Cement!!

We FINALLY got our cement poured, but it was a crazy stressful night. I'll finish explaining in a minute, but here's some of the prep work. 

When we rented to sod cutter to take out the front lawn Cody used it to cut out the grass in the backyard where the patio was going. He was going to take all the sod up that day, but I didn't want to deal with all the dirt and mud that was going to be tracked into my house for the next few weeks so we just left it laid down...big mistake. While it saved my floor (somewhat) from the mess, it didn't come up so we had to rent the sod cutter again : (

Then we rented a compactor just to make sure the ground was nice and hard so it wouldn't settle and crack the cement once it was laid.

On the day of the pour Gavin and I went to the store to get supplies to keep our helpers happy : )

Nate came the day before and got all the forms up...

...and the re-bar into the side of the house

IT'S HERE!!!

I'm sure the cement guy thought I was the biggest spaz for being so excited, but I was FINALLY  getting a REAL front porch after 5 months of having a pallet for a front porch and plywood as a "sidewalk".

It's happening!

Spencer (in the red) and Nate

We were a little worried about having enough help because it was at 4 pm on a Friday, but we were overwhelmed with everyone that showed up. We have the best ward EVER!! Seriously, I'm not lying.

Jason Beck, Corey Lords, Lee Foster

My girlfriend Kayla even brought us a "Patio Warming Gift". 

It was a bucket full of bubbles, sidewalk chalk, popper and candy : )

And then the smelly stuff hit the fan... We scheduled the cement for Friday becuse we looked at the forecast and it was suppose to be the best day of the week. It was SUPPOSE to be sunny and 77, but true to Idaho weather it went from one extreme to the next and we got poured on BIG TIME!!

We grabbed tarps to try and keep the rain from the roof from running all over the still wet cement. We couldn't get it to stay up there and Oliver (laying on the wet and slick metal roof in the rain touched some sort of line in the process and was shocked. OUCH!! He was ok thankfully.

It was pouring off the roof and making huge pits all over, we were devastated.

This is the mark that the rain left on our freshly poured new patio : (

John Garvin and Corey Lords

Oliver

Plan B: Jason had a HUGE haystack tarp so we went and got it to try to protect the cement. It was large enough to cover the entire patio we just had to lay it down very carefully

Kayla and I

We were in charge of holding it up so it didn't slide across the wet cement

This is after the downpour. Everyone was soaking wet

How I felt about the rain

The little men hanging out in the living room watching a movie

Garrett, Mason, Gavin, Talmage and Teagan

Once the weather cleared up it was back to finishing the cement

Oliver, Nate, Cody, Corey, Spencer

 

Nate

Luckily Nate knows what he is doing and he was able to save the day and our cement!! The front sidewalk turned out great and the mess on the back patio is only noticeable if you know what you are looking for. 

The next morning : )

I didn't even know Cody took this until I loaded the pictures, lol! I was building a barrier to keep certain neighbors off of the cement until it fully cured.

Cody getting the cement off the sewer cap

Colonoscopy ribbon to the rescue yet again!

Now to plan the BBQ for all the people that came and helped : )

5/16/2014