Our Yard

Our yard has been finished for awhile now and I have been wanting to write about it forever. It has been so awesome to have the area finished, and to be able to use it and take full advantage during the beautiful Arizona spring season. It is truly the backyard of my dreams. John and I spent so much time and put so much thought into every aspect of it. How we wanted it to look and needed it to function. We had a guy come over one time and gave us some ideas and then a quote that was out of this world. We said no and never called him back. I asked John if he thought he could do it on his own and he said he would try, that it would be a weekend job and it would take a while and I would have to be patient with him. He knew that the biggest hurdle we would probably have was me rushing, I don't like big jobs like that hanging over our head and I was quite honestly in a hurry to have a functional yard. But I swore that I would have patience, and the process began.

John amazed with his ability to take on every task we needed to do to complete the yard. Of course, because he was my husband I was doubly amazed. I am the type of person that gets very overwhelmed by large projects like that. I want them done, and fast. I don't like the waiting, and I have a hard time "chipping away" at something without seeing results. I was so amazed how John could just go out there and stand in the big brown blank yard and start putting our plans and dreams to action. One day, one rock, one barrel at a time. He had help along the way, absolutely, put he was out there every weekend without fail, sometimes long, long days. We were fortunate enough to have my Dad around for a lot of the weekends. They did the wall and the garden together, they installed the sprinkler system and dug for the pipe, they mixed cement for under the wall, installed the fake grass, and built a fence. We had awesome neighbors and friends who came over to lift and haul barrels of rock and dirt and help make forms and mix cement and pour curbing. They ONLY think John contracted out was he had guys come in and pour our big cement patio. Everything else, every, every, everything else, he did. And I am so incredibly proud of him.

My most favorite part of our yard is my garden. I begged and begged John for a garden and he didn't want to do it, I really don't think he believed me when I said I would take care of it and it wouldn't be his job. But all my convincing paid off and he built a great big raised flowerbed for me, 4 feet deep with enough room for me to have a huge garden and plant basically two forty foot long rows or whatever I wanted. He did a beautiful stone wall finish on the front, fancied it up with some lighting and stone wall caps, and added drip system so I don't even have to go and water it myself. It is perfect! A few weeks ago went ant bought some tomato and pepper potted plants and transplanted them into our garden, and then planted cucumber, eggplant, peas, fennel, arugula, basil and cilantro. It has been nothing short of healing for me to watch these seeds grow, Turn into little sprouts and then just reach for the sky. The first week was so exciting, every time I went out to look another had broken ground, and I really wished I could just sit there for hours and watch them pop through. I was so, so proud of my self for accomplishing something even I didn't know if I was capable of. Now, I love to go out there and just mess around. Pull a couple weeks or inspect my pepper plants for new fruit. Watch my arugula and brainstorm how I can get the bugs to stop eating it. Run my hand over the green and allow myself to feel proud that it wouldn't be there if it wasn't for me, that I planted and nurtured and cared for it well enough. That the best is yet to come. John loves it out there too, he loves to come and check on the tomatoes and snip the leaves and tie them up. When we garden together, I am reminded of what a good team we are. Sometimes the parenting thing feels like it pulls us in a million directions, but when we are out there in the yard focusing on the same thing I realize that we both just want what's best. I hope our parenting job is as pleasing to Him as our gardening job is to me. I hope we can be as diligent and nurturing and authentic of Mommies and Daddies as we are green thumbs. And I pray that the fruits of our labor will be as evident in our children as they are in our garden. If there is one thing I can say I love the most about gardening, I have to say it is truly therapeutic. It may sound cliche, but there are so many life lessons that can be learned or reinforced through the earth. Getting back to the roots, literally. It is a quiet time, usually the kids are off doing their thing and I have time to think. I am truly understanding what it means to have a hobby. I like to pull weeds, and think about how that parallells to life, and what weeds I need to get rid of in my own. I love planting, as I mentioned before, and watching new life arrive every single day. I really actually might be sad when this season is over. I could go on and on, but let's just say I love my garden. It' s sort of my new passion. Just sort of.

Our yard has brought countless hours of joy to our family already. John can come home from work and run around with Tula in the yard while I am making dinner, watching them play in the grass just like we envisioned. We have had many awesome dinners on our great big patio area that some people told us would be too big but seemed to be just right when we had 20 guests over, just like we had envisioned. We have been able to entertain large groups and not feel cramped or crowded, just like we had hoped for. We even got to have a couple nights of sitting by the fire, sometimes just the two of us, and other times having laughs and fun times with friends, just like we had hoped for. Lots of grilling and eating outside with my Mom and Dad and as a family. I have spend a few afternoons while both kids are napping out there on the phone or with a book, sipping sun tea and lemonade. Our yard has been complete for maybe 6 weeks, and it has already provided so many memories and fun times as a family and with friends. It has been more than we had hoped for, which is still, exactly as we had envisioned.

I learned so much through the process. First of all, my husband is amazing. He is so talented, such a hard worker, and so thorough. He truly will do anything and everything for his family, and he wants the world for us. Secondly, I love to garden and I love my new hobby. Thirdly, we truly are an awesome team. Marriage is tough work and when you feel like you have an active, willing participant to go through life with, you feel like you can tackle any project, no matter how big and daunting it may be. Lastly, I love hosting! We have had the opportunity to have friends over on a few different occasions and I feel honored that people enjoy the yard that we have created enough to want to keep coming back, we love having the company. I look forward to many memories back there, and, let's face it, many quiet hours in my house once I can put both the kids out there to play together by themselves throughout the day. For now, it is a wonderful place to be a family, to be a friend, to be a gardener, to be a fun Mommy, to be quiet, and to just "be". For now, my favorite place in the whole wide world. Right in my own back yard. Just as we had envisioned.

Here's a couple pics of our little piece of paradise and there are many more under the Mac gallery link under the album titled Yard (obviously). Hope you enjoy and get to come see it soon if you haven't already!