The Evolution

I honestly can't tell you how long we've lived in this house but I can tell you we will be here awhile.  We love it.  Ever since Kip and I moved in together we knew we wanted to live on the north slope of Lakeridge.  We definitely bought a fixer-upper and while I think I'd be fine never remodeling again in my life, the benefits have been pretty great. 
We started here:

And then in September of 2008 (I think!) we began the second floor addition.

Spring/Summer of 2010 we tore out the crumbling driveway and walkway and replaced it with pavers

(They're not slanted...just a bad picture)

And then I tried to grow a hedge.  It failed miserably.

I was told to leave my hedge alone.  I didn't.  I couldn't.  I tore it out and bought espalier pear trees.

They were an improvement.  But not by much.

So for my birthday, Bob and B-Z got me a "garden design." 

And design we did. 

We have a terraced wall behind the tress now so our grass is level, the trees have since been trained onto the wires on the fence posts and we are happy as clams.