6 years in the making

What a great day!

For the past few months Dan has been devoting every spare minute he has to restoring his uncle's 1974 BMW, which he began in 2004. Around 10 o'clock this evening Dan backed the 2002tii down the driveway, where his Aunt Theresa climbed in for the first ride.

It was an emotion ride for both of them. Dan was supposed to be restoring the car with his Uncle Rudy, who 10 years ago suffered from several brain aneurysms. Uncle Rudy has been able to watch the progress from his wheel chair over the last 6 years and I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see his old car back on the road.

I was able to enjoy the next ride, which we took to bring the car to my in-laws. Dan is going to take the BMW to work with him tomorrow to give it a good looking-over on the hoist and to make sure it's capable of being driven for a longer period of time. Tomorrow evening he plans on driving the car to a family friend's party in Lake in the Hills and then Sunday we'll take the car to the Gears & Ears Carshow in Yorkville, IL. Dan has been working so hard to get the BMW ready for this car show...I know he's relieved and excited to have made it.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. It seems like every time I sit down to type something, I get distracted & forget what I was going to say.

Over the last two months we've managed to finish the patio & get the gazebo up. Yesterday Dan & his brother, Mark, finished the last of the planter boxes. Now we just need to get them filled with dirt & plant some more veggies...or flowers, not sure which yet. We're using the dirt from digging out for the patio extension to fill the planter boxes. Slowly,

but surely the mounds of dirt are disappearing.

In the middle of our patio project we experienced some plumbing issues, which required a trench to be dug around the side of the house & a huge 10+ foot hole dug out of the front yard. All of the old clay pipe was replaced and the issue has been resolved. We're just waiting for the dirt/gravel to settle out front so the sidewalk sections can be concreted.

Dan has been working on the BMW quite a bit & is on track to have it ready for Gears & Ears (a car show) at the end of June. He was able to start it the other day & now has mostly interior items to put back in, but it has to be wet-sanded first.

We celebrated my in-law's 30th Anniversary at Chama Gaucha, a Brazilian Steakhouse in Downer's Grove. It was a very cool experience. Men walk around with large swords of meat and you have a card w/ a green side and a red side. Green means more meat, red means stop the meat.

I've decided to take another stab at the weight loss goal. I started Nutrisystem a little over two weeks ago. So far its going great! I weighed myself this morning & have lost about 14 pounds so far. In addition to changing my eating habits I've also been exercising like crazy...on my bicycle. Because I just don't like going to the gym, I'm using the bike as my main source of working out. I usually ride to work 3-4 days a week and on my days off I go out for a couple of hours for a ride, averaging between 15-25 miles a ride.

Yesterday we decided a pool would be a good idea for the summer. So we took a trip to Menards and found a 15 foot by 42 inch pool. It was a cinch to set up, only took about 30 minutes. My mother-in-law isn't at all pleased, but Dan explained we'd be taking it with us when we get a house, so she only has to put up with it for the summer. We thought about going to Noah's Ark this summer, but we saved money by getting the pool & foregoing that trip. I'm really looking forward to getting to use it!

My brother, Scott, and his fiance Amber are coming up this summer with my nephew for a week. Dan & I were able to get those days off so we can spend time with them. We're also having a BBQ for them. Hopefully there will be enough room for everyone, since it sounds like theres going to be a lot of people here. We're really looking forward to their visit!!

So that's what has been happening over the last two months. The summer is just starting & it's going to be a GREAT one!