A gift of love...

We got a great gift a couple of weeks ago... Lumber! (Not what you expected, huh?)

My parents are in the midst of putting in a new deck. The old one gave them 20+ years of great service, but there were a few holes that had rotted through. With little feet running around frequently, it was time to make a change. They gifted the new home-owners with the lumber that was still good. Lucky us! They'll help make some great shelves in the basement. We picked it up with our empty mini-van, but some of it had to be cut in order to fit okay.

Before getting started, it's important to follow a few steps. First, put on hearing protectors:

Next step? measure twice, cut once.
Next, run around the yard and burn off some energy.

Finally, load it into an old mini-van.

I just love this face!

Here's my dad, hard at work, always willing to help out his kids. Thanks for the generous gift, Dad!

David was a big help, making sure to pound a board on the ground like he saw Uncle Brent do, in order to take care of a few sawdust shavings before loading it up.

After we finished with the lumber, we wanted to help my dad a bit with his deck project. He had some stone delivered so he could re-slope the ground while the deck boards were still absent. David was a big help, shoveling as much as he could into an ice cream bucket and carrying it around back.

Showing us how he was helping.Watching Uncle Brent get a few scoops into an even bigger bucket.

David loves his grandpa, and clamored over the boards to be able to be near him.

I love how his tongue sticks out when he's hard at work.

Two peas in a pod.

He's become such a hard worker, taking it serious and wanting to do a good job. It's great to see his work ethic being developed!