I have a confession to make - I stole this picture :) When I went to add my picture it was blurry (the biggest problem I have is taking pictures lol). Since I wanted to share this project today, I cheated and took clips of the picture my brother posted. (At least it's my yard!) This past weekend was so much fun - hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law, getting rid of a random post in the middle of our yard (the previous owners had a dog run), building a fire pit, burning 1/3 of a tree that has been a huge ugly pile for 2 years, and getting a new BBQ. It was pretty full! Funny thing is - it all happened on Saturday! I pretty much did nothing on Sunday lol.
It all started last month when we got together for dinner. The restaurant had these individual s'mores on their dessert menu, and while we were enjoying the gooey yumminess that are s'mores, we started talking about how great it would be to have them whenever we wanted. Then I mentioned we were planning to put a fire pit in our backyard...eventually. Then they jumped in and said they would come help us build it if we wanted to do it soon. I didn't even hesitate - we set a date and made plans. We did have to push the date back once, but it turned out for the best because the weather was over 90 degrees on our original day, but a more manageable 80ish on Saturday. (I wish I could say I planned that, but it was just me getting my days mixed up and planning 2 things at once.)
We started by taking the post out and bringing bricks from the front island around to see how big we should make it. We reused the bricks from the front island because we are slowly disassembling it so we can move it. I thought it was a great solution instead of buying something new and having a pile of bricks we would have to get rid of. I also like how it makes our fire pit look like it's been there for a while. Once we figured out how big we wanted it to be, we dug out the grass and put one layer of bricks even with the edge, then followed that with two more layers. I like it this height, but I have more bricks so it might get another layer or two. That was it - pretty darn easy - it took maybe an hour andf a half from start to finish. The pile of branches in the background is about half of what we ended up burning. We had a huge pile of tree branches, pine needles and dirt from when on of the trees in our front yard fell over during the ice storm a few years ago. The stuff that was underneath was too wet to burn, but we can use it all summer long once it dries out.
I have to say that the most amazing part was how much of a difference it made taking out that stupid post - seriously. I wish I had taken a picture, but it probably would have been blurry too! As you can see my yard has a loooong way to go before it is done (yes, that is a huge pile of cut grass in the corner) - I just keep telling myself that I'm fine as long as the weeds in the neighbors yard are taller than mine (you can see theirs over the top of the fence). We need to replace the fence, plant new privacy trees (another victim of the ice storm), plant fruit trees, build garden boxes, build a deck/patio and replace our grass (cough,dead grass, cough). Unfortunately most of those projects are pretty low on the list of things to do. We'll get there eventually, but in the meantime we can enjoy a few s'mores!!
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much I did!
Beth
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