The Grass is NOT Greener on the Other Side!

Our yard is really starting to take shape this year. When we look over our neighbors fences... we can no longer literally or metaphorically say "the grass is always greener on the other side."

We've lived here 4 years and all we had was dirt when we moved in. There was no grass, no fences, no sprinklers, etc. Boise Idaho is the desert. Everything is brown and sandy. There aren't that many trees. Frankly, it's kinda ugly.

Zac and I both come from states where the trees are plenty and the greenery is phenomenal. So, with my dad's guidance (thanks dad!), we've been slowing transforming our yard into a lush green paradise. We've added lots of elements... ponds, streams, retaining walls, a play area for Bryant, multiple trellises, lots of fish, 2 decks, etc.

Here's our yard after the first year we moved in. It took us all year just to get this far!

Here is the yard the second year. We added a deck and a patio set. We also started accumulating some plants.

Last summer, things looked like this. Pretty... but not perfect.

This year all our hard work is paying off. Our plants and landscaping are finally starting to look at little more mature. We spent today working in the yard. It was lots of hard work (I weighed 3 pounds less when I weighed this evening... that should tell you how much we sweated!)

Here are pictures of our yard this year:

Anyone with kids know you have to keep kids entertained so they stay out of your way. We purchased this pool to keep Bryant busy this weekend while we slaved away.

Then we had to try to catch all the Koi fish... and a few small baby Koi which seem to have materialized since last summer :)... all that work just so that we could empty the ponds.

Where do you move fish when you clean out a pond? Well, how many other people do you think had $300 worth of fish in their cooler today? (I was obviously focused on Bryant when I took this picture... not the fish... sorry)

After the first pond was empty, we scrubbed it and re-positioned all the flagstone and river-rock. We resculpted the stream and added a few more rocks.

Here's a picture of Miss Plastic so you can see where her permanent home is.

The second pond was much easier. We mainly cleaned it and added a small water spray fountain to the middle (we're trying to keep the mosquito's away by having running water)

We also got the front of the house looking pretty good. The flowers are finally starting to bloom now that we've had some hot weather.

Well, here's what we didn't get done. The weeds on the hill. They have gotten completely out of control. We sprayed them with Round-Up and then wussed out and decided to leave them until next weekend.

Lastly, Bryant wants me to post this picture of him helping us. He swept and then sprayed off the deck. He's quite proud of this picture.

So, that was our Saturday. Yard Work, Yard Work and more Yard Work. Hopefully we can move when we get out of bed tomorrow. We carried 35 pounds of river rock and pumped over 300 gallons of water today. But it was worth it. Especially when we get to enjoy it tomorrow morning while we sit outside drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper all while enjoying the sounds of streams, waterfalls, fountains.