Student

On Tuesday Carter presented his poster about himself to his preschool. He was one of many star students because the letter of the week is 'C' and there were like 6 other kids with 'c' names. He was so cute though and I was a proud Mama.  :-)

More railing

Every night we've been able to do one more section of railing and it is really exiting to see it come together. Our corners are at an angle so we had to order some special pieces that will hopefully come by Friday so we can finish it up. Then we just have the stairs! We found out that Mike broke his scaphoid, a bone in his wrist, but of course he can't take it easy. He goes to see the specialist tomorrow so hopefully he won't need surgery, but he'll be in a cast for at least 6 weeks. We're grateful that it was his left and not right hand so that he can still function.

Railing started!

Mike's brother and parents came to help us with the deck today. After some trial and error we figured out how to put together the beautiful Trex railing. Unfortunately, Mike fell off the ladder and hurt his wrist pretty bad so they didn't get as far as they wanted. Of course Mike didn't stop working. He is just keeping ice on it and using a brace to help. Hopefully some relaxing time at the cabin tomorrow will help heal it. If not we'll check it out on Monday. It is so fun to see the progress!

Taking pictures

Those with two or more kids, do you have the same problem as me where only one kid in each picture looks decent? I am hoping with my new HTC phone that can take multiple pictures by just holding down a button can help me with this problem.  :-)

Deck progress!

On Saturday, Mike finished the decking on the whole top of the deck!! It is so amazing to be able to walk all over without the fear of falling through anything. Of course we can still fall off since there is no railing or stairs yet, but we are so excited with the progress! Every cut was pretty excruciating with all the angles and variables, but Mike pulled off an amazing job. Fall bbq coming soon. :)

Little Things

It really is the little things in life that make me so happy. Like organizing a cupboard, checking things off my to do list, seeing beautiful flowers,  laughing at the cute things my kids do, posting to our blog, or doing absolutely nothing.

Big project

So the BIG project for the summer had been building a deck in our backyard. When we moved in there were a bunch of concrete stumps poured and a few huge holes for more stumps so we had to do a lot to just prep the ground for the cement pad to be under the deck. We are now about halfway done with the decking. We still have the stairs,  railing, and facia to put on, but it is really exciting to be able to walk on part of it. We did Trex decking so it will be nice not to have to worry about the finish for many years to come. It is hard to tell on the pictures, but we have two different colors of decking. The border is a lighter brown and the inside is a darker reddish brown. This project has been really difficult because of all the angles that come with our two bay doors as well as our design to cut the corners at an angle, but Mike is amazing and it looks so good!

Carter's first day of preschool

Yesterday was the first day of many more school days to come for Carter! We are really excited for this opportunity, and he had a great first day. He got to wear his new shirt the preschool gave him, and Savi liked to think she is as big as him.

Testing 123

Hi world! We are still alive and things are going well. I have gone off the grid due to no extra time for blogging, but I want that to change! I found this app awhile ago that would allow me to post from my phone, but it was giving me trouble. I tried the uninstall/reinstall so I thought I'd run a test.

Tonight we went on a walk and I didn't want to push both kids so I just brought the one seater stroller so they  could take turns. By the end of the short walk they were both tired so they let me capture this. Carter is so grown up at 4 years old and was a really nice big brother. He didn't complain once about his almost two year old sister sitting on him.  It does look like he's choking her, but she had a few seconds left of air. ;)