yard progress

It is hard to believe that we've now lived in our home for three years! That is until you look at how far our yard has come in that amount of time. When we first moved in it was just a big dirt plot. That first year we moved in at the tail end of August so all we had time for that summer was to do one thorough weeding of the ground before the first frost hit. The next summer was by far the most work and the most progress ... we put in our sprinkler system, castle bricked the perimeter of our house and front flower bed, had the two side panels of vinyl fencing installed, and spread grass seed. Last summer we had the back panel of vinyl fence installed, added trees along the back fence, planted shrubs and tulip bulbs in the front flower bed, and spread bark throughout both areas of planter boxes. That leads us to this summer ... 

It is pretty weathered and faded at this point but it still my favorite door mat!

When we planted our grass we left a big patch of dirt behind with plans to eventually extend our patio. After looking into the costs associated with this project and discovering that it would be roughly $1,500+ to accomplish what we were wanting to do, we decided to change our plans for a more economical option and ended up with this ...

Our poor umbrella is falling apart, it is on the list of things to replace.

A pea gravel section with a fire pit, an area for Liam's sandbox and slide, and our very first garden! 

After our trip to California back in April and seeing how much Liam adored playing in the sand, we knew he'd love his very own sandbox and he sure does!

We planted a row of strawberries, spinach, yellow peppers, romaine lettuce, and sugar snap peas. The  potted plant is a raspberry bush. So far, the pepper plants and romaine lettuce are thriving the most. I think both types of lettuce are ready to be cut and eaten already. My poor berry plants are another story! I haven't seen a single berry so far but I've been told it takes time and that maybe the second year they will thrive better? It has been a fun new experiment for me to try gardening but I will definitely admit it isn't my favorite thing. I may have had Nic install a timer and a sprayer so that it gets watered on its own now after spending copious amounts of time out there watering or occasionally forgetting to (oops!). 

We love how it turned out and have been loving having the space finished for Liam to play in this summer!

The front yard has not changed since the last time you saw it here except for our tulips which bloomed in the spring and were so beautiful!!! 

We did frost the glass window panels in the front door though which is something we've been wanting to do ever since we moved in! I still pinch myself every time I think about this house belonging to us!

I know the projects never truly end ... we still want to add some tall wood posts around the patio to string up fun outdoor edison lights, replace our umbrella since it is falling apart with a much bigger one that will provide more shade, plant some summer blooming flowers in the front yard flower bed and maybe a couple of drawf trees or peony bushes on either side of the large window, do a few pots on the porch and add that beloved porch swing I am still dreaming about. However! It feels so good to have come this far and to finally have a fully functional yard we've been enjoying so much this summer!

Liam at 21 months

I know I probably sound like a broken record every time I share one of these milestone posts because I am, like most parents, continually in awe of how fast the time goes! I can hardly believe the words "He is 3 months shy of his second birthday!" are even coming out of my mouth right now but here we are! 

Liam is so silly, so loving, and so expressive in this stage he is in right now! He absolutely wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve. We have been cherishing every moment of his silly and loving side while it lasts and ducking for cover when his overly emotional side comes out because those "terrible twos" are surfacing more and more these days and definitely right around the corner. Whenever he has his throw himself on the floor kicking and screaming meltdowns it quickly reminds me that I'm definitely not ready for that stage! Yikes!! haha Luckily it doesn't take but a few moments before he is back to being silly and loving again quickly followed by "He's so perfect!" ;) There is no one who hugs and snuggles better than Liam, it is my absolute favorite! Here's a little glimpse of the emotional side I was talking about haha ...

Some of our favorite things about 21 month old Liam ...

He scrunches his nose, furrows his eyebrows, and sticks out his lips for the ultimate angry stare down he gets when something isn't going his way. haha 

He can say several words now including ball, baby, bubble (he's got the "b" sound down for sure), ooooch (ouch), uh oh (my favorite!), and more to name a few. He still however prefers complete gibberish most of the time with a lot of doy doy doys and bia bia bias. 

His favorite word in the world is still "YES" (you don't hear me complaining!) and he answers almost every question you ask him with it, even after he has learned the word no. 

