YUP I BUILT THAT

So I am pretty excited about my post today. I just got done building my fist, very own retaining wall (I have built plenty with my mom but this one is for me). Every since we moved in I have disliked the plants in the front of the house, so I decided finally to do something about it. I also disliked how the flower bed slopped down and just kinda fell off. We do live on a hill but I like things level.

First came the decision process, in the store I thought I would like the smallest blocks the best, then I thought the tan/pink ones might look nice. Then I decided that I really liked the gray ones the best at the last minute - he he he-

So I had to go pick them up, hall them back and build!!! I started this morning at about 11am after Ben went to work. I had to make a couple trips to the nursery cause I forgot some stuff but now I'm done. Woo hoo. - yeah I'm pretty excited about it-

The only thing I'm not too excited for is doing this to the other side. It is twice as big.

So here it is.


The plants are sunburst coreopsis, dual color gaillardia, and snowcap shasta daisies.

The flowers look a little droopy cause I just watered them so the petals are weighed down. I'll get a better pic in a couple days when they perk up.

potted plants and...

So the past few weeks we have been staying busy, most recently we went to Lowes to get some stuff for potted plants cause I wanted to bring some color to our deck. We ended up walking out of Lowes with stuff for 6 containers of plants, a large container for tomatoes my grandma sent home with us, also a new refrigerator and dishwasher.

Yeah unexpected but oh so awesome.

So our two year anniversary was May 24th, we went out to visit my Grandma Harbour in California. We stopped in Reno for a night which was fun. While there Grandma grabbed some little tom plants that she was going to throw away so Steph and I could give them a try growing them. That is kinda the whole thing that triggered the potted plant thing.

So here are my pots - Promise the tomatoes look much improved now, they were a bit tired from the trip.









So as I was looking at plants, ben ran and looked at appliances. We ended up getting a screaming good deal cause they were having a sale for memorial day, then we got an extra 10% off so we got about 40& off the regular price. We are lucky cause it fits in the kitchen but it is a tad big for the space but we think it will look better after we remodel.
(I haven't cleaned is from when it was installed so it looks smudgy with fingerprints)

more photos

So just some updates on the yard, most are self explanatory. The one of the bushes in the front is just me showing some progress on the pulling out of the junk.





Plus here is a pic of our new chandelier for our dining room, also the new paint color. We still have some finish work to do around some edging and then we will post more photos of the final product.

more yard updates

Sorry if these posts aren't super exciting for everyone, they are for me!!! Just did another circle of the yard this Sunday in hopes of seeing some tulips (the ones at the church just two 4 blocks away are in bloom) but nothing yet -



They are getting sooooooo close. I think we are gonna see some red ones cause there is a slight hint of orange or red on the edges. Also sorry about the dandelion in the corner there- he he he.

We do have some beautiful spring time blooms on our apricot tree.



Here is a little sad looking rose bush I almost pulled out last fall but decided to leave in and see what happened. Surprise - there is some new growth.


And a new update on my lilac progress - we have so many in the yard i can't wait for them all to bloom. It is gonna look so pretty.


Also .. I have had multi requests from some family for a post about the lay out of our house so I am gonna do that later this week.

I felt it..... did you?

So I don't know if you guys felt it but today we got a little residual tremor from an earthquake near by. I was hanging out on the couch when it hit, Ben was standing up in the kitchen so he didn't feel it. It wasn't real big but it scared me that the BIG earthquake we keep hearing is destined to hit the Wasatch front is gonna get here sooner than later. I keep hoping for later.

Even though I knew that feeling (when we were young kids we were in the Northridge quake in Ca) cause you don't ever forget it. It is always nice to have some reassurance.

Here is the official website. Our little quake.

Our new treadmill

ye haaa - I'm so excited for this new treadmill. Most of you know that I completed a half marathon this last December in Las Vegas. I am sad to say that my short break after that race has become a two - three month long break. So now to help me squash that cycle and give me no excuses for not getting some good cardio in 6 days a week. We have two different "scratch and dent" exercise stores in our area- we found this treadmill at one of the stores for about $140 less than the competitor.

Thankfully I have my wonderful sister in town who has a Tahoe so we could get this monstrous thing home. We started to unload it when Ben really started to question my upper arm strength. So we rested it on our garbage can while Ben enlisted one of our new neighbors for some help lowering it onto the driveway.



Once down we had to disassemble it a bit as our doorways are small.


We hauled it inside, put it back together and.....


viola -


We also decided that we needed to rearrange the guest room/ exercise room a bit so we took some time out of our weekend to get it settled. I am excited to get movin' on it tomorrow.


-I also took another survey of the yard today while talking to my mom and dad - there is some progress and I will photo document it in a few days.

the craziness that is utah

So look at the post just previous to this - flowers blooming, sun shining......

then we got a rain storm.. that turned into..
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this!!!







Which turned into 7-8 inches of it in the morning. Good ol' Utah - you just never know what it is gonna throw at you.



The plows even had to run this a.m. to clear off the streets.