Summer Projects

The weather keeps getting nicer, and we keep getting busier!

We visited Sam and Becky in Ann Arbor, MI, a few weeks ago, which was a blast. We've got a busy month coming up now, including Brent's wedding on May 22.

Yesterday, both our sets of parents came to visit. It was nice to see our moms on Mother's Day, but the purpose of the trip was actually to install our new water heater. Adam and the dads did a great job, and now we have plenty of hot water! (Instead of the ~1.5 showers we had previously...)

We've also gotten to do some outdoor work, which is really exciting for me. This is the first time I've had my own yard to plant things in, so it's lots of fun to get outside and play in the dirt ;) Our house doesn't have very nice landscaping -- just some bushes, and lots and lots of river rock. I am not really a big fan of river rock, although I understand that it's maintenance-free. But really, mulch just looks WAY better. I spent a few hours last weekend pulling all of the rocks out of this small area, tearing out the existing ugly bushes (with Adam's help), replanting nicer stuff, and then mulching. The before picture:



And after:


Adam has been busy with a softball league he joined this spring, as well as constantly mowing our lawn... it grows ridiculously fast. He's also been working on sanding down an old wrought iron patio set that we inherited from his parents, but that needs some work before it can be repainted. Here he is sanding the table base in the garage:


We're going to be entertaining a larger group of friends late in June, so we're trying to wrap up the table project before then. But the weather is being uncooperative, unfortunately, so it may be a challenge.

I promise more outside flower photos next time (once it stops being rainy/windy!)