The gift that keeps on bridging!

We live on the Tolman Ranch in Salmon right next door to Josh's parents. A large irrigation ditch designates the boundaries and separates the two yards. When we first moved into this house 6 years ago, the bridge across it was a broken narrow wooden plank. Josh and his dad replaced that with an old beam that was pulled from a torn-down old farm building. It was a lot more stable, but still only about 18 inches wide. Multiple times a year, kids would accidentally fall off of it into the water. Over the years, it began to rot. For Christmas this year, Josh surprised me with a new 3-foot-wide bridge that he built all by himself. It is so beautiful! It has a slight arch, and a hand rail, and he stained it to match the hand-built fence surrounding our yard. He made it during the winter at the shop at the golf course, so I had no knowledge about it. He even moved it into place across the ditch one day near Christmas when I wasn't home. When I drove up the driveway and saw it, I was so ecstatic! Josh has always been the best gift-giver and is extremely good at keeping secrets. Everyone who comes to the house comments on the beautiful new bridge, and now we even have plans for him to make another one identical to it on the opposite end of the yard where a narrow wooden plank still sits. We have all enjoyed it, especially Kanyon. We love to sit on the bridge in the summer and put our feet in the cool water on hot days, and because of its width it has already saved us from slipping off it and falling into the ice this winter! I LOVE it! It's the simple things in life that bring us joy, so I wanted to share my thoughts about this Bridge of Bliss with you!!!

This is just like the bridge we had before.

This is our bridge now! Isn't it beautiful?!! Our yard is on the right, and Grandma & Grandpa's is on the left.