Another first...

We're ever so lucky to have the talented Heather as our personal hair dresser. Ketty and Tanny thought she had a great touch-- they didn't even cry!

First Place!

If Brandon couldn't be a doctor, his next chosen profession would be landscape architect. The high point of downgrading from our new and spacious home in Phoenix to our old and cramped Philly row home was the backyard...a new palette for Brandon. Each of our Arizona homes had a backyard of hardened desert dirt, which he somehow managed to turn into an oasis, complete with water features and sculptures. Taming this backyard jungle was an entirely different brand of difficult! He battled poison ivy and poison sumac, not to mention weeds and vines that grew at alarming speeds (have you seen Jumanji?) The only way to get to the backyard is through the house, so he's wrestled enormous amounts of dirt, debris and foliage through the house.

It all payed off!

Thanks to Kay and Ann's prodding, we entered our backyard in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's 2009 City Garden Contest. To Brandon's surprise and my delight, he won 1st place!

So, if you don't mind me indulging just a bit, here are some before and after pictures:

Before...

Spring of 2009Fall...

Before...

We're one!

What an incredible year it's been!