Isn't this barn a beauty?

We started taking it down on Friday.  Kelley found it on KSL classifieds last fall and we drove up to Wyoming to check it out.  The guy who owns it is quite a talker!  I don't know if he's lonely living up here in the boonies or if he just liked us a lot, but by the time we pried ourselves away from him, we knew pretty much his and everyone who lives in the area's life history. 

 It was late fall when we talked to him, so we decided to wait till spring to take it down.  

They really have a beautiful place up there...horses in the meadows and rolling mountains all around.  They have family that lives around them there and grand kids they were worried about playing in the barn.  It had actually started leaning to one side and was even more obvious when we looked through the barn doors, so they were happy to see us getting started on it. 

 We had some great help!  Lynn has been talking to Kelley about helping him out the next barn we tackled.  Sue thought it sounded like a fun adventure too so she came along too.  

Toby is just a peach and although he was right in the middle of doing his own roof, he wanted to help Kelley with the tear down, and was ready to go bright and early.

KC was a huge help and even Candice came along and worked her tail off pulling nails all day.  She also took a bunch of pictures for Kate to use. 

 We assessed the situation and condition of the wood and decided which wood we would focus on getting off before we brought the barn down.  The sides of the barn were pretty weathered and thin but the front and back were in a little better shape, I guess because of the way the wind blows.  And that wind blows like crazy up there, apparently all the time!!!

It was seriously so windy that day, even though we had sunscreen on (some of us)we all went home with wind burn!

 Kelley and Toby started on the roof where a lot of the best wood was.  But first they had to get down to it.  It was a big job and they worked up there all afternoon

Haha this was really funny!  Sue, Candice, Lynn and I were working on this side of the house.  We'd pull out the nails then take each board off one by one.  When we started pulling these boards off, we found all kinds of surprises hidden behind them.  There were 7 pair of mens underwear, a bottle of vaseline, a ton of beer cans, half a shovel and a pancake flipper.  Ha!  I guess stuff dropped down from the loft up above, then just got buried in the hay that would fall in after it.   Anyway, we laughed a lot about that!

The owner lives in that house a little ways from the barn.  He wasn't there all day, but had told Kelley that we could go inside his house and use the bathroom.  The ladies were pretty happy about that. 

Candice and I decided we would take down the antlers on the front of the barn.  This was easier said than done though.  We got up in the loft and Candice leaned out a hole in the roof and got a hold of them, then I tried to pry the spike that was through the skull and into the stud out  of the wall.  It wasn't budging.  I wiggled it and pushed on it but it was in there pretty tight.  So I found a crack in the stud and split it in half.  Then I could get the spike out and Candice retrieved the antlers!   We were pretty bummed when the owner told us thanks for getting them down, and he wanted to keep them!  Ha!  I don't blame him, they were pretty cool! 

The second one came down much easier

We got some good boards off the roof.  Kate handles them like a boss.

We took a break for lunch and made some sandwiches.  Sue and Lynn brought some yummy Einsteins bagels and cream cheese too.

There was some great hardware on the barn and some cool intact barn doors that I'm sure they will use.

Sometimes I sit and watch these kids and I think 'How did I ever get such a great family?'  They are funny!!!  Plus they are so great with each other,  they are always there to support each other in what ever is going on in their lives.  As a mom, this means so much to me!

KC was doing some wild karate moves on this wall!

We were all filthy by the time we got done.  The wind was blowing so hard and every time we'd take a board off, all the dirt and hay that was packed in behind the board would come flying out on us.
Seriously dirt in every crevice of the body!

We got the two trailers loaded up and by late afternoon were ready to go.  I know Lynn was tired...he'd never say anything but Sue mentioned that he can't go all day long like he used to anymore. With his leukemia treatments, his blood gets really low.  He is due right now for an infusion to help get his strength back up.  You would never know it watching him work though.  He kept going all day long and him and Sue took out a whole side of the barn.

This is post barn tear down hair!  I think that's what we all pretty much felt like too!  That wind really beats you up!  Even though we had sunscreen on, we came home with red faces because of wind burn! (I'm afraid KC, Candice, and Toby all got pretty good sunburns on their arms and legs too)

A good shower when I got home felt wonderful, then I was ready for bed!