Working on house

Here are some shots of us fixing the house we live in. Thanks to S and B for letting us move in here. This is our attempt at growing a garden in the back yard. There just wasn't enough sunlight for the plant's to produce any fruit.

We decided to give up, and planted grass. We hope it will sprout in the next week and a half.

Before we moved in, we knew there was a water leak. We figured out that the leak was between the home and the meter, so we had to have a contractor come in and replace the main line. He got a bit wild with the backhoe and ripped out the yard and the brick column. We had that fixed, and since that time, have replanted the grass and we built a gate for the front yard (Thanks for the shop time Fred, at SugarPost Pottery. Also thanks to our neighbor Tim for the welder/tool time too) .

It works great for keeping little ones from running into the street.

When they did the digging for the water main, they didn't pack the dirt down well enough. We've spent hours and hours at the hardware stores, finding parts for all the leaky valves, and parts to hook up the water main, (the contractor wouldn't do indoor work at all, so he left it up to me!?!?! Like I have any qualifications. S and B, you might want to have a plumber inspect my work when we move out!) After watering the grass seed for a week, a big hole started to form. We hauled dirt from the back yard and filled it in a couple of days ago. We are excited to see what the lawn will look like this spring.

The roses are growing again too.

One of our favorite projects has been the front deck. When we first moved in, it had quite the drop off the edge. We threw together a temporary set of steps, but knew that we would fix it nicer after a while. After buying a table saw, we got to work with a bunch of old wood we've found around the neighborhood. We built a little fence and gate, and then put together some steps.

With a bit of paint, the porch and steps really came to life.

Also, since we were kind of low on paint and used only a thin coat, and because we got on it when it was a little wet, it looks like the steps and gate have been there for a long time! We are able to keep the little one from diving off the edge now.

We found an old door to a fence that was tongue and grove, like the deck, so we cut it up for the deck of the steps.

We still have one step to go, a bit trickier than the other two, but one of these day's well get there.

Trip to the Beach...

We went to the beach on Sunday. Yes, the beach in Salt Lake City. It is the first time we've every been out to the Great Salt Lake. Here are a few shots that our friends took.