The first ones took a while because we were learning the best ways to space the boards and secure them so they would be straight. I had read that using a piece of plywood worked well as a spacer and we found that to be true! (see right)Once we got our method down, the next boards took us considerably less time. I would wield the drills while Rachel would push the board into place with her feet (guys would probably use only a prybar, but I like our leg strength method too). We learned that it's better for the ends of the board to bow out because once one end is secure, it's much easier to push the boards at the end than in the middle.
My dad gave me the tip to make sure the grain of the wood at the cut ends look like an umbrella instead of a cup so that the boards don't "catch" water, but let it run off. (see below) Oooops, I didn't double-check all of them because a couple are flipped to cups (not to be confused with Flip Cup).
We also took my 2nd trip of the day to Home Depot to get more screws and drill bits. I found myself breaking bits (again) because the drill bit gets really hot, hits knots in the wood, is slightly twisted on the exit, was a longer bit than I needed, or some combination of reasons for me to break two of them in the 25 boards that we completed. Tip: Buy Extra Bits! I had gone early in the morning to Home Depot with Amy (big thanks shout-out to my neighbor) to get some more deck boards and the lattice to put along the sides so my dog wouldn't loose all of his toys under the deck. With 25 deck boards down he was risking that already, so the other part of my Saturday was spent cutting the lattice to shape so that I could block off the sides of the deck. I used both a hand saw and a circular saw to cut the lattice to size. 
I did lots of measurements around the railing posts and dug some of the ground so that it would be slightly more level. I'm going to wait until all of the deck boards are down and I've trimmed them before securing the lattice with nails, but its temporary-state is enough to block an accidental flying dog toy. After they're nailed on, I'll put more dirt around the bottom to make them more resilient. Oh... and before Rachel came on Saturday, I installed toe kicks on the steps (see right). Since we had put 8 deck boards down on Friday, I had to crawl under them in order to get under the step closest to the house to screw the toe kick on from the inside. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the piece of wood between and perpendicular to the ground and the actual step. After the step was installed and I went to take a step up, my foot slid under the step and I had added another nasty bruise to my shin. Tip: Put a toe kick on your step when you make it BEFORE you install it.) The step further from the house (in picture) was much simpler to do because the deck boards above it were not screwed on yet. In other words, I didn't have to crawl on the ground (well, on a tarp on the ground) in a 16 inches high by 16 inches wide space and maneuver under 2- 2x8s to install THAT toe kick. Threat of rain/storms halted work tonight, but here's its current state:
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