Our Front Yard

The process of landscaping our front yard began in the middle of April. We hired a friend to dig up the yard and level the ground, which had been predominantly weeds and piles of dirt leftover from the excavation of the street during construction.

Ronan loves to work with Josh, and he is really becoming a big help.

While Martin was running the tractor, Josh started working on forms for concrete so that we could put in a sidewalk.

In the next few days Josh ordered some gravel and then he rented a tamper to prepare the sidewalk area for concrete.
We had someone come and pour the concrete into the forms, and then Josh, my dad, and our friend, Paul, did all the finish work on the sidewalk. It happened to be the hottest day of the year so far (90 degrees!), so they had to work really fast. I ended up helping out, too, since everything was drying too quickly.

Finished product--not perfect, but we were pretty happy with it. (:

On to the underground sprinkler system...

Walkway from the new sidewalk up to our front door.

Josh also finished the tile work on the pillars and the front of the house, and finished framing the pillars.

Last time to play in the dirt before seeding.

First sign of baby grass!! And new shrubs along the front of the house and the fence line.

Still growing...

more shrubs & trees

We also decided to do a little bit of landscaping across the street from our house even though the neighbors are supposed to maintain it. It is usually overgrown with tall weeds, so this will be much nicer to look at! (: