Wednesday, May 20, 2009

FuN StUFf!

Last week was a great week! Our awesome Alec turned 12! He had a fantastic B-day party with a bunch of friends and then his grandpa Leish and his grandparents Peterson came in on the weekend !! Grandpa Steve has the same B-day as Alec so we had to do a little celebrating together! Alec was also ordained and set-apart on Sunday! What a neat day for him! Having two priesthood holders in our family now is pretty cool! Alec is getting so big....well, to me anyway... compared to some of his friends that you will see in the pics he is still a 'little' boy! hahaha! We are proud of Alec's accomplishments academically, spiritually and physically this year! He is really an AMAZING KID!
Enjoy some of the pics of our awesome weekend!
Birthday morning...before school!
Alec and a couple of friends, Matthew & Stone....jumping in!The B-Day Crew!
On Saturday, our friend Russell Robertson, gave my dad the 'exclusive' DALLAS tour....We saw Dirk Nowitzki's house, THE Jerry Jones Mansion!, All of down's finest, the new Cowboys Stadium, Texas Rangers Stadium and everything in between! Then he took us to his FAVORITE mexican/elsalvadorian restraunt (Glorias)....it was AMAZING!
Dad being crazy & braving the slide with the boys!Hot-tubin with the Petersons!
Birthday cheesecake from Alec's favorite....THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!

The LONGHORN Park....Scary! Holy WHite Boy!The NEW COWBOYS STADIUM! Pictures do NOT do this structure justice! It is seriously MASSIVE!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Time to hit the POOL!

I know, I know, I'm finally making back to the blogging world! Sorry for my hiatus....just busy, busy, busy! :)

ANyHoO, back in February we decided to go ahead with finishing our back yard and putting in a pool! NO, we did NOT have any freezing temps or snow to deal with...just 60-70degree weather! We debated and debated and got bid after bid! Finally we made our mind up, and after about 6 design changes we were ready to roll!
The whole process was really amazing! OUr pool guy, Greg, was incredible! We heard tons of stories about how long it takes and how much mess is made and what a PAIN the whole process really is....so we warned our neighbors that we were starting a pool and to be patient! They were all great ....because they all have pools and know what to expect.
To make a long story short, from DIG to SWIM was 6 weeks...minus a couple of weeks because of rain delay! ....so we were swimming in 8 weeks! Everything went smooth and there was absolutly NO 'painful' part at all!
So, we are now enjoying 80 to 90 degree temps and we have an awesome pool, with a 9' deep end, diving board, turbo-twister slide, huge hot-tub, and fire-pit! We even have some side yard to kick the soccerball or throw some passes!
Dan and I decided that a pool is probably better right now than a boat.....due to our schedule of sporting events and travel this summer......!!! Maybe a Malibu will be in the works for next summer! Ya baby! :)
Enjoy some pics of our awesome pool process! .....HOpe to see ALL of you 'lookers' at some point here in Texas enjoying it with us!!!!!!
The DIG!
I did not realize that after the DIG....it is a TON of REBAR!
Blowing in the gunnite!Finally looking like a 'pool' !
Preparing for the 'pour' the deck around the pool!All poured and 'rain-filled' ! yuck! They had to come in and pump it out 3 times!Getting the fire-pit and bench done! Dan's idea!
The finished fire-pit and bench!....Deck stain too!Blowing in the 'pebble-tech' ....the inside covering of the pool!
All done! Now it's time to FILL IT WITH WATER! YEA!The kids were soooo excited! They started to swim while it was filling up!Almost completly full !
McKall....diving in...the pool is complete....minus some muchly needed landscape!The BIG kids first trick...jumping off the TOP of the slide into the deep end! YIKES!Our fearless Kaden doing a cannonball!

Hot-Tub Fun with the family!