Deck Before, During, and mostly After

Ok wow. I knew I'd taken some time off...the longest break in this poor little blogs history in fact.

BUT, I didn't realize I neglected to show much of a completed deck. At all. The last deck post with pictures is here and that was clear back in May!

There are so many pictures to share, so curl up and settle in :)

The last post left you here,  

but I never showed you the cutting of the bricks in order to instal a new ledger board to increase the size of the deck.

It's serious business to think about cutting into the brick exterior of your home.  No going back after you do that!

 Beckham wanted in on all the power tool fun. He had to just watch for this part, he got as close as we would let him.

Alright, so skipping ahead because the last post talked about installing the new ledger board and all that, we had to double scab on the old joist to make sure they would support the new deck. BUT while were at it, don't those white columns look fantastic! Love a good white accent.

Are yard was a gigantic mess!

 Here is another really exciting part! The little bridge over the downstairs door. This little bridge allowed us to move the stairs and really open up the deck. It was SO heavy!

 Then after the did a dry fit they realized the ledger was not square, which is not a problem, but they had to custom fit the little bridge to compensate. Down it goes again.

 We put glue on the edge that butts up to the large portion on the deck to really help it be one solid piece.

 And it's up!

 It's starting to look so good!

 Here is a completed double scab on the old joist.

Can you see that little square just under that white plastic table? That was the home of the furthest post of the old deck. 

 There's that little square of cement again. We really bumped out the deck in a big way.

 May 25:

 we added stairs. Here are a few before pictures first....

A good shot of the double scab from the top.

 What under the deck looks like without stairs.

 Contemplating how much work needs to get done still.

 I don't have a picture of the stairs being built. If my memory serves me right, we had to be somewhere and Dave is a machine and whipped them out while we were gone. SUCH a hard worker!

I tried to help lift the stairs, but my height and the ridiculous weight of the stairs prevented me from being much help. Thankfully, our awesome neighbor has more than enough height and strength to spare!

After the stairs we worked on installing the trex to the whole deck. I don't know why I don't have pictures of that because it really took SO long.


 June 8:

 we worked on installing the post brackets.

 Oh, and in the next picture you'll also notice that we added white fascia to the outside of the deck. We really, really, REALLY wanted this to be super low maintenance.

June 9th:

Greg came to help and brought their awesome water slide to entertain the kiddos. Thanks!

 Here's a good shot of the fascia around the outside of the deck and on the stairs. Again, LOVE a good white accent!

 You'll notice that some of the posts are taller than others. That's because, eventually, we plan on adding a pergola over the deck and the tall posts will support that.

June 11:

 Posts with white sleeves and caps. Gorgeous!

 We used some Pick Your Plum twine and washi tape to determine how high we needed the bottom post.

 The stairs are wider than average and we love, love, love them!

Now one of my favorite bits. Outlets! Under the deck!

 That metal tube runs all the way up through the tall post in the middle on top of the deck for future lighting. Hooray!

June 14:

Adding post sleeves and more fascia to the stairs. 

 Nearly complete. Just needs a railing!

 Swoon. I love it.

 I jumped on the tramp and held the camera above my head to get these next shots. Excuse any blurriness.

How about a good before and after?

Before

After

 This spot on the end here is the site of the slide. I think I still need to take a picture of it.

June 15:

While researching railings, we discovered AGT. To purchase the railing from them AND have them install them cost just as much as just buying the railing from Lowe's. We were SO grateful at this point to have someone else doing installation! 

 The space between the two posts on the end are for the slide.

 Perfect shot of all the old deck wood sitting in our garden.

 Meanwhile, with all the old deck wood, Karaia built a thrown.

 Now comes the fun part of figuring out how to attach the slide.

 We had to trim a few of the trex so the slide would sit right up against the deck. Do you love how I say, "we" but it's rarely me doing the work ;)

And that's it for now. The slide proved to be a gigantic pain. But this post is far too long already. I will continue shortly....I hope!

