My attempts at gardening

First of all...I am NOT an outdoorsy kind of person. I get allergies in the spring and summer, so if I can stay inside, I will. That has gotten harder since having kids...they want to play outside all the time, so I am forced to go with them...
We also have an HOA (Home owners association) in our neighborhood who tell us what we can and can not do to our yard, deadlines, fees, dues, etc.... it's pretty annoying and frustrating! Our back yard does not have grass yet and we've been warned that we have to have it in by June 1...YA RIGHT!!!
However, to distract the HOA from noticing that our back yard is not finished, I decided to put in a little flower and vegetable garden in the front and side yard...and clean up the rest of my yard too.
I have NEVER attempted to do a garden before. Nor do I know anything about keeping a garden alive! Thankfully, I have a VERY smart brother who knows pretty much all you need to know about anything having to do with a yard. He and his family came over one night to measure our yard and draw up plans...and they helped till up part of our yard to re-grade it...we've been getting a wet basement because the grade is not right!
Kevin and Jana both worked SO hard helping us!
Then Kev made a list for me of things I would need to buy for my garden.
I went to work that night and when I got off at 3am i went shopping! This is what I bought:

I had these really annoying rocks in my yard...I hate them! So Kevin took a few of them and made me a path! Doesn't it look nice!?!? What's even better is my kids actually USE the path, rather than walking through the dirt! Yay!
I also bought some weed killer for our back yard. Nick mowed down an entire yard full of foot-high weeds...now it actually looks like grass! Lol....
This is our side yard where the grade was completely off! We shaved off about 4-5" of grass and dirt and redistributed it to against the house...it looks SO much better now...except for the fact that we don't have any grass on the side of our house now too! We still have quite a lot of work to do over there still, but its amazing the transformation in just 2 days.
See how level it looks? :) I love it!!!

The next day after I got my plants I put them out...tentatively placing them where I would like them to go. I didn't realize that most of the flowers I bought are a 6-pack and so I had 6 flowers, rather than just 1.
My vegetable garden...with a few flowers mixed in.
Then Kevin came over and helped me put the vegetables and flowers in the spots where they should go! :) He taught me how to do square foot gardening. how to plant, how to water them, etc....I was filled with a TON of knowledge that night! I have planted Strawberries, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Corn, Cilantro, Rosemary, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Zucchini, etc...
Here we are planting my flowers!
And Ashleigh helping Kevin plant some flowers too.


And this is what it looks like today! It's got a lot of growing to do...and I still have some more planting to do, but for now...I love it! :-)