Projects

This summer will go down as the summer of "the backyard makeover". We have big plans this summer. Santa brought us a trampoline for Christmas. I'm tired of moving it every time I mow the lawn. So, one project is doing an in-ground trampoline. We've decided not to try and dig the hole ourselves, so we are going to hire that job out. It will be really nice when it's done. Another project we have planned, is adding more big trees along our hill to block out the roads that border our house. We are going to try and plant most of them ourselves (which saves us $70 a tree, and with 20+ trees coming, that adds up to a lot of money). Scott tells me I have no idea how much work it's going to be to plant them ourselves, so he has our landscaper scheduled to come in a week after the trees are delivered, to finish planting what we don't get done. The next project is the fire pit. When we had it built 6 years ago, it was perfect for our little family. But, three more kids later, our family has outgrown it. When we have a fire pit, all the little neighbor kids see the smoke and come running to join in the fun. Our first fire pit of the year, we had 15 people crammed around the fire pit. I was terrified that someone was going to trip over someone else and fall into the fire. I decided it was time for an expansion. So, I started digging.

Along with digging, we had to move a few rocks--big rocks. We tried to lift one, but decided it was too heavy, so we put it back down--right on my big toe! It hurt more than I can even begin to describe. And I couldn't bend my toe for three weeks, but it's all better now. I told Scott we needed a better plan. (Savannah was kind enough to pose with the evil rock so you could see just how big it was.)

I sent him to Tate's Rents to see what he could find. He came back with this dolly that was only $10 to rent for the afternoon. It was the best $10 we'd spent in a long time. (He'll kill me for posting this picture of him making a face, but I just had to include it for posterity's sake.)

Owen was a lot of help.

Of course, we had to put all these rocks somewhere, so we used them to make retaining walls at the base of our big trees.

And we had to put the dirt somewhere, so we added another layer of landscape brick behind the swing set and then back-filled with the dirt.

Now all the digging is done, and we are waiting for the concrete guys to come in and finish the job. They will expand the patio, and then build a retaining wall with a bench built in all around. It's going to be so nice when it's finally completed.

It's going to be a very expensive summer, but in the end I'm hoping we will have the yard of our dreams (and a few broken toes and callouses to show for it).