Ready for Summer in our *NEW* Backyard

Well, it's been a while, but that's pretty much always the case with me and journaling, or in this case, blogging. In February, I "retired" from working part time at the Children's Clinic. Pregnancy and little kid germs are a bad mix for me-- I would get sick every weekend and infect our family as well! I definitely have a lower immune system when pregnant. So now I am enjoying even more time at home with McKindrey.

In April, we took a trip to Utah for Summer's graduation and to visit friends. It was a great break from the monotony of every day life. Just this past weekend, David completed his first 50K trail run around Los Alamos.  Crazy man!  His iPhone tracked him as doing a total of about 32.8 miles in his 50K. When I saw him at the half way point and at the finish, he hardly looked winded!  Just a smiling, excited runner! He recovered very quickly, too.

Our main devotion since March, though, has been our backyard.  Since we moved into this house, we have liked the idea of "improving the land" while we live here. Besides, we both don't mind yard work (don't ask us about that NOW....), and we LOVE being outside. I am sad I don't have many pictures of the actual process, but here are some before, during, and after pictures of our backyard FLIP! Get ready for lots of pictures. There are also some of our front yard, which we mostly fixed up last summer, but didn't require nearly as much work.

List of the major improvements we made in the backyard:
-removed old plant growth (grass and weeds), a large bush, and several bush stumps
-installed sprinkler system
-installed in-ground trampoline
-installed sod lawn, mulched areas, and brick edging
-cleaned up and mulched plant strips by house
-built and installed sandbox, compost bin, and raised garden beds
-hung hammock, swing
-created fire pit area on back patio

We still have a few details to finish, but most of the major projects are done!

Front yard:

BEFORE

AFTER

 BEFORE

AFTER

Back yard:

 BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER (sorry it's from a different angle)

 BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER (Again, sorry it's a different angle)

 BEFORE

AFTER

And, for those who are interested, here are some "during" photos:

This was so much work, we wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of so many wonderful friends and family. We are also grateful we were able to do it on a reasonable budget, since we got what we could for free and did all the work ourselves. We are way excited that we were able to wrap the major stuff up by the end of May so we can enjoy it all summer long!