A Large Task

My wonderful husband has been working on our landscaping the last few weeks. It has been a long time coming, since the previous owners had no interest in keeping up on the house. As I have mentioned before, we are spending time and money on improvements for the outside of our house. First things first...the horrific, overgrown bushes! (Please ignore the terrible paint and roof.)

I left AJ in charge of taking picture and this is what I was left with! He was pulling them all out by hand. As in-using trimmers to get all the leaves out of the way, but then rocking the base back and forth until the roots finally snap. Very hard work! I am proud of him.

Here is what it looks like after all the ones in the front were removed. I think it made a huge difference! We plan to put different bushes in later, most likely in the fall. We still have lots to do to the soil before we can plant anyway. The people who lived there before thought it was a good idea to decorate the beds with crushed brick?! Who knows, but it is an awful mess and we have to clean all of that out and add new soil. That is not a fun or easy task either. But until that day we will just enjoy our bushless house.

We definitely need to get the exterior painted and the roof replaced. We were trying to hold out for some hail, but I don't think that's going to happen. So we will probably give in and get it replaced. It is 14 yrs old and already has bad hail and wind damage. We have had it patched already and just recently lost another shingle. Poor roof. Does anyone have a preferred painter or roofer they can recommend? I'm very leary of getting this done by someone who does not come highly recommended. Oh yeah, and I prefer them to be cheaper. But I have yet to find that too. We are very much do-it-yourselfers, but AJ would have to take time off of work and that is not really an option. So in the meantime we will pray for hail. (Sorry neighbors.)

This is a picture of my brother and grandpa hanging out on my mom's dock one last time before he headed back to Florida. Much time was spent here fishing and just hanging out.

My brother, his wife, my mom and sister, us and the grandparents got to play euchre one last time before they headed back. We were so sad to see them go but I know they needed to get back home. Fortunately, we will be visiting them in September. Yay!

He loves his great grandparents! They are so much fun!

Ari and AJ at the boat, once again. He loves the pool!