Staycation with my sister's family - July 2016

Dave and I took Thursday and Friday off so we could spend time with my sister and her family when they came up to visit. We didn't plan on it being 100 degree heat index, but we dealt with it. On Thursday morning, we went to see the High Trestle Trail Bridge. It was a hot walk out there, but my sister and her family loved it once they arrived to the bridge. The view was absolutely amazing and the hot breeze actually felt good. There wasn't much of a breeze on the trail.

Deck addition

For this blog, I decided to turn it over to Dave to give an update on the recent expansion of our deck. So here goes...

Since moving into our home a year and half ago, one of our favorite and most used spaces has been our covered deck. However, at 12 x 14 feet, the covered deck always seemed too small when we had family, friends and neighbors over. So we decided to do a little addition that would be uncovered, but give us a little extra room.  

We started by taking measurements, and decided to extend the deck by 8 feet out into our backyard, for a total area of 14 1/2 x 20 feet. We then reviewed the City Codes and submitted a building permit to the City of Ankeny for the low cost of $36. The City provides a good guide detailing minimum standards and I bounced a couple of ideas off of our Johnston Building Inspectors to make sure I would meet all of the Code requirements.  

Less than a week after submitting the permit, we were given the green light to proceed.  After pricing materials, we used Leachman Lumber to order the materials as they deliver, which was valuable as we had a lot of 16 foot long lumber, and they were also less expensive than Menards. The delivery driver was even kind enough to gently drop off the materials in our backyard, significantly reducing the distance we had to haul all of the lumber. We also requested Iowa One Call to verify we didn't have any buried utilities in the area we were digging, they responded in less than 24 hours from submitting our request.

The lumber was delivered to the back yard.  The spray paint/flags indicate that we didn't have to worry about any underground utilities.

Weekend Wrap Up (6.25.16-6.26.16)

This past weekend was quite relaxing as we didn't have a lot planned. We needed a weekend like that because it always seems like it's go...go...go, every weekend.

Saturday morning I taught cycling at the Ankeny YMCA. Once I got home we ran a few errands and Dave hung up my hammock. I bought this hammock for $54.95 on Walmart.com. We wanted a nice hammock to hang under our new deck addition and this one had great reviews. As you'll see from the photos, the kids love it!

Inspirational Quotes Thursday

Inspirational Quotes Thursday

Inspirational Quotes Thursday

Weekend Wrap Up (5.20.16-5.22.16)

This past weekend was a busy, yet eventful one for the kids. Ryan has been begging me to go home to my parents farm. He absolutely loves to ride on the farm equipment, see the cows, and ride the horses.

On Friday night, we went home and stopped at Dave's parents first so he could mow their lawn. As soon we pulled in their driveway, Ryan said, this isn't where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to the farm to see the cows. He's such a boy.

On our way home, I had to be sure to take a photo of the majestic clouds. They looked so beautiful with the farm field.