Danny and Donnie in Denver

Danny met his brother Donnie the other night in Denver to give him the ill-fated snowblower.

We were glad to see it go, and they were glad to get it.

Matt and Maria

Celebrating a new life in California and three years together.  Love and miss them so much...

The antics of Indy

Photo credit to Ryan Dustin for these awesome photos!

Danny as a student again

So weird to see him going to class every day and studying every night. Almost to the finish line!  And then I will get my friend back!

More freeze drying

So addicting to figure out what to do next!  Here is kale and apples and bananas.

Hannah's shop featured on Etsy!

Hannah's etsy shop was selected by the editor as a new and trending shop!  She so far has gotten hundreds of views and two sales!  Plus a custom order!  Yay Hannah!

Her flowers are pictured below.

Etsy Finds

Our newsletter of fresh trends and editors' picks.

Feb 22, 2016: Hot for Home: The New Rustic

13 items

This is one of the pieces she sold this morning

This is what she has left in her inventory

This is the arrangement that was featured on Etsy!  In one day so far she has 1200 views!!

Surprise Lunch

In an attempt to make a memory, this afternoon Danny and I snuck over to the unfinished house and set up a picnic lunch with table cloth, flowers and all!  We took the kids there and surprised them with a sushi lunch, which turned out to be horrible, but I guess that's just part of the memory!

You can see the plywood floor and scaffolding outside the window.  The house is getting there but nowhere near done.  The heat was on though!

Date night with my sweetie

Had a sweet date with Danny. We stopped by the new house to plan out build ins, went to a new restaurant that just opened, and then went to see Risen which was amazing!

Hannah's first sale!

Hannah sold her first arrangement on her etsy shop! In the words of Ryan, so it begins... I know she will be successful as her florals are gorgeous!

Memories

I know Hannah didn't want me to post this picture but I have such sweet memories of her coming into my room with her laptop and sitting in this chair. 

Danny's Terrible Horrible No Good Day

My poor honey, he had a really trying day.  First he got up and drove to Denver for his real estate class.   We were to meet at a parking lot down here in the Springs after that to have a meeting with our builder, Stan, and our designers. After fielding several phone calls and texts from the builder and superintendent, Danny arrived at our meeting place, having nearly run out of gas, and patience.

We drove to our meeting, and after dealing with weeks of stress and many tiny details going wrong, Danny tried to keep his cool with Stan, but didn't.  In a big way.  It was a horrible and tense "conversation."

He joined me for my portion of the meeting with the interior designers where he was pressured by all three of us women to "write the check" for all the furniture and fabrics.  Wrong day to ask him for that.  He kinda lost it with the two sweet ladies...  

So, after making everything right with everybody, we headed home.   On the way we picked Indy up from the groomer, where Indy started hyperventilating (not a pretty sight) and the lady at the cashiers station said "Oh it would all be better if Daddy would just carry him!"   Pressure seemed to be on Danny today everywhere he turned!  I was chuckling by now.

 I decided that he needed a break, and some beer and comfort food.  Of course he had terrible service at the restaurant.  Poor guy.  

So, we came home and tried to laugh off the bad day.  

Then he went to finish his homework for his real estate class and take his quiz. 

 First time he failed a quiz.  

Sigh.

I think it's time to call it quits and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Yup - the day ended up in a bar.  

A picture of the gas tank when he nearly ran out of gas!  Imagine adding that to this day.

Something to be grateful for!

Shopping

Still choosing fabrics...keep changing my mind...can't wait until this process is over.  Feeling tired of it all. But grateful at the same time!

Happy Valentines Day!

The beautiful flowers that Hannah and I got from Danny (that Hannah put together! haha)

Lovely mother/daughter bouquets.

I told Danny that with a daughter who is a florist, I will always have gorgeous flower arrangements.

So true.

Freeze Dried Success

Loving the new freeze drier!  Each day I ponder what to try next - always excited to see how it will turn out.  

Here are my successes so far - raspberries, cheese, avacadoes, ice cream and corn! 

