Ta Da!

The landscaping is finally finished! If you remember back, Megan and I added stone and lattice under the deck, but we were left with a 12 inch gap under much of the lattice. Megan had to go back home and I was feeling stumped with how to fill in the space. What to do, what to do? I decided to build a retaining wall, so I started digging, bought the stones, and then decided the project was too daunting to do alone. I returned all the blocks and decided to fill in the emptiness with dirt. Wasn't working! The slope was too steep and the dirt simply wouldn't stay in place. I was venting to Nat and she convinced me we could do the retaining wall and it wouldn't be that hard. Thanks to her push, I bought back all the blocks, plus some, and we went to work. For a week and a half (that's right...what a committed friend!!!) we diligently designed, dug, hulled, planted, spread, pounded, and sweated our way to a beautifully landscaped deck area. Nat was right that the project was totally do-able, even though it took time and sweat, but I would have definitely lost steam if it hadn't been for her everyday push. And...we did all this with our 4 kiddos around...I'm even impressed by us. Check out our progressive pictures.
Nat was doing shrugs in order to get a decent workout