How are you!?

It's been way too long since I've posted - starting a new job has thrown my schedule into a frenzy, so I'm working on adjusting. And since the weather has finally turned warmer, our evenings have been spent outside, working on the backyard or BBQing with friends.
Here's some quick unedited shots of things going on around here:

Our windows in the living room when from this:

To this!:

Sam and I whipped up these curtain rods out of pipe and re-barb with a clean coat of spray paint and some of Sam's ingenuity, they are sturdy and easily removable so I can change the curtains when I want. Also, the awesome polkadot curtains were a clearance find at UrbanOutfitter's for only 10$ a panel! Score!

We also got to work on the backyard. my brother-in-law, Wyler, came up to help out. The boys worked their tails off and closed the gap in the fence (which you can see in the picture below). The fence still needs to be power-washed and painted, but it's a huge improvement, and much more private since we can no longer see into our neighbor's backyard.

Hank and Daisy, the neighbor dogs, really enjoyed visiting with Kona while the fence was being repaired.

We also purchased the first bit of block to begin building a retaining wall for another raised garden bed. You can see it in the top photo of the collage below. Sam and his "engineer brain" took the different sized and shaped blocks and created a uniform height wall that will go around the patio. We purchased some soil from a local gardening shop and filled up the two garden beds. Unfortuantly the weather is still below freezing at night, so we can't plant anything yet, but hopefully that will change soon. (As I type this it's actually hailing and raining...ugh)

So that's what's been happening around the house lately. It's an on-going process, but so much fun and worth it to have an outside space to host BBQ's and parties this summer. 

We also installed what was a nasty bronze outdoor lamp to our covered patio - with the help of a bit of spray paint of course to give it a whole new look!

You can see the difference of the old bronze and the new dark finish. But I forgot to take a picture of the finished product--- sorry. But trust me, it looks really nice compared to what was there (a tiny little light bulb all by it's lonesome).

In other news, Sam and I were invited by our good friends to attend Financial Peace University - a nine week course presented by Dave Ramsey on financial planning, becoming debt free, and growing your wealth. We're only one week into the class, but really enjoying all that we've learned so far. It's exciting to think that as young as we are, we can be debt free (not including our home mortgage) in less than two years. If you're interested in learning more about the class, check out Financial Peace University.

And this coming weekend we're headed off on my very first overnight backpacking trip. I'm slightly terrified that I might get eaten by BigFoot, but very excited to try a new adventure! 

What has the blog world been up to while I've been out gathering my wits?? :)