10 ton of rock, all by shovel!!!

Our rock for the front yard was delivered this morning at 7 a.m. and by 11:00 it was all spread and nicely raked.  We did hire a very nice guy and gal to help us or Mark and I would have spent several days doing this labor.  We are really happy with the results and really pooped!   Before and after pictures below.

We are in a three day cold snap so we covered all our plants and bushes last night, even the new palm tree.  It has only been in the ground a few days and we feared the frost would kill it.  In fact, everything in the front is less than a week in the ground so our lawn looked like a Halloween decoration after all the wrapping.  We will have to do the same tonight and tomorrow night and then it gets back to normal.  We are going to the Phoenix Open on Saturday and it is supposed to be sunny and 72 which is just about perfect.  I hate to complain about the weather when my children are sitting in a blizzard.  Megan said Peoria could get up to 20" last night but I don't think it got there.   With that huge amount what's an inch or two less.  :-(  Long winter for the folks back home.

This video is for Drew.  He loves dump trucks so I know he will like this movie! 

                                            Before:  Front yard

                                            After:  Front yard

                                              Before:

                                              After:

                                             Before:

                                             After:

                                            Frost protection last night:

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:

Grandpa and Grandma's vicarious Christmas

How we spent Christmas...

We spent all day finishing our cornice boards. Merry Christmas, huh? Oh well, it was a nice gift for us, even if it did involve labor. Ha! Hope your day was more fun. I am certain that it was!

Christmas Eve

This is our very first Christmas by ourselves with no family around. I thought it would be harder, but it isn't so bad because it absolutely does not feel like Christmas to me. I am sure that is exactly because there is no family here and being in AZ, it is hard to get into the spirit of Christmas in 70 degree weather!

Mark and I spent the day making cornice boards for our windows and sliding door. We accomplished one window and the sliding door. It takes a long time! We decided to go with a southwest fabric as that contains a lot of color from our decor. We are both quite pleased with what we have done so far and come Christmas day we should get them all done...hopefully. :-)

Megan and family are spending Christmas with Andy's family in Le Mars. They had some dicey roads today on their journey (gotta love that Iowa weather) to Grandpa Thiel's home, but thankfully they are there now safe and sound. I think they will be going to Omaha later in the week and then should be able to see Matt for the holidays.

Well, have to go put the finishing touches on our Christmas Eve traditional dinner...frozen burgers and a salad. Ha! Merry Christmas, all!
Our patio door before:

Patio door after the installation"

Closeup..we are fixing those holes! :-)

Being sick

Mark was pretty sick all last week with a cold and he finally went to Urgent Care on Friday. They said he had bronchitis and I don't doubt that as his cough was pretty rough. After three prescriptions he is doing much better and now I am feeling crummy today....dull headache, sore muscles, etc. I suppose he just had to give it to me! I won't wait as long to go to the doctor as he did! I don't like being down.

The weather is still beautiful here, setting several records last week. It cooled down a little the last two days and we even had some rain but it still quite warm, especially when my brother Kevin told me it was 3 degrees in Iowa. Yikes! I hiked several times this week, Mark put up some more shelving in the garage and we have been measuring our windows for cornice boards. I cannot wait to see the finished product and bought the fabric today as it was 50% off. (Still rather expensive, though!)

Well, that is it. We have just been puttering around our winter home and enjoying the weather. Stay warm, my cold weather friends and family!

The tall cactus in the middle is there temporarily. Andy gave that to us when they moved and I want it to be in our front yard when we landscape.

I planted two vines along our west wall.

My geraniums were just planted. Cannot wait until they are huge and beautiful!

Me with our good friend Alice from our townhouse days. We went to Greasewood for drinks and food and it was warm and fun!

Quiet week-end

Mark and I don't have a lot planned this week-end. Mark is working on my honey-do list which I keep adding to daily. I hope he doesn't just protest and head back to Iowa! :-) Oh well, he can't go now because they are having a blizzard today. :-( I am assuming Matt and Megan are getting similar winter weather. Looks like Drew and Kayley will have snow to play in with their new winter gear.

Last night we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was as delicious as we remembered! It is only a few blocks from our home so I imagine it won't be our only visit this winter.

Our big project will be landscaping the front and back yards. There is grass out front and I want to get rid of that and put in desert landscape. I do not like watering that lawn all summer while I am not even here plus it is a waste of precious desert water! The hardest part will be removing the sod although planting and spreading rock won't be a walk in the park!

Tomorrow we are going to Greasewood (a western-type outdoor bar/restaurant with live music) with a friend who was a neighbor when we lived at Megan and Andy's townhouse. She is a lot of fun and a very positive person so we are looking forward to seeing her again.

The pictures below show Mark putting up our Christmas lights, the end result and also our neighbor's light show, which makes ours look like a night light! I also posted a pic of a cactus that the hikers on North Mountain decorated for the holidays. It is right by the decorated tree that I posted a few days ago. There is also a picture of our new garage shelving that Mark installed this week. There are no basements out here so this was a must and I just love the shelves. The garage is finally back to being a garage. :-)

Mark putting up Christmas lights

Our neighbor's great decorations

Our less impressive decorations!

Santa cactus on North Mountain trail

New garage shelving courtesy of Mark!