Side Yard: Before and After

Nolen and I have been wanting to do something about our side yard for sometime now. When we moved in our house 3 1/2 years ago it was all grass. Over a period of time the grass started dying. Because when it would rain all the water would be in this small area because our gutter drains right into this one spot.  Here is what it looked like before...

Ugly!!!

And when it would rain it would make a muddy mess.

One of our friends has a pine straw business on the side of his real job. So, we asked for one bail to help our problem. And it definitely helped our ugly yard problem. About 30 minutes later {really an hour- getting interupted around here happens a lot :)} this is what it looks like now...

Much, much better! I did it all by myself! Not that it's hard to put pine straw out, but I was happy with the way it turned out. Nolen would have done it, but it's hard to get things done OUTSIDE when you're not home during day light.

Hope everyone is staying warm. We have a fire going, and are drinking our like 3rd cup of hot chocolate! :-) Love Christmas break!