Tackling the backyard - fire pit, and lovely plantings

Summer has been very busy.  Between various trips to escape the renovation...I mean enjoy each others company ;)  we've actually managed to make some progress.  Namely, we decided to really focus on the backyard and we broke it in at my big birthday on the 5th of September.

Think of the below photos as "in progress".  The entire lot is about 10,000 square feet and the backyard is pretty large and used to slope down.  We dug out the dirt, used railroad ties to create a separate patio area and used decomposed granite as a "topping".  And last but not least, we finally got to a point where we could call the fire pit "finished".  We are super excited also because our buddy, Jose, offered us a bunch of free dirt to help us level out the rest of the yard and then we're installing a sprinkler system and laying grass (Holla!!!). 

You'll also see my poor little vegetable garden that has struggled mightily this summer.  It's tough to keep produce alive when you're not home regularly to water and the bugs get into the leaves.  We do have some good tomatoes though and a sweet baby cantaloupe forming so fingers crossed :) 

I stripped the paint off this old door and painted it a snazzy green and accented with some potted plants (to the right).  Russ has been laboring on the cement slabs (we have 6 more to lay)