Valentine's Day (Stump Removal)

Today is a day we have been waiting for for a long, long time!  When this house was built, it was snuggled in between many large trees.  I remember the first time I came here; it was dark, we had been driving forever, we drove down a long, dark driveway, and the house was completely surrounded in trees.  I almost felt like I could be kidnapped and no one would ever be able to find me.  Shortly after Mark and I were married, Grandad had the property logged because the fir needles were ruining the roof.  Now we are removing all the stumps.  

This stump obstructed the view of the driveway and provided a naughty chicken a place to lay her eggs:
There WAS a huge stump that completely blocked our view to the pond in the picture below.  Evie made a nice movie of it being ripped from the ground.  At the last minute, I needed to have this bush removed too:

I like the bush and all, but it just seemed out of place with our new, open plan.  We still have a lot of work to do, but you can see the potential!  Mark is going to build a little porch for me for Valentine's Day.  I'm dreaming of early morning coffee watching the sun rise over the trees and sunny days doing schoolwork with the kids.

We are also removing stumps in the apple orchard.  Mark risked his life rescuing one of his apple trees.  They are hard to see this time of year.

 Ian and Daniel were caught trying to replant a salal... I think they better find a new spot...

We have the excavator for six hours today.  I can't wait to see how much we get done!

*editing to add following pictures*

This used to be my blackberries

Looking toward the orchard from the pasture

Dragging a stump

Replacing the apple trees

 The man who runs the business is married to an old friend of Mark's.  She stopped by with her three kids and stayed for the rest of the afternoon...

All done!

 ...when the job was done, they took four of our kids home with them!