Birthday Yard Cards in the Desert!
I am a transplanted Texan! I moved to Henderson, Nevada six years ago with my husband, daughter (5 months old at that time, now 6), and our two rescue pups from Dallas. It was quite a transition that happened really quickly. I was at the end of my school year teaching 4th grade when my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. We were told we would (at best) have a few months left with her, so we uprooted our little family within two weeks and drove across the country to be with my husband’s family in Nevada.
We ended up only having weeks with my precious mother-in-law, but we soaked in every minute spent with her and held tight to the interactions she had with our baby girl. We decided to stay and make our way here in desert, grappling through all the changes with jobs, a new home, and being brand new parents to an infant.
Six years later, we have found our niche here in the desert and have grown to love it. We live in a safe, clean community with beautiful landscaping, sparkling pools, clean parks, and friendly neighbors. We often forget that we are only a 20 minute drive to the strip – yes, there is so much more to the Las Vegas valley than that!! I teach middle school English at a wonderful K-8 school and bring my daughter with me. She is about to start first grade.
This summer I entered a new journey that was an easy but uncertain step to take. I’ve known the owner of Yard Card Queen for 15 years, and she is a dear friend. I fully trusted her to lead me with her amazing entrepreneur spirit and business mindset. I jumped on board at the end of May, right at the end of my school year. Graduation sign requests were coming in right and left, and I quickly shifted from school mode to yard card mode!!
What I hadn’t taken into consideration was how much more work it would require to set up these yard cards on desert landscaping (most people here have either rock or turf yards). I put in a rush order to have a carpenter build wooden stands and bought sandbags. I consulted with my New Mexico affiliate to learn ways to reinforce the signs on windy days (it is currently Monsoon season here). I began sketching out my designs on paper and then creating them in my garage using the stands to determine the placement of each piece. The kicker is that we have had a record hot summer with many days over 110 degrees! I worked tirelessly through those days and actually found it therapeutic. It’s good to sweat it out!
The greatest part of it all has been the amazingly positive feedback from the 20+ clients I have served since May 29th. The photos and videos of their loved ones celebrating with my personalized yard cards is simply the BEST!!! I am LOVING this journey and can’t wait to see where it takes me in 2021-2022!!!