They're finished!

And by they I mean Doug and our yard (and get ready for a long post with a lot of pictures - sorry - but this one is for Doug's parents).

We had a fabulous day yesterday with Doug graduating! The girls did a fabulous job with the 3 hour program (there were 1,000 graduates) but Lilly did get a little bored about halfway through.We are so proud of Doug and his accomplishments. 5 years ago (when we were engaged) I remember going to lunch with Doug and he told me that he wanted to switch majors. He was currently a graphic design major and he wanted to switch to accounting. I remember he told me it was going to be another 5 years and hearing that made me not so sure about the whole change. I was in my senior year and was expecting to be done with school in a much shorter time than 5 more years. Needless to say we (he) made it and we're so proud of him! He graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Master's of Accountancy. He truly blows my mind and I'm so proud of him!

Doug and the girls getting ready to head out to the 'ole Marriott Center for the Marriott School Convocation exercises.

The Happy Family at the end of the ceremony!

Doug with his surrogate parents - Sis. Wilkins, my mom wanted you to know she
stood up for you when they asked all parents of the graduates to stand. The happy grad with diploma in hand - no more teachers, no more books...

Doug with his friend Taylor after the ceremonies - he had already turned
in his robes but Taylor was nice enough to share.

And now on to the other great accomplishment we've experienced this week. We have a backyard! (Almost, we're short about 20 square feet - oops). Here's a little montage to portray the work in progress.

Here's what the yard looked like when we first moved in. It really wasn't too bad
but by the end of the summer it was completely full of dead weeds that were about 2 feet tall.Here's what it was like in the winter - I included this one just for fun.

Here's what it looked like halfway through the tilling process.

Here's what it looked like during the spreading the 11 yards (about 1 dump truck) of top soil.More of the dirt mounds.

Here's what it looked like after a huge hailstorm we had last week and drum roll please...

Here's what it looks like today! Hooray for sod - and wonderful family members who help you lay it!

Isn't it funny what a difference only 3,000 square feet of sod makes?

We seriously could not be happier with how it turned out and now we're just keeping our fingers crossed that it will grow! Thanks again to Dad and JD (and Jeffy) for helping us! We definitely could not have done it without you! Thanks for the lawnmower too mom and dad - you're the best! Once it gets good and settled we'll have to have a yard warming party or something - assuming that it doesn't die. We'll keep you posted!