Extreme Makeover: Backyard Edition

Sigh. Okay, I can breathe now. My parents are both healthy right now (knock on wood) and all seems right with the world. I've been anxious to get back into my daily indulgences like blogging. And here's hoping we have a respite from any more drama... at least for now.

So here we go. Saturday, we were on the receiving end of a service project. Well, a service project that I initiated. It was more than obvious that John and I were never going to finish the Backyard from Hell clean-up on our own, so I enlisted the help of family. I felt stupid asking; it seems pretty pathetic to request service, but everyone was SO great and supportive. They were all so willing and thankful for the opportunity, which was very humbling. It was all really overwhelming and I got over my sheepishness, because I really just felt so grateful. We have the BEST family. My sister-in-law Libby said they should've taken a photo of everyone and put it on the cover of the Ensign since the group really was picture perfect of a family serving together.

With 11 adults and the help of 3 little kids, plus 4 hours of labor, our yard is looking fantastic! Doug built us a rock wall where the "graveyard" was. Libby finished painting the shed. Jimmy cleaned up the funk-us (as Katie calls the fungus) and chopped up/dug out the rest of the tree stump. Brandon, Jen, Beck, Geri, Kent, John and I all did a bunch of other projects. Katie and my little nephews, Ethan and James, raked and picked up walnuts. With everyone's help, it all really came together.



Of course, there was some craziness. This is me after all. Libby and I saw a kangaroo rat -- a rat that hopped towards us then finally ran away once Jimmy threw a rock at it. Jimmy and Libby decided to start digging out the tub even though John told them not to bother with it. They were persistent and enlisted Brandon, but it was finally my father-in-law Kent that came up with the brilliant solution of just sledgehammering the thing to death. Kent is BUFF for being almost 70 and went medieval on the tub. The other guys took turns and in about 20 minutes, the crazy steel tub was crushed up and gone! It's truly a Halloween miracle!!!! After 8 years, I'm finally rid of my totally random, creepy yard bathtub!!!







Later that afternoon after everyone had left, my brother-in-law Steve came over after work to help us out some more. I was clearing out some stuff and dug up a big piece of orange and red shag carpet that smelled SO nasty. Even though I'm constantly digging up weird stuff let me tell you, that was nothing. It finally happened. I predicted we would find a dead body in our yard thanks to all the crazy things we've been digging up. Early that morning, I found some weird bone that looked like a joint, but didn't really think much of it. But Steve started clearing out on the other end of the garage and dug up...wait for it....a cow skull! Complete with teeth! Yes, it was bound to happen. John is convinced that it was just a decorative skull that someone used, but I KNOW it's from a real cow that mozied into our yard, died, and then the freaky a-- tenants before me just decided to bury it in the yard like all the other whack stuff that's there. Last night, all I could dream about was cow skeletons and kangaroo rats!



So, this chapter of the yard clean-up is over. We still have more to do, but thanks to EVERYONE who helped, we're about 70% done!!!