The Bilberry Clan Can: May 2014

One of the great things about having two full time employed parents is that we have more money to make some of our small dreams come true.

I have always had a love hate relationship with our yard. On one hand the scenery around here is gorgeous. We have a view of a mountainside in our front yard. We have have almost 2 acres of land in our back yard and most of it looks like a national forrest. We also have a stream that runs for a couple days after heavy rains. (Used to run nonstop all year until they drilled a new well, boooo!) Sloped lots mean great sledding when it snows!

On the other hand that sloped lot it is a pain in the butt to mow. Kids can't play with balls or they will have to chase them a bazillion times down the hill. That awesome forest in the back is littered with poison ivy which K and my man are very allergic too. Sloped lots also come with major drainage issues and landscaping on a hill is a PAIN IN THE BUTT. The soil here is ROCKY ROCKY ROCKY! There is a spring that bubbles up right smack dab in the middle of our yard. Nothing but weeds will grow there because it gets too soggy when it is active.

However, despite the drawbacks of our lot, we also saw a huge potential of what it could become. This year we decided to make some of our visions come true. Jeff has the hook up with a landscaping company who is going to cut a good deal make the lawn part of our back yard more level and therefore, more useable. In the process they will take care of the spring in our backyard putting in a french drain and then covering that puppy up with lots of rock and soil. Woohoo! This means, we can actually purchase a trampoline and set it up on level land.

I always imagined my girls running through woods in the back and having a ball. I would've killed to have a forest in my back yard as a kid. We started to imagine even setting up a campsite in the back and camping in our own backyard. This year we are going to make that dream come true. I have started making a trail into the woods. It is hard work but SO fun. I feel like a little kid building my fort! Since rocks seem to grow from nothing out here, I had no problem lining the trail with rocks that I found in our forest. We purchased mulch to lay on the trail to make it look more trailish and of course we killed anything that was growing on it to protect K and Jeff from the poison ivy. One of the trails is going to lead to a tree house that Jeff is going to build. Another trail will lead to a circular clearing where we will put a picnic table and a firepit. There should be enough room there for a tent if we ever wanted to camp back there.

Then, in the future (not this year though) we will make one last trail that goes all the way across our lot to an area that Jeff has cleared for the sole purpose of burning debris. So the girls should be able to run around all over our woods on those trails and have a ball.

I am telling you guys, it is so stinking neat back in those woods. It is so peaceful and serene. I am totally getting a hammock and reading back there someday. I also imagine culdesac BBQs and girl sleepovers in tents. It's also WAY cooler in the woods, like 5 to 10 degrees cooler. About the only potential hazard we now have to worry about is ticks. Deet will be a staple at our house.

For the longest time we have been going back and forth on whether we will stay at this home or purchase a different one in the future that better fits our needs. While we have plenty of room in our home, our kitchen is so tiny and we do desire a better space for dining since we do entertain every couple of months. We also are yard people and everyone else in this neighborhood isn't. That is a real bummer for us. The commute to work really hasn't been an issue this year. I would love for the kids to be closer to their schools and friends, but then I remember that Jeff made it all the way through his childhood 30 minutes from his schools and turned out just fine and still maintained friendships, so how necessary is that, really?

BUT....I've got to say, doing this stuff to our yard, makes me love our home all over again. Dare I say, I even envisioned my grandkids running around on our trails. We may never have a yard like this again. We both know we could remodel our home to fit our needs better. We also both know the money it would cost to do so we'd never get back if we went to sell, so we have to be sure this is where we are going to stay if we move forward with renovations. Decisions, decisions. We've got plenty of time to decide I suppose. For now, we sure are enjoying what God had blessed us with, and that's a one of a kind back yard. I can't wait until it's done.

Thought I'd post some pictures of the beginning stages here. We have a long ways to go.