Fox Hollow Farm

Yesterday my mom, sister and I visited Fox Hollow Farms for our friend Riley's 3rd birthday party! It's the perfect place for kids and is a great location for a birthday party.  I am seriously considering it for Cru in a few years!

 

First let me introduce you to the birthday boy!  This was his gift from us.  He is quite the project helper and we thought this would make his life so much easier! We found at a great kids consignment shop in Auburn (more on that later). He is the sweetest boy and I just love him! Happy Birthday Riley!

 

 

Okay back to the farm.  I was surprised at how beautiful the grounds are. It's so clean, the animals were constantly being tended to and seemed so happy!  The weather turned out great and proved wrong the forecasted rain!

 

This is your view walking in from the parking lot. A little further right (my picture doesn't show) there is a market where you can buy fresh produce.

 

At the back of the property is this beautiful home.  The owners of the farm live on site and even lend their circular driveway for John Deere tricycle races!

 

 

The stables are also gorgeous inside and out.  These are seriously the luckiest ponies ever to be able to live in such luxury!

 

 

The other side of the farm is extremely kid friendly. They have an entire section dedicated to large inflatable equipment.  Kids can go on whatever they want, they just have to remove their shoes. In front of the inflatables is a little training area where some girls (not with our party) were learning how to ride. 

 

 

The farm even has a little mini kids farm with kid sized play houses, slides and a windmill.  These play houses are so legit.  They are multi-leveled, have furniture and you can exit from the second story by slide!

 

 

 

 

We took a little break in their patio area with the most amazing wood furniture I have EVER seen.

 

 

Cru saw a free roaming chicken for the 1st time...

 

 

The birds are free roaming everywhere.  You can find a chicken or rooster anywhere...

 

 

and even a few peacocks.  They are so pretty, but make the loudest most horrible sounds!

 

 

There of course are also ponies, rabbits and goats. Not only are there animals but there are also train and pony rides.  We had to leave because Cru was done but there was so much to do in the hour we were there!

 

 

 

The surrounding landscape is also so beautiful! If you look up, all you see is this view all around you!

 

 

 

Everyone had a great time!!!

It's Fall Y'all - Outside Edition

I already showed you our fall decor inside the house, now step outside with me for a quick look at what we did out there...

We didn't decorate very much, only around the front door area.  I grew up in a home where the decor was always autumn related instead of Halloween related so that's what I like to do too! 

Here is the front door area. Just a couple of potted mums, some pumpkins, a home made wreath and a couple of home made signs.

The pumpkins came from Spooner Farms.  We went on a family pumpkin patch outing this past Monday (more on that later this week :]).  Our front stoop area isn't very big so we stuck with some more modest sized pumpkins.

This also home to a quick DIY sign I made a couple weeks ago.  I have a full tutorial on that coming soon too!

I love white pumpkins.  I think they are so pretty and they compliment our screen door so well!

I also made a "No Soliciting" sign for our front door to keep all year round.  We have a lot of door to door people in our town so hopefully this will end that! :]

I hung my home made wreath on our newly painted screen door.  I didn't document how I made it but it is a wreath form from the dollar store, some extra ribbon and an extra fall garland I had on hand.  I also had the "d" lying around so I fastened that on there to add a personal touch.  It was free, easy and adds a lot to the front of our home!

Between the paint color, screen door, brick chimney and fall flava happening here, I am in love! I think it looks so good!  Next spring we will be getting a new roof and adding some landscaping that lasts all year round so it will just keep getting better!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Paint it On!

Three years ago it was my wonderful idea to paint the house an olive green...

I don't like it. The grass is green, the plants are green and the house was green.  I had nightmares about green...

This summer we decided to add some color! I turned to Pinterest for some color inspiration and out of the millions of choices there are, charcoal gray got me all excited!  I think it such a great neutral but adds a modern flare to whatever you put it on!  It's not the most exciting color choice but I knew I was going to pair it with a bright color on our screen door.

We decided to go with a light butter yellow for the screen door. I looked at both the house and screen door paint canister to catch the paint colors but they aren't on there! So sorry I can't share those with you. 

