Yard Project: Firepit!

Look!  We were not completely neglectful of our yard this past summer. We put in a fire pit, complete with benches, ALL BY OURSELVES!  Applause, please.

This really is a big deal for us. When it comes to a DIY project, it is very hard for me to get my hubby on board. This is a project that has been looming in my mind for the last year and a half or two years, but one that I could not accomplish on my own. Then one Saturday this summer, Steve and I were out side and I made the comment that I was sick of seeing that old dryer barrel rolling around our yard.  He was too. I told him, "Let's just get rid of it.  I was going to make it into a fire pit right here with benches around it like this near our barbecue grill.  But every weekend that seemed like a good weekend, you're not in the mood or I'm not in the mood. So, let's just get rid of it."

"Well let's just do it right now."  He said. I could hardly believe he was on board with my idea, and I was not about to pass up that opportunity. So, we got to work.  Because we were the ones working, Lily and Amara both took photos to document our progress.

First, we cleared away the weeds. Then we dug a hole, put some drain rocks down, dropped our obnoxious dryer barrel in, and filled in around it. Then we laid down the weed barrier that we have been given. My mom is a great salvager, and because of her, we had the weed barrier, and the cinderblocks, and the pavers, and the bench boards all waiting for us.

The rest of these pictures are all out of order, but they tell their own story well enough, so you'll have to bear with the chaotic organization of this post. I am blogging using my iPad, and moving pictures around is not an option, and I want to get this done quickly.  So, sorry, but enjoy!

I'm glad we finally got that project done. Our yard is a very slow work in progress. And now we are one step closer to finishing.  Happy dance!

Amara turned 7

Amara posing with her birthday presents

 Amara is 7 now.  Amara's birthday was clear back in August, and our summer was crazy fun and super busy, so I never got caught up enough to blog about it until now.  Moments ago, I asked her what some of her favorite things in life are and she responded with this: "Gardening and eating veggies from our garden, including harvesting huge carrots.  Making art crafts, going swimming, painting, and decorating the tree and wrapping presents and seeing what's in my stocking... I love all those!  I'm sure she loves those last few because Christmas is a mere 2 days away, it's been on her mind a lot lately :)

Amara indeed loves to garden.  On the evening of her birthday, we decided to pull the 3 beets that grew in our garden.  She loves to harvest the veggies, and those beets were putting up a fight!  After several attempts and many HARD tugs, she came off conquerer!

 

 I am so proud of my little 7 year old gardening daughter!  Her favorite thing that we grew this year was the potatoes and the swan gourds because "harvesting the potatoes was fun" and she was the one that the chose the swan gourd seeds at the garden nursery, and she thought they were pretty.

 Earlier in the day, Amara and Lily caught this cute little lizard.  Amara and her sister love nature.  Amara has loved taking pictures of bugs, flowers, and animals this summer and she's in a photography class right now online.  She really likes to use the zoom feature on her digital camera, and she uses it all the time. 

 We opened presents with Grandma Bobbie and Grandpa Tom later in the evening.  Amara got spoiled silly with presents galore!

 Also on Amara's birthday weekend, we went to the UBIC parade in Roosevelt, with free breakfast at the park.

 And we went jetskiing at Bottle Hollow with mom and Tom.  The girls swam in the reservoir with their life vests on and had an absolute blast!

 They also played plenty in the sand/mud.

 Amara was busy making sand-mud balls (just like her Aunty April used to make!).

 And the girls LOVED getting to go on the jetski with grandma and grandpa.

 I hung out with my sunhat in the shade and relaxed .

 A few days after Amara's birthday, we had her birthday party with friends.  She had a lot of fun having them over, and it was a real success. 

 We had a lunch of chicken nuggets, curly fries, cucumbers w/ ranch, and apple slices.  I also made Amara a carrot cake, as per her request.  I shaped it like a swan because of her love of birds.

 While lunch was getting ready, we played games.  We played the musical island game.

 And we played duck, duck, goose.

 And we played several rounds of freeze dance to the Frozen soundtrack.

 And we used sidewalk chalk to make murals on the patio.

 A few more friends came a little later, so we had a full table for the lunch part of her birthday party. 

 And Amara loved her cake!

 She made a wish on her birthday and she thinks she wished for roller blades.

 THEN, later that night, we went bowling with grandma and grandpa at the Ute Lanes.

 We split into 2 teams- Amara w/ her mom and dad, and Lily w/ grandma and grandpa. 

 If you look at our bowling scores, you'll notice that grandma won (92) and I lost (49), and actually Lily's team crushed our scores. 

 So they won the plastic cup.

 And we walked outta there with nada.

 But we all had a lot of fun bowling together.

 Oh!  And I almost forgot, Amara took this picture of the tiny bat that was perched on the wall at our church that weekend too.  She used my phone camera while Steve held her up high.  Unfortunately the bat is that blurry black thing in the middle and it was the nests that are in focus.  Oh well.