Got Yard?

I finally do!! And what a nightmare it was to get! Well, I guess the actual getting of the sod wasn't bad, it was everything leading up to it and the week after. UGH. I don't even want to think about it! It all started on May 2. I got sick sick sick!! It must have been a 24 hour bug or something but I just wished for death during those 24 hours! It was so nice to have an appetite again and not feel nauseous. Brent got there Monday night and on Tuesday Brent and his son finished the rock wall in the back yard. It actually went a lot quicker than I thought it would. And it turned out awesome!! I worked Wednesday and Brent and I spent the rest of the week preparing and leveling the yard (and tilling up some ginormous rocks!!!) and planting trees and bushes.

These are the before pictures of my back yard. Quite a mess. Except for the rock wall looks GREAT!

This is the planter Brent put in. I love it! He did an awesome job! All of my neighbors were jealous!

These are all of my trees and plants. Fortunately I had a certificate for these from my builder because they are NOT cheap! I only went $8.00 over and I got lots of stuff!

Trees in the front planted!!

My dad got here on Saturday night, the 8th. We picked the trencher up and were ready to go first thing Sunday morning!

Trenching! I was surprised at how quickly this went.

I didn't take too many pictures the next few days. The sprinklers ended up taking a little longer than planned and my dad had to leave. It rained on Monday, Tuesday and then off and on Wednesday and Friday so that really slowed down our progress. And I got stung by a wasp or a hornet or something on Monday! That's only the second time in my life I have ever been stung and it was NOT fun!! But we did finally get everything buried and re-leveled just in time for the sod. We were even able to get all the rest of my shrubs and flowers planted.

Ready for sod in the front!!

Flowers in the flower bed!

Sod arrived Friday afternoon, the 14th. My crew showed up at 9:00 am Saturday morning and we had the sod laid in about four hours. Not too bad! Thanks to the Linnells and Allreds! They came through for me on the sod laying and I think we made a pretty great team!

Finished product!!

The sod laying went really well. I thought I was good to go! WRONG! My sprinklers didn't work quite as planned. After a large amount of trouble shooting on my part, I decided that I was not going to be able to solve the problem on my own. Brent had to come back up and after a large amount of trouble shooting on his part, we determined that the problem was not the water pressure but water volume. So after some minor reconfigurations and changing out all of the big sprinkler heads, things seem to be working! My lawn is still a little dry from not getting as much water as it should have those first few days but it is making a come back and I have no doubt that I will have the greenest lawn in the neighborhood soon!! I am just glad this nightmare is over! I only hope that if I ever have to do this again I will be able to pay someone! I don't know if I will ever be able to move from here after all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into things!

In the midst of all this, school started. Because I wasn't having enough stress with the yard situation! I only have one class for the moment (nursing theory, BORING). Pathophysiology starts on June 1st and Nursing informatics starts on June 8. It's sure to be a stimulating summer. NOT. I never thought I would be excited for a patho class, but I am now after all the reading I have had to do about theory! And I have no doubt that informatics won't be much better. But, they will be over in a few months and hopefully the worst will be done! Yeah right. Anyway.....headed to Julia's wedding in Vegas on Wednesday, and then up to Boise to pick up a truck on the 12th, then my birthday party on the 19th. Busy month coming up. No doubt the summer and these boring classes will be over before I know it!!