Progress

Now that the trees are down and the side yard is cleared, we're on to building a fence. Josh started digging post holes a few weekends ago which was quite a process. The ground is really hard in that area and he had to cut into some roots that were left from the fir trees. So it was all very time consuming. Josh's dad helped out a lot with cutting boards, digging, and mixing cement.

All the posts are set on the sides of the house. The maple trees next to the house will be planted on the other side of the fence along our future street.

Over the past several months Josh has been gradually preparing our backyard where our new house will be. He first cut down our apple and pear trees and removed the raised garden boxes. And lately he has been transplanting shrubs into our front yard and around our deck. Two of our trees and a few shrubs went to loving homes (the Greens and Henrys), so it will be fun to watch them grow in their yards. This has all been a little sentimental for us because we put a lot of work into landscaping when we first moved here. I'm glad we were able to save our shrubs, and I am enjoying the new look of our front yard with the mature plants. We have had a lot of fun in our big backyard and we will definitely miss it! I'm excited about this opportunity, though, and in some ways it will be nice to have a smaller yard to maintain.

Here is a picture taken of our backyard from the deck last summer.

And this was taken yesterday from where the shed used to be. It is completely bare and ready for excavation....any day now!!