As you know I have all these plans for our backyard.
Slowly I've been buying various pieces to complete my vision.
Well the big piece that was still missing was
flooring!
flooring!
The gazebo, bbq island, patio furniture were all just sitting on the rocks.
So for one of my birthday presents
Ryan decided to give me pavers!
(I know I know sounds oh so romantic for a woman! lol)
But instead of hiring someone he decided to do it himself.
Through a smile and gritted teeth
I kindly said,
"Oh wow honey! Um we have family coming into town in 6 days!"
He assured me it wasn't a huge project and he would definitely be done in time.
It's "only 4000 pavers" and I'll pick them up Sat morning
and work all weekend on it.
2-3 days max and it'll be complete
Well.....hhmmm....where do I even start?! lol
It was a WAY bigger project than he anticipated.
Everything that could go wrong pretty much did.
The neighbors, seeing the stress on my face, pitched in countless hours.
He hired random teenagers to help as well.
He quit several times.
But finally trudged on.
Saturday 3/19 the work began...
I checked in occasionally to bring drinks
and make sure he still knew what he was doing! ;)
The back breaking work had him in the best of moods!
On Sunday our neighbor PJ came over to help him all day long!
My poor poor yard.
I just had to hide inside in order to avoid breaking out into anxiety hives! lol
At one point I saw the guys on the patio.
I definitely had to see what the heck they were doing.
They were either taking a break for a wrestling match....
or I'm afraid to even ask what else!! lol
Apparently Ryan had a leg cramp.
Um I guess we have a full service neighbor! lol
Sunday afternoon progress....
(yes I know I was in silent panic mode by now)
Still no pavers had been laid.
But the ground and sand were now leveled.
About this point I handed him this picture of the design I wanted.
"Here honey I want the 3rd row, 2nd from right. The diagonal herringbone pattern."
He about threw the phone at me.
Oops guess I picked the hardest pattern! lol
So Monday morning Ryan headed to work and I stayed home
with the kids for Spring Break.
PJ and this time his wife Jen (who's the cutest real contractor ever) came to help.
So as I wrangled 5 kids to stay out of their way
(neighbor kids of course were over)
they started to lay the first of the pavers!
Holy cow maybe there is an end in sight?!
Well that's as far as they got before they realized we needed a different wet saw.
Off to Home Depot they went to rent one.
So I took the kids and played the rest of the day.
Hoping I would come home and it would miraculously be done.
Nope.
That's about all the progress that was made on Monday!
Family were set to start arriving on Thursday.
On Tuesday my backyard still looked like this.
2 trailers
1 Ranger
1 Escalade
2 pallets of pavers
3 huge bags of sand
1 wheelbarrow
29 random yard tools
1 table/wet saw
137 piles of trash
34 Soda cans/Sonic cups
were all adorning my backyard.
And now the grass was dead too
from having the sprinklers turned off so long.
Well Ryan and PJ and some random kid they hired worked late Tuesday
and again all day Wednesday.
I went into work Wednesday for the first time that week.
Later that afternoon Ryan sent me these pictures.
I about died!!!
He really did pull it off!
He finished it enough to haul all the patio furniture back on
and have it presentable for family!
Then we would finish it once they left.
I came home from work to find a spotless house
(the maids came! ahh I love those days!)
and a finished (mostly) and reassembled side yard!
Sheesh I need to go into work more often!!! ;) lol
Then Thursday morning PJ came back over and finished up to the BBQ island!
Family arrived Thursday night and you wouldn't even know
that mere hours earlier it was full on construction mode back there! lol
We were able to enjoy a "firm foundation" for the weekend
instead of crunching through gravel rocks.
Now the rest of the job has been bid out and the workers
will wrap it up and seal it this Saturday!
Once Ryan got a week break from the work
he realized how badly he didn't want to start it again! lol
I can't wait to post the final finished pics as soon as it's done!!
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