Landscaping

The weather has warmed up and we have finally finished our front yard. It looks great! We had so much help from family, neighbors and ward members-who racked, shoveled and laid sod. We couldn't have done it without you! As sad as it is to say, I think landscaping is harder than building a house.

This is just after Ernie finished the sprinkler system and began to fill in the trenches to cover the pipes.

After that we got straight to work on racking up the rocks and smoothing out the dirt. This took a good week to do. There was so many rocks.

Saturday afternoon we started laying sod! Everyone showed up to help which made the work load easy and fast. We had 4,135 sq. feet to put down for just our front yard! A lot of work.

FINISHED!!!

These are our planter boxes. I was a little nervous about how they would turn out because of how they looked after we put down sod. Looks awful and unfinished.

Weeks later.....

Anna is now showing off our finished front yard. Wait, what? You can't see anything? Hold on lets get a closer look.

We put curbing all the way around the porch which looks fantastic. It is colored and stamped which you can see better in the picture below.

We planted daylilies in the back and white geraniums in the front with a delphinium in the corner. It still looked a little unfinished, so we added chocolate brown wood chips. This really made the plants stick out.

To add a bit more color I added a red pillow to the chairs (shown in first porch picture) and I think I might add a red throw blanket to the other chair. Then I really got to thinking when I thought of painting our door red. I really need some input, will a red door add charm and color or will it distract?

On the corner of the porch we planted a Wisteria vine with purple flowers. I'm so excited about this plant, because as it grows we're going to have it wrap up and over the porch to frame it. I think this will look good.

This corner is right by our front door. I just watered the flowers, which is why the cement looks weird. I love how much life and color the flowers add to the house.

This spot was a little hard to figure out. We just planted these flowers to pass our inspection. I plan on digging them back up and putting them on the porch. Now I need to go back to the drawing board for this planter box. Any suggestions?

(Note: the left side, where the taller plant is, gets no sun.)

This is our Red Maple tree. In the fall the leaves will turn a deep red, which I think will make a lovely contrast with our house.

The planter box in front of the porch continues to wrap around to the side of the house where we planted another delphinium and a hydrangea! I'm so excited about this hydrangea plant, I love these flowers. The lady at the nursery said that if we planted it without any extra soil or fertilizer then the flowers will turn pink. Pink is what I wanted so that's what we did.

But...as you can see the flowers are blue. They still look gorgeous but not quite what I wanted. (There are some that are blooming purple which I love.)

Home Sweet Home

These pictures are a little insight of what our lives have been like since August. It has been long and straining, but so worth it. Every step was an exciting one for us. Ernie and I both feel stronger and more empowered since building our own home. Many times we will be at a store and find ourselves thinking, we can build that! We have gained so much knowledge and experience through this program. THANK YOU to everyone who supported us through this we couldn't have done it with out you!

Here are progress pictures during building.


This is a picture of our lot before we started.


Our foundation. Basement and garage.


Interior walls. The hole on the floor are our stairs leading to the basement.


Exterior walls.


Exterior walls.


After we flew trusses.


After our house was shingled.


Hallway.


Living Room. Putting up drywall.


Ernie and me putting gable returns on. (This was about 11:30 at night. Not fun, but don't they make the house look great?)

Men preparing the house for stucco.


View of our kitchen and the appliances.


Our rock and grout. (By this time it was extremely cold! Life was miserable.)


Side view with stucco and rock.


Front view. Aren't the mountains in the background scenic? Love it!

We are loving our home and can't think of a better place to be! We still have landscaping to do this spring and we are looking forward to it. If you have any suggestions or ideas for our yard, let us know!

Our Lives So Blessed

Our precious little girl was born Friday, May 14th at 5:27 a.m. She weighs 7 lbs. 7 oz. and is 20 inches long. Can you say so cute! She has such a sweet temperament with a beautiful smile and eyes to match. We had a hard time coming up with her middle name but finally came up with one. Her name is Macy Esperanza Lara.

Thank you to all who have supported us so much at this time with your love, help and prayers. We love you all.

Our Trip

What could possibly be the best trip? How about a trip that took you away from the cold and the snow to 70 degree weather with sun all day, surrounded by family and a wedding to top it all off. Yes, we took a trip to Arizona to see family and to see my good friend get married. It was enthusiastically fun!

When we arrived at Devan and Robyn's home we were greeted with the grandest welcome. Mckay, James and Ashlyn came flying out the door to give us hugs, we felt like royalty. The Anderson family really made us feel at home. They took us out to dinner, Mckay gave up his bed, they popped us popcorn in their super fancy popcorn machine (so cool), treated us to a wonderful night of American Idol on the wii and delighted us with Cold Stone ice cream. It was a perfect weekend.

Anna had the time of her life with Ashlyn. Ashlyn took Anna under her wing and showed Anna the ropes of how to be a princess, how to dance, sing and dress. Friday night Susanne, Ashlyn and Anna put on a performance for Robyn and me. It was so great, I wished I had a video camera, but these pictures will have to do. Susanne was in charge of the music while Ashlyn danced and Anna copied whatever moves she did. Not only did they dance but they did the whole shebang with outfits and makeup! Loved it! Thank you Anderson Family!!

Friday was packed with fun events. Robyn was so awesome and watched Anna for us while we went to Melinda's wedding. It was so great to see a childhood friend again and especially neat to see her get married, the ceremony was wonderful. Her and Stephen make a great couple. Later, at the reception, I was able to see another childhood friend. I felt like a little kid again catching up with Andrea and being with the two friends I spent the most time with as a girl. I can't think of wanting to have any other childhood than the one I had. The whole time memories came flooding back, it was great!

I was able to see a lot of other wonderful people from my youth who were great influences and examples to me while growing up. You could say this was the best trip!

Just In Case You Didn't Know

I know this is horrible and I feel really bad, but just in case you didn't know we are expecting our second baby! We are so excited anticipating our new little one's arrival. We found out that we are having another little precious girl who is due May 17th!

Each day I find myself deep in thought about Anna and her sister. I think about the adventures they will go on, the people they will meet and through all their exciting experiences knowing they will always have each other. Anna is very enthused about having a little sister. Dad said that Anna will have fun having a live doll to dress up, I think he is right.

Anna's First Haircut

Yes, this is Anna's first haircut! For 3 years I put off cutting her hair because I loved her long hair. I loved styling her hair in a buch of different ways and I wish I had taken pictures of my favorite hair dos on her. But the time has come that I could no longer put off cutting her hair. I thought to myself, "If I'm going to cut her hair at all, I am going to CUT it!" So I started cutting and cutting and cutting. With the first chop I thought I had ruined it. I didn't realize how short I had cut it, so I started to worry and freak out thinking that she is going to look like a butch and then I thought I'm going to have to take her to a professional and get it cut even shorter in order to fix what I had done to my beautiful daughter. Each cut made me more worried, until I was almost done, then I could see her hair take shape. I felt a little relieved towards the end, but there was still a lot more to do like, even it out. Cutting children's hair is a lot harder then I thought. I wasn't fully sure about her hair until Ernie saw it and loved it. Anna told me that she liked her hair too, so I didn't feel too bad about chopping off 10 inches! While I am thrilled about Anna's hair turning out very cute I still have mixed emotions about her not having long hair anymore.

BEFORE AND AFTER