It's been a while since we talked about our yard and all its beauty, so we are excited to tell you all about some of the beautiful flowers that have been blooming.  Before Dana left for his trip last week, he told me he was going to be so disappointed because his rose bush, named "California Dreaming" was going to bloom while he was gone.  But, little did he realize, they knew just how he was feeling and decided to wait until he got back.  While he was working in the yard, mowing, moving plants, and grooming what needed it, I decided to get some pictures of the beautiful bloom of roses.  It does bloom quite a bit normally, but not ever with so many roses at one time.  They are just gorgeous!

I also took some pics of our Bouganvilla.  When we first moved in, it was a huge rats nest of old vines and dead branches.  I really didn't want Dana to cut it because I thought that would be the end of the plant, but he proved me wrong.  He cut it away to the point where it looked like it would never return, in my eyes, but it is already starting to grow back and flourish more beautiful than it was when we first saw it.  In another year, it will be an entire wall of beautiful flowers and wonderful shade.

While we left for the weekend for our One Year Wedding Anniversary , we had to leave the house and garden unattended.  You know it had to be driving Dana nuts to know that his trees, veggies, and grass couldn't get watered.  At the same time, I think we were both excited to see what could all grow in the three days that we were gone.  As soon as we got back, we unpacked then headed out to the garden to see what we could find.  Here are all the veggies we were able to harvest, what a collection!

Our pomegranite tree is just about ready for some harvested fruits (we picked one just to check), we had plenty of pickling cucumbers, yellow zucchini, green zucchini, mexican zucchinis, butternut squash, yellow crookneck squash, green peppers, and a few tomatoes.  It was a perfect array of veggies to make an assorted veggie dish for dinner last night (for we really needed to cleanse our bodies of all the naughty food we ate on vacation). 

To see all of our past garden stories, you can go here.

Another weekend, another addition to our ever-growing garden of trees, flowers, and vegetables.  While I painted the baby room pink and kept everyone fed and happy, along with hanging out with my friend, Dana, who came from LA to visit, my husband seemed to disappear deep into his other world, our backyard.  He claims it was to finally finish up his ongoing project, but seriously, will he ever be DONE?  Doubt it!  As you can see, Rocky has also been hard at work.  He is the one who looks over everything and makes sure daddy doesn't overdue himself.  Aren't my boys just the cutest ever?  Even with all that dirt and grub, you just gotta love 'em!

Anyway, one of the beautiful additions to our backyard has been the flowers that Dana has been adding.  He has been spending many nights researching the best and most beautiful flowers for us to plant and keeps adding them as the days go by.  I have to admit, I was very impressed, for I love flowers!  And, once he found the perfect placement for the flowers and the other plants and trees, he added mulch to perfect the garden's look.  I think he did an amazing job (but don't tell him I said that, or he will keep spending all his days and nights outside and I will never see him again!).  The first pic below is his section specifically for "Native Southern California flowers that draw hummingbirds".

(and keep in mind, this is just the beginning--I can't wait to show you once they all start to grow and bloom like crazy)

The next pic is of the other side of the garden where I got to help pic out flowers I liked.  They are so colorful and beautiful...and yes, that is a big rose bush with a ton of roses on it!  Gorgeous!)

Dana also added more vegatables to the back.  He made a seperate box to plant onions and a mix of lettuce, making sure the slugs don't get in to ruin our fresh food.  Oh, and exciting veggie update; We ate two zuchinis fresh from the garden for dinner last night.  Boy were they tastey.  :)  Here is our new mixed greens box:

Be on the look out for our next house update, I will be revealing the before and after of our bedroom.  It has finally been completed, now I just need to take the pics.

As most of you know, Dana's break away from life is spent in the yard.  He just can't get enough of it.  I try my best to pry him away, but boy is it difficult. He took me on a tour to show me what he has going on, and in the end, I must admit I was a bit excited to see all the new fruits and veggies we will have access to by simply walking into our back yard.  You will have to bare with me here, for their are many pictures, but we also wanted to document the beginning of what everything looked like in just week 1 or growth.  I will list the veggie/fruit, then the picture.

Cucumber:

Zucchini:

Watermelon:

Tomatoes:

Butternut Squash:

Yellow Zucchini:

Green Bell Pepper:

Cantaloupe:

Bluberries:

Peach:

Orange:

Pear:

pomegranate:

Apple:

There is many more to come, and hopefully these fruits and veggies will grow big and plentiful.  Now all we need is a pig, cow, and a couple chickens and I think we will be completely self sufficient.  Ha!

Work, work, workin' on the house, thats all we've been doing with our time.  All work, no play.  There is so much we want to do, yet not enough hours in the day.  But, we are excited to watch as things really start to come along.  We painted our living room over the weekend, adding one more room to put together.  It's by far the most vivid room, as we took a chance with a very noticeable green.  As we accent it with blacks and grays and just a tinge of pink, I think it is going to look great and like no other.  Of course, we won't be sharing pictures of that until it is finished. 

We recently added a doggie door to the sliding window overlooking the backyard.  We have been wanting to get one ever since we got Rocky, but when you rent, you can't cut holes in doors..  We are training Rocky with it right now but keeping the little flap door off, so he can freely go in and out.  In a week, we will add the flap and hope to have him trained.  (Our cousin, Lorie, gave us that idea).  So far, so good.  Here is my handsome man showing off his new door.

My other handsome man decided to get his Pride and Joy into the new garage as soon as possible.  He spent half the day organizing and unpacking boxes to find the perfect spot for it.  I know he was losing sleep having it over at the other place, knowing the house was empty.  So, right away on Saturday, we went and got it.  Boy did he look happy to be sitting in that front seat.  And, I was happily riding in my car behind him.  :)  Check out that smile, someone sure is happy to have their baby safe and sound.

The new addition that I got to the house was a new washer and dryer set.  The people in this house before us sold the washer and left the dryer, so we were stuck to find something new.  Lucky for us, we came across a great set on Craigslist for uber cheap.  I was actually quite excited to try it out on a few loads of laundry.  It has been very impressive, so we couldn't be happier with our great find.  Here I am with my "Price is Right" model pose:  (Anyone out there with a long name with lots of consanants want to try and guess the price?  ;)  --I suggest going for $1)