Front yard is done! (mostly)

Our front yard has been an eyesore since we moved in last year and we have been dying to do something with it, especially since the weeds were out of control! We decided awhile ago that we wanted to do xeriscape with a flower bed by the front porch and an evergreen tree. There are lots of landscapers out here but many of them were super busy. One company I called said they couldn't do it until January! So we lucked out and found someone who did it about 2 weeks after he gave us his quote. Here are some before pics:

Just ugly!

Here are some pics while the work was in progress:

The dry riverbed coming from the rainspout.

Our lovely evergreen tree before being planted.

Our flower bed with a boulder border.

This is the finished yard once the landscaper was done. It turned out a bit more bland than we thought it would. So we decided to add a bit more...

Here is the flower bed with the plants and mulch added.

For the rock area we decided a few red lava boulders would help add some color!

The yard definitely looks a lot better now than the field of weeds it was! The next project is our park strip. Since we are on the corner, we have a very long park strip that we have to maintain. So we opted for rock again since it will be much easier! We had some rock left over from the front yard, so we decided to use some of it for the park strip and we will be getting a different kind to alternate sections. Poor Carlton spent about 4 hours this past weekend shoveling rock into these sections. Hopefully he can rent a bobcat or something to finish it!

In other news, the kids got to see their first real parade in person this past weekend! Pioneer day is a huge holiday in UT and they had a parade in SLC for it. Carlton ran a half marathon that morning and we met up with him to see the parade. The kids enjoyed the first hour and then Gavin was done! LOL It was pretty hot and we were sitting directly in the sun, so we were fine with leaving before it was over! Here are a couple pics:

 

Hope you are enjoying your summer and staying cool!!

Summer Fun!

 A couple weeks ago we decided to take a drive to Park City and ride the gondola to the top of the mountain for some hiking. It was nice to get into cooler temps and the kids enjoyed the picnic and riding the gondola!

The following week, the kids and I took a trip to the Hogle Zoo. They opened up their playground and splash pad area, so the kids really enjoyed that!

The kids also got to ride the carousel for the first time and really enjoyed that! Gavin wanted to sit on the bench at first. Then when Avery picked a moving animal, he changed his mind! LOL

Before leaving the zoo, the kids got to feed a Giraffe! They were very excited!! Check out how long that tongue is!

Then we had fun on our street for the 4th. Our new little neighborhood had a potluck and planned some water games for the kids. It was very entertaining to watch since the ages ranged from 2 to about 12.

First they were supposed to use towels as a hammock holding a water balloon and toss it to the next paid of kids.

Then they had the kids sit in a line and use a cup to toss water over their shoulder to the kid behind them holding a cup. The last kid in line was supposed to put the water in the bucket and whichever bucket had the most water was the winner. I have no idea who won but lots of kids got wet! After that, they had a water balloon fight and everyone loved that. Avery had a blast squeezing the balloons until they exploded and Gavin fully enjoyed getting wet!

Celebrations and Pirate Ship Update

We have been to two celebrations in the past couple of weeks! The first one was the one year anniversary of Aqua-Tots where the kids take their swimming lessons. So Avery got her face painted while Gavin got to do some water safety lessons in the pool. They both got balloon animals (monkey and Ariel) and, of course, cupcakes!

Avery getting her face painted and Gavin doing one of the safety drills.

One day during the week we drove into SLC and met Carlton for lunch at a Sugarhouse Park which is really close to his work. The kids LOVED the cool playground!

Speaking of playgrounds, Carlton was able to make some updates to our Pirate Ship! We now have safety rails around the entire upper deck. We have also added a telescope, a helm, and binoculars! The kids are still loving their backyard playground!

The kids and I also attended the birthday celebration of a train at a local museum in Tooele. There was a mini train ride for them to enjoy, a train to tour, toys to play with and a goody bag. They had a great time!

The Tooele library has events planned for the summer (the train celebration was one) and we also got to see a presentation by the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. They have a traveling "show" where they bring some critters for kids to learn about and meet. I only got a couple pictures, but the kids got to see a hissing cockroach, another cockroach that lives in caves (can't remember the name), a Skink, and three different snakes. The kids were able to get up and touch the 8 foot long python in the pic!

We also have a puppet show coming up through the library and a magic show. Hopefully the kids will enjoy them! That's all for now! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Anniversary Weekend

Memorial weekend was also our seventh wedding anniversary! We did a family hike to the T on T mountain (T for Tooele) and then went to a nice dinner in town (Salt Lake). The hike was just shy of two miles total and ended up being a bit steep in some spots. Gavin hiked all the way (with some hand holding which ended up being one of us pulling him along). Avery did the climb like a champ....in the carrier on Carlton's back! BUT she did hike all the way back down on her own feet, which was great!

Since we never get dressed up, well the kids and I don't, we decided to dress nicely for our dinner! The kids actually enjoyed getting fancy!

It was a fun filled weekend!!