WARNING: This is SUPER long...if you want, just skip the long story and look at the new patio!
This summer's major project (and expense) was getting rid of the ugly, red, low-quality, fake Trex deck out back and put in a beautiful, new, stamped concrete patio. I am a patio person; I always prefer them over decks (I realize it is strange to even have an opinion about this, but if you are reading my blog then you probably know me well enough to know that I pretty much have an opinion about everything). I think patios are cleaner looking and I don't have to worry about critters making their home under it.
Anyway here is how the story goes....I went to BYU Women's Conference in April (because I am a woman...something I still trying to cope with. I will always see myself as a girl; like a 17-year old girl, not a woman. I always feel a little old when I say I am going to anything "woman"-ly. None the less, I went and I had a great time), when I returned Scott had torn out the deck. I had counseled him against doing so before I left on the premise that once started I wanted the job done in a timely manner. I don't like living among construction, especially when I am very pregnant and have three young children who like to go outside (on occasion). I knew that he was anxious to start demolition; he is a man, and I think they live for destroying things. I was worried that without proper preparation I would be staring at a mud pile for much of the summer; this is something I did not want. Okay, so I returned from Women's Conference and low and behold there was no patio and just a lot of garbage, nails, boards, and MUD out my back door. I took a deep breath. That helped a little. Scott assured me I wouldn't be looking at this all summer. I never really believe him when it comes to timeline issues. He is a Fox (his mother's family) and anyone who knows the Foxes knows they don't have a great concept of time (if you are a Fox and you are reading this, I apologize for the honesty, but really by now I would think you are aware of this issue - you are still a great bunch of people and when it comes down to it I would prefer to be related to nice, late people than mean, on-time people). Anyway, after my deep breath I was able to resign myself to the fact that I would indeed be staring at a mess the whole summer, and this was ok.
Enter phase two....the concrete guy. We had a concrete guy come and give us a bid. We had seen his work on a neighbor's house and the bid seemed fair so we hired him. He said that, weather permitting, they would come in two to three weeks to pour the concrete. In my mind I was skeptical; that just seemed too soon and too simple. After all, that would make the whole project done by late May. Well, skeptics of the world unite, because once again the skeptic was right. If you were living in Utah during May and June this year you would know that the weather was NOT permitting - it basically rained nonstop those two months. So the concrete guy's other jobs kept getting pushed back, which was pushing ours back and this whole time I was looking at a big mud pile. Uggghhh.
Enter phase three....a sunny day at the end of June. We got a call from the concrete guy who told us that July 1st was the day! Yeah! It was cutting it close. I was due to have baby Davie on the 10th or 11th and heaven knows I didn't want to be dealing with this while trying to take care of a new baby and myself. July 1st came and so did the crew. I curiously watched every step - it was really interesting. I didn't realize what went into something like this. They probably got sick of me asking a billion questions. When they were done I wrote one of the larger checks I have written in my life, but after seeing what they had done I decided it was worth it. No more ugly deck!
Then came phase four....Scott needed to put on the rock siding, install the steps, and seal the whole thing. After that I wanted my pergola built over it. It was going to be glorious and I figured I would at least get to enjoy it during the month of August. Well, phase four took the longest. Baby Davie came early (bless him) and Scott's work became crazy busy all at once. July was basically gone before anything productive happened. After a lot of work (seriously a lot...I cannot emphasize enough just how hard Scott worked) and a couple of months the rock work was done. By the middle of October it was almost all done. It looks beautiful. But wait, middle of October!?! The rain and snow came early this year and made it really difficult to find a good day to seal the patio. We finally did that last week (we haven't sealed the rock work yet, because Scott needs to do some touch up work on that first). My pergola will have to wait until Spring; good thing I am patient. All in all, this was a LONG project (from April to October) and I have to give myself snaps because I was hardly a nag at all; I am being serious, I was so patient. I think I was able to accomplish this because Scott knows me so well he knew what I was thinking, so no need to say it. But still I didn't say much...good job Me!
Also, I have to add that the (mostly) finished product is beautiful! It turned out even nicer than I imagined and I really owe that to Scott - he did a great job. So here are some pictures...
The ugly red deck under Gracie's cute bare pigs...
The cement truck parked in front of our house...Adam was in heaven!
A princess always needs to have jeans and rain boots on while reading a book, right!
Davie has taken to the Johnny JumpUp quite well and the other kids love entertaining him while he is "swinging." (I keep having to remind them that it isn't a swing and to not touch him)
I was super-duper sick last week and Scott brought me home this! Wasn't that nice of him; it makes me happy every time I see it.
I really like this boy (and yes, I know that my cheeks are ridiculously huge. Alvin and the Chipmucks have been trying to recruit me for years to be their drummer. I just don't play the drums that well...well, I don't play them at all). Isn't he just the darlingest little boy you have ever seen (since Adam was this age at least).
Mmmmm, rice cereal. I am telling you, he is ALWAYS hungry. Adding solids has been a good move.
I decided that I didn't like having carpet in the computer room/art room, so Scott was kind enough to spend his Saturday putting in hard floors for me. I LOVE the result; it looks so much cleaner and the chairs slide in and out so much more easily. Plus I think it looks pretty! I love my Scott. 
This is with the carpet partially torn up.
End result (with dust particles flying around).
After we put the mish-mash of furniture in. I am really happy with how it turned out!
July 3rd...the pink stuff is foam Scott used to make a form. This was so that there was an overhang so that he could put rock on the side. They poured the steps in some forms that Scott made in the garage. I am telling you, I am married to a genius!
After the steps are in..this was a very frustrating process...Scott would have to go into why, it is long...No rock yet.
I haven't taken an official picture, but here is a family one that we took on Sunday. You can see the rock work in the background. I will post another picture soon...it looks really good. Isn't Davie cute!?!
( You can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger...I would click on the last one if I were you!)
