Trimming the Tree

In our backyard we have a large crape myrtle tree. It flowers in the early summer and is really pretty, but was growing into our house and needed to be trimmed. Grant borrowed a saw on a long pole from our fabulous neighbor Chuck. Below is an artistic photo of the tree and the saw. Grant was getting a bit creative with the camera!

Me cutting the tree...it was hard work!

Grant at work.

Penelope and Friends

This past weekend we had some friends over to watch the UF v. UT football game. We enjoyed sharing the afternoon with our friends and some of Penelope's friends too!

Lina hanging out

Ebi sitting like a lady

Daddy and daughter watching the game together.

Hey Brenden...what are you doing in my cage?!

For some reason Penelope's cage is quite the place to hang out. Ebi likes to go in there and so does Brenden!

Bowling

Last night we went bowling with our friends. Little did we know that we'd be bowling with almost every middle-schooler in Mandarin! We still had a fun time. The little kids next to us even let me borrow this contraption that helped you bowl straight...I tried it and it helped me get two more gutter balls!

We bowled 2 games. The first game me, Grant, Claudia and Jay were on a team vs. Steph, Sean, Andrea and Jeff. We dominated that game...when I say we I mean everyone on my team...minus me...I am a horrible bowler. Grant scored a 156 (highest score among all 8 of us) and I scored a 56 (lowest score among all 8 of us) during the first game.

I did even worse the second game, not even breaking 50...Grant got a 175, once again we scored the highest and lowest of the group. Claudia was definitely the best girl of our group. I asked Grant if he could be on a bowling team with anyone who would it be...he said Claudia. Guess I'm just not good enough to bowl with my husband!

It was cosmic bowling and every so often there would be a pink pin mixed with all the white ones. If the pink pin was in the middle and you bowled a strike you won a free game. Grant started off bowling 4 strikes in a row! On one of those strikes the pink pin was in the middle, so he also won a free game! Guess we might go back and bowl again before it expire on 10/10.

After we went bowling we headed over to the Ale House to watch the OSU/USC game. All in all, it was a fun night! Thanks for organizing it all Andrea!

Grant the Yard Man, Becky the Queen of the Kitchen

What Grant is busy doing yard work - not my favorite chore! I've decided to start cooking more!

Yesterday I was at my Mom's flipping through a cookbook and found a recipe that looked fairly simple and tasty. I took the book and went to the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up the ingredients that the recipe called for...chicken, tarragon, boursin cheese, prosciutto and chicken stock...I had the other ingredients (salt, pepper, butter, olive oil, etc.).

When I got home Grant was busy working on the yard. The landscapers didn't level the backyard. Grant ordered 5 yards of top soil. It was delivered today. Grant took a half day to remove the sod in the backyard, level the yard with the soil and re-lay the sod.

I went to work in the kitchen. The recipe called for me to pound the chicken...but I don't have a mallet...so I used a wine bottle - probably not the smartest decision, but it worked! I then laid a piece of prosciutto on each chicken breast and a spoonful of boursin cheese. I then rolled the chicken up and secured it with a toothpick. I cooked it in olive oil in a frying pan. While that was cooking I made rice and some veggies.

After about 12 minutes the chicken was done - I made sure to cook it on all sides. I removed the chicken and made a sauce in the pan using butter, tarragon, flour, white wine and chicken stock. I put the sauce over the chicken and served it with the rice and veggies. It was yummy!

After we finished dinner Grant headed back outside to work on the yard while I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. We'll see what I find to make tomorrow!!

A Day on the Boat

We had a busy long weekend! On Saturday college football in full swing and it was Stephanie's birthday!! We spent the day watching some great games and went out to the Ale House to watch the Gators and celebrate Stephanie's birthday. We had a great time! On Sunday our friends' Jeff & Andrea bought a boat!

Jeff, Andrea & Baby ConnerAndrea driving the boatClaudia & JasonSean, Stephanie, Jason and Grant at the front of the boat

Me and Grant.

We all took it out for a spin Sunday afternoon. We went tubing, rode around Julington Creek and the St. Johns River and headed to Outback Crab Shack for dinner. It was little Conner's first boat ride too! He was such a good baby the entire time! We had a blast with our friends and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We were even able to catch the sunset on the way back. Today we've been relaxing, catching up on housework and watching the US Open. I was really excited to see Oudin win again! She's a great player!! It's sad that our long weekend is almost over!!

Here are three videos from Saturday. The first is of Claudia and Stephanie tubing, the second is Conner and the third is me and Grant tubing.

Yay for Yardwork!

Grant worked tirelessly on our yard before we hired some landscapers to finish the rest.

When we bought the house there was a rotted out deck in the backyard...that pretty much covered the entire yard minus the koi pond...that attracted a plethora of mosquitoes.

Grant tore up the entire deck himself...and to get rid of the wood he made daily stops at the lumberyard on the way to work to drop off as much wood as he could fit in his trunk!

So we were left with a barren backyard full of dirt and weeds.

The front yard was a mess too. The owners thought that the front yard was an English garden...to us it was a bunch of overgrown plants and really big trees that were really messy and had roots that were threatening our foundation. Pretty much it all had to go.

We hired a tree company to take down 5 trees and grind the stumps. The only problem was that they didn't really grind the Live Oak's stump down enough to lay sod over it...so we tried putting some stump dissolver in it (that we bought from Ace)...it didn't work. So we decided to hire a landscaper to fix that problem, level and lay sod in the front and back yards.

Now we have grass! However, they're coming back tomorrow to fully level the back yard. We cannot wait to take Penelope out in her new yard!!

Penelope & Mason

Penelope had a visitor a few weeks ago when Grant and I dogsat for his co-workers dog Mason. Mason is a bichon frise shih tzu mix and is about Penelope's age (Penelope will be 2 in November). Here are a couple photos of Penelope and her friend Mason:

Mason was very well-behaved. Penelope and Mason had a great time playing with each other. Mason would find a toy of Penelope's...a toy that she rarely plays with. The second Penelope saw Mason with the toy she immediately decided that she now liked the toy and wanted to play with it. She would steal the toy from Mason and play with it for all of 2 minutes until she saw that Mason had found another toy. Penelope would abandon the old toy and steal the new one from Mason. We obvioulsy have to teach her to share!

House update: We now have grass in the front and back yards! We've also started ripping up the tile in the guest bathroom...when I say "we" I mean Grant. I bought the new tile for the bathroom and it should be here in a couple of weeks!! I cannot wait to have the bathroom done!