~ House People ~

 My husband and I have always been 'House People'.
We have renovated over 12 houses, and nearly every one of those houses was an old house. 
 We are still 'house people', therefore we spent a few days going to the St. George Parade of Homes.
We are preparing for our retirement move to that area and wanted to see new homes and builders that we may be interested in.

 Some of the trends in houses that we noted: Walk in double showers, and double shower heads. Also, a return to brass, more notably, antique brass fixtures.

 More of those brass touches. Nearly all the kitchens that we saw were simple white cupboards and the design highlights were displayed in the backsplashes.

 Another double walk-in and double shower head.

 Every home had a fireplace, though not many of the fireplaces were traditional, and most of the fireplaces were these linear styles, with glass,  or rock where traditional faux logs would be.

 Some gorgeous tile was used throughout the homes. I adore these tiles that have an old fashioned feel.

 This was an interesting tile.. tone on tone, but lots of different designs. 

The tile in this laundry room was hands down my favorite tile. I think it's really pretty tile, and I don't think I would ever get tired of it... I've always loved checked patterns.

So... did we find a house?
No.

We found inspiration, neighborhoods, and builders. 

We are currently working on editing our stuff... what we want to keep, what we want to move, etc.
 We have had beadboard and trim for the den stored in the garage, and this week we installed it in the den. Now, we have to paint the den, then we can check off that project.
There is an excitement about moving to into a new house and moving to a new city. 

 On to new adventures!!

Attitude of Gratitude:
Feeling so grateful, once again, for safe travels. We dodged two major snowstorms and visited St. George between those storms. 

Thankful for the talents that our Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

Carmel-by-the-sea, Monterey, St. George

 It's been a busy few weeks.
We took a trip to see our one, and only Grand, and his parents too, of course...*smile*.
     Our eldest son and his family live in Monterey California.
We took a couple weeks vacation and drove out to see their family and spend Thanksgiving with them.

 We went to Carmel-by-the-sea.
It's a charming and beautiful city. 
White sandy beaches, charming architecture, winding roads, and beautiful sunsets. 

 Our son is attending the Presidio in Monterey, learning his fifth language: Mandarin. 
He took us on a tour of the Presidio. Pretty impressive.

 Three sections of the Berlin Wall are displayed. A historical reminder of hope.

Big Sur Coast.
Amazing beaches, rock formation, sand, and awesome surf.

 Point Sur Lightstation.

 Fort Ord Dunes State Park
One of the prettiest places to watch the sunsets. 
(My sweet family enjoying the last of the daylight, and watching the sunset.) 

 Our eldest son, and our Grand. 
  Our Grand is such a beach baby. He is just 16 months old and most of his life has been living where he can enjoy the sand and surf and beaches.  He spent 5 months enjoying the beaches in Brazil.
Lucky boy!

 We feel so thankful that we were able to spend time with our sweet family and enjoy beautiful weather. 
We soaked up the sun, knowing that soon enough we would be returning to Utah, and snowy mountains.

On our way back home, we stayed in St. George for a few days. 
We are preparing for retirement and doing some preliminary home searching. 
Yes. We want to move to St. George when we retire.
A beautiful sunrise greeted us as we began our time in St. George.

Home again, home again, jiggity~ jig.
Now the Christmas tree is up. Lights in the windows, simmering potpourri and candles make our home smell amazing. 
The snowblower has been working overtime, as we've had snowstorm after snowstorm.
The fire crackles away, and I'm playing Christmas music forcing myself to get into the spirit of Christmas. 
This year has sped by so quickly, and we have been so busy, that it isn't feeling as though it's time for Christmas, so I'm immersing myself in all things Christmas...to convince myself that it is indeed December and time to celebrate the holidays.
~Dinner tonight will be crockpot broccoli~cheese soup, with rosemary~garlic focaccia.
~I'll work on decluttering some more. I've been working on decluttering for weeks now and taking things to the D.I.
~I'll clean and polish the wood floor in the kitchen today.
~Routine cleaning, and puttering around the house.

~Attitude of Gratitude:
~So thankful for safe travels. For time to 'mug' on our Grand.
For conversations and making warm memories with our son and his family.
~Grateful for our Saviors birth.
~Thankful for opportunities to serve.

Bloomin' Desert

 Beautiful cactus blossoms.
Amazing to me that amid the somewhat harsh terrain of the desert, there is such absolute beauty.
Even if it is just for a little while.

 The white blossoms on these cactus will fade in just twenty four hours.
Gone, but not forgotten.

 My sweet hubby and I, ran away for a few days.
We visited beautiful St. George.
Celebrated our twenty fifth anniversary.
Relaxed, laughed, and did a lot of  "remember whens".

 It was wonderful to get away together.
To leave work, chores, and daily life behind, and enjoy new views,
 and sunshine.
How fortunate we were that the desert put on a Spring blossom
show for us.

 St. George temple.
How it stands out and shines in the red landscape.

 A really great nursery.
You know, I don't think I've EVER gone on a trip that I didn't track down a nursery, and spend  some time there.
I adore a great nursery.

 What a great building.
An old cotton mill.
It's so great that this old building can be enjoyed by people, and it makes a wonderful back-drop for a nursery.

Leaving St. George.
We'll go back.
It's really not too far of a drive.
We will probably wait for Fall, and the weather to cool down again.
In the meantime, we'll enjoy our valley weather beginning to warm.

I'll share a few more pictures of our trip later.... and I got the best idea while I was there.
I'll share that idea later too.


Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful for my sweet hubby. He loves me eternally.
I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
~I'm grateful that my sweet hubby is so smart!
We had a mechanical problem with the car, and he was able to pull
into a parts store, buy new parts and right there in the parking lot he was able to fix our car, and
get us back to our vacation!  I was trying not to have a melt-down and he just kept grinnin' at me and telling my it was no big deal.
What a guy!