One big selling feature of this house was the good sized backyard. We also loved that fact that it was completely fenced in so we don't have to worry about our kids running out into the road or getting lost. The only problem with the yard was that... well... there was nothing there. It was just a bunch of weeds and dirt. Russell wasn't too concerned about that though. One of his dreams in life was to totally re-do his own yard from start to finish. That is not necessarily my dream in life but I am glad it was his because he has done amazing things with this old pile of dirt and weeds. This post is the story of the transformation of our yard from meh to WOW! I will be having Russell read over this and write things too so if it sounds like a couple people are writing at the same time, we are! To really appreciate the end result, you must first see what we started with:
The next thing Russell did was lay a concrete curbing around the house and the neighbor's fence. He did this in order to keep the water away from the house and to keep the grass out of the neighbors fence and away from the CATS! (Yes we are neighbors with the cat lady...) Later we will put some hedges or rose bushes and gravel within this curbing. Don't look to closely because you will see that Russell was a little drunk while he was laying it. OK not really but the curb is a little wavy. He might have more to say on that...
Like all homeowners, we had to make our mark on the house so when Russell laid the concrete, we had Emily and Colby put their prints in the cement. Emily did her hand print and we did Colby's footprint because he was less than a month old, I think, and we didn't want concrete on his hand.
After laying out the railroad ties and finishing the curbing, it was time to put in the sprinkler system. Russell was going to just use the old sprinkler system but when he started looking at it, he discovered many, many problems. First of all, they had one valve running one or two sprinklers so there were like 15 valves. Second, the sprinkler wire was all screwed up, in fact one wire was actually spliced with the telephone wire! We discovered this because our Internet quit working so we had to have the Qwest guy come out and in fact the telephone wire was hooked to a sprinkler wire. So the Qwest guy fixed it all for us at no charge because it was outside our house. I don't know who wired this before but they apparently didn't know what they were doing. Finally Russell figured it all out and ended up only needing 2 valves for the sprinklers instead of 15! We put in MP Rotors which are supposed to be water conservative which will help with the water bill. The church uses these sprinklers at the church building and the temple so they must be good ones.
After working in the sun bent over for many hours, Russell received his "Tramp Stamp!" You see when he bends over, his shirt comes up and reveals a little piece of skin between his shirt and pants and, well, after a while he got a sunburn down there. I couldn't help but bust up laughing when I saw it! He told me it wasn't funny but let me tell you, it was HILARIOUS!!! (He is going to kill me!) How dare she put pornographic material in a family blog sorry all. LOL
Even Emily got in on the fun of laying sod. She had a blast digging with her shovel and if the truth was know actually making more work for Russell to fix later but it kept her entertained. My dad can over to help but because of a torn rotor cuff in his shoulder, could not lift so he was the water boy. He would spray down the ground and the grass as it was laid. He would also spray Russell down when he gave the "signal" of raising his arms. Emily did not want to be sprayed. She would run and scream every time my dad even got close to her with the water. She also did not want to ride in the wheelbarrow when it was empty. I don't know where she came from because riding in the wheelbarrow was my favorite part of yard work when I was little. She did get over that fear though a few days later when Russell put her in the wheelbarrow and wheeled her around when he laid the wood chips in the playground area.
Still working hard laying sod. They are about half way done in these pictures. We really want to thank the people who helped Russell lay the sod, including, Tyler, my dad, and our neighbor, Tom Valk. With these guys helping we were able to lay all 2,700 sq/ft in 5 hours. It is amazing how much of a difference grass makes. Our yard looks so much bigger and cleaner. I love it.
After a hard day of laying sod, we all felt better after a nice bubble bath!
The next thing we needed to do was put up the swing set:
Russell was scratching his head while reading the 20 page instruction manual on how to put together the play set. Emily loved helping and was so excited to get her swing set up. All did not go as planned though. When we purchased the swing set, the sign said the swing set was 15.5 feet long so we figured our 16 foot plot would be perfect for the swings. When Russell put the frame together, however, the frame alone was 16.5 feet and we still had to put the slide on. So the entire swing set ended up being 18.5 feet and did not fit in our plot at all! We decided to sacrifice our garden plot next to the play spot so that we could fit our big swing set in its area. We decided to move the garden to the curbed area along the house so we are not entirely out. We currently have one tomato plant growing there and hopefully we will get some tomatoes this year. At least a few for tomato sandwiches anyway. They are my favorite.
Like I said before, we put wood chips under the playground so that there would be a soft place to land if any kids fell off of the swing set. I told Russell we only needed 3-4 yards of wood chips but of course he didn't listen to me and ordered 5+ yards (I mean what do I know I'm a girl). So now we have almost 2 yards (we have a 1 and a half, thank you dear.) of wood chips just setting in a pile in our driveway because we don't need them... He should have just remembered rule number one "Yes Dear..." hahaha. Yes dear you are always right.
