Andrea's Wedding In Hot Springs

On April 23rd, (I know that I am blogging about April and it is June, almost July, but see the three previous post!) we went to Hot Springs to watch a very dear friend of mine get married. Andrea and Jody got married at the Hot Springs Botanical Gardens and it was beautiful. Our other great friend, Brooke, flew in from D.C. to be there. We stayed and Mary's lake house in Hot Springs with Brooke, Aaron, and Mary. They were very gracious and we had the best time. Aaron Jr. and Karen and the boys were there for the wedding. After the wedding, we went on a boat ride around the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon and the water was beautiful!!

This is the chapel at the Gardens. It was very pretty!

This was along a pathway through the gardens. The sound was wonderful.

Me and my hubby

Me and Brooke! I love this picture! I can't wait until October when we vacation with Brooke and Michelle!

I think I caught him off guard.

Andrea getting ready to say I do!

Andrea and Brooke
aka
(Smalls and Homes)
I have so many wonderful memories of these two ladies! For those that don't know, we lived together my sophomore and their junior year in college in Jonesboro. Stacey also lived with us. Crazy times but I wouldn't trade them for anything!! I have known them all since grade school. I love these girls so much!!!!

Beautiful Bride!

Our Captain and Aaron

A jet skier catching our wake

Some dinner boat/showboat thingy

There were some beautiful houses on the lake but this one was the biggest by far! It was enormous. I want to say Aaron said it was something like 8,000 square feet!

Tyto and Homes drinking it up!!!
Love this picture too!!!

Yard Makeover Part 3

So this is the last post about the house this round! I still have a lot of other stuff to blog about so no more house blog for a few blogs! Ha! I am doing this to scrapbook what we have done. We have done all the following since we got back from vacation.

A few months back, a plumber backing out of the neighbor's driveway hit our mailbox. It has had the wobbles ever since. I hated our old mailbox anyway. So Jonathan built and stained the pole and we bought the mailbox and letters!

We got the steps up, now it is time to get the other half of the flowerbed done!

Don't let your eyes deceive you, that is a lot of work! Those rocks are heavy and you have to place them just right so that the dirt won't seep through the holes. You also have to find level rocks that will match up to each other and be wobbly! Backache!!

Flowers ready to go in the ground!

These flowers look tiny compared to the other side! I guess that is what I get for planting them 3 weeks apart! Couldn't help it though! That would be way too much labor to do back to back weekends!

Another shot!

We had two crappy camping chairs on the front porch. We bought these instead! Much better! But we needed a table/beer holder so Jonathan built us a little table! Again, my handyman, hard at work!

I helped him stain part of the table.

I must tell you though, I am not a good stainer. It is not my calling.

He even did the edges all pretty and dog eared.

Ta Da!

This is what our house looks like now. Our next project is going to be getting the rest of that concrete up and the front deck built. We are making stairs coming down off the front porch, on the side there, onto a wood deck. The deck will come out even with the flowerbeds. That ugly concrete will be partly hammered up and partly covered. We have to build a retaining wall along the backside of the concrete to keep water from coming against the house. You won't be able to see it because of the deck.

I just smile looking at it!

This is before. The second time we looked at the house before we bought it. July 2011 will be 2 full years! Look at the difference! It doesn't look like the same house. I sure hope all this hard work pays off when the appraiser comes when we want to refinance or sell!!!!

AFTER!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home!!

Yard Makeover Part 2

Ok...part 2.

We finally got our sidewalk like we wanted. We got some solar lights and had to add some more rocks after it settled. Now, I had called a brick guy that had given us an estimate to come build our stairs. He told me when I called him that it would be the next week before he could get to us. No big deal. Well the next week it rained and rained. I knew that was why he didn't come but I still figured he would call. Figured wrong. So I called him the next week (3rd week here) on a Wednesday and left a voice mail. He never called me. On the 4th week, I called him that Monday and he said he would be there Thursday. Well I came home for lunch Thursday and he wasn't here. I called and left a voice mail and when I got home, he had piled his wheelbarrow, some tools, and the bricks in a pile next to the sidewalk and the flowerbeds. Jonathan said he made a bunch of excuses and asked if I was mad. He told him that I wasn't very happy!! He told Jonathan he would be back in the morning (Friday) to build the steps. When I got home from work Friday, it was POURING down rain and it wasn't supposed to quit. And my steps were not built!!!! It had only started raining around 3 or 4. He could have got that done in 2 hours. (that is what he said.) Jonathan and I had to get outside in the thunder, lighting, and rain and pile his bricks in his wheelbarrow and move it all under the tree out front. The water couldn't drain because of how he had the bricks piled up and our flowerbed we just built was getting flooded! I was so mad that I didn't call that night but first thing Saturday morning, I called and left a voice mail telling him that I no longer needed his services, or lack there of, and that his stuff was under the tree and come and get it! Then we went on vacation to VEGAS! (stay tuned for that post) After we got home, Jonathan decided that he could build the steps. I called an old friend from high school that works in the brick and stone business and he gave us an awesome deal. The steps aren't perfect but we think they look pretty good!!! I love my handyman!!! We saved over $150 doing it ourselves!!

