Just in Time!

First off, Lane ripped out the deck, gazebo, pool, and hot tub. It was all just a mess and took up space. So we hauled all of this out:

Our yard then sat dead-yellow for a few months...you know, just blending in with the fall colors. Finally, Lane rented a tractor and had his amazingly skilled brother (and nephew) come over and rototill the front and back. It made a huge difference! The yard was all smooth, looked clean (in a dirt-filled sort of way), and made the yards look a lot bigger.

This was literally done with just a minute to spare. The boys drove over the dirt to pack it down a bit, loaded the dump trailer and hauled it to the dump, came back and the minute they got back it started snowing! So now after all the snow this winter, we'll be able to dig the trenches for our sprinkler system and hydro seed in the spring. Just in time!

I don't think I ever really took pictures of our entry way because it was so ugly (dirty, gross wood which I covered with a large rug), but my Mr. Handyman also ripped that up last week and covered it with slate. So now the beautiful slate-look flows from our entry way, to our kitchen's backsplash, to our living room on the fireplace. The tiles are still dirty in this picture...I'll update it when it's clean and we get a smaller rug/shoe rack in there!