Move it outside!

Alright. Exterior. 

When we first saw the house it was buried in snow. We put an offer on it any way, figuring the snow would have time to melt somewhat before the bank got back to us. 

It did!

This photo was taken in March, a few months before we closed:

This house is screaming for so many things. But I love it! It's like a fresh blank canvas, ready for our imaginations to create what ever we are wanting. A giant perfectly square canvas.
There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than a fresh blank canvas. Or a new sketch book. Mmm.

The yard then was still wintery, so we had hopes of helping it come in beautifully.

See? It's just starting to think about waking up. I love spring.

Caleb was mid-ride when I called him and asked him to meet us over at the house, hence the outfit. I promise he doesn't just, you know, wear this stuff. 

:)

As it turned out, we didn't own the home until the end of May, which gave the lawn plenty of time to get choked with weeds and also get really really thirsty. 

We recently got the whole lawn green again, but it's far from being only grass.

It's soft enough to run around and play frisbee on, and that's mostly all we ask from a lawn. 

In the month or so that I ignored the flower beds, they grew into something like this. 

I started out letting everything grow because I didn't know what was in there, and you rarely know if something is going to be awesome or not unless you let it do its thing! Metaphors welcome.

There were a few things that had to go, though. These bush-trees looked like they had been really pretty once upon a time, but they had some sort of bug in them that was slowly killing them and turning the leaves spotted and shriveled and ill. Caleb hooked his newly-rebuilt lawn tractor (heh heh heh) to the trunk and let her rip!

It didn't work. 

So he dug them out with his muscles. 

Good bye ill little bush. The next life will be better to you.

The kids and I chose an assortment of seeds, and after pulling and pulling and pulling, we had some fresh earth to plant them in.

Does someone want to tell me that this is a Poppy? I know it looks like a weed, but I planted a Poppy seed right here, and their leaves are pokey like that, right? Please bless?

When it comes to the yard, I've kind of had the mind set of "preparing the yard to be beautiful next year." We got a late start, we're spending 90% of our working hours inside the house, and I needed to get to know the place first. You have to know the patterns of the shadows during the day!

We bought a weed whacker, because we had weeds to whack! We had a desert mountain jungle, and Mr. Power Tools took care of them with one fell swoop.

This happy little stream runs the length of the property, right in front. It's one of the greatest joys of our new spot! It blocks the kids from the road, it's clean (enough), and it provides hours of entertainment every single day. We decided to whack the tall grasses on the yard side, but let them grow on the road side. They make a nice "fence." Maybe we'll try whacking them later, just to see if we like that look or not. 

Interesting thing about our new town, the water table is really high. It's just burbling along right under our feet, and springing up in all sorts of places. Many of the natural springs are thermally heated, and the resorts around here cater to that. It's a funny place to have in the desert, you know what I mean? But it sure makes for easier yard care! You won't find any basements in Midway, Utah, but you will find many beautiful gardens. That works for me.