A Weekend of Outdoor Adventures

We've been busy the past few days. Thursday after work, I was feeling the itch to do something outdoors. It was beautiful so I thought yard work was the best option. I was moving some rocks to a different spot and was inspired to create something.

It was a bigger project than I anticipated so with a little (unenthusiastic) help from Austin, we made ourselves a cute rock path leading to our gate! I think it's great! Austin still isn't convinced.
Friday was even a bigger work day for us. For months we've been planning to landscape a side of our house that was in desperate need of some TLC. It started with 140+ retaining wall bricks.
Don't be deceived. These suckers are heavy! Moving 140 of them is not an easy task. It took two trips from Lowes. After laying down some weed fabric, we got to work on beginning the wall.


I quickly learned that Austin and I had entirely different methods for this brick laying. We both thought we were 100% right in our techniques as well.

My Method: Lay the brick down. Make sure it is level. Adjust if not. Move on to the next. Approximately 1 minute per brick.

Austin's Method: Lay the brick. Level it from all possible angles. Make sure it is 100% level with the brick next to it as well. Add two pinches of dirt if it's not. Use the rubber mallet to pound the brick into the ground. Level all angles once again. Add another pinch of dirt. Remove the three blades of grass that might be the reason for the slight unevenness. Pound the brick some more. Level once again. Approximately 7 minutes per brick.

Watching his process created an inner turmoil in me. After two bricks I was about to explode. I tried to explain to my husband that absolute perfection in every single brick is not only not important but will take 2 years to finish the wall at his pace. He would hear none of it and continued in his snail-paced, precise efforts. This is a picture that I took around 1:00. We took a break for lunch and the MU game and then ventured forth in our brick laying extravaganza.

(Austin made it a point to tell me a person driving by said our wall looked fantastic and asked if he did this for a living.) I was becoming more convinced his tetious methods were probably for the best.

After 5 more hours of work, we laid the final brick!
Pretty good, eh? We did decide that we are going to add one more layer to the entire thing so I guess isn't not 100% done. The next step is planting shrubs!

So after working outside all day in the beautiful Spring weather, we were shocked to see snowflakes falling from the sky the next morning. In a panic, Austin went outside to cover up our garden. It's times like these I am really thankful I live with a man.



We ended up getting around 2-3 inches of snow yesterday. Missouri weather is crazy. Hopefully our garden survived! I will of course keep you posted.