the summer, in order to be involved in the children's summer activities such as playing ball, biking, swimming, and 4-H. During the marriage, Pat assisted in the farming operation by moving equipment from one farm to the next during planting and harvest, running for parts, driving a truck, bookkeeping, yard and outbuilding maintenance, mowing, painting, minor repairs, meal preparation, housework, gardening, and canning. Besides caring for their children, homemaking, and farmwork, Pat's other demonstrated job skills consist of restaurant cooking, bar service, clerical work, babysitting, and sewing.
Pat testified at trial that she brought approximately $50,000 in savings into the marriage. Pat further testified that she used some of the original $50,000 to purchase the parties' first car in 1981, now driven by their teenage daughter. Pat did notfirst home were spent. Dan did agree, however, that the parties made substantial improvements and renovations after purchasing the current family home. At the time Pat filed for divorce, a little over $10,000 of Pat's original $50,000 in savings remained in a certificate of deposit (CD), which she later cashed into an account to help pay her attorney fees in these proceedings.
The parties separated in November 1996 prior to Pat's filing a petition for dissolution of marriage on September 3, 1998. Pat and the children lived in the Upland family home through December 1997. From January through May 1998, Pat also rented a home in Minden where she and the children lived during the school week. Pat and the children lived in the family *50 residence in Upland