Backyard Life

Anyone who has been to our house over the last 6+ years has known that our backyard was not the, uh, let's say "most beautiful" yard ever.  In fact, I think it was probably up there with one of the ugliest yards around.  Paul and aren't the best at lawn maintenance and the fact that we have two large dogs who use the backyard like it's a race track, didn't help either.  We did bite the bullet and put sod in 4 years ago, right after Ashley was born, thinking we'd be spending leisurely afternoons out there as a new family.Little did we know that the first year of raising a newborn is the furthest thing from "leisurely" so unfortunately the yard suffered and the dogs did their damage once again. 

Weeds, dirt, leaves and dog poop

tree roots, leaves, more weeds

Well, here we are, almost 5 years later and have decided that is was TIME to invest some money into the yard so that we could enjoy it.  Ashley was getting older and needed  a place to play and Corey's 1st birthday party was right around the corner and we wanted to be able to have our guests be able to enjoy the backyard. So by April 6th, we had a gorgeous backyard, ready for guests at Corey's party on April 9th.

And my oh my....what a great investment it has been. We learned a bit from the first time 
a) our yard gets a lot, and I mean A LOT of shade, so it makes it hard for grass to grow,
b) we wanted LOW MAINTENANCE grass,
c) we needed to train the dogs not to go "potty" on the grass.

So..... after getting an excellent quote and good advice from a local lawn guy, we decided to put in mulch in part of the yard to alleviate "a" and "c" and got Bermuda grass to assist with "b".  We were a bit leary that the yard would have too much mulch, but in fact, it turned out beautifully and we are VERY pleased. It has been SOOOO nice having place to hang out as family. Already, in just 6 weeks, we have BBQ'd, planted flowers with Ashley, played games, had picnics, had the kids play in the small wading pool, and much more! It's even just been nice to go out there and listen to the sounds of the day and night. We even purchased a wind chime, and it is quite soothing...even for Corey at times when he is especially irritable....I know that I can take him out back and it is an instant calming mechanism for him...and me. :)

This was a few days after the sod was put in.
Looking at this photo now, the grass is so much greener and you can't see the sod squares anymore.

We moved the stepping stones as a walkway to the dog run.
We have also put plants in those pots and added a wind chime.

Paul loves to water the grass and we have trained the dogs to only go "potty" on the mulch.  Their command for staying off the grass is a firm "ah ah" and so far so good. They do get a little ornery every once and awhile but all in all it has worked out well.  Even Corey has adapted the "ah ah!" and has caught the dogs trying to go potty on the grass before we do!! It's great!

Ashley is such a little nature girl.  She has embraced the beauty of spending time outdoors and enjoying her family all together. Her first question almost every day is if she can eat an ice pop outside. Or she wants to check on the flowers that she planted "It's been 10 days, right? I can see they sprouted, Mom!", or asks if we can eat outside, or "Can I chalk on the porch?"....


Easter Sunday.I love this picture because she is throwing confetti from a confetti egg,
but it also looks like she is raising her hands to the Lord.  "Hallejuah, He has risen!"



Our first "outside" Easter egg hunt!
(as you can see, there was still some dry patches from the drought, but now it is almost all green!)



She brought her pillow outside and wanted to take a nap.
(most recent pic of the grass)



Showing off the flowers she planted.  They are just little sprouts right now.


I think Paul and my favorite memories are just listening to music and watching the kids play, listening to the sounds of them giggling together and hearing Ashley say to us "This is the best day ever! I love you Mom and Dad" and gives us a squeeze. She has said that countless times, so it tells us that each day spent together as a family in our own backyard is the "best day ever!" to her.  (and to us too) We are trying our best to slow down a bit and this backyard has provided us that peace that we need.
What a dream come true....who knew that a backyard could do so much. Keep the memories coming...