He waves goodbye and points hello!

Still my picky eater of mostly bananas, peanut butter, and apple sauce. He likes what he likes! And anything grain/bread/carb based are not one of those things! I'm looking at you mac n' cheese. The ultimate kid staple.

He loves Daniel Tiger, Home, and Hotel Transylvania 2.

He has the most contagious giggle and a smile that I'm sure will break a few hearts someday!

We adore you more every single day our little water lovin' boy. You are our whole world and we love you so much!

just a quick hello

Hey you party people! It's been a minute since I've been on here. Well, been on here and actually clicked the publish button anyway. I thought I'd share a quick update of what we've been up to and what I plan on sharing later this week!

Since the 4th of July our weekends have been pretty low key. Runs at the Wellness Complex on Saturday mornings followed by quite a bit of time spent outside going for family walks, playing in Liam's splash pad or sandbox, trying to get rid of the endless amount of weeds taking over our grass, and wandering Costco when we can't stand the 95 degree heat for one more second. Nic and I love the samples, Liam loves the ginormous teddy bears. It's a win, win. :)

Then before we know it the work week rolls around again. I don't always look forward to Mondays 

because Nic goes back to work and I pour all of my time and energy into cleaning the entire house and catching up on the mountain of laundry that has quickly accumulated throughout the weekend. However, I never feel more accomplished than I do at the end of a Monday! Today I decided to add "clean all the closets" to my to do list and I suddenly have 3 giant garbage bags full of random crap I've been hanging onto to donate tomorrow. I also made toy rearranging a top priority because they were TAKING OVER MY LIFE. haha It's funny, I remember the day when we only had one toy in the whole house. I moved Liam's teepee to his room and organized all of his toys and moved them into his closet for a play space and suddenly my house feels so much more roomy, I love it! 

In other news, our danger prone Liam nursed a black eye after church nursery last Sunday and is sporting a swollen bloodied lip from tripping up the stairs to get to the slide at the playground this Sunday. Sometimes I think we need to wrap that kid up in bubble wrap! 

I have some fun things I'm excited to share with you this week including a 21 month update of Liam and the funny things he says and does these days, a yard update because we are FINALLY almost finished with it after 3 years of living here, and I'm working on a house tour! I love seeing the insides of people's homes and decorating is right up my alley but it is definitely expensive so I feel like I've avoided sharing because I've wanted to have everything crossed off my to-do list first. I'm learning that the list of projects never actually ends and my decorating tastes change over time so I might as well just share how it is right now and update later as it evolves. So check back tomorrow. :)

Happy Monday! XO

4th of July 2016 & a video

Our 4th of July could not have been more fun this year with my family! Prepare yourself for a picture heavy post as usual. ;) The festivities started off on Friday night when my dad and step-mom came from Colorado. We spent the evening catching up in the backyard while Liam played with their dog, Gertie. He loves dogs but from a distance so it took him a little while to warm up to her. In the mean time he was cracking us all up by face planting into Gertie's dog bed over and over again! haha We left on Saturday morning for Meridian but Nic, Liam, and I made a pit stop on the way to see our friends, the Lee family. They took us to the Sandwich Company for lunch (so yummy!) and our husbands finally got a chance to meet!

The guys weren't the only ones meeting for the first time. Dani, Ryan, and Decker just welcomed a baby girl into their family! Baby Avery is an absolute doll! She gave me some serious baby fever!!! ;)

Saturday evening we had a belated birthday celebration for me with my mom. We went out to dinner at one of my favorite places, Olive Garden, and then had ice cream, played on the playground, and saw the water fountain at The Village. Liam LOVED going down the slide!

We stayed up talking late on Saturday night like we usually do and started getting ready for bed around midnight. Just as we were sliding underneath the covers and turning out the light we heard a loud knock at the door. Nic popped out of bed to see what was going on and as he opened up the door all I could hear was MY BROTHER'S VOICE!!! We had NO idea he was coming home for the 4th and it was the BEST surprise ever! My mom literally screamed when he opened up her bedroom door! haha It made for the perfect weekend to have all of our family together.

