Yard Work Begins & New Trees

With the first signs of spring showing a couple days each week those days we try to get out and get stuff done. Next time we put in a sand box we will make sure to put more high quality sand in. The sand we have when it gets mixed with the clay below becomes like concrete. We try to til it a couple times each summer but once it dries out its almost impossible to break up unless it gets fully soaked again. I love the way it feels when its freshly tilled and hopefully someday we will have sand that feels that way all the time. We have debated about just replacing the sand but were unsure if the clay below would ruin higher quality sand as well.

When I planted the raspberries I did a poor job planning for future growth and good space for weeding and picking. It drove me crazy last year and so this spring I decided we were going to rearrange the rows and condense 7 rows into 4. Hallie is at an age she is such a great help and she is usually happy to help. It took a couple hours but we got the rows condensed and they are now 4 full rows and it looks much better and has a lot more room to grow.

We realized as our landscaping was filling in that we wished we had a few more trees than we originally planted. We also noticed that we really had no big pine trees like most of the landscapes around us. Lucky for us Cade has the hook up and was able to get us some awesome trees from a great price. We also replaced several of our aspens because the deer ate them basically to the ground. We bought much bigger ones to replace the old ones and the new ones so hopefully they will do better. They are between 10-20 feet each so they actually look really good with the plants we put in originally.

Liam was my partner in time in helping Matt place the trees. It rained and was cool all day so we stayed bundled and warm

This time around I actually learned to run the mini excavator. Liam loved riding in it. Also have you noticed Im wearing a cream jump suit...why on earth did I do that? Who knows

                                                       

The yard is looking so good and everything is filling in. I love seeing something else that Matt and I planned and did come together to something beautiful. This yard is a family project and it has come a long way. Im proud of us

Yard Work & Built in Grill

This is where the garden is going...the dirt was a pain in the butt to spread thankfully Matt was around to help or I would have given in and rented some equipment to help me

This built in grill was a brain child of how to spruce up the backyard into an entertainment space without spending a ton of money. Its going to look great when its done

We got the garden in

Matt went to go and get our rock so we could put it on the grill and it was buried behind these other boxes luckily after some time they got them out

Scratch coat

The rock layout

Working On Our Green Thumbs

This summer the girls and I decided we are going to focus on gardening and learn new things about it. So....we're planting a garden and flowers

We are definitely getting dirty along the way

We got all of our dirt...which was more than we were planning 

 It was a ton of work to spread it all out

 And our flowers are doing great and are beautiful

 And our plants are all alive too

Building Our Patio Furniture and Conference Weekend

Matt and I have been wanting to get patio furniture since we moved in last winter but its all so blasted expensive. As I was looking thru the classified for them I found one I really liked but didn't want pay what they were asking. As I was showing Matt he said we should build them and its all history from there. I think Matt's been missing having a project so this was perfect.

It became a family affair when we started staining them. All the girls wanted to help. It made the painting go faster for sure

Then we added flower pots to the list of to do

It was a great way to spend our conference weekend with me not feeling great and it also allowed us to listen to most of conference and with the beautiful weather the kids were happy to play outside. I love how Matt and I are such a great team. He's a great match for me

Building The Grill

Gracie and I got all our pieces organized before we got started. She was my right hand and a super helper

Emy was the internal inspector making sure Gracie and I were doing a good job. It is also one of her favorite places to sit now

Here it is all done and ready for some summer BBQs and to be built in to Matt and I's next project