The first order of business was to remove all tree stumps and Mesquite bushes sprouting up. Unfortunately, there was also on large tree that would sit directly in front of the garage that would have to be removed. We kept the firewood and will use it for the first fire in our fireplace. Maybe I'll make something out of a piece of it, just to give it a legacy place in our new home!

Just in case your wondering...  I used 3 cans of fluorescent paint to mark all of the cedar stumps and Mesquite bushes sprouting up.

We rented an excavator to quickly and easily rip out all of stumps and of course this large tree.

There are thick layers of rock about 12 inches under the ground. This huge tree had a root ball that was only about 14 inches deep but over  5 feet wide! It was actually pretty tough to remove.

Here is the firewood that we saved from the large tree.