Kinda After...

Our little tree! We saved this tree from being consumed by the nasty pond that once filled our back yard, we were not sure it would make it, but Beth pruned it back alot and made it look like a tree again, while I layed the rocks and made a nice raised bed for it to live in. Hopefully it will survive!

These are our biggest trees, they were right off the back of the deck, one is a crabapple tree, and I'm not sure what the other is, but it has alot of leaves! We connected their beds so we can plant some things between them, and we'll make a little path off the new deck in the spring.

Deck clutter :o) and the right side of the yard, finally graded, ready for gravel

This is our new bush! It's a burning bush, which will turn bright red every fall. I'm so excited to have color and plants in our back yard!

We lined the rocks all the way around to the deck, we made it wrap around in a light curve to form flower beds and a garden area for my veggies next spring.

We are so excited to have a back yard we can use! Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to lay sod, Brent figured out our back yard is roughly 2000 sqft, or at least the part were going to lay sod, this is going to be one huge project!

Before...

2 weeks ago Brent and I spent the weekend ripping out our lower deck in preperation for our huge back yard renovation project! It was a long weekend, with lots of screws to remove (by hand!) and lots of rotten wood, but we got it done, and were able to move onto the next project!

(Below) the final boards of the lower deck... almost done! They were sooo rotten! Brent kicked on board and it crumbled, their used to be a pond off to the left of the pic (where the dog pool is) that was so disgusting, it decayed the deck, thank god that is gone!

Brent's parents helping move the massive amount of river rock we had in our yard, we had over 2,000 i'm sure!

A view of the whole back yard, under construction. See the skid-steer! It was a blast to drive! we moved so much dirt it's unreal! but we couldnt have done it without Brents parents help! Thanks Beth and Jim!!

Our wonderful rented skid-steer, we could not have done anything this big without it! and see all the rocks??? we picked through every single one to get the dirt out, and organized them around the yard.

Beth and Jim hard at work organizing rocks

Starting our down-slope from the house, we had to bring the dirt level down 6 inches, cause it was sitting against the house too high and could corrode the foundation... Brent's an engineer, when he says to do something, I listen :o)

Our side fence (the right side of the yard) which is leaning if you can see it, this area (about 10-12 feet from the fence line) will be filled with gravel for quad parking and i'm sure eventually a boat or something...

Another angle of the right side of the yard being graded down to the back

We are so excited to have a yard that actually looks like a back yard! Summer was so difficult without a real yard! I cant wait to host a real bbq next summer and have actual grass to enjoy!

Fall is finally here!!

The first week of fall has brought on falling leaves, all over our back yard, and the crisp morning chill that we wait all summer for. This past week Brent and I both battled severe cold, Mine which is still lingering around in my lungs, and Brent's which has come and gone. This weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather we're still having to get some things done around the house. We've been debating on when to start our huge back yard project, and we'll, what better time than now? So, we spent the day tearing out our back deck! just the lower half, were going to keep the upper half until spring, when we'll hopefully replace the whole thing. Next weekend Brent's parents will be here (for his birthday!) to help out with the destruction of the rest of the yard. Were renting a bobcat and planning on scraping the top layers of gravel, rock, clay, and plastic, grading the yard, and bringing in top soil to prep for a new back yard! We do hope to lay a sprinkler system, maybe not this fall but in the spring, and after a winter of mud, hopefully we'll have beautiful new grass to enjoy next summer! I'll post some pics soon.

Family visit!

We have been busy with guests this past week! Brent's brother Dane was in town hunting last weekend, and ended up coming home with Brent Tuesday night. It was great hanging out, if only for a night (he went home early Wednesday morning).

