Surprise: You Got Grass!

When we bought our new home we knew we were going to have to complete some serious landscaping. The yard was a mess. There were weeds (probably every kind known to man) and wild grass rooted so deep - the entire task was overwhelming.

However, my dearest hubby took on the task of 'fixing-up' our yard. It has been a long and grueling process but completely worth it in the end...

Here is a picture of the yard just after we moved in. By the time we got to the yard it was even more overgrown than this.

Check out those sweet weeds! I started pulling them by hand but quickly realized that was a lost cause. So, Brian decided to: mow the weeds down using a lawn mower to a more manageable height, kill the weeds using 'Round-up', till the weeds/dirt and then rake out the weeds by hand. It was an exhausting chore and I am so lucky to have a motivated husband who took care of the whole ordeal!

Farmer Brian tilling his weeds. He looks happy in the pictures but, don't let that fool you. He picked the hottest day to till, rented a (broken) tiller from Home Depot (which we got for free when we returned it, score) and spent the day being jerked around by the earth-eating tiller. By the end of the day his arms were like jelly. However, he didn't complain once - you could just see the pain in his eyes!

Once the yard was tilled and raked we had an irrigation system installed. We hired someone to design the system and pull the pipe for us and then Brian was left to install all the sprinkler heads. Within a few days he had all the heads installed and working perfectly!

Cade was Brian's trusted helper. He loved playing in the dirt. I think he will be the only one sad to see the dirt go!

For the past 2 weeks the kids and I have been out at the cabin in Montana. While I was gone Brian was working overtime on our yard. Little did I know but, he secretly layed our sod (with the help of a few great friends). So, when I came home from the cabin this is what I drove up to...

Our yard looks awesome. Brian did such a great job and worked so hard. It was the best surprise and I love him for it.

We still have lots of work to do - we are putting gravel down the side of the house, we need to build our garbage platform and I still need to plant our flowers/trees/bushes but - our yard looks so much better than it did.

Thank you Brian for working so hard on the yard. It looks great!

** Also while I was gone - Brian managed to build our shelving in our garage and organize our garage. He also finished laying our carpet in our basement. What I guy I have**