Memorial Day Exhaustion

I have been reading lots of fun posts about all that people did for their Memorial Day weekend. We also had a big weekend, but fun is not what I would call it.

Exhaustion is what I would call it. Sheer exhaustion!

For a really long time I have been wanting to work in our yard and make it look a little less overgrown and a lot more inviting. Thing is... I am NOT good at yard work. I can trim bushes, etc. but I wanted to dig up shrubs and plant something new and pretty. I don't know one thing about conditioning the soil or tilling or what grows good where so I have been too intimidated to even attempt this on my own.

So we started in the back yard and here's the before...

And HERE'S the after! At least you can see the children when they play and not have to worry that something from the overgrowth captured them and took them away to never be seen again!
Here's the part that I really hated! The bushes in the front were basically some sort of sticker shrubs that became naked sticks when you cut them back. They got over grown and were just not pretty. There was also a big bare spot in the back left corner where 2 bushes had died. We dug them up to get rid of the brown ugliness, but never did anything to replace them.
Here's my sweet father-in-law with our Caroline. He dug up all of those terrible sticker shrubs and conditioned and tilled our flower bed for us! YES! He deserves a steak dinner, a trip to the spa and anything else we can dream up as a reward. He, and my mother-in-law, helped us TREMENDOUSLY!
And here's the finished project! We planted a Crepe Myrtle and some other shrubs that will fill in nicely but not overwhelm the space.

My husband was also there... but his job was to pressure wash our deck. The previous owners had painted it red and it was beginning to crack and just look terrible. He worked and worked on it. Here's the before:

And here's the after:

Wow! I love it!! Now we have to stain it. Any suggestions?

Well, needless to say, it was a productive Memorial Day weekend!! We were too tired and sunburned to go to the cookout we were invited to, but at least we got something done! :) Thank goodness for our sweet family who will give blood, sweat and tears for the sake of a better looking yard too!