Front Yard in Progress - The Stone Wall

So, like I said before, my boyfriend has experience from his last job in doing hardscaping.  We are working on building this wall, merely for looks.  We went to a rock yard, and purchased a pallet of river stone.  The cost is by weight, and the first pallet we purchased was $225.  The second was $275.  Here's the thing, you have to rent a heavy duty truck.  We have access to them for free, but you certainly cannot use your car, or even a lightweight truck.  Those pallets are usually a ton, literally. 
We also got a yard of limestone, which is very heavy too.  I think it was less than $50.

We began by laying out all the stone in the yard so we could "see" the different sizes.

For each row, you want to have stone that are the same height. 

They do not have to be the same length.  After my boyfriend would lay a row of stone, then I'd come back in with limestone and fill in the back of the wall.  I would pat it down with a sledge hammer for harder to get to areas, and a damper for larger spaces.  A trick he tought me was using a trowel to pat in the limestone into the pockets of the stone wall.  Once limestone complete, the next row could be laid.

In progress:

We're hoping to finish the wall in the next couple of weeks.  We're also going to add steps to the right of it.  We've been having trouble finding the stone we want for the steps.  As soon as the month of weddings passes, we will have more time to make some progress.