We built a patio

Well, really...Joel built a patio. I helped a little. Here's what we started with.

Don't ask me to explain the rocks. Just understand that we had a large area full of rocks.

First step was to clean up the rocks while our next door neighbor was on baby holding duty.

We dug out some sod to enlarge the space. Joel built a frame and installed it. We dug some more and made sure everything was level.

Joel added some leveling sand while Ben pretended he was in a construction zone.

Then Joel was finally able to start laying brick. With Ben's help, of course.

TADA! And this is what it looked like right before Ben's birthday party last Saturday. It's pretty awesome having an actual patio to hang out on. We've used it nearly every single day since finishing it, and it has completely changed the look of our yard.

We thought very seriously about hiring someone to build the patio, but decided against that idea for a couple of reasons. One, it's MUCH more expensive to hire somebody, like at least twice what it cost us to build it ourselves. And two, we needed it done pretty fast since we had Ben's party coming up and another party this weekend. If anybody out there is contemplating building something similar, you need to know that the skill level required is minimal but the physical labor is exhausting. I doubt Joel will want to build a patio again any time soon! We actually lucked out because the area we chose to dig out was already full of dirt, so that made it easier. We dug a few feet of sod around the perimeter and it was SERIOUSLY hard. The only thing that kept me going was thinking of my pioneer ancestors and how they used to not only dig out sod, but actually build their houses with the stuff. Yeah...I wouldn't have lasted too long out on the prairie.