Our Yard- Summer 2

We have been babying our yard all summer long, and after a few months of aching backs and a ton of sweat, we are proud to announce that our yard is beginning to resemble the yard we envisioned when we bought our house.

Lest you have forgotten, this is what our backyard looked like last summer:

I'm not going to lie...just looking at this picture makes me cringe. 

And, without further adieu (drum roll please), we are pleased to introduce you to Our Yard, Season 2:

Working on it early in the summer

All finished!

 

Our herb garden



Our vegetable garden


In addition to our vegetable and herb gardens, we planted some raspberries and blackberries and a peach tree(which should start producing next year).  The house also had a bing cherry tree, a pear tree, an apricot tree, and a white grape and red grape vine when we moved in.  Needless to say, it has been a fun project, and we have definitely been enjoying the fruits of our labors!
We will probably need to nurse the grass for a few more years, and there are some other trees that we need to take down and some more projects to deal with, but we are to a point where we are finally enjoying our yard and our hard work is starting to pay off.

Lazy Days of Summer...

Who ever thought up the term "Lazy Days of Summer" was crazy. It seems like summer is half over before you even get started! We have been so busy playing that we haven't had any time for posting! This is our official "catch up" post on some of the random things we have been up to in the last few months. Enjoy!

In late April, we took Priya to the zoo (it was freezing cold), and she loved it!

Last month, we went to the zoo with Joanna, Lexi, and Natalie. Priya had a love-hate relationship with the animatronic dinosaurs. She hated them at the zoo, and she loves them now (and is obsessed with dinosaurs).

Lexi

Natalie

Priya


We watched Paul win his Championship Baseball Game:

Great job, Paul!

He really was excited, I promise!



My sweet niece Jillian got baptized:

Baby Jayden got blessed:

We celebrated the wonderful women in our lives with Mother's Day:

Grandma Davies, Priya, and Daddy

Priya with Mommy (watching Grandma Cindy blow out her birthday cake. Mother's Day was the perfect day to celebrate).


4 generation photo: Nana, Namama, Mommy, and Priya


We celebrated the most amazing man's birthday:

Cleveland Indians? Yes!

Priya at Daddy's party

Katie got Andrew tickets to U2 for his birthday (I know, you are all wishing Katie was related to you, too). It was awesome!

We celebrated some amazing men (including my totally awesome hubby)

on Father's Day:

Priya, me, Grandpa Little, and Andrew

Baby Emma was also blessed on Father's Day. Here is a picture of all the great-grandkids: L to R- Priya, Braxton, Claire, Jayden, Grandpa Little, Bailee, Megan, Emma.

Sadly, my dad was out of town for Father's Day. We missed him, but he had a great time!

Priya moved into a big girl bed (boy, has that been an adventure)!

Priya's first night testing out the bed

We've been doing all different kinds of swimming:

We've been going to carnivals and celebrations:

And we've been playing pioneer up at This is the Place:

Even with how busy we've been, Priya has still found time to do even more things, including:

Trying out the latest styles and fashions (and trending some of her own):

including shades

ruffles

Knee-high socks

and Mommy-Shoes

She has been doing artwork in various mediums (including her new favorite skin medium):

Spending time with family and friends:

Wrapping daddy around her finger:

Practicing her "Bay Watch" run:

Playing some baseball:

Going down the slides at McDonald's (which she considers very serious business)!

And perfecting her grass-rolling skills (still needs some work):

All in all, it has been a most satisfying summer so far!

Easter 2011

Easter was a lot of fun this year, especially now that Priya is understanding more. She spent the weeks leading up to Easter practicing her egg-hunting skills:

Friday night, we dyed Easter Eggs (actually, Priya died Easter Eggs, we watched and tried to keep the dye from spilling). The only casualty was the pink egg dye, and a few eggs. It was very hard for my artistic side to let go and allow Priya to make multi-colored eggs!

On Saturday, we had a party at our house with family and others. We had a rockin' Easter Egg Hunt, which Priya enjoyed at the beginning:

And shortly after was upset because she discovered the candy in the eggs, but we wouldn't let her have any right then.

Natalie hunting for her eggs

We finished the party off with yummy Cafe Rio style salads (click to see the recipe). So delicious!

On Easter morning, Priya got to see what the Easter bunny left her:

The Jelly Beans were her favorite, followed closely by her new books.

Priya in her new Easter Dress:

We went over to my parent's house for breakfast and then went to church. It was so nice to go and remember the wonderful reason we have Easter.

We spent the rest of the day with family, and got to see my Grandpa, who was up visiting from St. George.

Priya loved running and playing with bubbles at my parent's house in the afternoon.