Ok,here it is. After all the hype, here is our labor of love this summer. Through heat and rain and mud and the gracious help of family and friends we have finally finished our new deck. Although the process was a ton of work, it is really satisfying to sit outside eating breakfast knowing we accomplished a great goal. We still need to finish the flower beds and add a couple of shade trees. That will probably happen this Fall. And we would like to build a bench to go along the house for extra seating, but maybe that will be next year’s project. Right now we are just enjoying relaxing on the new patio furniture (and we are giving the neighbors a rest from the early morning and late evening chorus of power tools.) 
The photo of us building the deck floor in the rain is courtesy of my Mom and Dad.