Backyard Makeover

These were some of the photos the sellers' realtor had taken of our backyard.  Don't get me wrong.  We were more than thrilled at the size of it.  We later learned that the builder put in the backyard as an incentive to sell the remaining lots. so that's why our yard and none of the neighboring yards had any landscaping.

Since our last lot was not even 7K square feet, we had little in our backyard.  Item #1, this mini trampoline.

Item #2, this slide.

The kids were happy with it because we had a playground right next door and that's where their friends were anyway.  But we could see a lot of potential, and yes it would cost a chunk of change, but we were excited to have a blank canvas on which to make our landscaping dreams a reality.

Cory dreamed of a large patio with stamped and stained concrete.

The kids liked watching them work.  "Hey green guy, get working."

I dreamed of a variety of bushes and trees lining all the fences.  Brady dreamed of a basketball court, a tennis court, a goal post...the list goes on.  Let's just say, he's happy with what he's got.

I figured a rectangular trampoline would go well on the side of the house that's shaded.  It's only partially in-ground because of the high water level, but it works.

I always wanted a patio dining set where we could all enjoy a meal comfortably outside.

Since I knew I would be inside taking care of a newborn, I wanted the kids to spend a lot of time in the backyard.  I figured this play set would help with that.  Cory spent hours and hours putting this together with little help from the rest of us.

A couple months later, the grass has come back to life and some of the trees are changing colors.

 

Cory decided we should get our fence stained.  I had no idea how ugly our fence was until it was washed.  This one shows the contrast and the part on the right wasn't even stained yet, just washed.

Here is the final product.

Now it's October and the grass is dying, but we have definitely enjoyed our backyard these last three months!