Good Bye Summer, Hello Fall

Fall is my very favorite time of year. I love the leaves, the warm soup and the chill in the air before we actually have to deal with snow.

That being said, there is a sense of sadness as we wave goodbye to summer, Bees games, hikes and bike rides.
How I will miss you summer! Til next year...

Untitled from Maura Lansford on Vimeo.

And maybe, one day, I will have enough energy to blog about our one yard project this summer. Maybe.

Clue: I will NEVER self install one of these again. :)

Glamorous Yard Work

In addition to enjoying General Conference, we were able to steal a few hours in between sessions to try and keep momentum in the yard.

Earlier in the week, we had a visit from the aeration men.

I seriously hate all the turd looking clumps but Cole has me convinced it was a necessary step towards the luscious yard I so desire. I thought I could avoid it by saying it was too expensive, but it turns out that it's really cheap. Dirt cheap, even. :)

All the dirt clumps did result in some entertaining footage of the lil guy. Not sure how much dirt he ate before we noticed but the evidence is all over his face. The joys of parenting a little boy.

Untitled from Maura Lansford on Vimeo.

In our quest for the perfect-for-us yard, we are currently doing a lot of removing. It's free and getting rid of ugly is the first step towards making it beautiful! We're trying to brainstorm uses for 60 perfectly good (but ugly) cement cylinders.... Ideas?

Weekend Fun

After the busy-week-that-would-not-end, we were able to enjoy a work-free weekend together! Hurray! I know that everyone is busy so I don't want to complain (too much), but man, I love when the weekend comes and Cole and I can spend some time together. Even if we are just doing amazingly exciting things like...measuring the yard for a sprinkler system. :)

The yard was originally outfitted with a system of yore, but years of renters ignoring the yard made its fair share of broken, overgrowth-covered sprinkler heads and just plain sketchy plumbing.

Luckily, Cole has family in the plumbing supply biz, so we'll have some much needed guidance going into this project. On Saturday we took the first step - Drawing out the yard to scale so that the plumbing supply store can let us know exactly what we need. An hour or two in the yard reminded us just how much work needs to be done. Unless we want Crew to disappear into the hole from the old For Sale sign, we better get to planning!

We are also enjoying the fruits of our first-ever Bountiful Basket. The downtown pickup time of 7 a.m. was killer but then again, so was the produce. I can't wait to enjoy this food all week long...I'm seeing some spinach n' cheese raviolis, zucchini bread and general yumminess in our future and loving it!

Thanks to the generosity of my sister-in-law, the Jazz's less-than-amazing season and my hubby's low ball offer on Jazz Flash Seats, we enjoyed watching a baby-free Mavericks victory in style. It's amazing how much the game experience improves when you don't need binoculars to see.

As always, Cole managed to make friends with the wide arrange of characters who were sitting around us. I had trouble restraining myself from snapping pics, but lets just say the Jazz fans ranged from apostle-looking types to men with fewer teeth than my one year old. :) Such a fun date.

Laborious Labor Day :)

The home of our dreams has left much to be desired in the way of a back yard but we have dreams and visions of it becoming a place where we love to host parties, watch Crew play and just hang out. Unfortunately, hosting much of anything has proved to be difficult since the home never had so much as a slab of concrete to house the beloved grill.

We were able to make the space work for Crew's blessing party, thanks to a tent rental, but I hardly doubt my husband will let me rent a tent every time we want company over.

So when we saw that a neighbor was extending his driveway, my excavating-skilled brother would be in town for a few weeks and we had a long weekend to dig... it lit the fire under our butts for getting started on a patio.

So here is a little "before" action for ya. We spent Saturday marking out what we wanted, moving all those rocks from underneath the stairs and rototilling a beatiful 13x13 section of our lawn.

Don't be fooled, people, the ground above looks all soft and ready for digging but you are wrong. Beneath the first 2 inches of dirt lay a hot mess of white clay. As an Oklahoma gal, I am used to working with this hard and stubborn stuff but what a surprise to find it here in Utah!

We opted to run a slow sprinkler over the ground on Sunday evening so that the ground would be ready for us first thing Monday morning.

And then we dug,


and dug,


and, seriously, dug some more.

By the end of Monday, we had a beautiful 8-inch deep hole in our back yard. Next we have to get the framing up and fill the first few inches with gravel. But first, we need a few days to regain feeling in our backs and shoulders. :)

My neighbors always question what we do with Crew while we are working. Have they met my kid? He took two amazing naps and chilled in his pack and play under a tree while he was awake. Love him!

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

After a couple extra busy weeks of work, chores and places to go, we enjoyed a Saturday afternoon at home. Crew and I were able to lay out a blanket under the shade of our biggest tree and just relax.

I love watching him taking in new things that he has never seen before.



Don't you just love how the shadows bounce around his little face?


He has been very excited about sucking on those little fingers lately. I am a little worried he may choose to take after his dad. Any guesses on how long Cole sucked his thumb? (love ya honey!)

My neighbor Liz came over to share this yummy watermelon. The perfect summer treat.


Oh, and did I mention that while we were sitting on our tushies Cole insalled the coolest new house numbers for us?

The duct tape was our super classy template. I plan to show them off once we finish a few other "front door" projects.

I <3 Saturdays.