meet my arch enemy...

 CRAB GRASS.

Me and crab grass... we fighting.  We hates each other.  Every single day I go outside and spend at least an hour defeating crab grass.  I'm not sure if the battle will ever be over.  But I can guarantee you... I will win all the matches.  

Having this beautiful yard is so nice.  The dog is in puppy heaven.  We love it.  However, the work involved is huge.  I'm not one to spray pesticides all over it to kill the crab grass... so we're going old school and pulling them for as long as my neck can handle it.  Oh, and we haven't received our first water bill... so I'm hoping this yard doesn't make us broke.  Cause lord, it needs lots of water in this Texas heat.  

That is greenbelt behind our back fence.  They will never be able to build back there as it is "preserved" land.  We love the privacy.  

I've spent a lot of time sealing the wood on the back railings.  It has taken forever and I'm still not done.  Two separate 3 hour jobs have left me about half way finished. Yikes.  Thankfully, I love the look of the cedar stain we picked.  

See... not done yet.  (The stairs and landing are much lighter and not nearly as protected as the top railing).  

This is our side yard (view from the backyard patio).  The majority of the crab grass lives here.  I think the issue is the lack of any shade in this area... regardless of the time of day.  The Husband and I have talked about buying a few trees... but the idea of digging/planting them doesn't sound as appealing.  

I'm pretty stoked that we haven't killed any of our landscaping so far.  This is in the front yard... 

The grass is not nearly as strong in the front yard as the afternoon sun slams it.  I'm worried what will happen when we cut back the watering schedule.  At this point (after 1.5 months after planting...) it's yet to grow long enough in 90% of the areas to require mowing.  However, the backyard has looked like a jungle several times before The Husband got out there to mow it down.  

We're getting neighbors!  They're actually not exact neighbors... but they are the closest thing.  They will be about 5 houses down from us, and construction was started today.  I'm so excited for them (whomever "them" are).  I remember how tickled I was to finally see construction starting!