Property Project: Sideyard

Otherwise known as the nap garden, our side yard used to house 3 smaller raised beds. One day, Chris took them out. They were overgrown, and infiltrated with blackberries from some soil addition. We also wanted to landscape the yard and the beds were getting in the way.

We built up the dirt so that we could plant in more area. This required a small retaining wall to be built.

 We were already planning the funds out for the wood, dirt, plants, etc, and the funds for the wall were just not a fun way to go. Chris got some free rock from Shari's house and we made about a 25 foot 2 ft tall wall. Then he used wood and stakes for the rest of it. It was more cost effective than wood the whole way, or another way of doing it. But not necessary less labor intensive. He moved the rocks 3 times!

 Not too bad!

 No property project is complete without Papa's inspection. He just wanted to see how the ground felt. It was soft. The future beds are sprayed in pink on the dirt.

 I snuck a photo of these guys hanging out on the wall. Raspberries in the foreground

 The kids helped a bit when they weren't adding dirt to the irrigation.

 This Spring has had amazing thunderstorms, clouds, sunsets, sunrises and such. Wow!

 The tire swing is a must!

 And more rock! We laid weed fabric down and then Chris scooped and spread the gravel down.

 More Spring property romps

 Owen and Ara had fun holding a cold blue belly lizard.

 The kids were very helpful at the nursery.

 It's one of my favorite traditions-going with them to the nursery to pick out the plants.

We carefully selected our treasures~ lots of squash, four kinds of basil

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas! I mean Mother's Day!

 The kids had a blast playing in the mounds of gravel and dirt.

 O's shirt reads Sun's out Guns out. Classic.

 This is what perfection looks like, right here!!!

 This is our future. We decided to stop with the three large beds and plan for the other four later. They prove to be quite awesome-demanding-expensive! I am actually a little relieved as I was trying to plan for my nap garden in a seasonal way but also always wanting something blooming as well as having many annuals planted as well. This gives me some time to plan better. I think a berry bed, an herb bed, as those can withstand our winter for the most part (minus cilantro and basil).

 A honey dijon rose! My first rose off of my first rose bush. I bought it for myself at the plant sale- I've always longed for a rose garden of my own! It was in a huge heavy container and only 15$ for a huge plant. I loved that it had a lot of TLC from a master gardener. I am striving to be an appropriate substitute. I fertilized it and the leaves are now a little yellow but there are 5 blooming roses!! Wahoo! This one bloomed the day my close sister friend found out she was having a little girl. So magical.

 Because. You gotta dig it.

 Bistro set from my grandma's house makes the garden feel even more homey. Zinnia's fill the front right bed. They are about 2 inches now!

 Owen had "the best day of his life" the other day..... And Ara and I had strawberries and coconut ice cream on the patio. It was "the best day of OUR lives" too. (He was selected to go with 3 other friends and his kinder teacher to go after school to in and out, the movies, and ice cream. He has never had an experience quite like that before, so this was for sure FUN FUN FUN for him.)

The garden is in bloom, most plants are inches taller than these photos taken just 2 weeks prior. It is such a magical time on the property, when the oak worms have stopped falling. 

Sand Mountain aka Sand Everywhere

We sold our trailer and got another one. We are pretty stoked about it. You can find me in there after the kids go to bed, at home. JUST KIDDING. Or am I?

We decided to head to Sand Mountain a day early, after I got home from work at 530. We left the house at 830pm. Kids were asleep by 9. We high 5'ed ourselves thinking we were really onto something leaving around bedtime. Until they woke up at 1130. And we had 3 more hours of driving to go... This maybe wasn't the best idea, after all.

We were all tired when they woke at 630, after less than 4 hours of sleep, but we were there and we were happy and we could be lazy all day long. And we were.

View of camp from a nice steep quick hike.

Hiking buds

Mat and Owen and the rest of the kids played in the desert sand for hours.

Nana and Papa having some chill out time

Daddy daughter snuggles are the best

Seriously amazing views

Her sleep schedule was off and she wouldn't nap. We tried for an hour each day. And then this would happen around 4pm. It was happy hour for the adults so I didn't complain too much!

For some reason we gathered around an umbrella stuck into tires. We so fancy!

Karen and Ray joined us! We have been trying to camp together for years, fellow toy owners and trailer owners! So good to get some hang time with them.

The kids were total dirtballs. They free ranged around camp and were pretty good. They were entertained finding treasures (trash, glass, etc... not the safest.... I'll admit. But the glass was like beach glass!)

Another friend shot, these guys camped together 3 years ago when Ara was in my belly!

My sweet sis!

And the coffee flowed, yes it did. I was so excited to use my new trailer press! We usually move items back and forth from the house to the trailer, and as we were getting established in the new trailer we both wanted to make it as ready to go as possible. My cute press was my favorite purchase. Also, the blue speckled coffee cups... it's the little things!

Blue cups here! Tired people. Oops, stained white shirt. But happy!

THIS FACE!

Snuggles, books, camping food, and relaxing!

Ara liked hiding things in the screen. I found dinosaurs as well as the pasta spoon I never use!

Breathtaking!

Ansel Adams, hello!

Chris with a huge tumbleweed. Owen got a kick out of watching these blow by.

We tried to get a family photo. It was windy. Owen was holding a toy salamander he wanted to pose in the photo. It was not our best work.

Another nap day left Ara low around 5pm. She was falling asleep sitting up. It was awesome!

Even dietitians eat off plan every now and then! Trader Joe's chocolate croissants are pretty amazing!

Touring Karen's trailer for some happy hour and snacks. Ara had to wear her pack pack everywhere!

Sleepy.

Nature hike! We were joking about the desert barren nature being beautiful but not very green. Karen and I went on a magical walk and found so many wildflowers!

And she befriended a horny toad.

Gotta get some lovin'!

All in all it was a great trip. I tend to get a little car sick riding in the RZR which is a bummer. But turns out I love to camp, cook, sit, read, walk, run, play, and nature walk, so it all works out. I also love staying in a smaller than normal space and realizing how much stuff we really don't need and how little space we can operate in. We all just fill up the space that we have regardless of need. Yes a little bit more square footage would help at home but then we would have to clean, fill, maintain, blah blah. Small houses rock!

Love our adventures together, lots of enjoyable memories. It was the first camping trip that I stayed up late enough to enjoy the campfire EVERY night! I felt like such a rebel!