On Sunday we went to my dad's church service with his side of the family. It was a blast getting all of the cousins together! I made everyone french toast, flag fruit skewers. and eggs for brunch! We also took a bunch of family pictures together but I'm bummed they were all on my dad's camera so I don't have any to share right now. 

Later Sunday evening we took Liam over to Settler's Park to play in a splash pad and he didn't like it at all. I guess it wasn't a hug surprise to me though considering he isn't a fan of water coming down at him from above. If it had been stagnant water like a little pool he would have been all over it! The swings and the slides won his heart there instead.

The morning of the 4th my mom pulled out this adorable dump truck toy that her neighbor's gave her before they moved (thanks so much Hamman family!) and he went up and down the driveway on it with a big grin on his face over and over again.

After lunch time we headed to my step-brother Josh's in-law's house. They have an awesome backyard with a big pool! Liam was napping most of the time while we were there so we played a few games of corn hole, ate some great appetizers, and enjoyed lots of good company before he woke up to go swimming!

With some help from a sweet friend with a cricut machine (I'm looking at you Amanda!), I made Liam this "Babe Watch" shirt last minute for the 4th. That and his cut off denim shorts, he looked absolutely adorable that day!

You would not believe what it took to get this family picture. Poor Nic looks a little worn out and flush from having to run laps around my mom's yard with Liam on his shoulders to get him to smile. Oh the things parents do to get a family picture. haha I sure love mine though and my patient mom for being the photographer!

Sita (what Liam calls my mom) sure has a fun backyard to play in!

Liam was obsessed with this watering can and helping Sita water all of her plants. 

I adore these two ...

As my mom was shaking a branch and saying "Liam, look at this bush!", an angry bird dove at Liam's head. haha Sure enough, there was a nest in the bush my mom was shaking. If you mess with momma bird's offspring, she'll mess with yours I guess. haha His face was priceless ...

After dinner just about every day we were there, Liam would finish WAY before the rest of us and would immediately want to get down so we would buy a few extra minutes with a firecracker popsicle. ;)

That and this yummy fruit pizza I made for dessert on the 4th!

We started on fireworks a little early so we could get that cute little someone to bed at a decent hour. Knowing how much of a daredevil Liam usually is, we were surprised to discover that he really didn't love fireworks. Every time Nic would light one and it would go off he'd yell, "NO!" with that furrowed brow, worried eyes, and pouty lip expression he gives when he isn't happy about a situation. haha He would run the other direction with sparklers too.

Sita's phone on the other hand, now that was a fun activity! haha

Liam did love snappers/pop its! He would throw one at the ground to pop it and then run to try and pick up the wrapper to throw it again. haha He did not understand they couldn't be thrown twice in a row. We also caught him wanting to put them in his mouth. Watch for it in the video. haha

Such a good boy helping daddy clean up the snappers boxes.

The sparklers my brother bought were kind of duds and mostly just a big flame that would burn out in a few seconds like my mom's on the left ... Better luck next year in the sparkler department! 

With the crazy wind that started out the night, we were seriously questioning our decision making skills when we lit these smoke bombs and inhaled a pile of horrible smelling smoke. haha 

Tuesday was our last full day in town. Nic had to work for part of the day so he stayed home with Liam during his nap and my brother, mom, and I went out to lunch and shopping at The Village. It felt like old times just the three of us.

When Liam woke up from his nap we all went to Roaring Springs Water Park! Bren and I hadn't been there since elementary school/early middle school. We reminisced about surfing the lazy river with goggles looking for and collecting random change we found. Then pooling the money together and buying mini corn dogs or a dip n' dots to share. haha 

Even though Liam spent most of the time shivering while we there, he had an absolute blast and so did the rest of us! We floated the lazy river together, splashed in the wave pool, and took turns taking Liam down a little yellow slide! 

That life jacket was killing me. haha So cute!

Uncle Bren trying to get Liam to eat his corn dog ...

At the very end of our day at the water park, Nic and Brendan decided they wanted to go down these ridiculously crazy slides were you step inside a tube and the floor drops out from underneath you and sails you down the slide. It looked crazy intense! We cheered them on and watched from the bottom of the slides.