Just A Little Project...

Last year we had an idea of completely redoing our back yard. What we thought would be a big project...became a huge project.

Everything in Georgia is so hilly and it was incredibly hard to find a home with a useable flat backyard. With Andrew's walking ability we needed something flat so he could run around and play. So we decided to make our own. We started last November ripping stuff out, transplanting plants and bringing in dirt. Then we had an awfully rainy winter and couldn't get back out there until almost April since then we've been putting in every extra minute into our yard.

Here's the before pictures...

Our good friend Jason, came down from Tennessee to help us with the tractor and bring our first few loads of dirt into the back yard.

We even convinced Stephen's dad and brother to help us do some digging while they were down visiting for Christmas! It wasn't rainy that day, but it was sure muddy. We spent most of the winter months covering and uncovering the pile of dirt with plastic to "keep it dry" and "let it dry out". It started to become quite the joke.

Once Spring rolled around, things started happening again. We hired some people to come help build the retaining wall. Then we had an another pile on our driveway...this time it was gravel. The girls seemed to love it. After they had taken what they needed for the wall, we still had a bunch left over. One afternoon I was chatting on the phone with a friend and came upon this picture. Toys dropped and shoes left precisely at the doorstep and the door wide open. For who knows how long....

Then I came upon these pictures! Thankfully they hadn't gone too far. This became one huge playground for these two. They loved filling buckets and cups full of rocks...just scooping and pouring them between containers. Then throwing them into the grass. 

Then once again another lovely pile appeared. Our poor neighbors...one pile finally disappeared and then the next weekend another pile would be delivered.

This time around we let the kids go at it and just play till their little hearts were content. We spent a whole Friday afternoon and an entire Saturday shoveling and hauling dirt into the back yard.  And they had a ball.

Wheelbarrow rides with dad! 

(I think I have a similar picture with me and my little brother Matt.) 

I never thought that Georgia had such red dirt. I'd only seen that color of dirt in Southern Utah. But yes. It is VERY red and completely clay. And I might add, it stains like no other. It is the absolute worst. We've thrown out a bunch of socks and a few shoes. After a day of playing in the dirt, our kids seriously looked like Oompa Loompas with that red dirt covering them from head to toe. I still can picture the bath water after...we had to switch it out three times and they still had a reddish hue to them.

After we got to this point, we had just accepted an offer to work for Amazon and knew we'd be needing to sell our home. Nothing like a dead line to get a project done...right? So we threw together the rest of the back yard pretty dang fast.

We only had about 3-4 weeks total by the time we signed the offer and flew out on an airplane. Wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but such is life. Everything was so crazy and so fast that I didn't remember to snap a few pictures of the final product. But I stole a few from our listing so here you go!