Landscaping Mania

Today, Henry and I spent a fun filled day working in our yard. We had our grass put in and pushes planted a while ago but we had never laid our weed cloth and mulch.

We started this morning by digging up the flower beds we put in along our sidewalk. This fall I will be planting 125 bulbs (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus) and so we dug that area up to prep our clay like soil for the bulbs. We put the dirt in the wheel barrow, mixed it up with the gravel, lined the trenches with weed cloth and then put it all back in. It should be all ready for when my bulbs arrive this fall! I can hardly wait!

Then, we had to weed all our flower beds, lay the weed cloth and then go buy mulch and cover everything. It was a really long day but we are both very happy with the results!

Our very inviting front porch! The big green one next to the red roses is a burning bush. I'm very excited to see it this fall.



The one on the very back is a white rose bush that is about to start blooming!






Henry admiring our handy work:



This picture will be much more interesting next spring...


My roses are blooming! Hooray!!


On another note, Henry and I finally have neighbors! The house to the East of us sold and a very nice couple moved in this weekend. They seem super nice, have been married about 8 months and have two of the funnies dogs ever. They are Dachsunds and the are so short that when they walk in the tall grass it is hard to find them. Siri hasn't quite figured out what to do with them yet. My favorite was when Siri went and found a stick and then this little Dachsund went and found a stick and it was about as big as he was! As soon as I can get them to stay still long enough I am going to try to get a picture. We're very excited to have neighbors that seem very nice and are in the same stage of life.

Next projects - the fence and cleaning out the garage! Stay tuned for more excitement....

Hailstorm

We had our first hailstorm as homeowners today... funny, they aren't nearly as much fun as when you are a renter!




Bigger than a pea, not as big as a grape...

Siri Turns Four!!

I can't believe my little guy is four. I have cried a couple times about it. One through three are still puppy years but four is dog. He is definitely more mature and a little more mellow but I would much prefer the crazy two year old lab if it meant he could live forever. I'll probably be a basket case next year when he turns five.
We tried to give him a really fun day - we went to Dee Oh Gee, the all natural dog store in town and he got to pick out a new toy and some homemade treats. One says DOG (see below):



The other looked like an ice cream cone. I forgot to take a picture before Siri was let loose on it but it was pretty cool. This store makes their own treats and this ice cream cone was dipped in yogurt and carob. Here is Siri about half way through:



Siri carried it around in his mouth and cried until we figured out that he needed Henry to hold it so he could lick off the goodness. It was hilarious. He is just like a little kid.
Siri got to go swimming at the ponds by our house and had a wonderful time. After he finished his treat, he conked out and took a crazy nap.



Then he got a can of wet food with his dinner tonight. All in all, I think he had a pretty good day.

And now for a little trip down memory lane:
Our first meeting 7/2005



Right before he finally gets to come home with me!



He made it home and is napping in his food bowl:



One of our first hikes - he got too tired and kept laying down on the trail and going to sleep.


I've never been able to be strict about the couches.


His first birthday:


Siri and friends:



Best day ever!


I could go on forever with these pictures so I better put an end to this post.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIRIUS!!! YOU ARE THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD!!!

Wedding in West

This weekend, Henry and I went to our friends' wedding in West Yellowstone. We had a really great time and got to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen since our own wedding! Dave and Sara looked so happy and we are so happy for them!


Dave and Sara joined by Jake:




Mr. and Mrs. Bitz:


Now they have jetted off to their honeymoon in Costa Rica and we wish them the best!

Wildlife and Wedding Adventures in Montana

Today we went to a friend's wedding up in Big Sky. I remembered the camera but when we got there and turned it on, the batter was dead. Next weekend we are going to another wedding so I will have pictures then. The really cool part was when we were driving home. We saw a black bear eating a deer on the side of the road - literally, about 20 feet from the road. Then we saw a heard of elk down in the canyon and then we saw a bunch of deer right by the cabins where everyone stayed for our wedding. And then we got home and saw the most exotic creature of all - a wiggling black laborador who was wondering why his dinner was so late.



Here is Siri, the world's best greeter. And in case you were wondering , that is the femur of some animal that he found in the woods. But that was about three years ago in a different kind of wildlife adventure.

I digress.

