The Deck Project
In March of this year, Trish and I decided we wanted to build a new deck and spruce up our backyard a bit. After returning from an awesome Spring Break adventure, we asked my parents to stay and help us start our Backyard Project. In addition to building a new deck, we concluded we wanted some stamped concrete, as well as a house-side garage door so we could admire The Bus when it's done. We sketched out the design we wanted and went to work.
It took several days to remove the old deck. My parents and Trish did most of the work that week as I had a bunch of client work to catch up on. They had to make several trips to the dump to get rid of all the old materials. Then came the wood order from Lowes. We had too much to fit in any of our vehicles, so we rented a truck and picked it all up. By the 2nd week, the foundation was in for the 1st deck and we started screwing in the composite decking.
While finishing the first deck, we hired someone to pour two stamped concrete platforms and install a 2nd garage door. The stamped concrete was done in a couple days, but the garage door took 6 weeks to frame the opening, order the door and have it installed. Both turned out quite nice.
After returning from our summer vacation, I went to work on the 2nd deck and thought I could finish in a couple weeks. It ended up taking over 2 months. I figured out how to most of it from my Dad and the internet, particularly decks.com including the buried post footing, framing around a tree and sloping your deck. The framing and joists took all of August to complete.
In September, I worked on the steps and had a friend do the electrical work to install lights, which I bought from Deck Depot. This past weekend, I found the time to finish the 2nd deck and make it all look good.
Thanks go out to Trish and my parents for the old deck removal and 1st deck building, Ted Pepper for his advice, Ric Nepomuceno for his electrical help, and Lowes for all the building materials. While it's a little late in the year to enjoy our new backyard much, I'm sure we'll figure out a way to have many good times on it in the future. 
For more pictures, including some night shots, checkout my Deck Project on Flickr.