God made dirt.. And we have LOTS of it!!

This is how our front side yard looked when we moved in. Eric cut down those small trees. (I do not have a good pic of the back side yard, so just picture this type of mess there too!)

Then, he rented several machnes to get it to this point...

The above photo now looks like the photo below..

Side yard..

The new fence will go from the back corner (attaching to the exisiting fence) to about the middle of the hill in this photo. Then, it will come down the hill to meet the yard with a double gate and continue a few more feet until it touches the side of the house. Can you picture that?

Side and back yard...

The burm and yard will all get hydroseed next year. The ledge in the middle of the burm will have small bushes and wildflowers planted on it. We will also be planting a few new trees and a small garden for Zoey. She loves blueberries and strawberries!

And Currently..

Heres the view when you drive up. On the left of this photo, we have dirt piles that will stay about 1 or 2 feet high until they reach the driveway. This will keep and water from rain and snow melt from flooding our neighbors. We plan to set up a fire pit and seating back there and also put a short fence (maybe a split-rail) on the top of the "flood saver hill" just to give it a more finished look.

Heres the side yard

Eric has also set some of the posts for the fence on the top of the burm

We will keep updating the progress as we get more done. Right now, Eric's up on the roof with a good friend replacing the shingles. We wanted to go one more year before we did that, but he was looking at it the other day and noticed they were all lifting. Each time its windy or rains we end up with black pieces all over the deck too, so it was definitely ready to be replaced.

UPDATE

The roof is done! I didnt get all the photos on here when I started this post, so thats the reason for the delay. Heres a new photo of the fence too!

Sorry about all the delays to those of you who wanted pics of the landscaping projects. We are still running AT&T internet which is terribly slow. We even had a few days where it was crashing our computer. I am actually debating trying to go back to the Monday Email again, but I know my yahoo doesnt support that well either. I'll get some new photos of Z up here very soon! Check back!

Lots To Tell!!

Wow! Where do I begin! We have been super busy lately.. or at least it seems like we have been. Back in August, we decided to take Zoey to the Alaska State Fair. Thank goodness we had a Daddy who wasn't working and a beautiful afternoon with sunshine! Here's some photos!

The goats were her favorite!

Isnt she cute as a fat old man on a tractor? Haha!

We took her to see the animals first. After that, we decided to go back to the car for the stroller. That turned out to be the best idea we had since she fell asleep right after she sat down. Mommy and Daddy walked around for a long time and then we all went to dinner together. It was a great day!

Zoey has transitioned into a toddler bed!

Here's the first photo of her in her bed! Shes on the left side of the monitor.

One day, she decided to climb out of her crib during a nap so Eric quickly changed her bed into the daybed with rails. She's done well so far. She escaped one night and Eric found her in the living room at 4am. After that, we now keep her door shut! Another morning, I found her here..

because Eric thinks he didn't shut her door all the way! Usually at night she gets out a couple times and during naps she sometimes plays with her toys for a while, but shes done well with the change. I can't say she always sleeps in her bed properly. Here are some examples - look hard!Sleeping on the floor beside her bed.Sleeping with her head hanging off the bed.In a lump on the floor by the door (top right corner).Torso on bed and feet on the floor.. yes, she is asleep like this!

Other than that, she's been doing typical toddler things..

Having lunch with a good friend!

Enjoyng her new slide!

Helping Mommy with the tupperware!

This past weekend, Eric worked on landscaping. Hopefully he can get that and some wood harvested before Friday which is the day of his next knee surgery. He will be off work for 10 days again. I'll update you all on that later. Zoey went to a new bouncy house with Rita and did great! I'll take the camera next time! We went to Julies ultrasound today (its a boy!) and the park too. Zoey is now napping (by the door again) so I'm going to wash dishes. Thanks for reading our updates! We love and miss you all!