She Lives and Breathes Alto: February 2013

Hey Everybody!

So I got back from my missions trip to Puerto Penasco on Monday, and it was by far the best trip I've gone on yet. It was so much fun, and although I was extremely tired and sore, it was well worth it.

We were given a biography of the family we were building for and they said it was a family with 4 kids but I think we may have switched houses with someone because we built for an older lady, her daughter and three grandkids.

And I have lots of pictures!

Friday morning, heading over the border into Mexico.

Me and my friend Leah.

Friday afternoon we arrived and set up camp.

Then we went into Rocky Point for beautiful views, shopping and dinner.

Me and Jodie.

So Mexican Coke is really good, but this year I definitely decided I love the apple soda the most.

Sun going down...

As we were eating our dinner a huge band came in to play for us, it was really neat.

My little brother wearing a not so little sombrero.

Saturday morning we started the house...

For the first 2 hours or so the girls sifted sand and dirt...

While the guys sawed and cut wood for the frame of the house.

About ready to start pouring cement.

Then started the almost never ending filling the slab with cement by the wheelbarrow.

Ray helping pour water into the cement, this little guy is adorable...everyone loves him.

Mixing cement, a very tiring job.

This is when the slab was finished, and it was being smoothed over.

These are the walls, most of us girls were standing around waiting for the plywood to be put on the walls so we could start my least favorite job of putting tar paper and chicken wire on them.

Leah laughing with Odhelia and Ray.

We ended up barely starting the tar paper/chicken wire process the day before because we ran out of time,so this is Sunday morning. Tar paper. Ugh.

And chicken wire. Ugh. The chicken wire holds the stucco on the walls.

The homeowner is second to the left, and the lady on the very left is her daughter.

Hammers and Pop-tarts!

Wall numero uno goes up.

Then. The problem. Putting up wall number four and realizing it was built backwards. So me and Jodie (left) held this wall (number 3) up for and hour and a half. We even ate our lunch holding up the wall. Leah held it for me there while I took this pic.

And finally a house with 4 walls standing up, by themselves. And a partial roof.

Then, since we were a tad bit, or a lot of a bit behind us girls were again standing around waiting for the guys to finish the roof so we could start stuccoing. If we stucco while the roof is getting put on, the hammering and banging will knock the stucco off the walls.