It Really Will Be A Surfboard!

I've had a few people express curiosity/concern that I was building a surfboard. I know. Its only 1000 miles to the nearest ocean... However, building this has been pretty fun so far and I am taking it to Santa Cruz in July(barring any catastrophic events in its construction).

I won't bore you with all of the details and promise to only post the more major happenings of its construction. Its made primarily out of redwood, with some hemlock and poplar thrown in for asthetics. It will be 9'9" and hopefully weigh under 20lbs.

I know this one is hard to see, but I am bulding the jig that will keep the frame straight once it is glued together.
Here is the main frame of the board being glued together. Each of these ribs was made to fit out of 3/16 door skin. The main spar out of two pieces of 3/16 door skin laminated together, and the outside rail out of redwood ripped to 1/4" x 1/4". The nose is a little crooked, but I have it pulled back.
Here is the underside of the board. It is 1/4" thick and made out of 23 pieces of redwood, hemlock, and poplar of different widths. This part of the board will be inside, so once the rails and top are on, it will never be seen again... The outside edges will be sanded down once the rails are on.
Here the frame is being glued to the bottom panel. It takes a ton of clamps.
I figure there's 300 to 400 pounds on that frame right now. I just threw on whatever I could find. I let it sit like that for a day to make sure the glue gets good and cured.

I'm working on the rails right now, and hope to have them finished before the weekend. So I'll post more when I have a good chunk of the top finished too.

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us! Its been nine swift years. We did our best to celebrate but it was mostly a typical day. Ben worked, I weeded the yard, carpooled for dance class, and I had a volleyball game. Fortunately, we squeezed in going out to dinner just before the game, and to finish the evening, we made a stop at Home Depot. I must mention that in between all these things Ben worked on the surf board he is making. You read right, Ben is making a surf board! Since we needed more to do, I think its a great idea :o) Anyhow, we both just got called to serve in presidencies in our ward, so this will add to the madness. I do have hope that after this week things will slow down a pace or two. Hailey's ballet "Swan Lake" is Friday and she has had rehearsals almost everyday and sometimes twice a day. We will all sigh with relief when it is over! The stone project in the backyard has been pushed to the bottom of the to do list for now. We are still anticipating summer. It doesn't even feel like spring yet. We woke up to snow today, yes S-N-O-W. What is going on? And the forecast is 80 for Saturday. It makes no sense.
Our tomato plants are hanging on for dear life. The strawberry plants are doing great, we just need to get to them before the birds or squirrels do! They have sampled the strawberries before we have. Things are busy but great. We can't wait for the Cardon family reunion in a couple of weeks. It will be wonderful to see so many of you!

Birthday Party!

We went to Salt Lake over Memorial weekend to visit the fam. We also celebrated the kids birthdays. We ventured out to the bowling lanes as a family and that was a lot of fun. We also played a crazy tossing game in the backyard. I'll have to find out the name of it because it was a blast and provided hours of entertainment. "Good Guys" rule! (You know who you are!)

Hailey's Graduation

Hailey and her preschool teacher, Miss Krista
Hailey with her friend Gracie, and her sister Lucy.
Wow, a peaceful happy moment!

Here are some pics of Hailey's preschool graduation. She is really going to miss her teacher Miss Krista, she is so wonderful. However, Hailey cannot wait to go to kindergarten. She asks me daily when she can go. We discovered at graduation that Hailey wants to be a doctor and a ballerina when she grows up.