Stiff and sore!

Mark and I have been working on the landscaping in our front yard.  Tearing up sod is not such an easy trick in desert "dirt"!  We (he) finally got through it with the help of a rental tiller from Home Depot and then we went to work on making subtle mounds here and there.  Then it was off to nurseries for plants.  Everything is in the ground, water lines installed and now we just wait for the landscaping rock, all 8 tons of it!  Mark decided that we would be dead spreading that much rock alone so we are hiring two guys to help us.  I am grateful for that!  I am very excited to see the end result.  Will post pictures, of course.  :-)

We had hoped to attend the Phoenix Open one day but a cold front is heading our way and I don't really want to sit out there if it is too cool.  That is really too bad for the golfers because it has just been beautiful here for weeks.  If it is in the upper 60's the day we planned to attend then we will go!   It is really a fun day so the weather better behave.

When I wasn't working on the yard I edited two more videos from Drew's birthday party.  It makes me miss them, though! 

Some still pictures

More video

 

 

Greetings from Peoria

We have been here a week.  Yes, it is very cold and I hear it is near 80 in Phoenix but the grand kids are keeping us warm and laughing.  We fly out tomorrow.  It has been a fantastic week with everyone.  Matt arrived Friday afternoon and Grandpa Butch and Mitch arrived that evening.  Saturday was Drew's 4th  birthday so we celebrated as best we could considering he had a fever and later found out it was strep.  Poor kid!  The motrin kept it at bay and he enjoyed his day which consisted of presents, birthday cake and his favorite thing:  bowling!  Andy took him sledding one day.  Drew loves playing in the snow.  I went out and shot video for awhile.  I am not too used to the cold anymore!  :-)

I have lots of pics and videos to sift through but did get one edited (sort of) to enclose.  The kids love to dance and we got a real kick out of them.  More to come as I get them finished.

Still staying busy

Mark and I are keeping ourselves busy putting finishing touches just about everywhere on our winter home.  We are pretty much done indoors for now with the only thing left: putting cabinet hardware on the kitchen cupboards.  This week we started on some landscaping in the back yard.  It looks pretty rough right now with landscape rock needing to be added and some dirt hauled away but Mark did install brick edging around our little lawn and that is going to look really great when the rest of the yard is done.  I planted a rose garden in one area yesterday with Mark's help and cannot wait until the bright pink and white roses bloom in time.  Looks a bit ugly at the moment.  :-)  The front yard renovation will begin towards the end of January.  There is grass in the front and we want to remove that and have a total desert look which is easier to leave in the summer than a grass yard!

We are both VERY excited to be flying to Peoria, IL on the 12th to attend Drew's 4th birthday party!  We are NOT excited about the weather that will greet us but that is minor compared to seeing Drew, Kayley, Megan, Matt and Andy!  Matt is driving from Omaha to Chicago and then coming to Peoria in time for the party.  So glad we will get to see everyone this trip. 

Some pics of our work in the back yard.  As I said, look very tough right now but it will be better in the future when our rock work is done!

                                     Mark installing the brick edging around our yard.

                                                          Out with the old, in with the new

   

                                               The brick edging installed

                                                Another angle

Happy 2011

I just got used to writing 2010....where does the time go?  Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful year and may it bring you much health and happiness!

Mark and I didn't do a thing for NY's eve or NY's day.  Well, we did do lunch at our favorite restaurant, Manuel's,  yesterday but that was about it.  It is so cold here that most celebrations had to be miserable!  We have covered our plants for three nights straight and will probably do so again tonight.  It is supposed to start warming up a bit and for that I am thankful.  It isn't all that bad during the day but it has been in the 20's at night.  Very uncommon here!  But, still better than if we were on the Iowa farm.  :-)

The 28th we attended the Insight Bowl in Tempe to watch our Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Missouri Tigers.  The game wasn't until 8 p.m. but we left around 3:00 in the afternoon and drove down to the campus and hit the tailgating bars and had dinner.  It was so much fun and such a great game.  It made for a very memorable 36th wedding anniversary!

We also spent the cold days finishing all our cornice boards in the home.  Now every window looks fantastic!  Next project, landscaping.  Labor intense, that!  But, I love to do landscaping so I am looking forward to the challenge.  Not sure if Mark is quite as enthusiastic for this job as I am...

A few photos from the tailgating and bowl game: