When we bought the lot for our house, it looked like a good sized lot but not too outrageous. It looked smaller that most of the other lots. When the house was built it looked a little bigger but had a huge drop off so we had some soil brought in and it made the slope less drastic and increased the yard right in back of the patio. Ok, so it was pretty big but we felt it would be manageable. Then we started the landscaping and the yard got bigger, not to mention expensive. We added rock walls to keep the slope in check, and sloping ramps to add access. Somehow the yard looked bigger and we wondered "What were we thinking?" Then it was time to put in the irrigation. Wow, the yard was really big! By this time Ric was incapacitated...so we had a landscaper put in the irrigation system(thank heavens or we really would have messed it up). We also had him plant a few big trees that needed a tractor to move them in place but that left about 2o trees for us to plant. With a small window of time to get them in before the sod needed to be laid, we valiantly rented an auger ( a big machine you drag around to dig the hole). That was a smart move on our part since Ric was still on a crutch and I had a pulled ham-string. It all went reasonably well...there were only a couple of times that I thought Ric was going to be run over by the huge machine while we dragged it from hole to hole. But when it came time to dig the lower trees' holes, we knew that we couldn't do it on our own. So we called two of the nicest men we know and they came to our rescue. Curtis Smith, a dentist and Shawn Hurley along with his wonderful son came and helped us move and dig and plant. Curtis was really good at drilling...I guess the dentist thing transfers over. We now have 31 trees. Then it was time for sod. By this time, the yard looked more like a park than a backyard to us and we weren't sure if we asked people to help that they would be our friends after laying that much sod. Ric said it would be ok but I thought it was too much to ask. I have never had to ask for help in my life so this was a new experience for me. I was so touched when we had over 35 people come to help lay sod over 2 days (we worked from 6 to 8:30 on Fri and 7-9:30 on Sat). Everyone was amazing. Men and women hauled, cut and laid 12,000 sq feet of sod. Our son and daughter in Idaho traveled all the way from Rexsburg to help, Justin was there helping as always and Clay came after work to help clean up. I couldn't believe that so many people would come to help us. It was a miracle to me. The whole yard has been a miracle with people showing up at the right moment to help move beams and tresses, dig trenches etc. Ric was able to walk without his crutch or cane when he needed to. So while the yard seemed grow in size, it also grew as a testimony of the goodness of people and God's love for us as a family. It is beautiful in many ways.