The wedding was beautiful and the bride was gorgeous. The food was great and so was the cake. The wedding took place in a cloud - literally. It was completely socked in and rainy here in the valley which means it was only worse up in Big Sky. The lodge is up in the mountains and the clouds were so low we were in them. I felt bad for Katie; they were planning an outdoor wedding but everything was beautiful anyway. Sorry for the lack of pictures of the wedding (it's extremely rare that we get dressed up here in Montana) and even more sorry for the lack of pictures of the amazing wildlife. It was Henry's first bear sighting! This really isn't going to help my argument that there are no bears around here and he doesn't need to worry when we go out in the woods.

The wedding adventure next weekend is in West Yellowstone, so we will hopefully have some more wildlife adventures to post about!

Adam and Diana - if you see this before you get to our house, be prepared to be welcomed by a very enthusiastic and loving dog. He will lick you, hopefully your bare toes if he has his way, and parade every toy he has in front of you. If you see this after you get here, I'm very sorry for the invasive and quite personal greeting he probably gave you. And for all the dog hair I'm sure he got all over your stuff. He means well :)

Our Anniversary ...a few weeks late!

On June 7th, we had our first anniversary! It was so much fun - we took Monday off so we had a great long weekend and we just hung out and spent quality time together. We went back up to The Woodlands where we got married and spent the night in the little cabin where we spent our wedding night. It was very romantic and so fun to go back up to the place where we got married. I love that it is so close and we can go up there anytime and re-live all those great memories. Here are some pictures from our fabulous anniversary weekend!


One year later and still in love!



The happy family on the deck of the cabin:



The little fireplace:



Getting to use our toasting flutes again:


The arch where we got married - there weren't trees there last year!


Our precious puppy who is turning four next week! This is moments before he saw the owner's cat and embarrassed the heck out of us. He loves to chase kitties.


It didn't snow on our actual anniversary this year but it did snow the day before, which was 52 weeks after our wedding day. I'm interested to see what happens next year and if there is always destined to be snow the first Saturday in June!

Hanging Baskets Have Arrived!

The long awaited hanging baskets are finally here! I have been wanting hanging baskets for at least a year but we have never had our own porch to put them on. However, our yard is slowly but surely coming together. I think the sprinkler system is fully in, he just needs to hook up the timer and all that stuff. I'm hoping we get grass next week sometime! He spent a lot of the day yesterday grading our yard and removing the rocks from it. Every time I see him working, it makes me so happy we don't have to do this ourselves. He is out there with tractors and gets everything done so quickly!

In celebration of this progress, Henry and I went to our local nursery and spent about two and half hours there. The first hour was spent wandering around while I squealed like a small child at all the pretty flowers and plants. Then we buckled down and went around picking out what we actually want in the yard. Then we spent a lot of time trying to make decisions about things we knew nothing about (i.e. landscaping, horticulture, planting, etc.) We spent some time talking to the owner and getting ideas about how to approach this. We decided to go home and draw out our yard and come up with a plan. That was the first hour and a half or so. Then we decided to just get some hanging baskets since I have been wanting them so badly. That took another hour. I had to go around and look at all the different plants and basket combinations and decide which ones I liked. We ran into some problems when my favorite flowers were in baskets I didn't like and then the baskets I liked didn't have the flowers I wanted. Henry was about ready to kill me when I kept going back and forth. He got really tired of holding those heavy baskets.
We FINALLY decided (when I say "we" I mean "I") and paid and put them in the car. I immediately thought I had made the wrong decision but Henry was having none of it. He drove away. Then we spent forever at Lowe's because we had to find hooks, gardening gloves, stain for our deck, etc.

Hours later, we made it home and hung our hanging baskets.
This is the one Henry picked out. Very quickly and decicively:



This is the one it took me an hour to pick out:



This is the final product - the boys enjoying our newly adorned front porch:



This is the progress in our yard. It may not look like much but all the pink flags are where sprinkler heads are and there used to be a lot more rocks:


And finally, Siri looking out over his kingdom.




Hopefully soon I will be able to post pictures of grass! Poor Siri goes out in the front yard and lays in the dirt. It's pretty cute.
To end the grand adventure that was our day, I decided I was perfectly happy with the basket I picked out and I clearly made the right choice :)