rainy saturday

After beating the rain to check out some friends' yard sale, I made it home to find our garden looking much better from the rainy morning. 

Before making it over to the garden, I checked on our little hydrangeas we transplanted to the backyard from the front.

Our tomatoes smell wonderful!

potatoes

I spy our first cucumber!

I can't imagine how much bigger this cucumber plant with be at the end of summer. It's only one month old now.

Can you spot the bunny? This little guy ran out as I walked closer to the corn stalks. Thankfully Gentry was still asleep or he would have been running for his life :)

corn

okra

On to the front yard...

caladiums

hosta bloom

hosta

caladium

adirondack chair Gentry built

I love our big backyard!

{alli}

exterior changes

Yesterday we spent the day working in the flower beds & spreading mulch. I absolutely love mulch. I can remember dad & my brother, Grant, pulling up the long driveway of our house in Alabama with the truck bed loaded down with fresh mulch. We would spend the rest of the day spreading it out in the flower beds around our two acre home. While I'm sure I complained during the process, I've always loved it. I even like the smell of mulch, which most people can't stand.

So when I got home from work & saw that my sweet husband had surprised me & brought home a bunch of mulch for our yard, I was thrilled!

It really makes a big difference for your yard. It wasn't until I took some photos of our flower beds that I realized just how much the exterior of our house has changed in the time we have been here.

This is the first photo we have of the exterior of our home here:

& here are some photos I snapped with my phone yesterday

We still plan on adding shutters & rebuilding the front porch, which we tore down when we first moved in. We took out the two large bushes on either side of the front door a couple of months ago, & it made a big difference! Painting the front doors helped as well. We have planted hostas in front of the original bushes, & two azaleas on either side of the porch.

But even with the things we still plan on doing, it is looking a lot better!

{alli}