Flash Back Friday: Dream House

4 years ago, our house looked like this!





How did I ever live through the renovations. This looks like a disaster, but we were so happy with it at this point. This is several months into the renovations and we would move into the house for another YEAR!

This is what the house started out looking like.....

This is Gene's Grandparents house. It has always been Gene's dream to renovate it and turn it into a beautiful bungalow.

This is what it looks like now (or at least last fall.. .not many changes to the outside lately)

I loved watching Gene's dream come alive! I love our house, and I think he did a fantastic job!

Check out more Flashbacks Here:

Flash Back Friday: Playing Putt Putt

We've been vacationing in the mountains for six years now. Every summer, JJ wants to do the same thing... play Putt Putt, aka Miniature golf. And he doesn't want to play once, he wants to play every day. Thankfully, we have figured out which courses are worth it and how to get the most play time with the least effect on the old wallet.

Here's a picture from 3 summers ago. JJ was six, about to turn seven.

Here is from this year, JJ is about to turn 9!

He looks so big! I can't believe how fast he has grown. He probably still is wearing the same shorts he did three summers ago. The kid only grows vertically, which is a GREAT thing. He's so athletic, he's nothing but muscle.

Here is another then and now from the same summers:

I love my boys!

Flash Back Friday

My friend Ashley has a great photo blog that I follow. She listed a bunch of links today, or maybe last night, to some other great blogs. One of those is Christopher and Tia. They have flash back friday, where you can post an old photo for everyone to see.

I searched back through my photo files and I came across this picture.





This is Gene and JJ about 4 years ago. This is one of JJ's first "catches". We have some friends that have a fantastic pond thats stock slap full of this huge brim. JJ was enthralled at the size of his catch.


Gene loves to fish. He grew up fishing in small ponds. He spent his graduate school days out on the lake after class. He was really excited to share the joy of fishing with JJ. JJ loves to fish now. He's still skeptical about touching the fish, but we're working on that.

I love that my boys have this to share with each other, and as they grow older, they have something they can do together.