How to build an arbor- it's a family affair!

I just had another birthday:

I had a picture taken with Caden, because he figured out a way to make me a sugar- free Devil's Food birthday cake. And boy was it nice to be able to have some cake!

This year Shawn built me a beautiful arbor for my birthday present:

He still wants to add some gates, but I think that is a project for another weekend:)

Anyways, it was really fun because the first arbor-building-day, Shawn and the kids worked together on it, mixing and pouring cement to set the posts- it was a beautiful day.
I was running the tiller on the garden at the time, and it was so great to see them all working together, that I had to have someone run and get me the camera and it seemed like every time I was coming down a row in their direction I just had to snap another picture. (I'll spare you posting all of them though!:)

The next day Shawn cut out pieces and set them all up in the garage to be painted. While a blizzard raged outside, we painted away!

Finally, on Saturday, which was once again a beautiful sunny day, I got up early and put another coat of paint on everything, we gave the kids instructions to paint the posts outside...


and Shawn and I headed to a stake baptism.

When we got home everything was ready to go, Shawn assembled it and - voila!! It looks great, and I am so excited about it!