Destruction of the backyard

There's nothing like owning a house when it comes to repairs and destruction. We recently had our leaky roof fixed and now it's on to our backyard. Raju and I decided we are definitely NOT plant people. So, we decided we wanted to rip up all the plants in our backyard and the tiles and put down grass.
Monday night Raju decided was a good time to start. So out we went, him with his crowbar and me with my hands. He did the heavy labour of prying up the tiles while I removed the smaller stones from the garden area. We managed to get all of that done on Monday night. The next step is to even out the soil. So yesterday we walked to Home Depot to get a hoe. Unfortunately they didn't have any so we got a rake and another shovel. I thought it would be fairly easy to move the soil, but it is proving to be harder that I thought. There seems to be a soft layer and then a hard layer, so I have to stop and attack the hard layer with the shovel. I also think we may have too much soil, so I'm not sure what to do with the excess. Maybe if we pat it down really well it will settle to the right height. Once this is done, we are hoping to find sod, but if that proves difficult, we'll have to plant grass seed. Hopefully next year we will have a nice grassy backyard to play in.