My dad's been having some health issues and going to tons of doctors appointments and such and I was trying to think of something I could do to help him out a little. Steve and I decided we should fix up his yard for him. He lives in a townhouse with a fairly small yard so it didn't seem like too big of a job. I recruited my cousins to help with the first round of renovations.

I wish I had taken a real before picture, but everyone was too quick to get to work before I could get my camera out. There were three giant bushes in front of the front window and ground cover/weeds growing in the yard. (I remember planting the ground cover with my dad so many years ago and here I was about to rip it all up.) We decided that we would rip everything out and start brand new. The first day was pretty quick and easy. The boys were quick to get all three bushes out and we took loads of dirt into the woods. It was hot and the mosquitoes were abundant, but we got a good start.





Unfortunately, the yard stayed that way for a while. Our jobs were busy and the weather was unbearably HOT. Eventually, Steve and I picked up some edging stones and decided to tackle the flowerbed. It was still crazy hot that day and we were both dripping sweat, but I felt bad for leaving my dad's yard a mess for so long and wanted to make progress for him to see. It took quite a while to level each stone (and I don't even think we really did it the right way), but we finally laid the last one! We filled in the flower bed with some fresh soil, three brand new (baby!) bushes, and some New Guinea Impatiens. It looks so different from what I'm used to!


Next, we borrowed a rototiller from Steve's dad and went to work on the yard. We worked until dark, but it was looking great! We chose to try and grow some grass instead of putting down groundcover. Turns out I bought the wrong seed...whoops! Steve went back the next day during his lunch break to spread the seed and rake it in.


A bit later (sorry it took so long, Dad!) we went back to finish up the smaller side of the yard. The leaves are already falling...weird...but here's the finished product with tons of baby grass. And a happy Dad checking it out!
It was definitely more work than I anticipated, but hopefully it was worth it for my dad. There was history in the old yard and sometimes he likes to hold on to that, but sometimes change is good. I hope it makes him happy every time he walks in and out to see new beauty growing.