I got married at age 21 and like most couples my wife and myself worked hard and saved up for a down payment to buy a house. We became homeowners by the time we were in our mid 20s. This house was kind of a fixer upper when bought it, but that was OK I had grown up watching and helping all of my uncles and cousins fix up their houses, so I knew what to do. My wife at the time worked as an accountant so she managed the financing. We made a good team. She managed the money and I did the handy work. One of the first projects I did was to restore the existing 12 x 18 foot above ground pole pool. We had fun with that for a little while but it was not big enough. After our first child was born I took down the pole pool. Shortened the existing wood deck and put in a 16 x 30 foot oval pool cross ways in the yard. I added a water jet sliding pond, a gas line from the house for the barbecue grill, and some nice outdoor lighting. We had a lot of fun with this and you see how I did it here.