We had a magical Independence day in Mandan, ND ... in my opinion, one of the best (if not THE BEST) place to spend Independence Day. Over the long weekend, we had lots of visitors: my parents from Alaska and my sister from California, and my Grandma Katy from Montana. Also that weekend, I co-hosted Caitlyn's bridal shower. Serious fun. I will write a really long photo-heavy catch-up blog about all of that later. Remind me.
Oh AND one more thing from that weekend – Corey, Kya, and I, and Corey's mom booked flights to Boston for October to see the newest baby Hager who is due to arrive in early September. See? Such wonderful excitement 'round these parts.
Alright. So what have we been up to that has so seriously delayed my blog?
one word: landscaping
So back track about a year or so. We bought the land and built the house and when someone asked how big our rural "lot" is, we'd answer with "17 acres." They would almost always say "so are you going to landscape it all?" We'd say "no way, just the 'small' area right around the house." And then I'd giggle thinking about how long it would take to mow 17 acres.
Fast forward to now. We are in the process of landscaping that "small area right around the house." I need to draw a rough sketch of our plan but basically it is landscaping around the perimeter of the house and lawn in the back yard, rock garden-like landscaping and a path in the front yard. Natural prairie grasses all around yard, between the yard and the field. Clear as mud? Oh and then there is the area around the shed which will get natural grass and rock. Although that seems simple when I write it out, it is actually a few acres in itself and, well, it is a lot of work.
Especially with a
See what I mean?
When I think back to someone asking if we were planning to landscape all 17 acres ... I don't giggle. I laugh. Hard.
Sound the trumpets! I am happy to report that we have progress! And we're having fun!
We started with this:
a yard of dirt. lots of dirt.
lots of dirt = lots of foot washing (and laundry)
The "dirt guy" was here last week to grade the yard and spread black dirt in areas that will eventually be lawn.
The Dirt Guy also smoothed this area next to the shed and buried some humongus pieced of cement that were left by the builder. The hill you see has been seeded with natural grasses. The flat part (hard to see in this photo) will be gravel for Corey's future basketball court.
The front yard (left side) will be landscaped with rock and perennials and a few dry creek beds to assist with runoff. We also planted a good amount of grass seed here (shown roughly as the darker, wet soil) to better manage this landscaping of this large area.
Anther view of the front yard (extends further to the left). I will also mention that our driveway is recycled asphalt. I love it. It doesn't get muddy and it packs really well.
Corey found time between projects to sand and paint my grandparent's old picnic table. This will stay where it is now, under the deck. We spread pea gravel in this area and it's already a great place to hang out that is always shady.
One busy day we were greeted with this very cool double rainbow.
I need to give big thank you shout outs to Corey's dad, sister Maria, and brother Andrew, who all spent the last weekend helping us with seed the natural grass. It was a huge help! Now it is our job to get it to grow. No grass-growing news to report yet.
Yesterday the "Edging Guy" installed plastic edging around the back yard where the lawn, landscaping, and house will join. Tonight we made some more major yard progress but I'll leave the suspense for the next blog.
Kya is growing up more everyday and lucky for us, she still loves to be outside "helping" us.
Here she is last week (or was that the week before?) with her first pigtails.
Just another day. This was this week. This is one of her favorite lunches: turkey, cheese, raisins, peanut butter toast and water. I also gave her mixed grilled veggie leftovers, but that was before this good stuff.
Happy almost Friday!
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