grass doesn't seem to like to grow in our texas heat.  it was literally sprouting like weeds in the spring, when we initially seeded.  dan was having to mow almost 2-3 times a week.  the growing during the summer seems to have stalled though.  and, the vibrant green that once was the color of the grass has now dulled to a less appealling shade of green.  yesterday, dan installed a third sprinkler in the backyard and set the timer to water the lawn twice a day instead of the previous once a day. 

remnants of our old grass seem to have popped up in parts of our yard.   

weeds have taken over other parts.




yet another reason why i absolutely abhor summers in texas!  brutal.  just brutal.

it's in the details.

now that the stone's in the ground, dan's adding some pretty accents.  and, the boys are "helping".  :)

27 days after seeding

the grass in the backyard is continuing to thicken and grow in nicely....dan did a second mow the other day.

the hard work is done!

dan laid out the rest of the stone in our front yard today.  and, i have to say...the finished product is beautiful.  he did such an awesome job...so proud of him!  it was a lot of freakin' work.  but, i think the final look really paid off.  more room for the kids to play and roll their toys over....and, less maintenance for us (i.e. dan).  see below, and judge for yourself!

this is a photo of it before he poured the crushed granite in between all the cracks.

and, voila....the final product!  so purty. 

first mow!

20 days after seeding, this is how long our grass has grown...so long that it was ready for its first mow!  :)

putting it all together

putting together the pieces of the puzzle....just this little bit took dan and our nephew an entire day yesterday...noone said gettin' to pretty was gonna be an easy venture! 



The Stone

Dan had to make two runs to the quarry today to get all the stone needed (over 2 tons) for the front yard. 

Then he had to unload ALL of that stone.  I love my hubby!  He's such a dedicated, hard worker.   :)  Below is a photo of only half of the stone. 

Compacting Crushed Granite

Before we can lay down our flagstone, Dan has to compact the decomposed crushed granite with a hand tamper.  We will get there, slowly.....but surely!

Poor Dan hard at work.  :)

day 7 after seed planted

Here's some images of our backyard on the 7th day after we planted our seed.  The middle section, next to the tree doesn't seem to be sprouting too many sprigs yet.  We're thinking that when it rained the day after Dan laid down the seed, the seeds in that particular spot might have got swept to other sections of the yard.  We'll just have to throw down some more seed...no biggie!  Movin' right along!  :)

laying down the crushed granite

dan and our nephew justin have been hauling decomposed granite from the stone yard this afternoon.  first load has been dropped off....it's looking prettier already.  and, we haven't even laid down our stone yet.  :)

sign of life

the first signs of life...so exciting!  :)

rain...just when ya don't need it!

dan laid the seed down in the backyard yesterday.  and, then it poured rain all last night, sweeping all of our seeds all over the yard - in various places.  now, poor dan has to go back and prolly re-seed.  otherwise, we'll probably have patches of grass in certain places in the yard and none in others.  oh well.  the best laid plans....

flattened

dan took almost an entire day removing rocks and other debris from the soil in the backyard and then leveling it out with a roller.  we're just about ready to seed, once the soil is watered a little bit!

dirt removal and lawn edging

dan spent a good several hours shoveling the dirt out of the front yard and wheelbarrowing it to other sections of the outside of our house.  it was a back-breaking job.  but, somebody in our household had to do it.  and, it wasn't gonna be me!  :) 

yesterday, he started the edging around the perimeter of where we are planning to lay the flagstone.  hopefully, by the end of today, we'll have it all in place and ready to have the crushed granite to be dumped in!  *excitement!*  below is a photo of trey inspecting daddy's work so far.  :)

Some of you may have noticed that I changed the name of this blog.  I realized that the old name didn't encompass everything that we are doing.  The new name appears to be more fitting of the overall scope of our project!  :)

tilling the yard

so, we're SERIOUS about getting this yard back into "guest having" shape!  we found a guy via craigslist after lunch today.  and, he was o'er here tillin' away within half an hour of making contact with him! 

here's the soil-thrashing machine at work....

it's only fitting that nate do a lil' celebratory dance, after the tilling of the front yard.

we can see the roots! we tilled up about 3 inches in the front, so that we can set our "oklahoma thick" stone down in the ground.  so excited!! 

here's the freshly tilled backyard.....

and, dan doing a final inspection.  :)

 BONUS: the boys are having a heyday!  :D

don't want to forget the front yard!

here it is in 2008....

here it is...in its present state.  makes me wanna cry really big crocodile tears....!  wahhhhh! 

sad state of affairs

our backyard's conditions have been deteriorating for awhile now.  dan and i are sick of looking at dirt!  so, this spring, we are determined to revive what used to be a lovely place in which to relax...so that we can once again enjoy our surroundings!  as we are both novices at gardening, i will be keeping a record of our grass growing journey here.  check back in for updates on our progress!  :)

this was our yard, when we first moved into the house in august 2008. we were in love.

this is our yard now. 2 1/2 years later.  2 big dogs later.  2 active toddlers later. :(