The Evolution of a Yard

Once upon a time our back yard looked like this:

After some serious cleanup, the miracle of hydroseed, and a LOT of love and attention from the hubs, it looked like this:

While we loved the large trees and the shade they provided, they were both half dead and positioned way too close to the house to accommodate the patio we knew we wanted.

If you're gonna have a beautiful yard, you've gotta have a comfortable place to sit and enjoy it.

First we took down one tree.

And then the other.

Then we had both stumps ground...

although further digging over the last few weeks revealed more unground stump/roots than we cared to discover. We've got the broken shovel and axe to prove it.

Then it was demolition time.

Followed by painstakingly tearing up Justin's beautiful grass.

Finally, concrete day arrived last Saturday.

Our friends Josey and Drew ever so graciously made the trip down to help.

I was still inside when I heard the truck arrive, and peeked out the window a few minutes later to see the truck preparing to back up into our yard from the west side.

As you can imagine, Kendry was perfectly smitten with the concrete truck.

A few moments later I heard a funny noise, followed by voices debating. I threw on my shoes and headed outside, where I found the men now on the east side our house, pondering if the concrete truck could fit from that direction. Not good.

The concrete truck was so heavy, and the ground so soft, that the truck couldn't get over the slight incline along our fence line. Because of the placement of our septic tank, we only had the one entry point for the truck to back in.

So I prayed over a concrete truck...and the $1,000 worth of concrete mixing in said truck that we had to pay for whether it actually made it into our yard or not.

The men dug out some spare sheets of plywood from our basement and laid them down for the truck to back over.

Problem solved.

Thank you, Lord!

Other than that little hiccup - or concrete truck sized hiccup, depending on how you look at it - the rest of the process went smoothly and quickly.

We are blessed to have friends who work with concrete for a living.

My contribution was easy - keep the kiddo occupied, and take pictures of course.

Finished!



View from the back door:





Its a beautiful thing!

Too bad we can't say the same for our lawn.

"That's gonna leave a mark!"

We also had to patch up this damage to the neighbor's yard. See what I mean about the truck having a hard time getting in?

We are far from finished though.

Next we need to build a landing and stairs. Then we need to swap out that outdated A/C unit for an actual window before someone knocks themselves out cold by smacking their head on that thing. I already have. Trust me, it hurts.

Then we need to stain and seal the concrete, followed up by installing our sun shade sail and some colorful outdoor rugs.

Would it surprise you to know I already have my eye on an animal print rug?


source


Probably not.

Lots of work to still be done, but we're looking forward to it.

A HUGE thank you to Josey and Drew for their help - as well as to their spouses for letting these already hardworking husbands and daddies skip town to help us out. We owe you!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Got your taxes done?

{2}

I planted Cinderella pumpkins this weekend.

Google

We didn't plant any pumpkins last year and I was kicking myself for it when October arrived.

Not this year.

{3}

Oh, and you’ll be happy to know the other starter plants I bought on Saturday are still alive and kickin’.

That’s quite the feat for this black thumb.

Despite previous failures I am trying my hand at gardening again this summer; we’ll see how it goes.

{4}

I forgot to do a March handprint/footprint craft with Kendry, but April's makes up for it:

See it?

{5}

Monday morning with a toddler = potty accident as we are literally walking out the door.

Tuesday morning with a toddler = apple juice splattered all over the dining room floor.

I can’t wait to see what Wednesday brings…

{6}

Please, oh please, let Kendry's birthday party day have sunshine. A baseball party will be much more fun if we can do it outside.

{7}

Even though I haven’t posted many projects lately, I always have something in the works, including a few recent thrift finds.

Two matching fleur de lis lamps (one is getting a makeover).

The spray can isn’t the color I’m going with, its simply to show you how big these lamps are.

I’m in love!

And an enormous ornate frame.

At a mere $6 I couldn’t walk away from this beauty.

Look at that detail!

Fun stuff!

{8}

We have lots of family visiting this week. Hooray!

{9}

The spring sunshine has sprinkled the most adorable little freckles across Kendry's nose.

They are so cute I could just eat them up!

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Answered prayer...over a concrete truck.

Details tomorrow.

Book Review: Choosing to SEE

One of my goals for 2012 is to read 30 books. This goal stems from my realization that since becoming a mom three years ago I haven't been reading nearly as much as I used to. And I LOVE to read. So I decided to make it more of a priority this year. Having my Kindle Fire and the Amazon lending library is a big help.

My friend Stephanie over at How Sweet it is! has set a similar goal for herself in 2012 and has started a weekly linky party called Good Reads Thursday for book reviews. While I may not have a new book read every week - that would obviously be well over my goal of 30 for the year - I am trying to link up over there as often as I can. I love getting book recommendations from friends; I have already put Stephanie's latest read, Bloom by Kelly Hampton, on my reading list.



  
{By the way, if you check out Stephanie's blog you might notice her last name is also Gimlin. Crazy, right? One of these days we should really check out ancestry.com to see if our husbands are related - its not like its a common name. It would just be one more reason to eventually meet Stephanie and her fam in real life which, by the way, I am totally going to do whenever we take our family road trip to CA.}


Okay...back to books...


