Black Thumb Transformation?

We bought a house in Denver about 4.5 years ago. This house is located in an awesome up and coming neighborhood but unfortunately had ZERO landscaping. Since my husband and I are in no way landscape architects (black thumbs in fact) and we are mostly kinds of lazy we haven't been very proactive about landscaping. We basically bought rocks, a lot of rocks. Front and back...ROCKS. When we bought this house there wasn't one weed in the entire yard (of rocks). But the minute we put our key in the door, the weeds grew and grew and grew. So our hobby is pulling weeds, weeds and more weeds. Spraying weeds, raking weeds, watching how weeds bloom and reseed themselves. I greatly dislike weeds. WEED I like, weeds I dislike! I have always thought we are prime candidates for Desperate Landscapes on HGTV. Next week my lovely baby Frankie Mae is turning ONE (said with many tears)! We are having a backyard Gnome birthday party (my dream since Piper is a November baby and it is always hit or miss with an outdoor party - usually a miss), so I am on a mission to clean up and beautify. I have pulled weeds, planted bushes, planted flowers (in the back) and this is our last weekend to clean up and mulch everything (in the front and back). Luckily some family is in town and willing to help so hopefully the weed pulling should go quick. Then comes the fun part, planting shrubs and flowers in the front so when people walk into our house they aren't greeted by just weeds and rocks, weeds and rocks, weeds and rocks. Home depot loves us right now. Piper is an expert at pulling weeds and Frankie loves eating rocks at this point but we plug along. I am determined to not be totally embarrassed by our yard/house next weekend and if heads have to roll to get it done, then heads have to roll. Let's all pray we bust our asses and we are OM time for the birthday deadline!!! Who is the enemy? WEEDS are the enemy, I am going to pull or kill any in my sight. If not, whatever, it was prettier than it has even been before and I actually feel connected to my yard now (and I so does Piper as she loves her new enchanted garden - and that is EXACTLY what I was aiming for). A beautiful magical place for my girls to grow up and play in, filled with caterpillars and butterflies. WE have a lot of work to do but ultimately that is my dream!