Backyard pictures!!!!!

Updated backyard pictures!!!  We've already enjoyed several meals and our daughter's birthday party in our newly renovated backyard!  We absolutely love it!  There are still things that need to be done, like put up the swing set, replace lights, add decorative touches and such but the big thing is we can have people over again and enjoy our yard!!!!  Our next big project is to get the grill working again.  I cannot wait for that b/c yall, my man can cook a GOOD burger and it's been a long time since we've been able to grill!

Last night we all ate dinner out there and when we were done, our daughter had the best time playing in the grass and a little puddle she found from us watering the grass.  It brings so much joy to my heart to see her having fun in the backyard.  And it's so nice to know she can run around barefoot (or with shoes) and not step in dog poop!

I'm so very grateful to my husband and father-in-law for ALL their hard work!  They have been busting it for a while now to give our daughter(s) a place to play and they just did an amazing job!!!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday evening to show off our new space. I have so many plans for decorating our patio...I can't wait to get started!  The hard work is over, now the fun part begins!!!

Our new yard!!!!  I can't believe there used to be a deck there!

Our little divider fence.  One day we'd like to put solar lights on the posts.

We have GRASS!!!!

The patio.  I should have fixed the chairs and moved the hose but I was too excited to get some pictures  :o) 

Big baby alert!!!

Our first daughter was over 10lbs at birth so we knew that another big baby was likely.  Today at my appointment she is measuring 40 weeks.  (I'm a day shy of 36)  So yeah...she's measuring 4 weeks ahead...just like her big sister did.

My husband and I were normal size babies...he was mid 7lbs and I was low 8lbs.  We are tall but not big people...it just still shocks me how big my babies are!

I'm not complaining at all though.  We love our big babies and we're so very grateful to God for giving us healthy babies and pregnancies...just still shocking sometimes how big they are!  LOL

Our backyard transformation...still in progress

My amazing husband, skilled father-in-law and generous friend have all been working very hard turning our hole formerly known as a backyard into a beautiful play area and entertaining area.  We're not quite done yet but when we are, I'll post pictures.

Y'all, I'm not kidding when I say our yard was awful.  At one point in time, we had 4 LARGE dogs back there.  There was barely any grass left, our deck looked like it had been through a natural disaster and it smelled like pee and poop.  It was so overwhelming we literally had given up on it.  When we bought our house, it was a beautiful yard, perfect for entertaining and enjoying nice dinners on the patio. 

We've tried MANY solutions to make our yard work for us and the dogs, but each one failed.  With our daughter nearing 2 and LOVING playing outside, we knew we had to do something finally.  Our yard is a pretty decent size and is a rectangle shape.  So we put up a 4' picket fence, dividing the yard almost in half.  The front half is the 'people' side and the back half is the 'doggy' side.  The best part of this design is the dogs are let in/out through the side door to the garage...meaning they never enter our half!!!  With the fence being a picket fence, they can still see us so they don't feel ignored.

We have some very gracious neighbors who gave us their old wooden swing-set...for FREE!!!  Oh my gosh those suckers are pricey and we knew that was what we wanted to get but it just wasn't in the budget.  This one needs a little fixing up.  We have to replace some of the wood, I had to spray paint some pieces and we bleached the swings...and it's looking GREAT so far!!!  It's a smaller set so it'll be perfect for the girls for the amount of time we'll be in this house.

Here are a few pictures of the yard:  

This is what it looked like when we bought.  So cute and quaint.  We loved it.

Here it is after 4 years and 4 dogs.  Pretty awful, huh?

Bye-bye sad and scary looking deck and hello new french drain!  Progress!!!

We've come a long way since this picture...there is GRASS in my backyard (that the dogs can't touch!) and the fence posts have been trimmed down and capped.  Once things settle down a little here, this is where the swing-set will go.  I cannot wait to see my daughter's face when her swing-set it up.  She's going to be so excited!!