Heather tricked me into working in the yard all day

Evey was an awesome helper in the yard today. She helped with digging and clean up. We did have to have a couple chats about running off and being obstinate, but she was a trooper as usual and responded well. 

So, I'll admit from the beginning, that Heather duped me into getting a lot of yard work done today. I don't care about the yard. It could require 10 minutes of work a year and I wouldn't bother doing that.

However, I like Heather. A lot. More than I hate yard work. And she likes yard work and, I think, likes our house not to be the embarrassing one on the block. So, we shoot for second to last and I think we get a bit of a pass because our daughter is cute.

Anyway, we ended up busting out some excellent work in our yard today. I wish I had a before shot, but trust me when I say that it was hot mess. The two most significant productions today were completing the memorial garden we had planned and Heather starting a pretty slick potted arrangement.

The new planting and memorial garden.
"In memory of those we've loved and lost. You live in our hearts, never to be forgotten."

Heather's cool new planting.

The flowers on the tall one are really gorgeous. It is very sharp in person. 

I started just going out to dig the holes in the grass for the plantings and then Heather updated me regularly about the trajectory of the project, which swiftly went beyond my parameters for a good time, but I was already invested. And it was a miserably hot day out today. Hours later, we'd dug the grass out, laid down a border of paving stones, put down landscape fabric, been to Lowes for mulch and put down the mulch too.

You win this one, Heather.