Our New Deck!

Back in November, Derek's dad & step-mom flew in to spend the week with us & to help Derek replace our deck. This post is just now coming in January because the railing was on back-order for a while {it's amazing all the ways COVID has impacted our lives!}, and Derek just finished installing it this past weekend! He also used some leftover Trex boards and made us a new picnic table! The deck isn't completely done as we are still waiting for fascia boards to come back in stock, and then the next step will be to add lattice below the deck & a pergola above it. But it is done for now! And we are SO happy with how it turned out!

The original deck was wooden and was put in when the house was initially built 12ish years ago, and it was just really starting to show a lot of wear and tear. Derek & his dad replaced the deck with Trex, added in an additional set of stairs (yay!!), replaced the existing stairs (the original stairs were rotting), and put in reinforcements for when we eventually add on a pergola above the deck. And Grandma totally spoiled us all with her cooking, she got the chance to visit Shelby's class for Veterans Day, and she showered the kids with fun little surprises DAILY! Hadley loved cooking with Grandma, and both of the girls loved knitting with her!

{trying out their new looms from Grandma!}

{these two--especially Hadley!--kept themselves busy with random scraps from Dada & Granddad}

I wish I had taken before & after photos, but these will have to suffice! These next two pictures were actually taken about 2.5 years ago when we first moved in. It's kind of crazy to see these pictures--I barely remember this view!

And then here is the view today!

This was a big project, and we're so thankful for all the help we had from Grandma & Granddad to make it happen! Each time we've been out on the deck, we think about when they were here helping us transform it. Lots of memories were made!