planted

Matt and I have been doing a lot of work on the outside of the house this Spring/Summer.  Last Summer was spend doing all sorts of remodeling inside and it's nice to have a break from that for a while and do some fun stuff outside!

My mom came down last month and we had a nice day together running around town looking for pots and different flowers.  It was great to be able to spend time with her like that.  She is great with flowers and making stuff look nice outside so I really valued her opinion.  We stopped by Big Lots to pick out some nice potters for the flowers.  We headed to a nursery close by my house to pick out the flowers!  It was there that my mom learned what Matt has to deal with everyday...my indecisiveness.  I am SO bad! I don't know why either? Why can't I just make a decision and live with it. Poor lady :). I finally made a decision and we went home to start potting!

Our beautiful plants!

These are SO much bigger and fuller now! It's crazy to see how much they've grown.  I look like I am talking about a child...I love watching my plants grow!

My hard-working man did all of the planting of our new trees.  If you look back at a couple posts ago, I talk about what all we bought.  I have to be honest...it took us 5 weeks-Yes 5 WEEKS to finally get every single thing planted.  The trees got in first, then Matt randomly planted my hydrangea, and then we got all the Boxwoods planted last week.  And it's DONE! Now I reallu want to do more :).  I want a couple more hydrangea bushes-ours now is already starting to bloom and I LOVE it.

The dog doing just what I was...watching :)

Trees were in and the next step was the complete renovation of our walkway.  We knew we wanted to plant the boxwoods, but we also ended up digging up way more grass and then mulching around the bushes.  It looks great! Next year I plan on adding in some flowers throughout and in between them for some color!

Starting the measurements

My rental car while my Murano was getting her mirror fixed.  Take a look at the grass to the right of the sidewalk...get ready for it's transformation!

Grass dug up and dirt layed out.  I made two trips to Menard's to fill my trunk with dirt and mulch.  Just about as bad as Matt trying to go pick me out a pair of shoes.

Captain of the ship

15 bags of dirt!

He got soooo dirty out there!

And they're in! Cute little ones.

Now for some mulch-spreading

Finished product.  Doesn't it look great?! That stupid red lava rock to the right is getting removed next year.  I hate that stuff!

Our friends Amber and Rob stopped by

My friend Amber said, "I don't think I've ever seen you guys so dirty." Yep we sure were!

surprise party

A couple weekends ago, we planned a surprise 60th birthday party for my Dad! I worked with his girlfriend and my aunt and we planned the whole thing.  I didn't know if we would be able to pull it off...my dad can be difficult sometimes.  I knew if we asked him if he wanted to have a party, he would've said no.  Solution? Surprise him and give him no way out :).

He had been calling me the couple weeks before the party trying to figure out a weekend for all of us to  get together.  The party ended up being on Father's Day weekend too, so I felt guilty saying we couldn't come that weekend (even though we were coming I just couldn't tell him that!). My aunt told him they were coming down to visit my grandma the next week and we told him we would come visit the next weekend or he could come here.  We had Ann, his girlfriend, conjure up some plans with her siblings who they hang out with a lot.  I made some trips to Party City and got all the decorations for the party.

We had everyone get to his favorite restaurant around 3 and then they were going to come around 3:30.  The "plan" was that Ann's brother-in-law invited my dad to "come watch the golf game at Barleycorn's". Little did he know we were all there...

Gift table

Cousins

So anxious waiting for them to arrive!

And they are here!! SURPRISE!!!

My Dad said his first thought was "Why is this girl taking my picture?" We had the hostess snapping shots the whole time.  He said "Then, I saw you and I had to fight back the tears." All worth it :)

Dressing him up in all of his "60" gear

Looks good on you :)

Our gift to my Dad

Whiskey's a-flowin :)

Love you Dad! So glad we pulled it off :)