Last month I finished reading Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman.

Mary Beth is the wife of Steven Curtis Chapman, the Christian singer. Their family was in the news a few years ago when their 5 year old daughter was accidently run over and killed in the the driveway of the family home.

Amazon says:  "Mary Beth's story is our story--wondering where God is when the worst happens. In Choosing to SEE, readers will hear firsthand about the loss of her daughter, the struggle to heal, and the unexpected path God has placed her on."

My review:

This book was so much more than the story of loss and how God has brought them through it. Mary Beth shares about meeting Steven and the tough early years of their marriage, the joys of having their first three children and the depression she found herself dealing with afterwards, and the miraculous stories of adopting three more children from China.

From an infertility perspective, I was moved by Mary Beth's emotions over their first adoption - her hesitations and fears. While we are not actively pursuing adoption ourselves, I found myself identifying with Mary Beth's fears over whether she could really love a non-biological child as much as her biological children. It was also incredible to read about the advocacy the Chapman family has taken on behalf of foreign adoption in the wake of adopting three children themselves.

The story of little Maria and her short but precious life in this family had me in tears. What God has revealed to and through this family since Maria was taken to heaven is astounding.

I did have a hard time reading the last bit of this book as it was merely posts taken from Mary Beth's family blog inserted into the book. While I realize this accurately portrays how the family was surviving day to day in their grief, I felt like the book simply tapered off as an ending, rather than effectively drawing it to a close.

That being said, I highly recommend this book. Mary Beth is very real and transparent - even as the wife of a popular music artist. The story and testimony of this family is encouraging.

A Family Easter

For various reasons, our Easter this year was a little more mellow.

On Saturday evening we dyed eggs while feasting on jelly beans.

Kendry was more interested in the jelly beans than the eggs, but he did stop eating long enough to request - what else? - a basketball themed egg.

See the cracks?  Poor Mr. Green Basketball Egg bit the dust before we could even capture him on camera. Kendry still doesn't grasp what it means to be gentle with eggs.

On Sunday morning we attended the late church service, which we never do; we are generally an early service family. But I can see the appeal. It was nice to have a leisurely morning - plenty of time to enjoy a tasty cup of coffee and relish Kendry's excitement over the Easter basket he discovered outside his bedroom door.

We snapped a few pictures before heading off to pick up Grandma Ellen for church.

After a great service we took Grandma out for lunch...

...followed by a quick stop to say 'Happy Easter' to Nana and Grandpa before heading home for the day. 

By the way, later church service equates to a late naptime. Lesson learned.

Then I said goodbye to the boys and left for my brief jury duty stint in Spokane. As Kendry would say, "Mommy had duty duties!"  While laughing, of course. What is it about that word?

Does this look like an almost three year old to you?

Granted, his Easter ensemble's resemblance to a Catholic school uniform makes him look a tad older than he really is, but still...  where did our baby go?

Although you've heard this number from Kendry before, I'm going to share it again. This is our Easter jam session with Mommy on the drums, Kendry on the guitar, and both of us on vocals.

And a 'happy day' it was.

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

I spent an hour working on a front yard flower bed last night.

Sometimes gardening is a more rewarding form of exercise than running.

{2}

I was summoned yesterday for federal jury duty but didn't get selected. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to experience a trial but this was really a bad week for me to be away from home and work, so it all worked out for the best.

{3}

Backyard patio progress:

 This weekend we turned some of our grass into abstract art.

Kendry was perplexed at the sight.

"Mom, Daddy is breaking our grass!"

{4}

Confession:

If I pull up to the post office and see that its already crazy busy, and then find myself getting out of my car in the parking lot at the same time another person is exiting their car, I instantly become a world class speed walker.

I may have to wait in line behind 10 people already, but I'll be darned if I'm letting that 11th person in the parking lot beat me to the end of the line.

Go ahead and admit it, you've done it too.

{5}

Kendry quote of the week:

"Licorice makes my tummy feel better."

Ahhh, a kiddo after my own heart.

{6}

Please be advised of a correction on the Redneck Paleontology post from last week: Justin has brought it to my attention that the beer can he found is called an "Oly Pop", not an "Oly can".

I hope you will pardon my lack of knowledge on vintage beer cans.

{7}

The infertility essay I wrote for the drug company last month did not win.

I am a little bummed, but at the same time God revealed some things to me as I wrote it so I still came out blessed.

I will likely share some excerpts, if not the entire essay, with you at a later date.

{8}

Remember how I mentioned that creepy cave under our cement steps, and how I had no idea what creatures have been under there over the years?




Yeah.
Justin found the skeletal remains of a cat down there.

Double eww!

{9}

Parenting Proverb:
He who is wise and desires peace and quiet after 8:00 p.m. does not permit a child to go to bed with a maraca.

{10}
This Week's Blessing:

 Celebrating our risen Lord, and singing "Happy Day" (Kendry's favorite tune) with him during Easter Sunday morning worship. I had told him they would be playing 'his song' that morning and he was so giddy he could hardly sit still.

Not that Kendry ever sits still.