Home Improvement projects

Having our own house is awesome, but we are learning quickly, it's a lot of work.  When we got here we noticed the backyard was mostly dirt and it drove me crazy!  Growing up in Oregon we never had to worry about 'not having grass'.  Here in Colorado, specifically eastern Colorado, that's not the case, it's mostly dirt and prairie grass (so not the same as Oregon grass).  

Project #1

So our first project was to put in some grass.  Initially we were going to put in artificial grass - I thought I would NEVER ever do that (again, being from Oregon I would never consider that) - because it's so dry and water costs $$ and we're on water restrictions, but it was too expensive.  Our next choice was putting in sod.  We decided to do that the easy way!   We had 'them' do it.  :)   They did it so much faster than we would have.  :)   They did it in one afternoon.  Here are the pics.

Before

 To the right, near the slide is the sod ready to be placed.

 During

Laying new top soil and compost and leveling it out

 After

 We LOVE it!!!  

Right after it was done we all wanted to go out and lay on it!  It looked like a big green carpet!

The kids love playing in it, running around in it and sleeping in it!

Project #2

Our next project was much more ambitious!  We decided to extend our patio using pavers.  This was a much bigger job and we learned a lot.  Not only about pavers and how to do it but about ourselves and how we work together on projects!  :)  We got to practice our ever evolving communication skills!  :)  

Before

(yes, more dirt!)

 During

Dug down and leveled as best we could

 That's the sand (under the tarp) we used under the pavers and the rock we put around the patio.

 After

The finished product!  We put the rock around the patio and past the house, along the side.  I don't think we have it all down in this picture.

We love our house and all the projects it's giving us!  

We're learning a lot!