This weekend in our garden

Good morning, blog friends!

♥

This weekend felt like a mini vacation! I spent so much time outside planting flowers and sprucing up our backyard space in our glorious Arizona spring time weather. Pure bliss!!!

Since we got the keys to our new home back in August, I have been dreaming of the day when I could plant some flowers somewhere on this property. Our backyard was a clean slate when we moved in, the possibilities seemed endless, and we've been taking our time planning where certain things would land out there.

Doug headed out Saturday morning to get himself some nature. We'd both had stressful weeks and he needed to go walk in the forest somewhere. Me? I needed to play in the dirt!

After I taught yoga on Saturday morning, I headed to the nursery section of our local home improvement store and stocked up on plants. I bought flowers to put in the ground, some for a few patio pots, and also a healthy looking tomato plant.

Awww. My heart rocks. ♥ ♥ ♥ ...

Some of my heart rock collection (all gathered by Doug) had been in a bucket waiting for the right spot in our new backyard. As I pulled these rocks out one-by-one to line our new flowerbed, I was so overcome with gratitude for Doug and the way he shows his affection by bringing home heart shaped rocks from his wilderness getaways. It's such a sweet gesture, and just look at how awesome my collection looks, all lined up as a flowerbed border. Love, love, LOVE!!!

When I purchased flowers on Saturday I had seen this bear planter and was immediately reminded of my mother-in-law, PJ. Doug's mom loved bears and she also loved yard decorations. I thought about purchasing this planter but talked myself out of it because A) I wasn't sure Doug would appreciate it; and B) I had ran out of room in my shopping cart.

I had to go back for a few more items on Sunday, and when I did I went straight to the bear planters and put one in my cart while there was still room. I love him! And Doug doesn't mind him either. He reminds us of PJ. ♥

You can see a little peek of what our patio looked like when we first got our keys in this post. Previous owners had screened in the porch and we weren't crazy about the boxed-in feel. So Doug removed the frames and opened it up. We had the concrete slab extended, and we're so happy that we had that little flowerbed corner left open. I think it will show up better in photos once the grass is fully in.

 

And speaking of grass, we noticed late yesterday afternoon that the grass seed Doug put down over a week ago is finally popping up. There are patches of original grass shoots popping up now that the dirt is being watered regularly, and the new baby shoots of grass require a close look and keen eyes (though not noticeable in my photos today so don't strain).

The photo above includes a look at our temporary turtle habitat - that short wall on the left. Casper is still making brief appearances here and there, but Rexy is still not completely out of hibernation. The waiting is the hardest part...

Doug returned home yesterday afternoon a happy and relaxed man. Plus, he found three deer antlers in his forest travels so that was a bonus, and he came home to a more colorful backyard space. We ordered a pizza for dinner last night and sat outside to eat it. So. Nice!

I really needed all that time outside this weekend. I feel refreshed and ready to take on the new week. In all honesty, I'd give just about anything to plant myself in a patio chair and enjoy the view but that will have to wait. We're grilling burgers for dinner tonight, so I'll meet up with my patio chair later on today.

Wishing you all a week filled with high hopes and sunshine!

♥