Building the Shed

***UPDATED 1/27/10 to add pictures of roof!***

My Dad and John have been tirelessly working on building a shed in our backyard.  They had hoped to build it over the Christmas break, but as usual, it took a lot more time, money, and MANY MANY MANY more trips to Home Depot than they had expected.  Rollie came over and helped a few weekends too.  They were a good team and did a great job!  All that's left to do is to move it into position against the garage and fence next weekend.  I can't wait to go through the garage and get everything organized now that we have extra storage space!!

 Digging trenches to pour concrete

The site supervisor

Prepping to lay rebar

We're ready for concrete!

Concrete poured and grass dug out

Time to lay down the plastic and pour sand

We had to buy SOOOOOOO many pavers and move them all by hand.

Site supervisor inspecting the work.  She approved.

The walls are going up!

Nice paint job!

Look at all of this storage space Nala.

Look at those perfect rows of shingles!!

 The guys also installed several vents.

 

Looks great huh???

Fallen tree limb

***Updated 1/27/10 to add picture at end***

We weathered the rain storms pretty well last week. John and I both love the rain. Nala's not so crazy about it, but she does ok. If she feels raindrops when she pokes her head out of the doggy door, she reverses right back into the house. We have to go out with her so that she'll go potty or she'll just hold it all day.

We didn't have a leaky roof or flooding, but the winds early in the week tore a big limb off of our backyard tree. We were VERY lucky that it fell perfectly so that it didn't hit anything (including Nala!). The limb broke off and spun 180 degrees before landing on the grass. John got to get out his power tools and cut it up this weekend. We're definitely going to get the tree professionally trimmed this Spring!

Surveying the damage

All of the wet weather (and tree limbs falling) is worth it when you get see beautiful rainbows as the skies clear.

Nala's new bathtub

For any of you dog owners out there who end up with a sore back every time you give your pooch a bath in the bathtub, we've got a product for you! It seems to have been around for a long time but it's new to us. It's called the Booster Dog Bath and we ordered it from Costco online. (Costco has some wonderful dog products at great prices. We love their beds.) Now John can wash Nala without being all hunched over in the bathtub. You can remove the legs so that it doesn't take up as much storage space. It's great!

There are safety straps that hook onto her collar so she doesn't try to hop out.

The water just runs out the back of the tub.  There's even a little holder for the shampoo!

Stop taking pictures and get me outta here Mom!!

I don't know about your dog, but ours goes on a rampage after she has a bath.  John dries her off and cleans out her ears, etc.  And then she goes nuts!  She tears around the house like a wild thing.  It usually only lasts a few minutes, but it's hilarious!

Picture post!

Just a few pics of our holidays ....

Baking cookies

 

Bobby's 29th Birthday - Dec. 23rd

Yay!  I got the Cabella's exotic meat pack.

Dixie and Nala loved Mimi's doggie ice cream cups. They were trying to lick it out of the cups at lightening speed!

 

Taylor loves her Papa!

 

Nala's 1st Birthday & Christmas Eve

Our puppy turned 1 year old! Even though she's a big girl now, she's still a puppy. She loves the Kong frisbee that John got her. She's pretty good at catching it now.

Christmas Eve was spent at my Grandparent's house this year. Everyone had a great time. It's nice to spend time with family during the holidays.

Aunt Elaine and Uncle Bill

Renee and Taylor

Grandad

Bobby and Brian

Teresa, Michael, and Aunt Elaine

Caitlyn

John

 

Grandma

April and Aunt Lori

Debbie and Angela

My mom with her crushable golf hat

Careful Uncle Bill ... you're just asking to get puked on

My Dad

Matthew

Julia

April and Caitlyn having a good time after all of the presents were unwrapped.

John made Christmas cupcakes so we could sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus (Our family does this every year).

Caitlyn sure had fun eating her cupcake!!

 

Debbie and John

Christmas Day - Didn't take too many photos. We were too busy unwrapping presents!

John made breakfast and both sets of parents came over to eat with us.

Guia came to breakfast too.

Check out that roaring fire!!

Taylor lasted for one present, and then slept the rest of the time. It will be more exciting next year.

We had one pooped pooch at the end of the night.

Awwww ...