Deck camping

Our ward's camp out is this weekend, but we have a bunch to do tomorrow so we had to stick close to home.

The kids were sad until we told them we would camp on the deck.

They are still awake. Who knows if we will ever get to sleep. Everything is too exciting to sleep when you are camping on the deck.

No jobs = no fun and something smells fishy

Today we had plans to meet with my cousins and their kids at a splash pad and have a picnic. I excitedly told the kids this and reminded them that we had to have jobs completed before we could go.

Beckham had a nana night scheduled and wouldn't be joining us, but I told him the same rule applied to him. No jobs = no fun.

It was so surprising to me that we still had the same battles over jobs we have every day. EVEN with the added incentive of something extra fun at the end.

We were an hour late to our play date.

I'm glad we went. They had a wonderful time.

We came home and just hung out reading and playing the Wii for awhile.

Then one of the school board members, Larry Smith, called me and talked for 45 mins about reasons behind the board's decision, well the maintenance manager's decision, to take out all the permanent goal posts at the schools...except for the ones on the soccer fields that the soccer club, Forza, doesn't use...because they claim they were safety hazards...except for on those fields Forza doesn't use. Apparently, those goals they are willing to take a risk with. OH and the board also claims they don't care about the soccer clubs. They only care about the kid's safety during school hours. Except, what about those permanent posts they've left remaining?

Right. I smell something fishy too.

I've sent a number of emails and keep chipping. They keep trying to cover something up. Thankfully, I don't get intimidated easily. They have sure tried.  Still, being lied to is exhausting.

 I'm grateful for Larry. He thinks they are hiding things as much as I do. It's nice to have an ally on the inside.

Kevin took Karaia to a baseball game. She had a great time and got a few signatures.

Tennyson and Sanders and I watched the movie "Elosie". Tennyson's pick. They were both so tired though that by the end they were wiggling everywhere just to stay awake.

It was really fun to just be me and the littles tonight. It reminded me of when it was just me and Karaia and Beckham at those ages.

Saying sorry is good

Beckham and I have a rough go of it today. I'm sorry was said in both camps. Sigh. Days like this make me really wonder about my ability to parent these amazing souls. I

I want to document all the wonderful things I know about Beckham.

I love his thirst for knowledge. That kid can't learn information fast enough.

I love his dimples. They only come out if he is really, truly smiling. If you see those you've hit gold.

I love his ability to eat broccoli even though, second to tomatoes, it is the worst tasting food to him.

I love his retention of gospel related things.

I love how he loves his siblings.

I love to hear him play the piano.

I love how quick he is to say he is sorry. And mean it.

I love how he is a good friend.

Of course the list could go on, but it's a good start.

The 4th

"I'm going to try the walk away slowly method next time."  -Beckham

This was said after he lit a few fireworks on his own and high taled it out of there to save his mom's heart from dying from stress.

After he successful slowly walked away from a lit firework with a humorous gettin on his face he contemplated,

"I feel like such an adult when Uncle Alex hands me the lighter and a fire work and I walk away slowly."

All I know is, I'm an adult, and I see it as life perservingly necessary to run from a lit bomb.

No matter how colourful the explosion promises to be.

Swimming

We started swimming lessons today. Each child has a private half hour lesson because that way I find that they actually learn how to swim.

Case in point Tennyson jumped off the diving board today and swam over to edge,all by himself. It does my mom heart good to know that he will be safe in the water.

Sanders has quite a ways to go but he thinks he can swim...which is kind of dangerous.I'm grateful that his teacher is helping him learn to be safe.

I wasn't able to watch Karaia and Beckham because Tennyson had piano lessons at the same time. But I hear they did great.

Tennyson and Sanders actually had two sessions of swim lessons today. One this morning and one in the afternoon. Because of the 4th of July holiday they won't get a full week so we're craming a full week into a few days.

I'm really exhausted.