It's Time to Start Again!

Well, it has been over a year since we've posted anything to this blog and so it's time to START AGAIN and keep our family blog going.

To start with, we are in the middle of a huge renovation project of our front yard. I wish I had taken a "before" picture of our yard, but sadly, I didn't, so those of you who are familiar with our home need to remember what it used to look like. There were two HUGE pine trees in our front yard that made it so very little of the house was really visible from the front. We also had a maple tree to the left side that grew like a weed. We would cut it back and before we knew it, it would have grown as big or bigger than before and started taking on strange shapes. We also had some big bushes lining our driveway on the right and arborvitae around the deck and at the sides of the house on both sides. Our deck used to be similar but a little smaller, but had seen it's better days and it needed to go.

SO, with the help of many friends, we have rebuilt our deck, which we LOVE. It is built out of Timber Tech which is the material that you never have to refinish and is very durable. We also built the deck so it could be easier for Beau to navigate having handrails all the way down on both sides.

Then, we also decided to clear our front yard and start a new landscaping plan. The trees provided us with wonderful shade and privacy, BUT the roots were pushing up the deck, our driveway, and sidewalks, and we were afraid our foundation would come next. The roots are the size of some tree trunks. They also were so shady and dropped so many pine needles that nothing could grow well underneath them. They also were extremely MESSY!!!! I will not miss constantly sweeping and vacuuming pine needles and buds from my house. It was a sad day the day they came down because it was like saying good bye to old friends, but it's giving us a feeling of starting over with something better now. It's hard to move on and accept change when you've been used to the same thing for so long, but change is a good thing and a time of renewal! This is something we need right now because of all the other changes we've gone through as a family this past year, with Beau's health.

So if you drive into our cul de sac and wonder where our house went, look closer....it's still there but looks very different because you can actually see it!

I will continue to try to post new information more frequently and use this as a way for you to keep up on Beau's progress. More about him next time!