our new pad

After announcing we were moving back in April, I've left you all hanging!  Moving (as always) proved to be quite the feat and it took as a good couple weeks to get settled.
 After organizing our belongings. we were left with tackling the front and back yards. It was obvious that the owners knew quite a bit about landscaping/gardening, but the problem was they hadn't lived in it for 6 years. And I don't think any other tenants had taken it upon themselves to TOUCH the yard. So we definitely had our work cut out for us.
In a way it was actually kind of fun that the yard was SO overgrown, because we kept uncovering new suprises!
"Look! I found a rosebush under all these weeds!"
"Oh my gosh! Here is the garden they were talking about!"
Jared's parents were awesome and drove down a truck loaded with their many yard tools, and we spent an entire Saturday working our butts off. It was worth it though, the house looks a million times better and we can enjoy playing outside now!

Here's a little tour.

A close-up of our flowers. I don't know if Emmett or me is more proud of them. We both look forward to going out front each day and watering the flowers. It's his very favorite task and it's hilarious how he's learned to mimic exactly how I do it. He especially loves putting the spray nozzle on the hose and playing with all the different settings. Sometimes watering the flowers ends up turning into a car wash too.

I just pruned off a ton of roses before snapping this picture so it looks a little sparse - but actually more roses bloom on this bush than I can keep up with! There's another pretty bush on the other side of the house that has gorgeous yellow and orange roses. I also planted some moss roses and Petunias down in the bed.

This is one of my very favorite spots. I love hanging out here and watching emmett play. It's cute, comfy, and shaded. We love sitting out and watching the world go by ( its a pretty quiet street so there's never actually much going by - which is even better!) I often bring my computer out and finish up articles while keeping an eye Emmett.

Now we get to the fun part... inside!

And here comes my other favorite part...

The kitchen!! It's the first time we've EVER had a full size kitchen, and it's marvelous! We spend lots of time in here. The cabinets and drawers even have custom dividers and roll-out shelves which is nothing short of amazing. I am in love with the laminate flooring in here and don't think I could go back to having carpet in my front rooms. Whenever Emmett drops his food or drink (which is like 53 times a day) I don't even have to fret! Just a simple wipe up and bada-boom it looks good as new again!

I didn't take pictures of the bedrooms but they're much bigger than our old place and have lots more closet space. Win-win in my book!

Here's a look at our backyard (Keep in mind it's a work in progress!)

And Ta-da! It even has a garden! Small, but we're beginners so that's okay! We're attemping to grow green beans, Zucchini, and Squash. Well mostly Jared, if you can't tell by this picture :) He's definitely the vegetable garden guru between the two of us.

I also forgot to picture our garage which holds two of our favorite possessions: our bikes and our grill! Jared cooks us dinner on the grill probably 75% of the time. Lucky ducks!

So there you have it: A in-depth look at our cute little rental! I'm really happy with it, and think it's a great place to finish out our LAST year of school!! There's no way Emmett and I would have survived this year in our tiny apartment. Check back in soon and I'll update you on our garden's progress! :)