Mulch Day

The yard is finally looking finished and I feel like the mulch is just another finishing touch. They delivered the mulch on Tuesday afternoon. Monday night we had rented a skid steer to dig holes for our landscape/retaining wall. Unfortunately the hydrolic hose on the skid steer broke and we were unable to use the auger to dig holes. They sent someone on Tuesday to fix the hoses and while we waited for them to fix it we were able to use the skid steer to spread the mulch which was a huge help.

Matt spread the mulch around while the girls and I raked it out to the right depth. I was wishing about half way thru that we had just paid to have it spread...lol maybe next time

Now all we have left is the west side. Since the landscape wall idea didn't work(even once they fixed the auger the ground was to hard to dig the holes) we are now back to square one and will be doing a rock wall so the ground doesn't have to be level and we don't have to be digging holes anywhere. I'm thrilled and relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel and be able to actually live life without constant projects.

Yard Progress

We are finally getting the yard going as far as plants are concerned. I'm amazed at the difference in the look and how its all coming together.

The girls are loving their play space and they rarely come to me and tell me I'm bored which is amazing. We have all loved having a yard to play in

The grass has now grown enough to mow and I actually missed it. I packed Em on my back and every time I walked by the tramp we took a bounce which she loved.

I'm so ready for this yard to be done so we can go play and I feel like we're getting so close.

Sod Day

The day has finally come for sod! They delivered it about 8:00am. Matt had lined up some help from the ward and his young men for 10 so we took the time to get everything lined up to hopefully have everything run smoothly. We ended up with 5600 sq feet of sod or 10 pallets

At 10 our help started to show up. Its always nerve racking when you aren't sure whether or not people will show up to help you. Matt and I started the sod and quickly realized it was going to be a very long day if no one else showed up. Luckily we had a great turn out and had a good amount of help.

Once we got down the sod to the mid arch I left to Ogden to get pizza for everyone. And I was very pleased to find everything pretty much done by the time I got home. It makes the yard look so different!

Now the real work begins in keeping the kids off the grass for a couple weeks while the roots get settled. But at least for now we are now on the countdown to playing on the grass.

1 Week to Sod

We made some great progress this week with the yard and now only have a week until the sod will be here. Although it seems like it has taken a long time in reality it has come together pretty quickly. I think the unspoken goal has become to have the yard all in by the time we hit the year mark from the time we started the house. I think we might make it. Last night as Matt and I were finishing leveling the back yard Matt said its starting to look like a yard isn't it.....yes indeed it is and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Ready for Sod and the Landscape Plan Debockle

Slowly but surely we are getting ready for sod and the rest of the landscaping...Ill be so relieved when its done. As we have been getting ready for plants I have been working on getting bids for the best price. As I was doing so I came across Glen who works for Alpine Nursery in Perry. He was nice enough to let me know that the design we had was not that great and that we would have color about 2 weeks of the year and everything else would be 7 shades of green. I was really disappointed and frustrated that we paid 500 bucks for that among other problems with the plan he pointed out. He was nice enough he said he would help us redesign the plan for free as long as we went with him to buy all of our plants. I gave him our budget and he said that would be plenty to get what we wanted. So we have now redesigned the plan and I think we will be so much happier with it. Now to finish the prep 

Another Weekend of Yardwork

Although the yard feels like some days it will never end it is coming along. Now that the weather has warmed up we can all be outside working/playing together. Em got her first ride and loved it 

We got the tramp in the ground and back filled

We got the fire pit retaining wall in

The girls love wandering and picking wild flowers

Memorial Day Yard Progress

The elevation of the yard is looking better and better. With everything going on over the holiday I was happy we made any progress. The trampoline hole is now dug. Matt had to basically chip away to get the dirt out of the hole. Im excited as it is now coming together