Weed Trees

There's nothing like family coming into town to put the fire under my butt. (Quick story: I told Jakob we were going to put the fire under his butt to get him to run during T-ball because he wouldn't. He started crying because he thought I meant that literally.)

Anyway, our yard was a mess, to say the least. I thought of some lame excuses as to why our yard was in shambles:

1. We're trying to bring the neighborhood's property values down so we don't have to pay as much in taxes.

2. We thought there was a weed growing contest for the county fair, and we were trying to win.

3. We're shooting for the "au natural" look (like the desert landscapes/no grass rules being established in Arizona and elsewhere).

4. We felt bad for all the homeless bugs in the area.

5. It's hot.

6. I just had a baby...two months ago.

7. We've been wanting more bushes, and these were free.

8. I wanted to know what it feels like to uproot a tree with my bare hands.

9. I missed having hay fever.

10. We wanted to see how hardy our bleeding hearts actually are.

To show the world how awful it was, and to show you what a hard worker I am (ahem) , I took before and after shots.

Backyard before:



Backyard after: (yep, I couldn't see the bleeding hearts in there before, either)


Front yard before:


Front yard after: (we're ignoring the pathetic grass; we're focusing on the weeding, folks)


My weed tree! Well, one of several. Notice the sad, sad bush sitting next to it. Yeah, that dead brown thing. If only my bushes were as robust as my weeds.


While I weeded in the back, the kids ran around in the sprinklers, and the neighbor kids joined them. So here are some way cute pictures in a slide show! (I just figured out the whole slide show thing today. Kinda proud of myself.)