Way too long...

Good morning. I just logged on to my blog for the first time in two weeks - I need to do better at keeping this updated. But, with summer around the corner, I am tempted to abandon the computer for the sunny days and time spent outside. As always, there's been a lot going on over the past few weeks.

Right after we posted last time, we headed to Bismarck/Dickinson, ND for a family event. We hit the zoo in Bismarck, and boy, was that fun. Luke and Alex loved it and I have to say that Jeff and I were very impressed by the zoo.

We just stay busy, busy, busy. The latest project has been landscaping. And man, is that a project. We started about 2 weeks ago by tilling up the garden, and edging it with landscape timbers. And, we had to figure out a way to get our sump pump to drain away from the house - kinda pointless to have a sump pump if the water you are pumping just drains right back into the house! The night we did that, we had a muddy mess and boy did Lucas and Alex love it. We decided that Lucas is the type that will always be muddy with a frog in his pocket. He just loves being outside. And Alex , well he just wants to be where the action is!
Over the past week, I have been on many an excursion for new shrubs, flowers, rock, etc for our "big" project. The people who first lived in this house were really diligent about keeping a nice yard, so we have good "bones." However, the people who owned the house before us did, um, NOTHING outside. Our neighbor tells us they only mowed about once every two weeks. So we have a lot of projects - and with the rainy weather all last weekend, that leaves a big job for me. So, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I spent planting shrubs and flowers, and hauling rocks, a bucketful at a time. We are done with two main areas, and tomorrow, we will finish filling in all of the rock across the front of the house. Like I said, big project... And, I didn't think to take a "before" picture dang!!! But, I can assure you it was blah. Apparently, first owners had the front area almost exactly like we just redid it. Owners right before us didn't wanna deal with work, so they just hauled dirt in and planted grass, so we've been digging through rocks and landscape plastic! But here's a view of what it looks like now:

We still have a bit of rock left, and I have to get hanging plants but I just love how it turned out. Our town has also had clean up week this week, so we've brought 2 truckloads of garbage to the dump, which cleans out the garage! It is a lot of work, but such a good, fresh feeling to get it all done!