Spring Weather

I have no pictures from Easter, but we did have a great one.  Today after work Ben and I decided to work out in the back yard a little bit and transplant some bushes from our side yard to the berm. As we were working a storm rolled in. It didn't produce much rain but the sky was mysterious!!! I pulled out my camera and tried a few new settings on it using the natural light and look what I captured!!! Exciting!

Happy Monday!!!

Old lady legs..and a fresh new yard

I shuffle as I walk. I limp when I walk. Especially my right leg. Why you asked, well......... I laid over 1500 square foot of sod on Saturday with my husband. In one day. Yes that breaks down to 40lbs or 1pallet of sod at 2500 pounds and multiply that by 3 pallets. That is 7500lbs of sod I unloaded. That does not include the OLD sod that I had to roll up and help load in the back of the pick up.

For a girl who is NOT a weight lifter, this was torture. Pure torture and now I am paying for it. This morning when my students walked into class one student ask me, "Mrs. Parsons why are you walking so slow." If you know me you know that teaching first graders you are constantly walking around moving fast and quickly, well not quite so much today! I am an old lady who needs a walker.

After all our hard work on Saturday I must say now we do have a BEAUTIFUL front YARD. Enjoy the before, middle and after pictures.

Happy Monday!

My handy dandy husband and the sod cutter.

Before I knew what kind of torture I was about to indure.

Lawn full of weeds and gross moss stuff growing

Front yard ... Before

Gabby checking out the gross yard before.

3 pallets full of sod delivered at 8:30 am and by 3:30 pm we had all the old sod tore up and hauled to the dump

Finished raking and grading the dirt in front of the house.

Middle (after before but before laying the sod)

side yard... notice the new cimaron ash trees that were installed on Monday



After!!!!!




After *side yard*




lush green grass between my toes!~




The final project and the finishing touch of fresh water on the new lawn!!!



Elton John for two

So today I found out that after entering a contest that was posted online in the newspaper, I WON!! Gosh I never win anything. So, since Mom can't make it out looks like my husband and I will enjoy a fabulous date night on Saturday that will include two tickets to Elton John. So excited.....Tiny Dancer!!!! Pictures to come later!

Phase 1 Complete

Between my husband, my father and myself we completed phase one. Phase one included planting 7 spruce that weighed over 500pounds each trees and hauling over 11,000 pounds of dirt (mainly all my husband) . Alot of hard work Friday and Saturday but now we are all enjoying each others company and watching the final 4. Go Butler!!!



Father-in-law supervising the progress!

Gabby checking out the 7 seven holes that were dug. (And helping continue digging holes:)

Enjoying a beautiful Thursday afternoon waiting for Ben to get off work.

This is right after dad and ben dropped the trees into their holes.

We called it a night at 11:00pm on Friday. 4/1/2011

Phase one complete. Dirt is in, trees are unwrapped and we are ready for the rain to come.
Completed on Saturday, April 2, 2011

Phase 2, 3 and 4 will be in the weeks to come. More trees, new sod, concrete curbing and flowers. Exciting time. O and did I mention on Friday it was 6months to the day that we have lived in our new home. Look forward to more landscaping.....the hard work is done!

Easter Decorations

I couldn't help but post a few picture of the house with the Easter decorations. Enjoy...

Love the bunnies

Isn't he cute!

landscape ABSOLUTELY

Since moving into the new house we have talked about how to landscape the back yard but have gone back and forth about what to plant. But with the timing and the weather we only have a small window to get trees picked out, dug, planted all before they go into shock come May. Otherwise we are left to wait till October when the weather starts to cool down again. So it was evident that we wanted a nice backyard before summer came so that we could utilize that space and have dinner parties this summer.

Our backyard neighbors decided they were going to store their travel trailer in their backyard (which is a eyesore) so that was ultimately the deciding factor to pull the trigger and purchase some trees this past weekend. My dad is coming to town on Wednesday, so we will end up having an extra pair of hands to help out. I will continue posting updates on the back yard as we do more with it. But as you can see from the pictures we are just getting started. Check back again to see the progress.....ABSOLUTELY



(Before) Notice the travel trailer in the back yard ... Gross



 This is off the patio (before)

 Ben hard at work

 Four holes were dug up last night we will finish the rest tonight



Adventure Island

Who would of guessed that this morning after going on a walk with Ben and Gabby I could be SO excited to have children and take them to a park, well not just a park, but a park called ADVENTURE ISLAND!!! The best part about all of this is that Adventure Island Park is a 5-7minute walk from our house.

Ben and I ventured out this morning with the dog for some fresh air and decided we would take a walk to Settler's Park where the baseball fields are located. Since we moved in October we have never walked there. We always drive by it but have never stopped to get out and see what it has to offer. With no kids and a busy work schedule we didn't think twice about the beautiful park. I hate to say this but we sorta took it for granted.

Much to my surprise we turned the corner and walked passed the fishing pond where you are allowed to fish (which they stock!!!) even better. Then started on the path that looped around all the baseball fields and then we came to a bunch of long strips of grass.....GUESS WHAT..... they have several beautiful horseshoe lanes. You can rent the horseshoes and play a game or two. Next was the tennis courts followed by a nice picnic area.

As we continued around the park we came to the HUGE playground equipment. The neat thing is, is that it is all age friendly and all ability friendly. There are ramps all over for the lil' ones and children who have wheelchairs/disabilities and then there things for bigger kids. Next we came to the jumbo musical instruments (that were AWESOME). Here is the part that I am so super excited to share. There is a splash park that is open in the summers. "The Fish Wreck water play area is themed around pirate ships and whales. Little buttons around the splash pad allow children to activate some of the water features. All the play areas have rubberized surfacing (adventureisland.com)."


Adventure Island....!!!

Ramps and playground!

Horseshoes ground

Over view of the park

Fishing pond!


Movies are shown in the summer!

If you are ever in our next of the woods stop over and check it out. I am so excited for summer to get here. I can already see Ben and I becoming a regular over at the horseshoe courts and watching some of our friends children at the baseball fields.

*All pictures used from http://www.meridiancity.org/parks_rec.aspx?id=1089
I didn't have my camera.