Our back yard kinda settled over the years and when it rains, we get puddles and the ground sloped toward the house (not good!). So, we decided to take action while the weather was good.

We went to Home Depot and bought some drain pipe, socks, crushed rock and pea gravel. I tied the french drain into the 3 inch downspout drain on the side of the house (more digging :( )  While I had the ditch open, I ran an electrical line for a water fall (later project). On top of the pea gravel you see above, we're going to continue with red lava rock. Next, we're going to remove the existing grass, add fill dirt to level things out (slight pitch away from the house), roll it, then put sod down.
Hope everyone has a great week! More pics soon.