A Very Special Day

Today is Dan's 26th Birthday.

Dan, I haven't known you all 26 years, but I've been blessed to know you for 11. You are a wonderful man, and I hope you have an amazing birthday! You deserve it! Love, Lisa

Landscaping: Desert Style

Dan and I have been doing some landscaping this weekend. Last week I went with a friend to a nursery that was going out of sale, and I picked up some great deals. I got two of the three trees we want to put in the back, and I bought a few other plants as well. The salesman even gave me some of the plants for free, so it was a good day. But- as beautiful as all these plants were, I still had to get them in the ground before I could really enjoy them. So on Friday I had the mission of getting all my plants in the ground. But the ground wasn't really having it. This soil is like concrete, and it took a pickax to make any sort of progress. I managed to dig one hole, fill it with water to check the drainage, and then I went in and watched a movie. :) Lucky for me, Dan came home from work and was more than willing to help me. He made quick progress of all the other holes (and my poor blistered hands were relieved). There is still plenty more to be done to the back yard, but here is what we planted so far.

Our purple leaf plum tree:

A Fan Tex Ash (We're going to buy one more of these for shade):

Two jasmine vines, two dessert spoons, one trailing rosemary (not pictured) and one trailing lantana.

And now I'm going to give my poor hands a rest

From One Grill To Another

We went from this:

and not a moment too soon- see that leg on the ground?

To this:

And in case you were wondering...yes, Dan is a very happy guy right now. Grills aren't really my thing, but anything that will get Dan to cook dinner is always welcome in my home :)