it's gotta get worse before it get's better: a backyard update

is it just me, or does Rhett's shadow look like an Egyptian hieroglyphic woman? ^^^

no beauty shots here people. 

just lots of dirrrrrrrty dirt. and mud. 

certain 3 year olds think it's the greatest thing ever and a certain mom is barely keeping their OCD in check as she madly swiffer and sweep the floors.

in order to save some $$$ we decided to dig out the trampoline pit ourselves rather than rent a bob cat or hire a professional. it was one of those, "don't worry honey, it won't be that bad." convos. #whattheheckwerewethinking

technically we did hire two stellar young men from our church congregation to help us dig which has been a huge help in getting it almost done. 

the hole itself is 13 feet X 31/2 feet and I don't do math, but the muscles in my armpits (which I had no idea existed) are telling me that's a mondo amount of dirt. 

arizona dirt is pretty much glorified cement, so we've been soaking it and using gypsum to help make it easier. that along with a pick ax has made it possible. thank you pick ax, you win for being more than worth your weight in dirt. 

once the hole is diggity dug, we'll build a retaining wall to hold the ground and trampoline securely in place. our goal is to have the tramp in place in the next 10 days. 

i shared the original plan for the overhaul HERE, but we've made a few changes that I thought I'd show you. this is super rough and not at all to scale, but you'll get the idea. 

so originally we planned on doing about a 1/3 of the yard in pavers. we've changed our mind and decided to just do a long raised bed, and a fire pit/patio combo and leave the rest grass. we changed our mind for mainly two reasons. one was the cost of the pavers. it would have been pretty much our whole budget just on the stones. we love our house, but we know we won't be here forever, so we don't want to pour money into projects that don't give us the most equity. a finished back yard in general will up our equity, but the grass/paver ratio doesn't make a huge difference in that equity boost. so that was reason number one. reason number two was simply that we have little boys. grass will allow for a lot more room for chase, sports and other shenanigans. 

so as you can maybe kind of see in my sketch, we'll have a much longer raised bed than we originally planned, and we'll still keep the fire pit and put a little patio around it. 

i think i'm most excited about the longer raised beds. planting a vegetable garden doesn't really excite me,  but I love growing flowers. personally, i don't think there's much more beautiful that and full, vibrant flower garden.

we ordered the pavers and rocks for the beds and patio and they should be delivered by the end of this week. once we get the trampoline and patio/beds in place we'll lay the sprinkler system and sod and start filling the beds and putting some bushes in. 

i'm hoping that all the money we're saving by DIYing will be put toward a massage at the end of all this. seriously, my armpit muscles are DYING. 

DIYing is just another way to spell dying.