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!