Yard Makeover

Have you ever read a blog that included soooo many pictures of a yard?  We must hold a record but the past year we have put so much time and effort into transforming our yard and giving it a complete makeover.  Mark has worked so hard and we finally feel that we have done all we can on it for this year - and it looks wonderful!  He has really created a little paradise for us here in La Grande.  Our last project was creating an outdoor patio off of our deck with a firepit and sitting area.  Mark had a lot of fun creating it.

He spent so much time on his knees spreading gravel and setting rock that we had to break down and get him some outdoor knee pads since his knees were killing him. :)

This is the finished product!  My mother's day gift was this rocking bench and I absolutely love it.  Mark and I come outside at night and just rock on the bench after the kiddos are in bed.  It's very peaceful and quiet and it's our "decompress from our day" time.  Even Clara has her own chair.....

 Bordering the patio is lots of grass that we put in.  It used to be gravel and a giant flower bed that was just in the way and took up so much space.  Now the kids have lots of room to run around.

The garden has really taken off in the summer heat - even more so than when I took this picture two weeks ago.  The corn is up to my chest now.

The herbs are hanging in there, too.....

The raspberries have been plentiful this summer!  I have made three batches of jam and I have two gallon bags frozen in our freezer.  We have raspberries everywhere!

Our strawberries haven't been as plentiful as we had hoped but it's their first year so we are staying optimistic for next year!

This is a picture from when we first bought this house.  You can see the giant flower bed filled with rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  It is now all grass - I don't know how Mark was able to do all that he did but he's pretty much my hero!

Next year we will have more projects but in the meantime.....come visit us at the Perry Ranch any time!