The Patio!

I know we have a lot to catch you all up on (baptism, trip to Vancouver, etc.), but I wanted to share something that was house-related before we forgot. Sorry, no baby pics with this post.

Al and I finally decided to pay someone to put in a patio for us. We really hated our yard because there was nowhere to really hang out and enjoy the summer weather. Plus, we have very little time to do anything, so it would be a slow and tedious process for us to get it done ourselves. It was done in 2.5 days since we hired professionals! We are so excited to have the new patio and have used it a few times now. Unfortunately it has been a cold spring so we are anxious for some warm summer nights so that we can really start breaking it in!

Here are some pictures....


BEFORE (Al was in the process of digging up some stones from an old "garden"):

UPDATE - We took the "After" pictures Saturday morning and I'm so glad we did. Saturday evening we had a freak hail storm that showerd on us for 10 straight minutes (some of it golf ball size and knocking out power for 40 minutes) and basically shredded most of our wonderful new plants and flowers. The hanging baskets in the below pictures are destroyed and all of the hostas and a couple of hydrangea plants are shredded. Just when everything was finally blooming around here too!

AFTER (the patio furntiure has pads, but we brought them in due to rain Friday night):


It's actually made our yard feel a lot bigger surprisingly too. Probably because it's utilizing space that was ugly and destroyed by the dogs. Now we can't wait to work on all the other pockets in our yard. Especially the front!

Updated with Pictures: Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday we had a beautiful, albeit chilly, Mother's Day. We began the day at church with my mom, dad and sister. Taylor did very well and was mesmerized by the colorful banners all over the ceiling, that is, when she wasn't snoozing. At one point she was actually snoring pretty loudly during the homily. It was pretty funny. Later that morning, we had brunch at a great restaurant west of the Twin Cities, followed by a fun game of putt-putt. This wasn't your run of the mill putt-putt either. The owner is actually an artist and each hole is it's own sculpture. Unfortunately our camera wasn't charged so I have to wait to get my mom's pictures before I can show you some of the cool scenery.

Here are some pictures:

Windy day!

The Mommies with Taylor!

One of the fun putt-putt holes:

I do have another treat for your viewing pleasure though. When we got back to the house, Al was finally able to give me my gift. After weeks of anticipation (ok, days) and being banned from the guest room (the closet in the guest room) I could finally see what all the fuss was about. When I found the gift (placed in Taylor's crib), it was the size of a cd. Hmmm, all this trouble for such a little package??

Well, see for yourself!

Here is the gift that Al made me for my first Mother's Day:

Quick tid-bits

Hey everyone, not much to report, but thought we would post a couple of pictures and a short quick video.
Taylor is growing up so fast. It's fun to see and witness, but at the same time it's a little sad that each stage comes and goes so quickly. We don't take any little moment for granted, that's for sure!
To give you a little update, she has a couple of little bottom teeth coming in. They're sharp! It's fun to see them poking through when she gives us that big smile of hers. She's also on the verge of crawling. Right now she will fall over (on purpose) when an object of desire it put in front of her and she will eventually inch-worm herself over to it. Most times the object is a cell phone or TV remote. Those items motivate her the most! She is also waving "bye-bye" when prompted. She had been doing a lot of arm waving before this, but in the last week we can tell that it is legitimate waving. I love seeing that little mind of her's at work! Such a little smartie. :)
Ok, it's late so I'm going to wrap it up with a couple of pictures...the stuff you really want to see anyway.

Tay and her buddy Chewy taking a nap:

Little stinker pulled herself up in her crib! She isn't able to do it from a lying down position yet, but it looks like it's time to lower her crib mattress.

Funny short video of Taylor riding in the Bjorn with daddy: