"Phoenix house" backyard landscaping project - Part 1

We decided to take the plunge and fix up our backyard in the "Phoenix house" (this is how Graham refers to our place in Arizona).  It's gone through quite a transformation since we first bought it back in March 2011.  I found a photo taken back then - the cacti were abundant and the weeds were very healthy to say the least!  

We've pretty much gotten rid of all of the cacti in this area of the yard.  The crew had a tough time taking down the bigger ones.  This is how we started out early in our trip:

As usual, Graham was helping the "builders" as he refers to the work crew.

 And making sure all is going according to plan:

 Like I said, the crew was having a really tough time with the bigger cacti!

Look at all that cacti!  We probably could have sold that to a supermarket!  Prickly pear is a popular item in Arizona.

At the end of Day 1, the gravel was piling up and Graham loved every bit of it!

"See, Mommy...!"

Day 2 and the concrete is being poured.  Charlie is up early as well to supervise:

This will be where we'll have our new BBQ area and bench:

The pile of gravel continued to get higher.  Graham has discovered a new game to play with his trucks!

But then again, we're back to level ground for more digging.

The next day, more progress is made:

The crew took a break over the weekend and so Mommy took the opportunity to clear out a few things - including this monstrous aloe vera plant!  Here's the before picture:

No turning back now!

These aloe plants are so huge, heavy, and almost as tall as Graham!

Phew! What a work-out! Thankfully our neighbors were kind enough to let us use their garbage bins :-)