It all started with a shovel

It's Memorial Day weekend. We did not get caught in the parking lot of I-15 on Friday. We heard it was awful. We chose to stay in Provo. Saturday was cool and cloudy but no rain for most of the day. This was the day we tackled the HUGE bare spot in the north corner of our front yard. It used to house a plum tree, but the tree fell over a few years ago after it could not get enough sun while being shaded more each year by the neighbor's very large pine tree. I have planted a few things over the years and only a few have survived since the soil is so very hard and pure clay. The Bishops Weed grew too well and took over the space and was very aggressive. It took two years of Roundup and lots of shovel work to hopefully get it out completely. There is one small Hosta and a large mound of Snow on the Mountain that come back faithfully every year.
This was the day to do something. We had purchased a few good looking bushes the week before - not enough, but a start.
I started first by overturning shovelfuls of dirt. There were a LOT of med size rocks in the area by the neighbor. fun. I was not sure I would ever make a dent in the huge area that need to be dug up and composted. After an hour, Clyde joined in the fun of digging in the dirt. Michelle joined us and then Nicole arrived from her hike up to the Y. We resurrected the original plan to build a terraced area under the pine tree which meant the design had to be laid out, staked, and even roped off with decorative ribbon! Then the calculations, the selection of the terrace bricks, and two drivers (CRV and Ciscos jeep) off to purchases the bricks. Michelle and Clyde will have lots of back aches to remind them of all their heavy labors today! 54 bricks total. By the time they arrived, Cisco and Casey also arrived back home after a soccer game. More helpers! Clyde was thrilled to supervise while everyone else lifted bricks and smoothed dirt. Of course Clyde brought out the level, to make sure the bricks were laid evenly.
When we were about done planting the last bush, Nicole said "Uh oh, I think I hit something important." Turns out there was a sprinkler buried in the dirt right in the spot we planned to plant a bush! It seems our lawn has been receding over the years but the sprinkler stayed where it was and got buried with dirt. New plan - make that sprinkler have a tall extension to spray over the bushes - Clyde is not about to move it 14" to the edged of the grass!
With all those helpers we made short work of the terrace shape and got 5 bushes planted as well.
Lots of lifting, shoveling, digging, hauling, smoothing, sweating, and hard hard labor.
Hooray!!
Merry Memorial. Sorry backs.
photos for you:

Looks like it's almost fun, right?

In this picture, I wanted to show the beautiful design of the terrace area, not the faces of the workers. Oops.

And the happy crew is just about done!! Yay!

In a few days we will get a load of dirt, buy some shade plants and bark mulch and maybe there will be one more photo. It makes me so happy to look at this now. Such an improvement.
Thanks everyone!!