Tonight I put in some sausage kale soup and some crock pot shredded mexican beef ( and some more ice cream sandwiches too).  Can't wait to check it tomorrow to see how it went!

So great to know that these will be good for 25 years if need be!! And they look exactly the same as when they were fresh, and supposedly taste the same when re-hydrated.  We'll see!

Missing my Matt... and San Diego

Thinking about Matt today and wishing San Diego was a lot closer.  I NEED to go back to this beach and get more shots!  This beach is famous for it's awesome sunset pictures, and this shot of Matt testifies to that.

So happy my boy lives in the place that makes him happiest.

Movie night

Ryan and Hannah went to see a movie tonight, and afterwards went out for a burger, fries and a shake.  Such a "teenager" night!  Fun fun.

Hannah wrote a new quote on my chalkboard, and we put it next to the flower arrangement she made to sell on Etsy.  I know that when people see these flowers they are going to sell - they are soooo gorgeous!

Back of the house

We drove by the back of the house today and took a shot from the rear view.  It looks so different with all the scaffolding around it and the black, sticky, stucco paper all over it.  

We also met with the artist who will be doing some faux painting on a couple of walls,  and after talking  to her a bit discovered she was from Gaithersburg and lived one neighborhood away from us and had gone to Covenant Life Church too!  

Very small world.

Guest Post (aka I was desperate and had nothing else to post! haha)

Words from Ann Voskamp:

you know how you're sticking with it & doing that hard thing? You've just gotta know, you don't stand alone, you don't walk alone, you don't go alone: "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength" 2. Tim4:17
And nothing can happen today that will stop Him from sticking right there with you & giving you strength to do this thing.
There is nothing to fear today —
because there is nothing, not mess-ups, not distractions, not less-than-hoped-fors, nothing in the universe that can happen today to separate you from the loving hands of God.
There is nothing to fear no matter what —
because there is nothing, not sickness, not pain, not diagnosis, Not Even Death, nothing in the universe that can ever separate you from the loving hands of God.
There is Never. Anything. to fear — because there is Nothing in the universe that can Ever. separate. you. from the loving hands of God.
So Go Live Brave! His Love Makes You Brave!

‪

House Update

Some days it seems like nothing is getting done at all.

But I know it is.

Today the fireplaces were put in.  Yay!

Sorry to those of you who are into the superbowl, but I never have been and probably never will be.

We finally got our freeze drier up and running!  (Danny did actually, but after he learns how to operate it all he will teach me)

These are the first trays he put in - raspberries, blackberries and rotisserie chicken.  Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Busy busy Saturday

This morning I offered to take all of Ryan's packages to the post office for him.

This is what he brings up.

Whoa!!

Spent a lot of time working on selections for the new house - as far as fabric selections for furniture and draperies.  Love the color palette!

Blast from the Past

Cannot believe that I only have these two cuties left at home now!  

They still sit in the kitchen and Hannah still serves Ryan ice cream.

Some things never change.

Gorgeous flower arrangement

The first flower arrangement Hannah made and put into her Etsy shop!!  

After getting more than a foot of snow and being stuck in the house, we finally ventured out today.  The mountains were so gorgeous covered with snow!  Danny and Hannah tried to shovel out the long driveway after the snowplow guy got stuck and abandoned us.  Danny finally got brave (or foolish) and broke out the snowblower... it was hard to watch him do it but it was that or get stuck until all that snow melted!  

We went out to get Hannah some faux flowers so she could start making arrangements to sell on Etsy.  It was the funnest shopping trip ever!

Visit from a friend

These two beautiful girls are going to be reunited next month!  Today we made the final arrangements for Hannah's friend Abigail to come and visit on her spring break!  So excited.  They have known each other since they were babies.  

Snow

Snowy day in Colorado

And at Embry Riddle too!  Classes were cancelled today, and even though Jacob couldn't participate because he is still sick (back to Urgent Care with double eye infections)  it seems that some of the "boys" were out building stuff with the snow.