Spring Clean Up, Phase 1

Our spring clean up is a little more extensive this year than usual because we have big plans for re-designing our front flower beds.  My dear sweet husband has been toiling in the front yard on my behalf, pulling out our least favorite things, JUNIPER BUSHES.  (Pregnancy and yard demolition don't really seem to mix very well.)  Don't get me wrong, junipers have redeeming qualities, but there are other things we would rather have in our front yard.  Boxwoods or Euonymus bushes are nice, and who can resist a few perennials and annuals flowers to brighten up the front yard.  I'll have to post my ultimate planting plan for the front yard in the next few weeks.  I can't wait until it gets a bit warmer so I can finally implement the plans I have been dreaming about.
Good-bye ugly, pokey bushes!  It has taken us a few weeks to get the demolition underway, due to the unnaturally snowy spring we are having.  I think we have tried to get bits and pieces of our spring clean-up done over the last three weeks.  We haven't had much time between our busy schedule and all of the windy and stormy weather we have been having.  We still have two more juniper bushes to remove before we can bring in dirt to build up the flower beds and get the soil amended for planting.  
This stack is of all of our yard debris from trimming our trees.  Our yard has a total of 13 trees.  Of which, 11 are fairly mature.  It took quite a while to trim give all of the trees a little spring trim.  Some of the trees got an extensive trimming because they hadn't been attended to in quite a few years.  We are also discovering that our weeping willow and cork-screw willow are messy trees.  They seem to drop small whip like branches every time the wind blows.  I guess this is the price we pay for the enjoyment of such beautiful trees.  In the end our pile of  debris was about 4 feet high.  I thought it looked like our own personal beaver dam.  Needless to say, between trimming trees and removing bushes, we took more than one trip to the dump.    
Ah, the joys of dog ownership.  We love our dog, but we love him just a little less when we are out scooping poop.  My husband and sons make a great poop scooping team.  I think we have finally gotten all of the little messes picked up from the winter.  (We weren't very diligent poop scoopers while it was cold and awful.)

Although it seems like the yard clean-up chores will never be done, I take hope in the fact that the warm weather is just around the corner.  This year is definitely the most intense because it is our first spring in this house.  I know that subsequent springs will be better.  (Not to mention, I don't plan to be pregnant again next spring.)  My husband has been a great help and support doing all of the back breaking labor and enduring my constant moaning about getting it all done in time to plant.  In years past I typically plant my annuals by the last week or so of April.  I know that it is earlier than the typical Mother's Day mark but, being the garden geek that I am, I like to get a jump on things.  Next, I plan on complaining about my flowers not growing fast enough until about July.  Just a heads up. . .