dustin, adrian & hayley came up this afternoon [mom is helping them with their taxes]. but before that... adrian and dustin worked in the backyard and finished the retaining wall. dad doesnt know yet, so it will totally be a surprise for him... were so excited to show him! this project is super exciting for us!! the next step is to add the water lines and then add the back-fill. then we can add fertilizer and sod and plants! how exciting is this?! it sure is coming along!
this is today's finished section... you can see where we need to add the back-fill.
this is the wall so far. and sorry this picture is so ghetto.... i didnt really want to take a long time on it, so i just put these together real fast. hahah...
ps... if you click on this picture ^ you can see it better.
our busy, busy day is over. we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to start working in the yard... and basically i'm pooped. so im justa gonna let the pictures do the talking. here goes....
this was 1 pallet [we had 4 total] of retainer wall block
[zac and i unloaded 3 pallets, each had 126 blocks on it! bah!]
dustin was crazy helpful! he was so awesome!!
hayley was crazy helpful too!
this is the finished section. pretty cool, eh? we are amazingly talented people who did a dang great job! high five to us! :)
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also... zac and i could not a resist a few opportunities to be artsy fartsy...
so... once upon a time i got "amazing live sea-monkeys" for my birthday from my great friend, nicole. [click here to see what they used to look like.] it has been almost 8 months since these little boogers were "born." i sure did get a kick out of them... for some strange reason i had always wanted sea-monkeys. now it looks pretty gross, and i dont feed them very often at all... and yet, there are still little babies popping up every now and then. right now there is 1 adult and 2 or 3 little babies. and there is about a quarter-inch of dead sea-monkey remains on the bottom... kinda gross. and yet im having this little debate in my head that goes something like this...
"wow. that looks really gross... you need to flush em' or something."
"i know, i know... but there are still amazing LIVE sea-monkeys in there."
"dude. it doesnt matter! its freaking nasty now."
"i know! but i cant just kill poor, little [almost microscopic] sea-monkeys!"
"you're being ridiculous."
so apparently we are having the missionaries for dinner tonight... it should be a lovely time. haha... welp. as a little appetizer thing, my mom made this fabulously amazing dip... it has avacado and corn and beans and tomatoes and some other stuff, but seriously- its delicious. this recipe also calls for a bit of cilantro.... and guess who just happened to be growing some? yep... thats me! this was the first time i've actually been able to use any of the herbs ive been growing! its amazing!! so naturally i just had to blog about it!
yesterday was the first day of spring... and it was a very productive day at that. dad, austin & i worked in the backyard for hours [tino & i even got lovely farmer tans... and i mighta burned a little too and dad definitely got a bit red... hahaha]. well. we got the footers ready for the retaining wall... it doesnt look like we got much done, but it really was a big and important step! and hopefully that will have been the hardest part. the rest should fall into place quite nicely! austin took pictures of us, but they were much too much too close so you dont get to see those. lol... but here's the yard! :)
so i was going to do something in my tittle about that nursery rhyme "mary mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row." so i googled it just to double check that i had it right... and this was the first link that popped up [click here]. go look at it. or dont. its gross. and i had no idea! sheesh.
anyway. here goes my newest garden post! :)
all of my plants [except my poor cucumbers] are doing really well! my zucchini are just about the cutest things ever! i have about a dozen or so zucchini plants. according to my dad, all you really need is 1 [maybe, maybe 2] zucchini plants to have more zucchini than you even know what to do with. so either i have to throw the extra away, or give them away... i would much rather give them away so somebody else can have delicious zucchini this summer! [so if you want a zucchini plant, lemme know! :) haha...]
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zucchini...
pumpkin...
beans...
yucca...
jojoba...
sunflowers [and strawberries in the background]...
well, not really. but it's st. patrick's day. so whatev. lol... anyway. years and years ago, when we were all little my mom would wake up early and put green food coloring in the milk [as a good luck sign from a leprechaun] and make us a green breakfast [side note... the green milk used to really freak austin out... like really! it was funny, but that stopped the green milk tradition]. but for the last i dont know how many years, we've gotten green bagels from our favorite bagel place in town [bruegger's bagels]. this year, my mom was helping out at arena registration at sabino... so i got to go pick up our bagels! and man, are they yummy! green bagels really do make st. patrick's day st. patrick's day!
a lot has happened in two years. its been exciting & sucky, fun & a wee bit boring. but i still cant believe its been 2 years since my puppy passed away. i sure do miss him... shoosh was a good dog. and it may be silly, but i'm really hoping that he's waiting for me in heaven. he's got to be right?
welp... here's a little trip down memory lane.....
today was a fun day... nicole and zac and i had lunch at pita pit down on campus. and mmm... was it good! i dragged them to target, and i bought a trellis for the garden... its gonna be fantastic! i probably shoulda driven a different car, or gone by myself. it was a bit of a tight squeeze. [again... i owe zac an apology, poor kid].
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but here is the big exciting news of the day!
my little brother, austin, got his permit today! its super exciting... and a little bit scary! i cant believe my little brother is seriously going to start driving! wow... it will be crazy, but way fun! great job, bud! :)
it started rather early with a bobcat in our backyard... no, not the animal... it was the machinery bobcat thingy. and can i just tell you how impressive it was? wow. amazing. anyway. brother weigal came and moved some dirt around so we can put in a retaining wall and start making our backyard look prettier! we've got some good ideas for it, i think! and hopefully we can get the retaining wall done in the next couple of weeks so that i can plant my zucchinis and stuff! yay!! :)
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and i went on a date today... with my good friend zac [and nicole and her date]. we went to the reid park zoo here in town [and it was an absolutely perfect day weather-wise] and then after we went back to zac's house to play games. it was a super fun little date! thanks to zac for a great time! ooh... we also got free taco's from jack in the box because the ua won their basketball game against usc [86-85... 2ot] woot woot! go cats! haha...
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also... its spring time in the good ol arizona [mom brought home daffodils!]
i am... a sister. a daughter. an aunt. a child of god. an artist. a lover of all creatures great & small. a pretend photographer. a fan of bubble baths. an eater of pazookie. an obsessor of diy blogs. a romance novel reader. a gardener. a friend. i am... in love with life :)
