It's Not Just a Patio Cover, It's an Edifice!

Asher-kins,

Your dad and I have embarked upon a journey many Americans choose to take.  Namely, home improvement projects!  Oh yes, not for the faint of heart.  We have decided to put a patio cover over the back porch.  This will make it a very nice area for picnics and BBQs in the backyard.  Luckily, we have an engineer in the family (Papa Bruce) and he and your dad were able to come up with a dyn-o-mite plan for the patio cover.

We are also very blessed with some good friends and family who came over on Saturday (Oct. 21st) to help us erect this testament to man's ingenuity!  Some photos to commemorate this day.

It all started with three beams...
Dad and Papa Bruce set the beams in the holes, then put concrete around them to hold them up.
Dad and Grandpa Art are measuring the beams to cut them off to the right height, and Glenn is preparing the corble for drilling
The hardest part was getting those heavy cross beams up on top. But between Azin, Dad, Pat, Glenn, Kurt and your two Grandpas, we were able to hoist them up there!
Bolting another beam to the studs in the house was also a bit of a challenge.  But Papa Bruce came up with a plan to use a (light) 2x4 as a template so when the beam was ready to go up, all the guys has to do was hold it while it got bolted to the wall.

We sure got a lot done that Saturday!  I was completely impressed and very thankful that it went so smoothly and no one got hurt.  We still have some more work to do on it, but most of the heavy lifting has been taken care of!

Love,
Mom

Dad put some neat designs
in the concrete around
the beams with rocks

You and Grandma supervised
the work progress

And when you were no longer needed
in a supervisory capacity, you helped
me and Auntie George in the kitchen