Before Baby Business

We had a few things to take care of before Lily came along.

Here is a recap of a few.
First, I had to turn 30.

Yep, that's me.  And I am 30.
Mom and dad had a surprise party for me.

Mr. Welder surprised me with these gifts.
He was working at a job and these gems were on the site.

He asked the owner and the owner said he could haul it off.

He knew it was perfect timing for a gift for his crazy wife.

Second, we needed to do some work in our weedy flower beds.

We added a few more plants and lots of mulch.

We ran out of mulch and had to get more but things were looking better.

Though these are older pictures (yes, I am getting closer to being caught up!), most of this stuff is actually thriving and looking even better than these pics.

Herman assisted on this back bed.

We always buy little, cheap plants so if they like it and grow, great.  And if not, we are not out a huge amount of money.

Those things that look like really big weeds are the sunflowers I started in our greenhouse.  I've grown them before but for some reason forgot how tall they get.

Side of the garage.

Back of the house.

Lily's plant from her grandma.

Growing things is so much fun.

Third, we had to get in a few more boating/fishing trips.

And visit the stork who would not work out a deal with me.

Most of these trips were right across the street from our house.
Very convenient and fuel efficient.

Fourth, we had to take many field trips around the yard to see how things were doing.

(We still do this after-baby.  We just have to go early in the morning or when it cools off in the evening.)

The Vinca I started in the greenhouse went from this to

This

Fifth, we had to watch the sunset together...

Or actually fish some more :)

While watching the sunset.  We multitask.

Sixth, we had to take up one more hobby, golfing.

Seventh, we enjoyed the back patio and watched the wildlife.

And spent some quality time with our first daughter, Daisy.

Everyone kept telling us that after Lily arrived, life would never be the same.

Life was good but now that she is here it's even better.  One more thing to enjoy.