Extreme Yard Makover

I am going to post later about Zach's graduation, but first I  thought I should explain why there was dirt under his nails when he crossed the stage for that diploma.

Months ago Mom asked if we would host Zach's graduation party at our house. I eagerly agreed thinking, May is months from now. When we were home for April birthdays and Mom handed me Zach's graduation announcement, I realized the months had turned into weeks and we had better get busy on our yard.

While I'm all for cleaning your house when company comes, I refuse to believe that it needs to be perfect. Nothing will ever be exactly how you want it, so that shouldn't deter you from having guests over, especially family. However, there is a big difference between not-so-neat and jungle-like! Needless to say, we had some work to do.

I am almost embarrassed to post these somewhat before pictures. Our side yard was absolutely out of control!

 Every bed, except the one in the top picture started out this way. It was OUT OF CONTROL! 

We hadn't touched this area since we moved in two years ago. As we were removing the leaves and old mulch, we discovered that the previous owners had laid bricks in part of the bed. Those were fun to take out with all kinds of creepy crawlers living inside them!

A big thanks to Zach who helped out several days. Tom and our neighbor Bob also helped us out, and Trey and Dad let us borrow some tools. 

Luckily, we were able to finish the yard work before company arrived. It took 13 late nights and MANY, MANY long hours of hard work, but I have to say it was worth it. I won't be doing anything remotely close to this any time in the near future, but it's very nice to have a livable back yard for once. Here are some photos 50 bags of old mulch/dead leaves, 2 truckloads of dirt, 1,053 brick pavers, 30 rolls of sod, 28 bags of new mulch/rocks, dozens of flowers, 7 bushes and 8 lights later...

Even though we focused on the back yard, we didn't completely forget the front. Here are some photos.

We purchased the bench on the front porch in part with my winnings from the Donahue Bracket Challenge. I was SO excited to win this year. I guess that proves you can know next to nothing about the sport and still pull out a W. :)