Building the Deck

We got our backyard deck built over this memorial day weekend! It came out awesome, I'm loving it! Here's a picture review of all the work:

On Friday at lunch time the concrete came...4 wheelbarrels full:

Ben and I worked together Friday afternoon getting the concrete in the holes, and setting the base piers for the corner posts to go in later:

It is an exact science making sure they're all not only in the correct spot, but also at the right hight, and level!

Last view of our pre-deck backyard:

Andi watching us from her high chair with her new outside toys:

Playing on the redwood boards:

Eric Garris stayed with us for the weekend, and was a tremendous help getting it all done! While the concrete was setting Friday evening he and Ben went to Cheyenne to buy the rest of the redwood lumber for the decking, and on Saturday they worked together ALL day long.

The beginning is there!:

Measure twice, cut once! :)

Andi and I were there pretty much to make sure the men stayed fed and hydrated well enough to get their work done, but on Saturday afternoon Andi got sick and threw up, and was just feeling miserable. Because the weather wasn't all that fantastic outside anyway, I sat her in her highchair in recliner position by the window so she could rest and watch her daddy and Eric work. It was a pretty nice spot...

The progress by Sunday morning...the 'skeleton' is up! :

Sunday morning Ben and Eric went to church (I had to stay home with sick Andi), and after church Tom and Marilyn came over, and we had a delicious lunch of home made fried chicken, cole slaw, corn on the cob and bread. The three of us:

After food, it was time to get to work again! (fltr: Eric, Tom, Ben)

While the men worked, us ladies did our share of visiting and stitting in the sun! In shorts and a Tshirt enjoying the beautiful day! We brought out the playpen for Andi to sit in (thistles and dog poo in the grass), but she didn't last very long in there.

Soon she was back playing on the boards:

Our cutie in her pink shorts:

Practising her walking:

By Sunday afternoon Ben and Tom noticed that we were starting to run low on screws, so I went to town to buy some more... we needed about 20 lbs more of screws ... I went to ACE hardware, but they were almost out of stock. I ended up buying their last 2 lbs. I then went by Bloedorn and Probuild, but since it was a holiday weekend and a Sunday, they were both closed. Since we needed screws to continue the work, our only option then was to drive all the way to Cheyenne to get more. I wasn't too happy about this, since it was SUCH a beautiful day out, but alas, Marilyn, Andi and I packed up the car and headed out. On the way towards the highway though we drove by Probuild again, and I noticed the owner of the store out in front marking his parking lot. The store was still closed, but I figured it was worth asking, so we pulled over and I asked the nice man if he maybe had some screws for us to buy so we didn't have to drive all the way to Cheyenne. And he said yes! And, he had plenty of screws in stock! Yay! Praise!

On Sunday evening some more of the crew came out to help .... fltr: Eric, Tom W., Travis, Ben, and they finished putting up all the decking:

The progress by Monday morning: the decking is done, now "all" that's left is building 2 benches, and the 2 stairs!

Hauling in more redwood:

Andi enjoying the deck, the men in the background working on the bench.

Working on the other bench: Tom, Travis and Ben

By Monday afternoon she was all done! Isn't it a beauty!?!

Sideview with another set of stairs and a bench:

Of course we had to break in the new deck right away, so we had a little bbq!

Tom and Marilyn:

A few friends were there also, the Linds and the Watsons:

Jo and Sarah playing with a few blocks:

Having some burgers and hotdogs with friends...I think we'll have to do this a lot more this summer!

Eating some food on the bench:

Thanks everyone who helped us build it! I love my new outdoor living room!