Backyard Blitz - part 1

We have been so blessed to have so many amazing people help us in the last 5 weeks.  We've been blown away by the fundraising that has taken place, and so many lovely things that people have been doing for us (even saying 'we' seems strange as I don't know who I'm talking about anymore - I guess 'we' means me and my boys, and I don't want to say 'I' because that makes it more real that Aaron isn't here anymore). 

A couple of days after Aaron's funeral, his cousin Tracey and her daughter Jessi-Rose called in to drop off some yummy brownies they had made.  Aaron taught Jessi-Rose at school a few years back.  I actually wasn't home when they called in, but they saw that our house and yard obviously wasn't finished.  

They came back a few days later with some very exciting news.  They decided to approach a professional landscaper (Patrick Graham) and told him about our situation and he agreed along with the Landscapers Association of Tasmania, to do a 'backyard blitz' on our whole yard - front and back!

The entire 'backyard blitz' is actually happening in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime there have been lots of other jobs to do around the yard and house to get prepared for it to happen.

One of the main things was we needed a plumber and I have been so lucky to have Grant Chugg Plumbing agree to do the rest of the plumbing to get the outside ready for the landscaping.

A big job that needed to be done before the landscapers come in, is getting all the concrete paths done.  While Chrish was down he helped my brothers Eden and Jared box up the paths for the concrete.  The boys were having a great laugh about Aaron's raised veggie boxes not being square.  Aaron was so proud of his veggie boxes, until he knew my brothers (who are builders) were coming around for a BBQ and he then knew he was going to get stirred for them not being quite straight.  I'm sure he was up there watching them having a laugh about it, and was laughing himself as they all loved to stir each other.

I would've loved my front entrance to be done while Noah was still alive as it was such a pain to get him in and out of the house in the wheelchair, especially as the driveway wasn't done for a long time.  It's so nice to finally be getting it done.


A few weeks ago Jared and Eden came and did some other jobs inside that needed to be finished.

It's so nice to finally have our bathroom totally finished.



Last Saturday was very exciting as the footpaths, front entrance and a slab out the side was poured.  Tracey had her family come along to help, and Jessi-Rose's boyfriend Jorden is a concreter which was awesome, as he came along to help do the prep work before the concrete was poured and stayed all day and helped out with the concreting.  He did a great job.


Tracey and Jessi-Rose had approached a few companies to see if they could donate the concrete and Hazel Brothers agreed, which was amazing as concrete isn't cheap.  I feel so blessed and lucky that people are showing us so much love and support right now. 

Eden asked a few of our friends to come and help out on Saturday if they were free, and it was so nice to have them all come so early to help out. I felt bad that I was stealing them away on a Saturday morning, but I think everyone enjoyed being together, despite the hard work.  Because we had so many helpers the work got done so quickly.





To get ready for the landscaping to happen in a couple of weeks, there has to be a lot of plumbing work done outside first.  This means digging a trench right down the side of the house.  I felt bad for the guys who dug most of the day, but they did an amazing job.

They also started getting the back ready for the retaining wall to go in.   There was a lot of jokes about footy and how they could say whatever they wanted about it since Aaron wasn't around.  It's nice to know that everyone knows that it's okay to have a joke (especially at Aaron's expense!) as that's what Aaron would want. 

It's so nice to finally be getting the work done around the house and yard, and I'm excited to have the yard done in a couple of weeks. I can't even imagine what it will look like, after living in an unfinished house for over 16 months.

I feel so blessed and grateful to be able to have it done, but so sad at the same time that Aaron isn't here to enjoy it as well.