The Garden of Eden

I am seriously the worst blogger ever. I have such good intentions of writing and then I just never do it. I have been promising this post for awhile, so here it is.

A few weeks ago, I had my second weekend of miracles since moving to Arkansas. (You can read an account of the first here) My parents came into town and we landscaped my entire yard in 3 very short days (and painted a wall).

It all started about 7 pm on Thursday evening and we finished painting the wall at noon on Monday just minutes before they needed to leave for their flight. My lawn was sodded, but we had nothing else planned before they arrived. A million visits to Lowes and Walmart, one trip to the nursery, 10 yards of top soil, endless hours of shoveling, some drama with renting a truck from Enterprise, and one mud buggy later, I had my very own Garden of Eden.

It really was amazing. And the best miracle of all, it was supposed to rain all weekend which would have made the work impossible. It didn't start raining until we were half way through planting flowers. Those are easy to plant in the rain and then you don't have to water them. Win-Win.

My parents are unbelieveable people. Who goes on "vacation" and spends the entire time working? And I really mean the entire time. I am so grateful for them. Not only for their willingness to sacrifice, but their example in teaching me the value of hard work and continuing to learn.

So here are pics of the process and the finished product:

This is our mud buggy. There were ZERO small tractors or landscapers available to help us, so this was our only option to move all the dirt. Essentially a gigantic motorized wheelbarrow.

Planting flowers in the rainThe fruit trees and honeysuckle

The flower garden

The blooming flower garden
My future veggie garden
And finally, my yellow wall that I 3 Love