We got a new computer recently, but we didn't really have a table or desk to put it on. Rather than buy a new desk, I decided that it'd be cool to make my own. My father in law has some great know-how in woodworking, so last trip up to Rexburg we went to work on building a table. We picked up the wood--four 2x12's and two 4x6's for the legs. The whole table came from these pieces. Once we got it back to my in-laws place, we created a plan and made all the measurements, then started cutting. After the pieces were cut for the top, we used a biscuit cutter to make slits in the sides, glued each three 2x12 peices together with biscuits between them, then used clamps to hold them tightly together while they set. We had quite a few more cuts to make to create the structure underneath the table. After we had cut the leg pieces, we got to work sanding. And we sanded and sanded. To finish up for the day we put the substructure together using all the peices we had cut for the frame and the legs, which we put together using biscuits, then clamped it all together. When we were getting close to finished for the day Reed got a call from a friend who needed some help rounding up some cattle, so we went to a ranch to ride horses and get some cows sorted out. I didn't have any riding experience to speak of, but went anyway. I think I did pretty well though. It was a lot more "real cowboy stuff" than I expected, lots of riding and wrangling, and I was actually able to contribute to our ultimate goal of getting the bulls separated from the heifers. I was running all over the place chasing cows. It was tons of fun and I came back covered in cow poop, sore, and unfortunately without any pictures. It was a ridiculously busy day, I was ready to drop by bedtime. Reed's energy level is nothing short of impressive.
Reed had a few things to take care of that we didn't have time for before we had to leave, like attaching the top of the table to the base. Fast forward a few weeks... Reed and Laura came for the weekend and were nice enough to load the table onto the rack on top of their car. It arrived a bit wet and full of dead bugs, and they said they got a lot of funny looks on the way. It sucked their gas too and I'm very appreciative that they brought it for me because our car couldn't accommodate it. So over the past couple of days I've put in quite a few more hours sanding, then applying stain and protective coating. I'm happy to say that it's now finished. I think it came out pretty awesome. I'm super grateful to Reed for all his help and expertise, and I had a great time working on it with him and Brady. Here are a few pictures...
We've had two weekends of family fun. We were so excited to be able to spend a weekend in Rexburg with my WHOLE family! Brice was visiting from Maui and it was awesome to see him. We enjoyed one of Brady's soccer games, had a picnic, checked out mom's stained glass gallery (which looked amazing,) and just talked long into the nights.
This past weekend was a trip to Boise. We enjoyed a walk on the Green Belt together with Eva, had hotdogs in the park while the boys played homerun derby (which Derek won,) the kids were able to spend time together with their cousins, and again talked long into the nights. We love all of our family and our grateful that it is a short 4 or 5 hour trip to see both grandparents and tons of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
