Dads yard

My parents have the most incredible yard ever! It didn't start out that way though. Way back in the day it was just a bit of grass with dirt in the back half. It was huge. Or at least it seemed to me as a kid. Well my parents cleared it all out and got to work. (I am sure with a little slave labor from their children) (JK!!!) I remember my mom bringing in semis full of leaves to till into the ground to help make the clay dirt usable. I remember one year the canal down the road from us was so low that all of the fish (Carp and catfish) were dying because they were too big to stay under the water. My mom sent us kids down there to bring back all of the dead fish to plant by the trees and bushes. SICK!!!!! SICK!!!! SICK!!!! I just remember bringing garbage bags and baskets back full of huge fish. I am sure that was so unsanitary! Crazy mom! But the results were that their yard is seriously spectacular! Also when we were kids they planted the whole back half in a garden. Can you say beans, beans, and seven thousand more miles of beans!!! They had a grape arbor, beets, peas, carrots and I am sure lots more. That was how our Saturdays were spent- WEEDING! I remember one time I was supposed to weed the grape arbor and I didn't. It was on General Conference weekend. So I had to go out there during conference on Sunday and do it. What I didn't know was that my Dad had gone out there just a few minutes before I did and pulled the heads off of about a gazillion grasshoppers. Did you know they can still jump when they have no head? And they fling bodily juices all over while they hop? Ya, I didn't either! I think I am still traumatized from that experience! Anyway, throughout the years my mom has planted millions of flowers and different plants. Dad built a playhouse for us, a greenhouse for my mom, a barn because I begged and begged and begged for a horse until they finally broke down and got the oldest horse known to man. I'm really not kidding. Her name was Ginger and she was 30+ years old. I think they finally gave her to the glue factory- that's what they told me anyway!  and back in the day a covered sandbox. He also built a wonderful covered swing that you can sit on anytime, even during a rainstorm. Its beautiful. They have a rock garden that they built out of lava rock that we went and got out of the desert somewhere. They have water features, statues, pathways and so much more. There is a tree that the branches bend down to the ground and make a secret hiding place just big enough for kids to play in. There are stepping stones that each grandkid made. And my finally built his dream shop out on the back half where that gigantic garden used to be. It is pretty amazing! 2/3rds of it is a wood shop and the other 1/3 of it is a metal shop. On the side he also made my mom here own little shop where she created to her hearts content. She made lots of beautiful things in there! It really has turned out to be pretty amazing! There have been weddings (mine and others) back there. When my mom was alive there were lots of ward parties back there. Mostly now it is just for family enjoyment. Like last night when we were sitting out there listening to the wind chimes, Nate and Hadley were intently bird watching, Tevin and Cole playing football and just enjoying each others company. Thanks Mom and Dad for creating this beautiful spot of paradise!