Our Oasis!

My husband has been working like a mad man on an incredible project in our backyard for the last month. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of him, of all his hard work, and how beautiful our new 'oasis' in our backyard is!!  In the last 5 days since he finished, we have actually enjoyed spending time in our backyard more than we ever have before!!! He did each and every single part of this GIGANTIC project, from having the vision for it, designing it, digging up the yard, laying irrigation lines and drainage lines, installing a french drain, building the retaining wall, leveling the yard, laying the pavers, (which means thousands of pounds of stones and sand and many trips to the store) planning the flowerbeds, running a drip irrigation system, to choosing the new patio furniture that finishes it off!  The only help he had was a little from me putting the furniture together and my mom planted the plants once he dug the holes.  Phew!  I'm exhausted just typing all of that! =)

Take a look at our (boring!) backyard before...

Only grass...

Sloped hills that are hard to play on...

No easy route to the gate...

And now look at it!

Patios...

Path to the gate...

Flowers...

Lights...

A home for the grill...

Comfy, uncrowded patio with beautiful furniture...

Trellises, and even timers on all the irrigation!

Total relaxation!

Isn't it absolutely GORGEOUS?!?! I just love the finished product, and am so impressed and proud of my husband for working so incredibly hard for us to have a beautiful yard! In all the years we have been homeowners, we have never had a pretty backyard... only grass and a concrete patio.  So this is just amazing and a true oasis for all of us! We are enjoying it so much right now while the weather is cool, and hopefully (since we are going to put in a ceiling fan and some misters) will be able to use it throughout the summer. The boys have so much fun out there, and they go around and around, up and down the step, climb up and down on the furniture, and love to talk to the flowers! Now I say, "Let's go outside!" and they run to the back door!

Such cute boys!

Jack checked out the couch first thing!

So much to explore!!

And just a few that show the hard work that my husband put in for over a month making our yard perfect!

And again, our BEAUTIFUL oasis...

And Betsy loves it too!

Thank you so much Justin for all your hard work!!! It is one of the best gifts you could have ever given to our family! We will definitely be using it A LOT for years to come!

I love you!

Easter 2012

Today we celebrate Christ's resurrection...what a wonderful gift of eternal life He gave us all!  He is risen!!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with our big boys, as well as both of our sets of parents.  Mammaw and Pappaw came down to enjoy Easter with the boys, and we had a great time!  My mom got sick last night, so today for Easter we moved to 'Plan B'. Originally my mom and I were cooking our meal together, and we were going to have an easter egg hunt in the backyard.  But, since Gigi was sick and we had tons of rain, we went out to eat at Red Lobster, did easter baskets inside and just played with some eggs instead of hunting them... and it was a WONDERFUL day!   We only got a couple pictures right before church of our family all dressed up, so we just might have to do a redo for some more pictures on the next sunny day! =)

Last week the boys and I went to our neighborhood playgroup Easter party. They boys had fun riding in their wagon, but did get to get out to hunt a few eggs!  Well, more like grab two eggs each, run in opposite directions (away from Mommy) and try to steal eggs out of other kids baskets!  But we had a great time!

Jacky-Bunny

Willy-Bunny

The Steiner Bunnies, ready to escape the wagon and get some eggs!

And they're off!

Jack was trying to scarf down the jelly beans out of his eggs!

And today--Easter...

I wanted a front shot of their cute little outfits,
but they attacked the laundry room instead.

Our Family--with some serious boys!

 At Red Lobster...

Look at the lobsters!

The boys got Easter baskets with a few goodies from Mommy and Daddy, and also Easter baskets from Mammaw and Pappaw with jammies, cute basketball short outfits, and little cars!  What fun!!

 Bubbles came in one basket...

J

W

Oooh!

 Blurry, but I had to show you their excitement!

They also got some yummy snacks (teddy grahams) in their easter eggs, and promptly shoveled them into their mouths!

First taste of Peeps... YUM!

Mammaw and Pappaw with the boys

Gene and Kathy got the boys the coolest book that has their voices recorded reading the story!  It is such a special gift and the boys love it! I know this is one that we will read many many times!

Betsy Bunny--with Jack trying to steal her ears! =)

And Mommy just had to have a little bit of fun with her boys too!  I wanted a picture of me holding the boys wearing they wore the ears, but this is as close as we could get today!

My boys...

W

J

And the boys thought Daddy needed a snack!

What a great relaxing day! Thanks Gene and Kathy for coming down!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!!