Our yard... in the works

Saturday May 23rd

Nathan, (in our elders quoram presidency & friend) came out with a rototiller and tore up the yard. 

Cort, (another friend from the ward) came with him and raked behind him. I would have been out there too, but I was the photographer at an anniversary party and then had a recital rehearsal with vocalists at work. 

This is after Nathan and Cort left Saturday. Previously out yard was completely taken over with weeds. 

And on Monday the 25th we had about 7 guys from the ward come out and help us with the yard.

They raked up the clumps of weeds,

and raked and raked

raked some more, and leveled our the yard

We had some ladies helping us too, they weeded out the flower beds

The men "fixed" the sprinklers... this was hilarious. He only "tapped" it with the shovel. All the sprinklers were fixed or replaced, aimed and set. They also showed me how to clean out the little filters and adjust the different types of sprinklers.

Raking and rolling the yard. 

Seeding the yard...

Seeding some more, I think we have about triple the recommended amount of seed out there. Or at least what it says on the bag to use. 

This is what the yard looked like after they left. 

Rylee definitely approves, no weeds, and now it's flat and safe for Joseph to join him out there.

The true "After" picture that includes the newly weeded flower beds. 

That evening we had a big downpour of rain... which made it the perfect day to seed the yard.

The sky after the storm... and without the trees we can see so much more. I can't wait to watch some thunderstorms! Although we do plan on replacing the trees with something, eventually. 

May 28th

The garbage guys,didn't like the giant pile of trees. They left us a note! 

Bro Griffith came by, unannounced (Cousin Landon joined him) and started to load up the pile. I caught them, snapped this picture, then joined them... I don't think they intended on being caught, or joined. They have Rylee to thank for that... he let us know someone was up to something.

Grass on Day 5 after we planted

The grass yesterday, May 30th

And the grass today.

Thanks so much to all our helpers out there, you have made the yard accessible for Joseph and we can't wait until it's lush and green back there. THANK YOU!

Bye bye trees...

The scouts in our ward come out to our house and removed the dead and mostly dead trees out back, as well as weeding the flower gardens in the front. I didn't get a head count but my guess was that we had a party of 15 young men, and not-as-young men working in our yards.  We are so thankful for their service, and amazed at how quickly those awful trees disappeared.

They felled a tree before I could even get a real "before" shot of the backyard.

The trees were really dead and really light. They had 2 chain saws going at one point. We had them take out the green ones too, they were dying,  it was kind of an all or nothing deal. 

The one with the chainsaw is my Uncle Ron.

The young men carried the trees out front.

And they all fell down.

Down to stumps now.

They were able to get up 3 or 4 stumps... but the stumps killed 3 shovels first.

They were finishing up to a gorgeous sunset.

Some of the young men attacked the front garden.. at least 3 inches thick with grass and strawberry plants.

Weeding out next to the house.

I had sweet neighbor girls help me plant some bulbs from Mom & Dad's. (Gladiolas I think, we'll know for sure once they bloom)

The damage... that pile of trees and other assorted things they found hidden in the trees, plus 10 or so bags.

The next day I grabbed a picture of the yard, sans trees. 

This is the picture I put on instagram and Facebook.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all that came out and helped us, I wish I could thank you all by name...I'll learn them all, eventually.