UTAH VACATION (week 2)

On our second week of vacation, after a fun visit with Teresa's family, Aunt Susan's family (Susan Cluff that is), and Tasha's family, we were back in Orem at Maren's house to help her with her yard. Her front yard was very...boring. It looked like every other ordinary yard on the block. She needed something to set it apart, so we went to work giving it some character and curb appeal with a border along the driveway and path. I was pretty impressed with Maren, considering this is her first attempt at landscaping.

With Maren picking plants she liked and a talented nursery staff to help us with layout, we were able to take this:

To this:

The grass never would grow very well along where we landscaped, so cutting it out has taken it from this:

to this:

And this:

Is now this:

There are boxwoods, lupines, salvias, a rose of sharon, a red twig dogwood, some spirea of varying colors, a few annuals for immediate color, some burning bushes, a viburnum, a mugo pine, some daylilies, and a few ornamental grasses. I can't wait to see it in the summer!

With a little recycling of plants and materials from the backyard to the front, the dirt to the left of the hose hide-out...

now contains a small iris garden:

An island was also created in the lawn, though placement became a difficult issue since the sewer line ran right where Maren wanted it. With a little creativity, we took this patch of pathetic grass

To a respectable island (though the flowering tree wasn't planted in these pictures). There are various types of rock plants here (sedums, hen and chicks and some ground cover) and salvias.

Now all this yard needs is some rock and bark over the landscape cloth, and some time. Oh yeah, a little TLC on the grass wouldn't hurt. In a little while, everything will be grown and filled in and it will be gorgeous.

It was so much fun working with Maren in the yard! Our kids kept themselves occupied

which gave us a little time every now and then to get our hands dirty.

I'd planned on helping Rachel and Nana with their yards too, but with my kids running fevers off and on the whole week, I was lucky to get anything done at Maren's.

At the end of the week, I packed up the kids and stuff (minus the binkie, thank goodness) and headed home. Paisli never took a binkie, but she lived for sucking on one during our two weeks away from home. Once we were home, she was fine without a binkie or a bottle, and I was more than happy to be reunited with Hyrum. We've never been apart longer than a weekend before in our 9 1/2 years of marriage. I've decided I really don't like being away from him, though absence does make the heart grow fonder.