More backyard Updates

I guess I will have to do this at least once a week since the crew comes every Saturday to work. This week we got our retaining walls extended out and some leveling the land in back.

Digging the ditch so we can extend a retaining wall in the back


Filling in the other side of the property where the rain washed the land away


Tomatoes are looking good!!! Maybe some by July?


Got all the rock for our last flower bed...whew!! Filled it with the last of our dirt and got the plants for it.


Plants buried and mulched. Maybe this to will look good in July.

Next on our backyard agenda?
well we are going to extend our patio via flagstone. I think Keith is anxious to leave so he can rest!

Lakehouse and Long Lost Photos

This has been an interesting week....just zoomed by. Hard to beleive that the kids have less than a month left of school before summer vacation starts and Keith has about 2 months left before he has to take off. In the short time, we have a lot of stuff planned.

Last weekend, we went to Kingsley so spend some time with Keith's dad at this lakehouse he rented. Keith and Bridger went early to go play in a golf tournament and Jadyn and I joined them Saturday evening after we spent a day of shopping in Temple. (note to self: Temple is not that great!) Jadyn and I enjoyed ourselves.

On Sunday the kids spent the entire day fishing. We had thoughts of renting a boat and jet ski but it was too windy and the sun never came out which was a bit of a bummer.

Back of House looking up from lake


Fish catching



And the catch of the day is the turtle Bridger caught


About a mile or so up the road there is this really shallow place called Llano slabs-- it is where the granite rock is really smooth and more like a river flowing here.

And that wraps up our weekend..........

So, onto the long lost photos.
While at the lakehouse I got my camera out to take some pics and noticed that I had forgotten my memory card so my camera was full. I was going to delete the few pictures that were evidently stored on my cameras memory when I noticed that they were from Jadyn's 8th birthday party (she will be 10 this summer). I thought these pictures were forever lost and back then it almost broke my heart. I took and scrapbooked all these pictures that I took the next day trying to make up for it. It was the weirdest thing back then, but even weirder that I find them all this time later still on my camera.

It was the birthday party of the year! Keith was supposed to be home by her birthday but did not make it until about 3 weeks later. So we decided that we were just going to have a big bash.

We rented this huge slide. It was taller than the houses around it-- probably a 2-story tall slide.
We also got a snow cone machine.

Then I set up this candy bar that all the kids got to fill up their goody bags with before they left. But with that slide and snow cone machine I don't think the last kid left until dark...or about 9pm and I want to say the party started at noon or 1 pm. So funny, we even had kids who just showed up because they saw the slide. We welcomed them all to join in on the fun.

This was the cake I made for Jadyn

Isn't it a cutie!

And a photo of opening some presents

I can't believe I found these pictures!!! It is so exciting!!! I had to place a call to my friend Leigh who was also taking pictures with my camera that day to tell her I found them almost 2 years later. The day after the party when I thought the pictures were forever gone, we were trying to recreate a party with some tired and unenthusiastic children so I could get some 'authentic' pictures! Too funny!!

And here are some things I have been working on lately as far as Swanky Graffiti goes.

This is a custom order for a daughter named Silver. Sorta a present for Mother's Day and daughter.


Also, some new smaller frames that I am bringing to the market very soon.

I made this today

And I LOVE it-- it will be my next big thing for sure!!!

Google Me

This has been mentioned to me several times that I thought I would take a second and address publicly--- just in case you were wondering but didn't have the nerve to ask me!

If you google my name like many of you have for some reason, I am not the Paige Tyler that pops up!! And if you go google my name now, I have to warn you, it is slightly mature...depending on your views! haha

I have never been paid as an author though it is not a bad idea but I have to come up with a bigger idea than the already successful Paige Tyler The Author-----

Any ideas?

If I ever get a real job, I am going to have to put a disclaimer on my resume

Fabulous Backyard

The whole family is working on making a great backyard. For the last 2 weekends we have all spent an amazing amount of time picking up rocks, arranging them, digging up dirt and grass and we really have just begun because the ideas keep coming faster and faster.

As of today, we are all very sore and even more sunburnt! Swallowing motrin kind of sunburnt. But here is some of our 'product'.

These are the two garden beds with the rock work completely done.

They are very long-- about 19 feet apiece and about 6 feet wide (one the inside). So we knew with this much to fill in with dirt we had to go big. Therefore we killed the grass, covered it with a permeable tarp and hired a dumptruck to bring us out what is called Vegtable Garden dirt. I guess it is the kind that has the best compost and a mixture of sand and good, clean dirt. I think it was about 2 tons worth.

So we spent the day with a wheelbarrow filling the space up.

And here is what we got-- already have the tomatoes in and some cilantro. The rest is growing from seed so it will be about another 2 or so weeks before it goes into the ground. But I have all sorts of good stuff to plant.

Then we got started on 1 of the 2 flowerbeds that are going in the backyard also.

This one is off my kitchen/dining area. I made sure that I got plants that won't ever block my view. There will be another garden on the other side of the house that will be at least 20 feet long. Still trying to get the energy together it get it built.

Today Keith is mulching all the beds, and installing lights in the garden bed in front of our house. We replanted the small bed in front of our house too. And for the finishing touches we added some hanging flowers and a hummingbird feeder. Really and truely, going all out this summer.

Then another exciting landscape adventure is taking place, except we aren't doing it! That is exciting!! The back piece of our property is a mess and our land is eroding very quickly. Construction of homes behind us will begin soon so we have to get it under control before it becomes too difficult. Therefore we hired some fellas to extend the retaining walls on both side of our land. They worked all day yesterday and got the concreat poured. We have some exciting plans to get the back part done and get in some trees and hardscapes.
Here is a little reminder of what it looks like

There is still another 20-30 feet of land beyond our grass and there is a lot of leftover construction stuff---so this will serve as the before picture and hopefully in the next month or two I can post a great after picture.

This picture is of a frame I did for Brittlyn. I sent it to her last week so hopefully it will be in her hands by tomorrow--- It is a cute pink and black theme!
Love it!

Rock Garden and Snickelbritches Updates

This last weekend the whole family worked on putting together a raised garden bed for the our vegtables that we are going to plant. It still is not done completely done yet as we have had some inclement weather and this thing called the Army keeps getting in the way-- but all it needs at this point is soil and plants.

Here in Central Texas there is flagstone everywhere so it is pretty easy to obtain without paying for it. So we gathered the kids and the truck and drove around the construction sites where it has already been loosened from the ground.


We brought it home and washed it

and started building

we stacked and restacked to make sure we get it right!

The bed is about 12 long and 4 feet wide. And this is only 1 of 2 we are going to build right along this retaining wall. While the bed is done and I don't have a picture of it yet--- I was waiting until we kill the grass and fill it with soil before I take anymore pics. It took 3 trucksload of rocks and about 6 hours to get this done-- but the fresh tomotoes will make it worth it!

I redid my Snickelbritches store and decided to take down all the explaination boards of what vinyl is and how to use it- I figure you either get it or you don't! I decided to use that space to hang some photobox frames instead. It is hard to get everything I would like into a 4 x 2 foot space!