Jason told me that yesterday morning he woke up thinking, "Now what do I have to do in the backyard today?"
And then he remembered. The backyard is finished.
Of course, as any home owner will tell you, the outside is never really finished because there are always weeds to pick, grass to mow, cobwebs to shake down. But in the grand scheme of Projects for The Backyard, we are done.
To know me is to know my struggle with our backyard, so here are a few links (minus the ones where all I do is sob quietly onto my keyboard) that should catch you up with the drama:
- (November) Receiving eight pallets from Lowe's
- (January) Working on the patio and retaining wall
- (May) Finishing the patio and play area
It only took us a little over two years, and a few thousand dollars. It only cost Jason six months of hard labor, and many, many tears (and pleading with Oprah) on my part. That's all behind us now, and there are no hard feelings on my part about any of it. The money, the work, the tears, the frustration, the mud tracked into the house by our dog--a distant memory. That's because I've just spent the last week really enjoying our backyard. Really. Really really. I can't even fully explain how much it means to me that I can go out into our backyard and read a book while the girls play in the water table, or sit on the grass, or splash in the kiddy pool, or go down the slide. Basically, they're doing everything a kid should be able to do in a backyard, none of which was available to them last summer when the only space we had to play in was a small patch of grass in our front yard.
This is what I've been dreaming of.
You already witnessed the completion of the southern backyard. And now
finally,
at long last,
here's the completion of the eastern backyard.
Just last week it looked pretty much like this, except Jason had ripped out the sod before our trip and our lilac bush is done blooming:
And now I walk off our patio...
and turn the corner to see...
*drumroll*
This is where I've been reading, where I've been cutting fresh roses, where I watch the cherries turn red on the tree. This is where Sydney is learning how to hop from stepping stone to stepping stone, and Jules is mastering her picking up rocks skills. This is all because my husband is amazing.
This is my backyard.
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