Duckwitz's: New Backyard! May-June 2011

Monday, October 1, 2012

New Backyard! May-June 2011

Our back lawn has never really been a lawn. The previous owners sprinkled grass seed without putting any top soil down, so it grew in little spurts between the gravel. It was uneven, and it was very hard to water, and to make it look nice.

Sooo... we needed to start over!

Look at those weeds in the old garden spot!

Look even closer and you might find a couple of cute heads too!

There's one!

Found you!

We killed EVERYTHING!!!

(except those stupid morning glories that never die, ugh)

Yeah, I made him pose for this one.

Next, a retaining wall. Our yard is higher than our neighbor's yard, so the dirt was pushing the fence over.

We dug big trenches and eventually put in a retaining wall made with railroad ties.

Took out the stepping stones.

Cut the sod in the front yard in preparation for trenches and sprinklers.

Out came the dead apple tree! I was sad to see it go, but it was totally lopsided and almost completely dead.

My He-Man!

Greg got it down to barely a stump, but our awesome trencher actually yanked out the rest of the stump!

Here's our afore-mentioned 'awesome trencher!' Such a nice guy to do this for us!!!

Next is sprinklers!

Tapping in to the water main was the worst! Yup! That's a person down there. This took a whole day because of our crrrrazy, rocky soil. The rocks in these here parts are called "Orem potatoes" because the rocks just keep growing. For example, you take a ton of rocks out of the garden, and by the time you till the next year, you have a ton more! I don't get it. Jerry and his dad killed themselves just getting to the water main! You men are rock stars!

Put in sprinkler lines.
That may be Jon chiseling his way through more Orem potatoes!

Attached sprinkler heads. Filled in the dirt and replaced the sod in the front yard.

Took out even more rocks....

...and brought in the top soil!

At last!!! REAL GRASS!!!!

Yippee!!!

I was doing a happy dance at Girl's Camp when Greg sent these photos!

It went something like this: "La la la la laaaaaaaa, we. have. GRASS!"

...ahhhhhhh....

Look at those beauuuuutiful garden boxes! So excited!
Thanks to my amazing builder, Gregorio!

Thank you so much to all of our family and friends who helped with this painful process!

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Ashlyn-isms

"Mom! It's a two-headed mailbox!" (After seeing a two-headed snake at the bean museum.)
-4/11

Mom: "I'm glad you're not crying anymore." Ashlyn: "Yeah, my tears are frozen."
-1/10/11

A paper that came back from Ashlyn's church activity: "I love my mom because... she gives me something to eat, she loves me, she takes good care of me, she gets mad when I pee my pants." -4/29/10

Poking at the bone in her arm... Ashlyn: "What's in there?" Mom: "Bones." Ashlyn: "My bones hurt." Pointing at her skin... "Open it!" -3/8/10

Haley-isms

--I randomly said the phrase, "Awesome Blossom!" Haley began to rhyme with it, including "Zawesome." I said, "That's not a word." Haley said it was French. (Riiiiight...) But, she gave a perfect example: "Eet eees Zawesome!" (Spoken with a pretty good French accent and expression!)

--I was helping Haley look for something she lost. She said, "You should know where it is. You have a big brain, I have a medium brain, and Ashlyn has a small brain."

--Talking to her baby boy cousin: "See? It's Hannah Montana. You'll learn about it later,... when you're a girl."

--"I love going shopping with mom! It's my favorite time of year!" (Definitely a girl...)

--"I will tell you what I got you for Mother's Day, if you promise to forget it tomorrow."

--We were talking about how members of family are related. When I told her Greg and Dan were brothers, she said, "That's why they call each other, 'Dude'."

--Haley asking her Aunt, "How old are you?" Aunt replies, "20." Haley excitedly asks, "Then, can you go UNDER WATER?"

--"Do Hanukkah people celebrate Hanukkah?"

--"Mommy! I'm giving Ashlyn a piggy-bank ride!"

--"I want daddy to be a daddy for Halloween. Then we don't have to buy anything." (Since when does she NOT want to buy things?!)

--I made a comment about how fast someone was driving. Haley said, "Maybe their kid is saying, 'Go SUPERfast daddy!' Or maybe they are just late."

--We were about to play a game. Haley left the room saying, "Don't do a peep!" When I asked her, she said that means, "Don't start without me."

--Pointing at a great big American Flag..."The flag is there to tell people on the mountain that there is food here." (Huh?)

--Singing the chorus to a popular missionary hymn: "Awkward, ever Awkward..."

--While making cookies: "I wish Lagoon had a ride called the rolling pin."

--"If we had two heads, we could talk to each other, and play together!"

--"I wish Miley Cyrus could babysit me."

--On the way to her performance on an outdoor stage, Haley sang, "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. I need to do my performance. Rain, rain, go away."

--"I want a savings bond for Christmas, so we can buy a toy in 7 years, so 1 dollar can become 5." (Thanks to the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks)

--"Animals can go anywhere. But, they don't go to time-out. That would be silly!"

--Haley wanted me to do several things for her when when I was ALREADY doing something else she had asked for. Exasperated, I said, "I can't do 4 things at once, Haley!" She so wisely said, "An octopus can!"