Isn't it beautiful!!! Now scroll back up to the top and look at the before picture... Awesome, right! Russell did a great job and all of his hard work has definitely paid off because we LOVE IT!! Emily loves the swing set too especially the slide. While we were setting it up, she was constantly going up and down the slide having a good old time. I think all of the neighbor kids have been over to our house at least once to try out the new swing set too. We are so popular! It is so nice to look out the kitchen window and see a nice yard. It is also nice to walk outside barefoot and feel the coolness of the grass and just sit under the shade of our tree. If you look at the before picture again at the tree, it looks like it is dead. We really considered tearing it out but it actually turned out to be a really nice looking tree and it gives off quite a bit of shade so we are glad we left it alone.
We still have a few things to do in the back yard like put in the garden, hedges or roses along the fence and install a new drip system for these things. All of that will come with time though. For right now we are enjoying our new backyard.
The next big project is the front yard. All of the sprinklers are broke in the front yard so our grass in dying because of the heat. Russell recently scalped it and we will be re-seeding it as soon as we figure out the sprinkling system. For right now though, we are thoroughly enjoying our three beautiful rose bushes in full bloom in our front window:
Aren't they pretty? They did not bloom for the longest time and we worried that they were too water deprived from the past owners. But over the past couple weeks they have been blooming like crazy! I love the colors: yellow, a light pink and a darker pink/orange:
I love looking out the window at them. We have also had a lot of complements on them by the people that come to our house. Because of these, I am leaning more toward rose bushes along the fence in our back yard.
Well we have discovered that being a homeowner means having a long list of projects to do and we have at least a two page list... so it is a good thing we are planning on being here forever. We will keep you posted on all of our home improvement projects.
I love these silly kids. I can't believe that Colby looks bigger than Emily! He is growing so fast and is almost 3 months old. There is definitely never a dull moment at our house.
Even Colby likes going. He smiles and smiles as he listens to the music and watches the kids play.
She will come home from the Story Time singing the songs, and talking non stop about what they did in "class." We have all of the songs memorized. Emily also loves participating in the class discussions. Whenever the teacher asks a questions or shows a picture Emily is the first one to answer or at least the loudest! Then she also has a comment to make about every page of the book. She is definitely going to be a social butterfly when she gets into school and she can hardly wait to go to school. Every time we drive by the Elementary school in our neighborhood, she points to it and says "I going there when I get bigger huh Mom." and I say "Yep." It is fun to listen to her talk. Yesterday she was telling me all about how she was going to get married in the temple but she couldn't right now because she still needed a dress and flowers. I didn't mention that she needed a boy too, I'll just let her figure that out on her own! It was so cute.
Here she is dancing to a song in her "class:"
I love looking out the window at them. We have also had a lot of complements on them by the people that come to our house. Because of these, I am leaning more toward rose bushes along the fence in our back yard.
It is a collage of six frames and will take up a whole wall. I am excited to see what pictures she puts in it. We got it at Bed Bath & Beyond.
It turned out good and it is nice because it is insulated so your hot food will stay hot and your cold food will stay cold. The carrier is big enough to hold a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish. I am going to make me one too someday. I am also going to make one for my niece because we just found out that she is getting MARRIED! Wow I'm old! She is getting married over Labor Day weekend to Danny Blake. We are excited for her and wish her the best.
He is such a smiley boy. He will smile at you whenever you talk to him or squeeze his big cheeks. He has a genuine smile too. You can tell it is not one of those gassy smiles it is a real smile because his eyes will smile too. 
Colby loves his sister too. Emily can make him smile the most. In fact she is the one talking to him and getting him to smile in these pictures. He will "talk" to her too. Emily sure loves Colby and is very protective. Occasionally people will ask her if they can have Colby and take him home with them and she tells them "No he's my brother!" Colby is almost as big as her too. 
Look at all those rolls; what a cute little fatty! Colby wasn't so sure about the bath at first. He had a pretty confused look on his face but by the time I had washed him up, he was having a good time.
Colby's favorite part though was being wrapped up in him towel getting dry. Colby loves being naked I have found out. Whenever I take off his clothes, he calms down and smiles and is so happy. He also loved baths and getting his hair washed, but he HATES getting his face washed and lotion on his face and hair. Typical boy I guess. I love this little stinker and his big sister too!
The pupusas were really good and I will definitely have to get the recipe from Traci and make them again. Traci said they could have been better but they tasted pretty good to us gringos; we all liked them. Pupusas are kind of like pizza pockets but with beans, rice, chicken, beef, cheese or whatever else you want to put in them. Then they are cooked on a grill or, Traci said, in El Salvador they cooked them over and open fire. Either way they are very good.
My Mexican Flag jello cake...VERY GOOD! One to make again but next time decorated as the American Flag with strawberries and blueberries. 
