What's Been On My Mind

I talk a lot about our backyard. It seems to be all I think about lately - it consumes us. I wanted to show you what I'm talking about when I mean a MAJOR project is on our shoulders. I had planned to walk around and take pictures from all angles. But it snowed last week, it snowed today and it will snow this weekend. It's a huge muddy mess , it is freezing, so I stood on the first step and that's where all these pictures come from. Maybe I can find one of our patio from another angle. This is the step I stood on to take these pictures. We have a couple of bricks to make sure we like the pattern. We plan on paving our patios with this, as well as a 3' pathway.

We moved into our home in March 2007 - a new build. This was just 6 months from when we finished our backyard in Phoenix. We chose the home we live in because of the lot - it's a nice size for our area. I just asked Tom - it's approximately 70 feet in depth and 65 feet in width, and a nice blank slate. We spent the first summer here just figuring things out and doing a lot of planning. Summer of 2008 was spent leveling out the yard (who wants to play ball when it slopes so much?) and working on the patio(s). Now, it's our third summer here and we are dying to get this project down to a reasonable size. I'm sure we will always be working on it, but hopefully we can enjoy it.

Before we started:

Where we are right now:

Here's the deal, though. Tom is a geotechnical engineer, a fancy name for a guy who knows a lot about dirt. He is also a perfectionist - am I right, family? So, we work SLOW, but it is perfect. I am guaranteed to have the best engineered backyard in the city! We did have some guys give us some bids, but I know my husband. He doesn't really trust anyone to do it like he would. That would include me. He (we) are also extremely frugal, but we like nice things. That means we don't mind doing the hard work it takes to get what we want (to some degree). Anything worth wanting is worth working for, right? We are NOT going to just throw down some grass and trees to get it done, and then wish in 3 years we had done something different.

Looking onto our future patio - steps off to the right

So, without further ado, here's what we've got:

This is the best shot of our lowered patio - a step down from the main one.

You can see "the wall" that we're working on. Off to the left is the trampoline pit, where the trampoline will go. It should be flush with the top of the wall.

Another picture of our lowered patio:

We've been told we're crazy, so to say, more times than I can count. After a handful, you begin to agree. I understand that most people would not do what we are doing. I understand most people would write a check to someone else to do it. I understand that most people would have their backyard landscaped within a year. I understand that most people would not do this by themselves and would get their family or buddies to help. I understand, really, I do- enough said.

We have SO much to do, but we're having a good time working together. Tom and G. were out in the mud on Saturday, digging in the snow. I can't even start to make a list, because I get overwhelmed. We're hoping it will warm up soon, so we can get out there again and make some real progress. By "we" - I mean Tom. I usually stay inside and watch the kiddos.