Caleb is graduating!

 Our little Bubbs is finishing up his last week of kindergarten this week.  He has had such a wonderful year with such a special teacher.  What a blessing she has been to us!

 Mrs. Whelpley's Kindergarten 2011- 2012

 Mrs. Taylor, their teacher's assistant on the left and Mrs. Whelpley on the right

 pictures with their "senior sidekicks"

 These pictures with the seniors are special to me because four of the seniors in these pictures were in my very first second grade class the first year that I taught at Grace!!!

 Caleb with his best buddy Robert hanging with their favorite senior, Robert Hauser

Whoo hoo!  Congratulations Bubby!  We're SO proud of you!!

New Backyard!!

 So HERE it is.... the finished backyard.... minus the grass growing in!  This picture is from the back of the garage (soon to be our new family room)

 These next two are looking off to the side of our house.  They made a gradual hill up the side of what was a huge cliff!  Hopefully it will all fill in with the newly planted grass.

 This is the view from the top of the steps... what was once a natural area with tons of trees, leaves, sticks, and just plain mess is now flat and USABLE!!!

And last, but certainly not least is Blake's awesome handiwork (along with Jacob and Eric!!!  Thank you!) and what has been taking up all the boys' time lately!  The trampoline turned out great!  Just need a bit more fill dirt along one side and for the grass to grow.... would also LOVE a privacy fence along the back, but don't see that one happening anytime soon!  We are LOVING the yard and SO thankful!!

FINALLY... a post and a backyard makeover!

OK... let me preface this first for all my friends that don't know how disastrous of a backyard we have.  After having our house on the market for over a year and half and almost all of the feedback we got was "Love the house, hate the unusable backyard", we decided the best thing for our family right now was to take our house off the market and do some major work to the backyard.  (We're also doing some other renovations and add ons, but more about that later...)

These first two pictures are before pictures looking out at the backyard from our deck

 other side of the backyard before

 This is the same view as the first picture except with ALL the trees GONE.  They are going to do a gradual incline going up (this will also majorly help with the drainage issues...) and then put in wood steps as well.

 I'm still trying to get used to the new blogger picture uploading so this one's a little out of order.  This is during the "great tree take down"!

 Lots of tree debris... er lumber :)

 The men hard at work..... We have LOVED the guy in charge that is doing the work!  If you need any yard work done, we have a great recommendation for you!

 more big machines

And last but not least... a BIG hole just the right size to put a trampoline down in!  My high school coach did this in his backyard years and years ago and I decided that if and when I had a trampoline for my kids, we would do the same thing.  That way it is level with the ground, the kids can just walk right onto it instead of having to climb up in a chair or be lifted up, and if they fall, they're not as high up in the air!!!  Genius!  Can't WAIT!  Stay tuned.... more pictures to come.....