Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Picture Updates

Okay, pictures as promised:

My sister and brother in law Larry had a baby!!! Well, sort of:


His name is Benz (since Larry is a Mercedes mechanic). Mel and I drove to Kettleman City to pick him up, then jetted back to the beach house my parents were renting in Cayucos for a little family bbq:

Dad, Addy (and her new bike), and Benz:

Jerad and the Chicken:


Puppy looooooove:

Alcoholism runs in my familt starting at a young age. Jk, she grabbed my beer:


Jerad and Larry had a "moment." Also, where did Addy's boobs come from? She is my little little sister? Ahhhh


Fire down on the beach:

Oh yes, you can also see Hailey sho I managed not to take any other pics of. Sorry Hailey:)

Ken came over to help Jerad and Tom frame the new fence:

Million dollar retaining wall. AKA this is what I get instead of an engagement ring heh



Then the next Friday Jerad and I drove to Fresno and picked up this little guy:

He is a 5 month old Rat Terrier/Chihuahua mix named Jack and is sooo sweet. We are fostering him until he finds a forever home, which I think he has already; someone that Jerad works with and his wife. They are picking him up Friday to see how it works out on a trial basis.


Our dogs playing with Benz and Jack:



More Fence progress:


And then all our grass blew away! Jk, Jerad and 2 guys he works with ripped out all the old grass in order to get ready for new sod this weekend:

Our back lawn (besides being ruined by a year and a half of dogs and their doggie friends), had been planted about 4 inches too low by the previous owner. We talked about all different ways of fixing it and decided just taking the whole thing out, adding a ton more dirt, then new sod would be the fastest, easiest, most gratifying way to go. Plus the previous owner did something screwy with the sprinklers and if the whole lawn was pulled up Jerad could flush all the lines and figure it out and hopefully we could stop replacing sprinkler heads every few months.

The side yard also got leveled out in a way that it will drain where it should, and we bought 4 cu. yards of river rocks to put there.

Here is some of the progress:

Annnnnd about 1/2 of the rocks still need to be shoveled:


Isn't that what prisoners used to have to do?

Today after work I have a few more fence boards to stain and Jerad is going to set the posts for the gate that will be for the side yard. Friday night Jerad is building the gate for the side yard, then they are hoping to finish the fence Friday/Saturday. Saturday the sprinklers will get fixed and I'm having 6 yards of topsoil delivered that will be wheeled back there and packed down. Sod goes in Sunday (all 4000 POUNDS of it) and sometime during the weekend I will sand and stain the back deck and light colored fence to match the new fence. Maybe my new patio furniture can get set up too? That would be AMAZING.

Our friend Noah amazingly offered... with no coaxing or bribing or anything... to come over and help? WTF Noah?!? Jerad told me that Noah said to let him know if he needed any help and Jerad told him it was going to be shoveling dirt and rocks (aka not fun or easy work) and Noah was all for it. Wow. If he comes, I might cry. If anyone else wants to help out... um, its not really going to be fun, but I'll buy lunch and drinks? For some reason dirt and rocks are freakin expensive so that is about all I can afford haha.

The good news is, if everything gets done, we are going to have a kick ass party for my b-day and I think there is going to be a band. And beer. And bbq. Just sayin. So, if you're looking for a not exactly fun time, but to make me SUPER happy and secure yourselves an invite to my b-day bash of fun, hit me up yo!

5 comments:

lucinda! said...

noah told me about this. that he offered to help put in sod for you guys. i cant believe he offered, but then again noah really likes manual labor. he is a strange boy. he also told me about a party that you guys are having , but he thinks we might be out of town for my birthday. what day was your party going to be?

Steph said...

Yeah maybe since Noah is helping, I can get out of it? ha I wish! September 6th, its a Saturday... Are you guys going to be here? I havent officially invited anyone yet because I was waiting till the weekend was over and I would know for sure if everything would be finished in time since we will be gone NEXT weekend this is the only time we have to get things done. Yikes!

lucinda! said...

we will be out of town! my birthday is that sunday and so is my little sisters baby shower. is next weekend labor day? it is! oh wow. august went by so quick. maybe i could pitch in a bit too this weekend.

Steph said...

ya my b-day is actually labor day weekend (Aug 30th:) that was when we originally were going to have the party but things just weren't going to be done in time... sooo we are going up to Sacremento for Country in The Park then Whale Watching in Monterey! kinda excited!

Big M said...

I love how you didn't mention that our dog, Benz, and little Jack were gay lovers. Anyways, I am so excited about your party and from an entirely objective perspective (well, and being your nosey neighbor), things are looking GREAT over there! Too bad all of those projects can't get accomplished without actually having to do any work, huh? Sorry! Soon Steph, soon you will be done... And by the way, Noah and Lucinda totally kick ass for helping out!