The Yard Progresses

Ok so we are finally done with our part of the yard. It is now time to call in the professionals for some help. We did all the stuff for the hardscape, moving the dirt and rocks around and making the base for everything that will be pretty when we are done. I don't have any pictures of the after, but I have some of the before. I would just go out and take some now, but its raining pretty hard and I'm am sick of getting rained on today. So I'll post the after pictures at a later date and tell you what everything is. But we should have the guy here for our water feature and sprinkler system next week. That will be awesome, because then we can plant the grass and start seeing the whole thing come together. But anyway as I said here are the before pictures and I'll get up our current progress pictures as soon as it stops raining.

These are just some shots of our trees that we cut down and sold for firewood. Some of these weeds were seriously 8-9 feet tall. They were beasts. And then we have a mound of dirt in our backyard that became our water feature. So check back for updates.

My Summer

Ok so I haven't posted for awhile as I have been reminded by quite a few of you lately, so here is a quick sum up of my summer.
June was pretty much boring, work, sleep, work, and then sleep again. But July we had some fun.

For the 4th we ended up taking trip with Brandon's family to Jackson Hole, WY (not to be confused with Jackson Hole, MN) We drive up there and start looking for our campsite that Michaelene booked for us and can't find the highway that the map says that the site is by. So we stop to ask a local and they tell us that they are search and rescue for the area and have no idea where that highway is, it doesn't exist. So we call the campsite and find that they are in Minnesota. Go figure that there would be a Jackson Hole by a Snake River in MN. So the nice local directs us up a nearby canyon to camp for the weekend. This property is part of the National Forest and is free to camp on, just don't bother the cows that pasture there. So we made our way to cow pie heaven where we set up camp and gathered wood for the fire.

Our very own tent

It was getting dark by the time we got there and went right to bed. Now, I'm not a huge fan of camping in the first place, but this was really roughing it. I at least expect restrooms when I go camping so I don't have to squat over a bush, but I guess that is too much to ask for when you just show up without a camping spot reserved. Needless to say I basically dehydrated myself for most of the trip so that I wouldn't have to find my favorite tree. But anyway, the next morning we woke up and went to pick up our raft, which thankfully was in the right state. This was my first time down a river in a raft, but I decided that I would have a good attitude and I wouldn't chicken out.

Getting ready for what turns out to be a long day

So we get in the raft, its a little chilly, but not too bad, as long as we don't get wet. We were doing pretty good, until we hit our first patch of bigger rapids. We hit them sideways and dumped half the people out of the raft. After getting Makenna, Wendi, Monette, and Patrick back in the boat we went to get Robert, but it turns out the Robert is about 100 feet down the river so we have to chase after him and he makes a superman leap from shore to get back in the raft. Now that we are all soaked and shaken we continue down the river because we have no choice. I'm now at the front of the raft and every wave we hit comes crashing into the boat and soaking me. But we are doing pretty well. Then we come upon Lunch Counter. The biggest swell on the river. The swells were 11-12 feet. And we were terrified, we had tipped on much less. But we went for it head on. I was freaked out, but totally having fun, which you wouldn't believe from the pictures that were taken. In the end we totally hit it perfect and went down the rest of the river without problem.

Lunch Counter on one of the more happy trips down

By the time I got out I was soaked. It looked like I had fallen in, but it was all just the water splashing in the boat. We went down twice more without incident and I was completely soaked everytime. It was awesome and I can't wait to go again. The next day we went into town and walked around all the shops and made friends with the stuffed animals.

Let me get that for you

Meoww

The next day was the 4th and we drove home. Brandon and I made it to sit outside Stadium of Fire to listen to SheDaisy and the Jonas Brothers. They were both awesome. But that was pretty much my 4th.

The 24th we ended up getting tickets and taking Stephan and Jo up to Kamas to have the Best Burgers in the State 2009 at the Drug Store, then we headed over to the Demolition Derby to be a little red neck and cheer as cars crashed and fires erupted.

Having fun at the derby

This is THE best derby in the state. I know it sounds really stupid, but we all had a lot of fun. And I hope we do it every year.

CRASH!!

But I guess that was my summer so far. August was spent working on my yard that I will post some pictures of in the next few days. Hope this post appeases you all for a few days.