Patio renovation

I have not updated for quite some time. So many, many little moments I have missed. There's no way I can go back and record all of the little moments, but I can quickly highlight some of the biggest moments of the year. One of the biggest projects we accomplished this year was our patio renovation. What a difference! This was finished around February/March this year.  It has already rained enough this summer for us to say that we successfully fixed our flooding issues and have a beautiful outdoor living space now! It was a huge project and my dad did an incredible job planning it, with my help and vision. I am still not 100% satisfied with the fire pit, but can't figure out what to do differently yet.

While we were out there working on the patio, I also moved and expanded my gardens. I now have two raised beds with veggies and herbs, and a beautiful butterfly garden! With a seashell walking path! 

This is going to be annoying- the app I used to publish the photos for this update mixed up all the pictures and I can't change the order, sooooo.... bare with me....

This is the before.

This is one after shot. We extended it out about two feet, added the extension on the right for the grill, extended it all the way to the edge of the patio on the left for a toy area and fire pit.

This is the butterfly garden right after we finished it, before things had a chance to grow. Milkweed and salvia transplants are on the left, nectar plants in front of the birdbath, and a passionflower behind the birdbath that has attracted tons of Gulf Fritillaries!

Here's the butterfly garden a bit more mature. 

My beautiful, beautiful passion flower in bloom!!!

Xander is trying to feed a caterpillar in this one!

Here's where it gets really annoying. Here's another after shot of the patio. You can see the fire pit area better in this one. Still trying to decide whether to build it in or keep it free standing.

Here's Joe tamping down the sand before we lay pavers (yes, we sweated LOTS during this project!)

The kids were a big help clearing out the old pavers and prepping the ground!

We decided to commemorate our backyard renovation by creating a time capsule. It was originally going to be buried under the patio, but, um, well, I think we forgot, so we ended up burying it in our butterfly garden. Everyone chose something to go in it and I wrote a little note explaining why we all chose what we did. It'll be interesting when we dig it up in years to find out what we pit in it and why!

Here is Rosemary ready to bury it!

Here is it in the ground ready to be covered up!

Yes, annoying and out of place. Joe laying pavers. I promise he did not do the entire thing himself! My dad and I were out there the whole time! I just wanted to snap some photos when I could! Joe stayed out there until past dark one night. It was a big project.