Here's to a new yard!

We have been planning to re-do our yard...since before we ever moved in to our house.

It has been one of those typical "later priorities", as there were ALWAYS things that were more important.

Not too mention, it is expensive, as anyone who has ever done it, knows.

BUT...it was time.

A few weeks ago, Kevin and his friend Mark took down some of our smaller trees (which were still big...)

Kevin also started taking down the AWFUL pond that has always been back there. When we bought the house we saw such potential in it. However, then, it just became a hazard with kids. I mean...the thing was HUGE! Totally concrete all around, so it couldn't just be taken apart...It had to be DEMOLISHED!

So....like I said...IT WAS TIME!

Here is a bit of the BEFORE!!!

I know it doesn't look like it but we have spent A LOT of time and money trying to landscape year after year! This year we did let it go a lot because we knew we were going to rip it all out, so we didn't want to spend the money...

This is the back. All prepped for the tractor the next day.

This is the GINORMOUS stump that was here when we moved in. It would literally crumble in your hand when you touched it, so we figured this would be the easy one to take care of. However, it IS HUGE!!! We figure that whenever the tree was cut down, probably when they built the house, it was would have been around a hundred years old.

In the background is the pond.

Here is the pond. It doesn't look that big...however, it was about 5 feet deep. Before this point it was solid and would hold water. Kevin would drain it, but then with rain, it would just fill again. So it was always a worry back there with the kids playing. We put up a fence for peace of mind. Basically...it just completely cut off the yard, making it completely unusable back there.

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THE MORNING ARRIVES....

the kids were really excited!

They started in the front...years back we cut down a huge tree and they worked for HOURS digging up the roots and the stump. The roots were GIGANTIC! Bigger then the kids. It took them more then a day to finish the front yard alone.

The pipe sticking up is the water line. Yep, they hit it. That had to be fixed...twice.

Here, Tyler is standing with one of the roots. THIS is just a ROOT!

Makylie was actually afraid to stand with it.

So, this is the next day. They are in the backyard now, working on that big stump...the one that we all thought was going to be easy because it crumbled in our hands. Ummmmm Yeah....

NOT SO MUCH

It was good entertainment....

But it took the better part of the day to remove it. Piece by piece...because it was too big for this HUGE tractor to take out...It filled up the dumptruck all on its own. It left a crater that was at least 12 feet across.

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On Monday...they finished.

And it looks GREAT!

Of course, remember it isn't landscaped...we are doing that.

They were purely tearing it all out.

Our yard literally looks twice as big as it used to.

The back yard is almost unbelievable. It has always been unusable...that entire back area, with the pond and the stump. It just looks enormous now, especially with the rest of the back, which we didn't tear out!

Where the two pillars are in front of the fence, we will be putting a vegetable garden.

This Saturday we are cleaning up the dirt...bringing in topsoil...and then spreading seed!

In the front, we are doing mainly grass, with some edge landscaping which we will do later. And in the back we are grassing, and putting a child friendly material under the play structure.

So happy it is done!!