Outdoor Dining

Welcome Fall!  It's my absolute favorite time of the year, as I'm sure you know by now! The weather is slowly turning cooler around here and it's so nice to be outside enjoying it.  All summer long, we've been working hard to get our back deck in shape, as well as our yard and the patio underneath the deck.  Tim sanded and stained our deck and I painted the rails white.  We love the difference this has made!  It was such a large undertaking and it took quite a bit longer than we had anticipated, but we are so glad we did it.  We're still not quite finished,  but we're finally at a point where the hardest part is done and we can relax and enjoy it.

Max and I spend most mornings out here sipping coffee and watching the birds.

The small table is perfect for our family of five when want to eat outside, but it's really not large enough when we are hosting guests.

So we decided to make better use of the space underneath our deck and turn it into an outside dining area.  Tim took an old work table and made it into a farmhouse style table.  Then we hung up strings of lights to give the space a nice ambience. 

Over the past year, we've also been removing unwanted plants and bushes that were scattered throughout our back yard and have planted grass in their place.  We've found that we really enjoy having friends and neighbors over for a casual dinner out back or s'mores around the fire pit.  And it's nice to have a yard for the kids to run around and play games, while the grownups talk. 

Last weekend, Tim got a smoker, which we are so excited about.  Now we can smoke large cuts of meat like ribs, brisket and pork loins.  We are looking forward to weekends spent smoking meat, inviting friends over to share our meals with, and making memories out back.  So fun!