Hello Again

Well, we're back from our week-long vacation to Yellowstone and spent last week getting back into the groove of the daily grind. There were piles of laundry, an empty pantry and fridge, plus general house cleaning awaiting our return. Talk about killing the vacation buzz. Our pool is also now open which always means lots of work getting the backyard in shape for the summer season. 

To add to the workload, we had more severe weather Friday night and high winds caused a really large limb to fall from one of the oak trees across half of our backyard and onto the shed. Thankfully, my bro-in-law Levi and our dear friend Adam came over to help Michael chop everything up and haul it to the curb. Somehow the lunch, popsicles and endless glasses of water they received in return don't seem like a fair trade. 

While the guys were clearing away the limb, Amy and I tackled trimming dozens of bushes and planting pots for the patio. It's so nice to have help, and while we still have about half of the backyard flower beds left to clean up, I'm ready to lay low the rest of the afternoon and let my sore muscles rest a bit. 

I'm also working on sorting through about a thousand (not an exaggeration) photos from our Yellowstone vacation. It was a trip of a lifetime and I promise to share the details later this week.