It's Been 8 Years?! (75/366)

Sunday March 18, 2012

November 3rd, 2003: We broke ground on our house that sits on a modest 6 acres.

June 12, 2004: We moved in.

March 12, 2006: Hannah joined our family.

March 2, 2009: Ava joined our family.

Where has the time gone?  This June, it will be 8 years that we have lived here.  I am ashamed to say we have a LOT of work to do around here.  We originally built this house to flip it right away.

That didn't happen.

Luckily, we had a hand in the design and we are convinced this will be the only house we ever live in.

That's good because we love it here.  Our house is simple, and comfortable.
We just re-graded the front, side and back yards last fall.  We need to plant grass, and get the landscaping finished up.

We're starting to notice weather wear and tear on the house - it needs a good powerwash & scrub.

Speaking of powerwashing: today, we powerwashed the deck for the first time. 

Ever.

Can you say EWWWW?

We have composite railing and a regular deckboard floor.  We live on a wooded 6 acres with a natural "swamp", "swail", whatchamacallit in the backyard.

Needless to say, things have the potential to get wet (moldy) and dirty around here. 

We've never owned a deck furniture set.  Our yard itself is not shaded at all, and the back deck gets ALL of the hot afternoon and evening sun. 

We're NEVER out there.

But since we did the yard last fall, we expanded our backyard to almost three times its original size. 

We're going to start using the deck more. 

Especially in the evening.

So, we powerwashed it.

It took 4 and a half hours just do to the railings.

I'm going to finish the deck floor this week.

It looks and feels brand new.

It's funny how things get away from you when you live your day-to-day.  One day you wake up and your first baby turned 6, your baby baby turned 3, and your deck hasn't ever been washed.

Well, we're finally getting to those big to-do projects that everyone else seems to be able to do on an annual basis.

And it's really nice.  Like I said, everything feels brand new.

Today, I'm thankful for elbow grease, amazing weather in March, and teamwork.  Together we're really making things look nice, and it feels really good.

Also in June: Our 10 year wedding anniversary.

Hopefully we're done "spiffing up" the house by then, so we can relax and celebrate!