Major Yard Day!

I am officially in summer project mode!

We finally attacked the huge job that is our backyard. OmiGOODness! I am so excited about the progress that we made in one day!  Charlie came up with mom on Thursday and went to work, ripping up all of the ivy, weeds, and poison ivy that covered the ground in the back.   Charlie works with my mom in her yard and is so sweet and hard-working.  I could not believe what he did with the back yard while my mom and I worked in the front. It looks SO much better! He really did an amazing job.  Matt couldn't believe it either when he got home.  I can't tell you how many times the two of us walked out there and stood, not knowing where to begin.  It was so overwhelming!  Now, I feel like the canvas is clean and ready for us to start planting!

Okay, enough explanation, time for the before and after pictures:

 Ivy lined the entire perimeter of the yard

It's a jungle!

This is a type of poison ivy that was all around the regular ivy.

Charlie started from the back of the garage and made a HUGE difference!

Everything that is brown was covered in ivy.

Amazing!

As he cleared away everything that was overgrown, he started discovering some hidden treasures! ha!

Seemingly overgrown ivy....

Wait a minute...?!

What do ya know- there was a firepit under all that mess!

Surprise #2 was uncovered while my mom and I were working in the front yard... a bird bath!

And for the 3rd surprise- St. Francis! hahah... hilarious!

We had some surprise visitors while we worked. First Don and his daughter stopped by!  Don is the contractor who renovated our house. He is working on the house next door now (we're telling everyone we know about him!) and came by for a visit. He couldn't believe the transformation!

Then, my sister and the boys came by!  The boys wanted to jump right in and help. Precious!

 Love

 So strong!

:)

Maddox wasn't so sure about St. Francis...

And here are the rest of the pics from the day.  We got POURED on at the end, so we didn't really get to finish the clean-up stage, but I'm so thrilled with everything we got done! Mom and Charlie were amazing... working so hard to get everything done before the sky opened up... and then still working to finish after it did! I seriously never thought we would accomplish so much in one day.  The pictures may not give the full effect, so trust me when I say it is a BIG difference! ;)

This is the infamous tree that we tried to take down on our yard day back in the fall.  We were able to get the other three that lined the house, but this one wouldn't budge.  So Charlie took the chain saw and got the job done!

So much better!  We found two azalea bushes and two other pretty bushes under the ivy!

Whoa... 20 bags in all I think! And that doesn't include the 4ft. limbs piled next to the bags.