What a rush, we are SO close to having the fence on the side finished. At about 9:30 last night Tad and I put in the last screw for the gate. Now all we need to do is put the wheels on the bottom, and the slats on the front and we’ve done it!

Once we had the posts in and cemented we left them for a day to settle then hung the stringers. Then a day or two later we put up the first half of the slats, then spent all night last night finishing the center section. We were hoping to get more done so we put together the gate in the dark using flashlights and the lights of the saw and drill. I was in charge of measuring and cutting all the wood so tad could level and hang it. We made a great team!

Eventually we will have the pool up! And the flower bed around it cultivated rather than just a pile of dirt. But isn't it beautiful? I'm getting excited!

It was such a gratifying experience to stretch out my back, wipe the sawdust from my face and look at the fence we had built. Slivers, cuts and scrapes... accompanied by some blood and plenty of sweat... the perfect ingredients for a beautiful cedar fence. One down and an entire front to go... hmmmm. Where I'm standing to take this picture is where the gate will go. 

 Our neighbor Don was out to supervise the fence building haha. He is a pretty cute old man and a hard worker for a man of his "experience". He kept saying how thankful he was that Tad is a "master engineer" because Tad designed the fence and worked up all of the figures and measurements beforehand. So Don just kept asking questions like: how is this supposed to work, should I go get a drill and start putting in screws, or how many slats should I put here? Tad is very patient and kind. He even dealt with a few of my less than perfect cutting jobs with the circular saw. 

THE WEEKEND ENDEAVORS:

A DATE at the DUMP and not feeling well. 

Last Friday I developed an incredibly annoying headache while I was at work, I kept trying to push it off and move on because it was date night! And I love date night. I came home threw my hair in a messy bun and asked Tad what he wanted to do first. He explained he had changed his mind and wanted to load the old fence onto the trailer and take it to the dump. I can laugh about it now, but then it was not so funny. A DATE AT THE DUMP, every woman’s dream! And so we loaded the old fence, took it to the dump then realized the Green work truck was still being used so we filled our time by getting gravel since we still had the trailer from my parents. At this point in our date, we are filthy, hot and smell …… like the dump. J I’m starving because work was busy and I had not eaten lunch. My plan was to come home and eat… then the dump was going to close, then the stone place was going to close… later and later into the day it went.

FINALLY we had done what had to be done, my head felt like it was going to split my stomach was not feeling well at all…. So we went to dinner. I was stubborn and determined to get some part of my date right and take my sweetheart to dinner. We get to Chili’s order and by the time the food comes I’m scoping out a bathroom. Then waited in the car while Tad had them put our uneaten food in boxes and then went home to bed. Boy am I thankful for a great husband who is compassionate and caring. He took great care of me.

 A new project is in order. The fence that stands on our south yard line has been exposed to abuse over the years and has proven to be on its last post. We currently have boards holding it up in companionship with our neighbor’s tree which the fence is secured to at the moment. The time has been long awaited for these changes to happen. After a few years of saving the planets have aligned, which is a great way of saying (blessings from God) are coming our way!

 My parents were incredible and allowed us to borrow their trailer we spent 2 hours counting and loading wood from Home Depot. It took 4 carts in the end. Only two are pictured. This is just the first installment since we didn't want to over load the trailer.

All the workers kept asking, "Think you guys have enough wood?" One of the workers turned to Tad at one point and said, "Man, that is one BIG honey do list. You are going to be working overtime!" 

Hahaha. Little did he know Tad and I WORK TOGETHER and PLAY TOGETHER. It is plenty of work, and well worth it for the gratification you get in the end when you can look at the finished product and say WE turned our dreams into reality with hard work and love. 

 

Once we had the trailer loaded we took it home to unload it. Can you believe I only had one sliver?! I shouldn't say that yet since it is truly only the beginning. Toward the end the sweet Elders came over and shared their young missionary spirit with us by volunteering to help us unload the trailer. It was so nice of them! 

This is a picture of our south side yard that we are working on. You can faintly see the black lines we sprayed on the grass to mark the outline of where we need to renovate. We had blue stakes come out and now just need to rent the tractor. The wood stump is our "chopping block" which is also the center of where our little pool goes in the summer.

Once it get's warm we should have the space ready to put the pool in. As you can see the fence is leaning, and is held up by 2x4's and nailed into our neighbors tree. The new fence wont have sections of plywood either! 

May the work continue, and the pay off be ever fruitful!