the yard

in the beginning there was a big hill & a lot of dirt.

then i decided on 1 of the 11 landscapers i had come to the house & give us a bid. we also dabbled with the idea of doing it ourselves. with the size, the wall, the HOA, & the price we got this for - i swear it's the best money we ever spent! took about an hour and a half per company but meant that we really did pick the best guy for the job! beau & angel from masterpiece landscaping it is!

the morning after i called to confirm we'd go with them, fast freddy (the concrete guy) came. seriously. like 11 hours after calling beau. i didn't even know they were coming. whaa?? freddy jackhammered out the old while i quickly chose from the color wheel, framed, prepped, & poured the new, rounded the stairs, dusted the top for some cool dimension in the veins, textured it with huge leather patterns, let it dry & came back the next day to power wash the dusting off & seal it. seriously fast freddy earns his name!

 day one: friday (started at 7 & ended around 7:30 every full day!!!)

we had dump truck after dump truck unload on either side of our corner lot. we took up nearly both streets for the whole job. angel & his crew were exceptionally nice to the beans, who played outside with their sand toys throughout the process. we did nothing but watch them. check out the boulders delivered inside the top soil. they are seriously gigantic!

day 1.5: half day (on saturday!) chief checked every night to see if they left the keys to the deere. he really wanted to go joy riding! haha p.s. it was 82 degrees sunday when i took this picture... aust got a sunburn.

pause: monday - wednesday. big snow storm :( at first we were super bummed to take a break when things had been moving so quickly but it ended up showing us exactly where we wanted additional draining & we added a creek bed on one side of the house due to it. total blessing in disguise. p.s. it was 31 degrees on monday when i took these pictures...

day 2: thursday

quick progress, buried the downspouts, pick axed all the areas for the sprinkler system, our little friends came to watch the work, we watched as they trucked away over 100 tons of crappy dirt, & the beans got to sit in the tractor after the workers had gone home.

day 3-5: friday, 1/2 day saturday, & monday

7 trees & all the shrubs delivered, placed the timbers for my garden beds, finished edging, put fabric down where the rocks would be, finished the cobblestone creek, tweaked all the irrigation & sprinkler system, rototilled 40 yards of rich soil in with the bad, placed top soil, & started planting.

day 6: tuesday 1/2 day

finished planting, broke up the massive flagstone to make a utility path from the garage to the grass, hybrid blue grass/fescue sod was delivered & the turf farm crew installed it in record time (& with less than a square foot left over! yay! no waste!), & pike's peak nursery put our 2 trees in the front that the builders gave us.

yard is donezo!!!

we are so happy with the job they did & the fact that they literally were done in 6 work days! incredible!

still can't walk on it for 2 weeks but it's been raining & watering our grass for free so we're happy. told the beans that this is baby grass & we can't step on it until it's big & strong. "until it's big girl grass, like me?!" yes, ellery.

this is austin's favorite spot. his 2 pear trees & rainier cherry tree are here & he loves the flagstone. the kids love the fact that they have a river in their backyard. :) & yes every gutter is now painted, don't you lose sleep over that one...

the wall ended up being over 96 feet long. whew! since e & c can't walk on the grass yet they walk back & forth on this wall approximately 1,000 times a day.

 suuuper excited to try growing in my garden beds!

the side yard is a big chunk of our grassy area. 

finito!