Our completed sidewalk!!

I just love how this turned out!!

Our pretty flowerbed! We still have to get some sod and raise the ground a little in front of the flowerbed but it still looks amazing!!! (to us anyway!)

This is the flowerbed around our big tree in the front yard. It usually has tulips and daffodils in the Spring.

Jonathan is getting started on the front steps!!!

He just laid them out and counted and mumbled to himself a little and said, "Ok, I got it. Here we go." And he did! He amazes again and again with what he can do!!

Measuring it out!

Working hard!

We got the first step done!

We had it figured out by this point. Not too bad!!

I never got a picture close up of the completed steps! I am going to have to do that! But here is what they look like from the yard! We have cleaned them up some since this picture too. Notice the old steps to the right?

See them? Yuck!

They are gone now! Jonathan rented a jackhammer and got the steps and the bit of concrete that was in front of them. We are going to build a retaining wall then a deck in front of the siding part of the house. We will jackhammer more of the concrete up after that. Always more to do!! Stay tuned for part 3!!!!

Yard Makeover Part 1

Yes, I know that I haven't blogged in forever. I know, blah blah blah......but, once you see the next 2 post (plus vacation), you will understand why!! We have been busy working on our yard! We are so proud of the way it has turned out. We have envisioned doing this since we bought the house 23 months ago. I am constantly amazed at Jonathan and the things that he can do. I had no idea that I married such a handy man. He really can do almost anything!! I am having so much fun working in the yard and creating this masterpiece. I can't count the number of neighbors, next door and throughout the ENTIRE neighborhood, that have stopped and commented on how great our house looks. Everyone talks about how much better it is. We even had a guy from down the street stop and ask if he could take pictures because he still kept in touch with the kids that grew up in this house and he wanted them to see how awesome it looked now. I thought that was cool. So this is just the first post. I am trying to do a work in progress, as we go along kind of thing. So here goes......

This is a picture from last fall but I wanted to remember what the front of the house looked like before we did all the landscaping.

We moved out steps. If you look hard in the above picture, you can see the front steps on the far right front of the steps. We wanted to move them right in front of the door and make a sidewalk with flowerbeds on both sides. My vision from the start!!!

Jonathan had to make a mold to pour the concrete for the pad for the steps.

Notice our new gutters!! Woot! Woot! And now we are ready to get started!

Before :(

We transplanted this bush from my neighbors yard. She was nice enough to let us have some.

Got our load of dirt......can't make a flowerbed without dirt!

Luckily, we didn't have to pay a small fortune for these stones. We kept these when we tore down the man cave just for this purpose!! Jonathan priced a pallet of stones like this and they were $400 plus! For just 1 pallet. I have used WAY WAY more than that and have a lot left to use in the backyard!!!

Those stones are heavy and this was not an easy or fast job!

And we had to get them as level as we could and find the right ones to fit on top without causing big holes where the dirt would leak out. Very time consuming, and hot, and back breaking! But very worth it!!

Here is the first picture of the almost finished product. This was before we added mulch and more flowers.....you'll see.....

We have to get some sod and dirt and raise the ground in front of the flowerbeds to make the yard drain better. Another project on the to do list. It is never ending!

I was proud of this that day but to see it now....

This is a view from the front yard. I have another from the street when we are done.

I didn't want to do too big of a post so I am doing the house pics in sections. I am telling you, this is why I don't have time to blog. I am so dang tired from working on this house that I go to bed way too early! Hope you enjoy and I'll do another post tomorrow........