Our Oasis!

My husband has been working like a mad man on an incredible project in our backyard for the last month. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of him, of all his hard work, and how beautiful our new 'oasis' in our backyard is!!  In the last 5 days since he finished, we have actually enjoyed spending time in our backyard more than we ever have before!!! He did each and every single part of this GIGANTIC project, from having the vision for it, designing it, digging up the yard, laying irrigation lines and drainage lines, installing a french drain, building the retaining wall, leveling the yard, laying the pavers, (which means thousands of pounds of stones and sand and many trips to the store) planning the flowerbeds, running a drip irrigation system, to choosing the new patio furniture that finishes it off!  The only help he had was a little from me putting the furniture together and my mom planted the plants once he dug the holes.  Phew!  I'm exhausted just typing all of that! =)

Take a look at our (boring!) backyard before...

Only grass...

Sloped hills that are hard to play on...

No easy route to the gate...

And now look at it!

Patios...

Path to the gate...

Flowers...

Lights...

A home for the grill...

Comfy, uncrowded patio with beautiful furniture...

Trellises, and even timers on all the irrigation!

Total relaxation!

Isn't it absolutely GORGEOUS?!?! I just love the finished product, and am so impressed and proud of my husband for working so incredibly hard for us to have a beautiful yard! In all the years we have been homeowners, we have never had a pretty backyard... only grass and a concrete patio.  So this is just amazing and a true oasis for all of us! We are enjoying it so much right now while the weather is cool, and hopefully (since we are going to put in a ceiling fan and some misters) will be able to use it throughout the summer. The boys have so much fun out there, and they go around and around, up and down the step, climb up and down on the furniture, and love to talk to the flowers! Now I say, "Let's go outside!" and they run to the back door!

Such cute boys!

Jack checked out the couch first thing!

So much to explore!!

And just a few that show the hard work that my husband put in for over a month making our yard perfect!

And again, our BEAUTIFUL oasis...

And Betsy loves it too!

Thank you so much Justin for all your hard work!!! It is one of the best gifts you could have ever given to our family! We will definitely be using it A LOT for years to come!

I love you!