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Monday, July 26, 2010

Azaleas and Porch Swings

We had a busy but GREAT weekend!  Late Thursday night, I went to Walmart to go browse through the Garden Center after Christopher had gone to bed and Stephen and I had watched Big Brother.  (I never EVER thought I would find that relaxing, but I love going through all the plants and finding half-off pretties and such.  :)  I’m turning into my mother!)  While I was there, I noticed that all the Azalea shrubs were marked 50% off.  I have been wanting to put Azaleas across the front of my porch, but there were some OLD, big holly bush stumps/roots there that needed to be pulled up first.  We had started working on pulling them up several months ago, but decided we were going to need a truck to actually get them out of their spots.  It’s like they were cemented in!

I called Stephen to see if he would be up for starting Operation Holly Bush removal on Friday morning, and he said that would be fine… so we spent Friday digging, and digging, and digging, and digging some more.  It was HOT and we got sweaty but it was SO worth it!  We were using Stephen’s Isuzu Trooper to pull up the stumps once we had dug around and chopped enough roots off, but on of the holly bushes was crazy huge and we actually had to use Ty’s F-150 to get it out. 

 Before -- it’s hard to see the bushes because I had cut them back, but trust me -- they’re there.06 02 10_0723 
Four empty holes… 07 23 10_0982
Four evil bushes… (Can you guess which one was hardest to get up?)
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That night I went and bought 5 gorgeous Azaleas for $7.50 a piece and we planted them the next morning!

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Saturday afternoon, after planting Azaleas, my brother and Britney came over and we all decided to head to Hot Springs to hang out and play some mini-golf at Pirate’s Cove.  We did some shopping at Sam’s and the mall, ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, played mini-golf, then headed home.  Christopher spent the afternoon with his Nana and had a blast.  =)  So did we!  We love hanging out with Ty and Britney.


Also -- did you notice the front porch swing in the above pictures?  It’s finally up and hanging, and I LOVE IT!  This is an old swing that my dad built a long time ago… my parents eventually replaced it, but they never got rid of it, and when I started talking about wanting a swing they gave this one to us! 


07 16 10_0960

We sanded it, primed it,  painted it white, and replaced the chains, and I just love the way it looks on my looooong front porch.  =)


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And because I know our extended family who reads this doesn’t really care about Azaleas and porch swings, here’s a picture of the adorable C-Monster.  =)  Y’all have a great week!


07 22 10_0995

14 comments:

  1. your little boy is so cute! thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  2. I'm impressed! I hate landscaping- but LOVE how it looks when I get done!

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  3. The Azaleas look awesome!!! So does the porch swing! Great job and good convincing skills!! :) The completed project(s) looks marvelous.

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  4. Thank you so much for the comment....your little one is just too cute for words. And I love azaleas!

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  5. Love that porch swing . . . and your azaleas look great too :)

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  6. Awww, your little boy is so adorable! And I love the swing!

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  7. You are sooooo talented. I think you're going to have a wonderful green thumb! Your yard and porch look even nicer in person. Love you!

    The person you're turning into,
    Mom

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  8. I love the Azaleas, porch swing, and your little boy! You can come to my house and plant some Azaleas. I HATE landscaping!!

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  9. I'm over from Jenna's Journey's blog hop. I adore the porch swing! I can't wait until we have a home and I can do more projects like that.

    -Amanda
    http://stevenamanda--thelife.blogspot.com/

    PS Your son is adorable!

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  10. Your azaleas look great! I also like how you got the porch swing to look. By the way, I'm visiting from Jenna's Journey. Your son is adorable! I have a son who will be 20 months on the 29th of this month.

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  11. Popped over from Jenna's blog. Another Arkansas gal here! :) Your little boy is adorable!

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  12. I love what you did - great job! Your little guy is so cute! Thanks for stopping over at my blog & leaving a comment. :)

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  13. I have always wanted a porch swing, but we only have a tiny porch :( Maybe our next house...

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  14. I found your blog from a link on a blog hop that you posted on someone else's blog! LOL I go to church with a couple who shares your last name and so I was intrigued "Is she related to Brian and Carolyn"...and then I saw where you live in your "about me" -- My daddy grew up in Mena!! :) Anyway, the landscaping project looks great. I need to do that at my house - old bushes are dug up, I need to figure out what I want to put in their place (and I'm sure my neighbors will appreciate it when I get something in there!!!)

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I always love to hear from my readers! Feel free to leave a comment!
--Steph