Stuck in the City: June 2009

3) Yard

Once we got the house in livable condition, we had to move on to the yard. Like idiots, we didn't take nearly enough "before" pictures. Most of the "before"s we have are actually "middle" pictures. But after seeing the disarray of the house, I'm sure you can imagine the disarray of the yard as well. Actually, like the kitchen, the yard came with a free pair of men's underwear, and several stuffed animals. Again, sorry for the lack of picture.

Dusty built the deck. I helped with the railings, etc.

He, with Will Yao's help, air-kicked the tree stump out of the middle of our yard.

The roots on this puppy were HUGE. Thank goodness for Karate.

Dusty built the retaining wall and we ripped out all the weeds.

And planted flowers (and a grape vine):

We then ripped out a lot more weeds and prepped for sod:

We have grass. Yay!

And the front yard, which wasn't quite as bad as the back, but we still have to rebuild the flower beds and, once again, rip out all the weeds:

Here are a few of my favorite flowers we planted. These daisies are so incredible. When they first bloom they are white. Then, as they age, the blooms turn lilac!

Johnny Jump-Ups

Polka Dot somethings:
A little bird family built their nest in one of the haning plants on our front porch:

4) Fun

We haven't had nearly enough of this, yet.

Our community has a pool and this was taken just prior to Ella's first swimming adventure.

Our wild girl in the tub:

With her papa:

At her first Rockies' game. They won!

5) Residency

Dusty's first shift is tonight. He's very excited, and a little nervous for his first day. But his three girls are VERY proud of him and would trust him with our lives any day. We think his patients are lucky to have him!

Minutes before his first shift:

Well, I'm trashed from all this posting. It did take several hours, so that should get me off the hook for the next three months, right?

We didn't all die in a freak gasoline fight accident. We've just been REALLY busy (like the rest of the world...I know, it's not a very solid excuse). However, in an effort to prevent death-by-nagging (Mom and Sarah) I'm going to sit down and post a few updates. Here is what we've been up to:

1) Graduation

This is probably the most important event of the past three months. Dusty is now an MD! We are all so proud of him and his hard work. He'll be starting his residency in neurosurgery in two days. Time flies. I can't believe how quickly these past four years have gone by.

The gang celebrates a few days before graduation

Dusty's dad was able to hood him. This was SO COOL!!!

Four Generations

Ella's favorite part of graduation...the edible regalia

Our Family

The Richardson Family

The Crooks Family

Dusty will forever be grateful to his parents for loving and supporting him.

My family had to go home for McKenna's high school graduation, but the Richardsons were able to stay. We had a GREAT time at the Denver Zoo and the Downtown Aquarium.

Ella kept trying to grab the fish at the aquarium.

2) House

While Dusty's graduation was the most important event, the fixing of the house (kind of like the running of the bulls--both death defying experiences) has been the most time consuming. I'll try to organize the photos into before and after shots. I'll have to apologize in advance for the disorganization...I'm still not finished unpacking!

Dusty's Grandpa Harvey made it all possible. When he heard how much work we had, he flew to Denver and helped us. For THREE weeks. And without him, our home wold have taken MUCH longer and wouldn't have been nearly as nice.

View from the front door into the living room and dining room:

Dusty tiled every part of the floor that isn't carpet. He and his grandpa also added the baluster-thing at the bottom of the stairs, and also the railing on the top of the banister. We also changed the dining room lights, which we managed to get 85% off at Home Depot. We became VERY adept bargain hunters.

From the kitchen into the family room:

The kitchen included several pairs of dirty underwear and also mouse droppings. Sorry we don't have photos of those:

Grandpa single-handedly tiled the backsplash:

I LOVE the kitchen! We got all of the appliances off of craigslist (except for the fridge, which we got at the Sears outlet store).

The master bedroom was by far the worst in the house. The previous owners had kept two malamutes locked up in the room and rarely let them out...even to relieve themselves. Dusty sawed out all of the subfloors and I sawed out TONS of wallboard. It all was rotten through with dog pee.