Anywho, I love how the screen door turned out.  I'm still startled by the brightness when I pull in the driveway but it's very fresh looking and has a cheerier presence.  Another change we made was to move the house numbers from the right of the door to the bottom of the screen door.  The black numbers are a great contrast to the light yellow and I think it makes the numbers stand out more. The yellow on the door matches the center of the mums I recently planted for the fall season!  It's the little things... :]

I also made a quick DIY fall wreath for our door.  I used a wreath form from the dollar store and some ribbon and festive fall garland I had on hand.  It turned out simple yet cute and I like how the orange looks with the yellow and gray of the house!  Once I add some pumpkins and a cute yard sign I'm making, it will all come together!

Down the road we have plans to extend the entry and add some more curb appeal but until then I am very happy with this!   I also have to shout out to the hubs for working so hard on this! You rock babe!

Our Backyard

For a while, our backyard looked like this...

It has definitely been a work in progress for the past couple years but this summer we finally got somethings completed.  Three major projects we finished have completely transformed the way our yard looks.  The painted house, patio and back deck have made our yard go from boring to waaaayyyy better!

The gray paint really makes the house pop where the green blended into the grass and trees.  The deck really makes the french doors the focal point of the back yard, and the patio really sets the tone of the space by creating a hangout area where before it was all grass.  I failed to plant anything in my pots because it got too late in the season, but next year I hope to have lots of color in them.

The gray really makes the windows stand out too. We obviously need a new roof.  We are hoping to do that next spring/summer.

Here are some detail patio shots...

The eating area...

The deck.  We wanted to create long steps to double as extra seating for people.  We didn't want to make the deck big because from the top landing you can see right into our neighbors yard so wanted to keep the patio and entertaining spaces on a lower level for more privacy.

BBQ.  We plan to build a nice built in outdoor kitchen area along the edge of the basement stairs you can see behind the BBQ.  It will double as a guard for that scary edge.  (don't worry mama friends, we will build a temporary fence till then)...

On this wall we have plans to build a pallet bar to place drinks or whatever else.   You can never have enough serving surfaces!

Another plan we discussed is running the patio all the way over to the dog run. 

The dog run is still awesome. We love having this space to put the pups if people are over or when we're gone during the day.  They have access to the garage too so they can be warm and dry.  We built them an elevated pallet area to lounge (see left end of dog run).  We used all scrap wood and I wanted to build this so that they weren't laying in their own poo poo.  They like to sunbathe so it gives them a potty free area to hang.

The elevated flower beds are a new addition as well.  We haven't landscaped (obviously) but I want it all year round green and I will just plant a few perennials to add some color.

We're going to add gravel along the side of the house where the scaffolding is in this picture and all along the fence line between the fence and grass.  We also need to stain the fence but that will all have to wait until next year...

Until then we have a great hangout space for us and the pups and whoever wants to join us!  We had a great summer with lots of outdoor projects but I'm ready for fall and to hibernate.

We have a few little projects around the house we'll do but I mostly want to organized, sell and donate all the stuff we have in our basement and garage.  Until all that I feel very accomplished in our summer projects and am so thankful for a husband that works sooooo hard!

Patio and Deck!

Summertime equals outdoor projects for the Dobson house and we have been at it!

For about two years we have had little makeshift stairs leading out to the back yard from our french doors. This summer it had to be changed. We decided to finally use a bunch of free pavers we had to build a patio and build large wood steps coming off the back doors. 

The first thing we did was rip up the sod from our desired patio area and dig out about 15 inches of dirt.  After that we poured in about 12 inches of gravel and an inch or two of sand to allow for proper drainage and to create a plyable surface for leveling.

The next phase was to level the ground out and start laying pavers.  Our leveling method consisted of running two long rebars parallel to one another that ran the width of our patio area then taking a 2x4 board and running it perpendicular down the rebar pieces to push out excessive sand and make things even.

Then justin and his pops started laying the pavers.

Once all the tile was laid, we started building the steps (I say "we" but it was really all Justin).

We stuck with a really easy design since we are novice deck builders and because we just wanted something safe and simple. 

I love the steps because the can also be used as additional seating!

I placed some of my flower less pots to stage the space. You'll notice some missing pavers, we had to wait for them to come over from Spokane. They are now in place and the space is really coming together!

We're still working back here, (think gray paint :]). Ill be back soon to update you on all that jazz!   

Hope you're all having a great summer!