Weed Haven turned Paradise!

If you've talked to me recently, you've probably heard me talk about our backyard, aka the Weed Haven. The lady who used to live in our house was an amazing gardener... but the house sitting unattended for 11 months + our lack of desire to keep up an amazing garden (coupled with our lack of know-how and time) made for a HUGE mess. Year after year, it didn't seem to matter what we tried or what we did, it always turned into a war zone. I talked with Matt about it (and when I say talked, I mean I complained and bullied him into being okay with me calling companies to see how much it would cost for a backyard overhaul). Not my proudest moment as a wife, but I seriously couldn't look out the back windows without welling up with tears (please, can I blame this on pregnancy so I don't sound so pathetic?). Anyway, after realizing it was ridiculous to pay a company an obscene amount of money to do the work that I should have done last summer, I gave up the dream of having a decent backyard this summer. And really, I was okay with it. IN WALKS MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND. He calls me out of the blue last Thursday and says he's going to hire 2 of his past students to help him clear out the backyard. "How much can they get done in one day?" I think to myself. The answer is, almost all of it. Matt had a vision. They worked Friday, finishing the pulling and moving sprinklers. Not only did they pull weeds, they pulled old trees, bushes, weird trellis things that we don't know how to use, and pulled out 11 rotting railroad ties that were precariously buried as a border between our lawn and the weed haven. They tilled the dirt, raked the dirt, flattened the dirt. AND THEN on Saturday, we laid sod! My dad, Matt and 2 of his students worked tirelessly. I couldn't believe it!! I know my excitement is probably not contagious at this point, so maybe I will show you pictures so you can see what an amazing 3-day transformation looks like. Now, all I want to do is sit in the hammock in the shade and enjoy our backyard, dreaming of days soon to come where our little one can run in the grass and I don't have to worry about losing him in the 6-foot weed forest, worry about him impaling himself on something we didn't know was there, or worry about him getting bit by one of the 8 different types of spiders Matt saw while cleaning out the W.H. All this to say, I have the best husband and can't believe how awesome our yard is!! Thank you Mr. Wonderful!!

Before:

After: