Philip's Summer Jobs

Philip had two really awesome job opportunities this past spring and summer. In April, May, and June he was able to work on the landscaping for a historic home that was re-purchased by our brother-in-laws family. This house is one of the oldest that is still standing in Utah, well over 150 years old. He wasn't able to finish the landscaping before we had to leave for Seattle, but perhaps he will be able to this year. 

A plaque on a road near the property that commemorates the home and its historical significance

Before picture of the house from the road, shrubbery in the front that was completely grown over so that the house was not even visible from the road

Side view of the front yard, house to the left and road past the bushes to the right, also completely grown over

View of the front of the house before it was landscaped

Process picture, now you can see the house from the road!

Philip's final plans for the house

After landscaping

The front after landscaping

Side yard after landscaping

View from the road after landscaping, it was getting dark out, the portion near the road  has not yet been landscaped

Philip wished he had more time to work on the house to get farther on it, but he was attending classes and working at BYU while trying to find extra time to work on this house. This house was also a 45 minute one way drive from home, so that also made it challenging to get up there too often. He really did a lot of work though and the property looked substantially better from the work he did. Pictures don't do justice!

Philip's summer job in Seattle was a much larger one. Due to the generosity of Rob and Susan Damiano (Susan is Philip's sister), we were able to go to Seattle and Philip was able to gain valuable experience by working on landscaping their front and back yard. Philip was also not able to completely finish this project before we left as we were only there for 8 weeks, but the yards still looked drastically different when we left! 

First for the front yard:

Before

Before

Before

In Process

After, and no, Philip cannot reasonably take credit for the house getting painted, added bonus =)

After

After

After

After

After

After

After

The back yard:

Before

Before

Before

Before

In Process

In Process

After, still not finished, but you can get the idea! Oh, and Rob built the deck, not Philip, its not finished either here.

After

After

The differences of before and after in their yard were just incredible! The new landscaping really helped to create a usable and fun outdoor space. There is definitely still work to be done on the backyard, but its off to a great start! Philip and I are both so grateful to Susan and Rob and their kids for taking us in this summer and giving Philip this awesome opportunity. It really was an invaluable experience for him and one that taught him a lot about being a true landscaper.

Oh, and this is what Philip looked like at the end of every day, not even sure you can tell just how dirty he really is in these pictures.... and I've never seen my hubby with such a big farmers tan! Too bad we didn't get a picture of that!