The Backyard

I think by now, EVERYONE in the whole world knows how much I've wanted a backyard. I guess I wanted a 'finished' backyard to be exact. For Las Vegas standards, our yard is pretty good sized for our house and neighborhood, and I hated that we couldn't take advantage of that whole big area. It just seemed like wasted space. The house was built 7 years ago, and nothing has been done back there since besides little river beds cutting all over from from the rain, tumbleweeds growing, and twisted metal trash from the builders. It was NOT livable  I begged Ryan forever to do something with it, and it wasn't until I went to Ellen, and got the "12 Days of Giveaways" gifts (that we sold most of for the cash), that we finally had money to put away for the yard. That combined with Christmas gift money, and redoing our budget, we finally were able to get started on it.
I had a bunch of landscapers come in to do estimates, and in the end we decided to have the landscapers put in the paver patio, and Ryan and a couple ex-landscaper friends (thank you Brandon and Jake for all your work, and teaching Ryan so much!) put in the sprinklers, grass, and plants.
I am SOOO happy with how it all turned out. The grass went in a week ago, so we are still waiting for it to take root before we can really play out there. Also, I'm on the look out for a great patio set, then it will be complete! I plan on eating dinner out there year round, and letting Easton finally be able to run around free and I'm so excited for him to go running through the sprinklers all summer!
The before and after is pretty impressive, especially in person! It makes the whole house feel much more complete, and has made the kitchen seem so much nicer since the windows have a pretty view now.

Sprinklers In. Top Soil down.

Ryan and Jake. Working on the plants and sod.

Brandon and the massive pile of beautiful sod.