Visit from Sarah & Doug

Doug and Sarah came out for the weekend.... we all had a wonderful visit, ate turkey and shot guns! Haha thanks for a fun time!! 

Picking Up the Tent Trailer

Another quick trip to the lower mainland... this time, to buy a tent trailer from Aaron and Steph!

A break at Merrit

Brian with the dogs at an abandoned campsite we found outside of Chilliwack

Visiting the girls... darn those fruit rollups! They make blue tongues!

oh no, not another one!

Before we headed back home, Mom and Elliott insisted a quick wheel check... thanks guys!

We made it home with no issues, just a heavier load... its quite the lengthy thing when its all hooked up together!

The Last of the Rocks

After finishing the other rock bed, I still had rocks left over. I decided to clean up the area under the Japanese Maple... the soil was all hard, lava rock that used to be there was every where else other than where it should have been and there was a rather large hole dug on the corner... Kona??? So I cleaned up the edging of the box, added the remaining rocks from the sewer dig and then filled it all in with the Lava rock that was extra from where I put the dog houses under the trees. It looks sooo much better! Ignore the pink tape... that area is blocked off from dogs, trying to grow grass there and then we are going to put in our fire pit!

What to do with Rocks

Brian and I spent some time in the front yard trying to clean up sand, dirt, rocks... everything that was left over after our sewer hookup. We ended up moving a large amount of rocks into the back yard to re-purpose in some way as we can't really get them back into the ground...

That's a lot of rocks to deal with...

What about this ugly little corner?? I know... a nice rock bed!

This was an ugly job to remove all the grass.... yuck...

The Iris Mom gave us last year is very happy so I bought it 2 more friends to grow along side...

After 3 hours worth of digging, removing grass, planting and moving rocks and bricks, this is where I ended up. I roped it off the best I could so Kona wouldn't start eating plants or rooting around like she will...

Side view... I just need some more Bricks! These other ones I found in the back yard next to the deck in an area I was re-seeding with grass

Another 2 hours work the next day and here is the finished product! Still roped off from Kona.

This little project only cost $30 (for extra brick and 2 plants)... I am pretty proud of myself for getting it done so quickly and so cheap!

More hiking in the Canyon

We braved a more dirtier and much steeper part of the hiking trails this time around... the dogs and Brian loved it... not sure I loved it, I could do it, I just hate steep, easy to fall down trails... have I mentioned I have taken at least 3 falls down steep trails including 1 time knocking myself out on a tree at the bottom? Yeah... I have my reasons! Haha...

Permanent home for the Dog Houses

It was time to get out the patio furniture, things are heating up out here and I needed to find a new and permanent place for the dog houses instead of having them sit on the deck. I thought about it for a bit and decided that they could go along the side garden in the trees where there is lots of shade for the dogs on the hot days. Brian agreed about the placement and I got to work! The houses look so cute under the trees!

An Easter Monday Drive

Brian and I took a drive around the lake just to go for a drive and so I could show him our family cabin on Westside Road. I was very sad to see that when we pulled up to the cabin, it had been torn down probably the week before. It was an amazing time our family had there for all those years and a great little cabin that my grandfather built, it will all never be forgotten. We ended up going to Fintry and taking the dogs for a walk and Tag even got in a swim!

Hiking in the Canyon

How lucky are we to have such great hiking trails right behind our house? So nice not to have to drive anywhere, just go for a hike!

My Cowgirl Boots!

Can I just say I am so in love with these boots? Lammle's was having their annual boot sale and I was planning on buying a pair of cowgirl boots for my 40 lb weight loss goal. I am not there yet, but I couldn't pass up the sale... these boots are not cheap... anyhow, they are currently sitting on display on my book shelf waiting for me to hit my goal! Can't wait!

Yay me!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to myself for surviving 6 months of dieting... oops, not dieting, a "lifestyle" change. Yesterday marked my 6 month anniversary since deciding to make a major change with my health and to date I have lost 34.2 lbs. I can't believe I have made it this far. I am very proud of myself and only have 23 lbs to go to hit my big goal!

Grass Seeding!

Our lawn desperately needs something, anything... we just can't afford to do much this year with it, so a bit of turf builder and grass seed to clean up some of the worst areas is what I will do! The hard part is keeping dogs off those areas. I had to block things off with plastic ribbon just to deter them from being in those areas. Kona is much to curious to keep away completely, but I expect that.

This area in front of our lower deck is by far the worst place in the yard. When we moved in, the previous owners dogs had used this whole area as their toilet throughout the winter and it had ruined the grass completely.

This area by our upper deck stairs is getting cleaned up and seeded as we are going to turn the area into a fire pit. There is great seating built into the deck already and eventually we are going to block off the upper deck stairs, remove them and continue on the seating. Anyhow, it will make a nice cozy area to sit around a fire!

Fruit Trees are Sprayed and Budding!

Yesterday I got to work spraying the trees with the Lime Sulphur & Dormant Oil. Wow what a stinky mix but it needed to be done before any 'green' came out. I did all 5 fruit trees. Today, the buds are really changing, actually every day things are happening on these trees... its pretty cool!

Apricot Tree Buds

Peach Tree Buds

My Plum tree has shoots coming out all over the place so even though I was worried about it due to the lack of roots it came with, its seems very happy!

Nectarine Tree Buds (some are showing bits of pink blooms)

Kona's apple tree of course is coming along nicely as it did last year too

Our trees on the side of the yard are happy, bees are buzzing all around

The dangers of gardening in the Okanagan... insects are huge out here! I found a cricket when I was filling holes Kona dug in the yard with pieces of sod I removed from the fruit tree area... what an ugly little monster!

Yuck... he wouldn't flip over... playing dead I guess. I only caught him so I could send pictures to Katie's kids in California who are on the hunt for bugs daily!

Brian all bundled up and set up in front of his BBQ... we sure love BBQ here!

Dirty Face...

I was a bit surprised when Kona came into the kitchen looking like this! Clearly there was something good in the dirt!

The End of a Quick Visit

Before heading home ....

Checking out Mom's Greenhouse plants...

New Plants in the garden

Max and Kona hanging out

We decided to go for a walk at the park and went just a little bit too late because the rain hit...

Lucky we all had umbrellas!

After a cold windy walk in the rain, hot chocolate at Tim Horton's was in order!

A quick stop at Dad's place and back to Julie's to paint everyones toe nails and then Kona and I were on our way home!

We stopped in Merritt for a quick hike up the mountain...wow was it nice, but windy!

It was such a pretty spot for nice pictures!

Kona getting annoyed with me....

Kona really annoyed... lets get going!!!

Brian made us hamburgers for dinner on our new BBQ! We had to get a new one because its BBQ season and our old one went to the dump last fall (it was so old and there was a rat living in it)