The Garden

When we bought our house it had been vacant for who knows how long.  The yard was a disaster.  We've put a lot of hard work into it and every year it's gotten better.  This was our fourth summer and the best year yet for the garden, lawn, and flower beds.  It still isn't perfect (and probably never will be) but it's nice to see hard work pay off.  Here are the yard/garden pictures I took throughout the season. 
May:
We love alliums.  This one was our favorite because it has a baby on top.  

I had to plant these peppers because YOLO. 

Spinach and strawberries make the perfect salad. 

Our poppies on Memorial Day.  They were beautiful... for like a week. 

The baby garden on Memorial Day.  The third bed hadn't even been planted yet. 

June:

July:
Big difference between Memorial Day and the 4th of July!

These zucchini told Berkley their names were John Lee and Kesta. 

These sunflowers grew spontaneously because we fed sunflower seeds to the birds. 

Thinning the carrots made me sad.  It felt like a waste.  This was actually our first successful year with carrots as well as a few other vegetables. 

We started harvesting weekly.  Then every few days.  We gave away a lot because we just couldn't eat it all.  (And we spent quite a bit less on groceries!)

August:
The tomatoes came in full force.  We ate a lot of fresh salsa and canned a lot too. 

We usually ate the raspberries immediately but we did have enough to make some delicious syrup. 

September:
Potatoes and peaches were ready in September.  Our little peach tree still didn't give us a ton of peaches but the ones we got were delicious. 

Spaghetti squash anyone? 

In September I ran out of steam (which is a record because that usually happens in July.)  I stopped watering every morning, stopped weeding and just let everything go wild.  Regardless, we had a great year of produce (and flowers!) and hopefully we can keep it up. 

Spring

Here are all of our random pictures from March-May:

 Finger painting.

 I love finding little surprises.

 That mustache.

 Daddy-daughter date. 

 We hosted our annual pie night on Pi Day (3.14). 

I got a keva juice to celebrate Merrisa's birthday and sent her a picture.  It made her salivate with envy. 

Snuggling a little sicky. 

 My parents took the girls to Disney on Ice.  They had a blast. 

This happens almost never. 

Finally nice enough to have a park day. 

 "Mom there's soap in my hair!  Because there was pen on my forehead!"

 I finally got sick of the hair and chopped it. 

We went to a surprise party for Grandpa Morby's 80th birthday.  

His kids and grandkids all supplied pictures and memories to make him a book.  It turned out really cool. 

That's an entire tube of chapstick. 

 Berkley cut her finger picking up garbage (a broken bottle) so she wanted it in the picture. 

 And Peyton couldn't be left out. 

Zack made a blue slush for family night treat.  (I was at work.)

Zack's work took him to Moab for a fun weekend getaway.  He fell in love with these off-road vehicles. 

While he was gone we went on our own adventure to the Treehouse Museum with the Stoddards. 

I took this picture to show Rylee that Peyton fits into the dress that Berkley wore at her wedding. 

 And Berkley couldn't be left out. 

 Such genuine smiles. 

I can't believe this happened twice in one season. 

 Her face. 

We had some really warm days in May.  And we were happy about it. 

My daily bouquet on our walk home from preschool. 

Getting some pink hair.  Berkley's didn't really show up but Peyton's looked pretty cool. 

Berkley wanted her hair cut after I cut mine.  I talked her out of it.  Then her best friend Dani got her hair cut short and it was all Berkley talked about.  I finally caved.  It turned out really cute.  I also think it made her look younger. 

Lakeview Hospital fun run with Misty and Mom.  (We walked.)

 I loved the girls' face paint. 

Talking to Hermana Woodbury on Mother's Day. 

My Mother's Day gift.  Now all my gel nail dreams can come true. 

Berkley wanted a picture of her cute outfit but she had spilled something on her shirt.  Hence this pose. 

Chalking. 

This girl.  At least her face matches her pants. 

Berkley's last field trip at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. 

Radishes!

Hanging out with Carson after he came home. 

We tried not to encourage the princess obsession but it was inevitable. 

This girl's face...