Then, Friday evening we had the pleasure of Brent's parents, Beth and Jim, and their close friends, Nick and Sharon Wells. Nick and Sharon had never visited before, it was Sharons first time in Boise ever, so it was neat to give them the tour of downtown Boise and the surrounding area. We took them to our favorite summer eatery, Lucky 13, located in Harris Ranch (east of downtown Boise), for some yummy homemade pizza and salads and drinks. We always like to sit on the outside patio, which we did this time as well, but we were threatened the whole night by rain. Now, growing up in Seattle, we are all very used to rain, but since living in Boise, it's a rare occurance! Well it just so happens that the night they get into town, a massive thunderstorm rolled on into the Treasure Valley, what are the odds! I swear, people from Seattle bring the rain with them :o)

The rain did hold off through dinner, we only felt a couple drops, but that night it poured! and it hasnt stopped since! Yesterday morning we enjoyed breakfast at our favorite place, Rembrant's, in Eagle. It's an old church that has been converted into a really neat coffee house. They support the arts, and there are paintings and sculptures all over the building, all of which are available for sale. It was so busy when we got there, Beth and I scoped out a table while the others waited to order, we finally spotted two gentleman leaving their tip on the table, and we jumped at the opportunity, scoring a perfect table for 6! It was great getting a little more time in with them before they left, even if it was pouring outside, it just reminded us more of home!

Last night we hung out with some friends and watched the BSU/Oregon game, Unfortunately BSU won, it was a sad game, but we had fun ribbing our BSU loving buddies, and getting ribbed back when they won, lol. It was great catching up with them, it's been awhile since we've had a get together. and with the rain we really couldnt do much else! Today we attempted to finish the trim on the inside of the windows... didnt really happen, Brent got 2 pieces up, then took a 4 hour break to watch the big game. I hung up the remaining 3 floating shelves in the living room, they look great! except I measured the bottom one wrong and had to re-do it, other than that they look great :o) Hopefully the rest of our windows will be trimmed out before the new year... but we'll see :o)

End of Summer RE-Cap

August went by in such a rush! I cant believe it's almost October! We had a few end of the summer camping trips, the last one being up to Deadwood Reservoir, or the surrounding area more like it. Fall was definately starting to show up there, at nearly 7000 feet, it was chilly most of the weekend. Our camping trip was really more of a scouting trip. Yes, it's that time of year again. Elk season has started, so every morning Brent would head out in search of any sign he could find that animals might be near. Unfortunately, he didnt find much. We would also scope the hills in the evenings and didnt see anything then either. It took him 2 more trips up, the following weekends, to realize there really were no animals up there. I guess you could call it time well wasted.

Other than there being no animals, we had a great time, Abby loves the mountains, and she hiked so much that weekend she couldnt get into the truck by herself by the last day, we had to lift her in so she could lay down and fall back to sleep. I think it took her almost 3 days to recover and get her energy back, she was one tired puppy! We'll miss the mountains during the winter, we'll just have to get ready for skiing a little bit early this year I think, the snow is already on it's way!

Me with our great catch! 2 kokanee which were bright pink! (above)

pretending to kiss the fishies :o)

Brent out playing on the flats surrounding the lake with Abby

Abby and I at Deadwood Reservoir

I think she had just finished the rest of my sandwich, the wind got ahold of my plate and dumped it on the ground. Abby was sure excited about that!

I also took a last minute trip to Seattle last weekend. Brent was hunting and I had 3 days off, so I flew in and proceeded to drive to the coast with my parents to see their property. It needed some TLC, so we mowed, weed-whacked, and sawed our way around the property until it was in tip-top shape. Saturday started out nice, then this weird fog rolled in off the ocean, it covered all of Ocean Shores. We couldnt see anything that night, which made it interesting at dinner sitting next to the huge windows, usually we would walk down the beach, but we could find the beach! The next morning we woke up to the beautiful blue skies i'm used to, but I wasnt used to the chill, it was only about 50 degrees! we walked the beach, enjoyed a yummy breakfast, then hit the road to beat the weekend traffic.

I was lucky enough to spend Sunday night with my sister, Pam. A little update on her: as of 2 weeks ago, she is now an Assistant Manager at the downtown Nordstroms! I think she's in Studio, i'll double check. but She also moved to downtown. She had been talking about moving if she got the job there, but we didnt know if it would work out so quickly! She moved in with another assistant manager from the downtown store, Amanda, and her dog Louis (he's adorable!). Their apartment is fantastic! It's in the queen ann area, and overlooks elliot bay! They lucked out with this space, it's great, and fits them so perfectly! it's cut her travel time down from over an hour on the bus each day, to less than 15 minutes to the store! She's doing well, and it was great to see her and spend some time catching up with her life. So if you need some new clothes, go see Pam in Studio :o)