Backyard Renovation!

I know I have said it before but I am going to say it again, this nesting thing is no joke!  Our backyard has needed some serious attention pretty much since they day we moved in but we have been preoccupied with a few other things and have not tended to it much.  The last two winters we have put a temporary band aid on the hillside/mudslide problem with large sheets of plastic, more than our fair share of free sandbags from the City of Mission Viejo and fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong and it will not rain much.  Well enter in pregnancy and I could no longer sleep at night knowing that we really needed to get this done and it really needed to get done before Benny arrived!  So, several retaining wall quotes later, a lot of artificial turf homework and a palm tree removed we were ready to go!  I have to say it all happened a lot quicker than I had anticipated it happening and I could not be happier (and I can now sleep again at night, well kinda, I still want to get the house painted inside and out but I think the Sheriff will for sure have another stroke if I even mention the mere thought to him).  

This is before the project started, overgrown trees, the palm tree that needed to go because it was in the way of where the wall needed to go, concrete that needed to be chiseled out and plastic, sandbags  and dirt everywhere! 

I tried to get pictures of the entire process just for our records, I got a few  but I did not do a great job with that, but I tried! As you can see Ebo and Gracie were our stand in inspectors each day!

Everything was such a mess, we had these old railroad ties that were soaked in some poisonous chemical and my wood loving dog thought it would be a great idea to eat the wood, seriously have no idea how that damn dog is still alive! 

Here you can see the wall is DONE and the grass is starting to grow!  

And it is done!  A quick trip to Cost Plus World Market for a new umbrella, one of the workers broke our other umbrella when trying to close it up, I was not heartbroken, I have wanted a new one for awhile so it all worked out!

Our pool took a beating throughout the process, there was so much dirt and debris but thanks to our seriously amazing pool guy Bryan, it was all cleaned up Monday morning!  Seriously, he is amazing, he knew we were doing work in the yard and changed his schedule so he could come Monday instead of his normal day on Thursday.  If any of you need a pool guy, call me I will give you his number!

This is my daily view now, I could not be any happier, Benny and I are ready to spend our summer poolside!