I hope everyone is having a great week so far – I personally can’t believe it’s Thursday! Almost the weekend – whoooa hooo!
Okay, so I’m catching everyone up with our 2024 as I abruptly stopped blogging in the spring last year. Today, I’m sharing part 2 of my year in review recap! You can check out part 1 if you missed it here.
July is always a great time of year. You are in full summer swing with the 4th of July (we celebrated at our fav parade spot!), tons of swimming and lots of watering in the garden!
The flower club I belong to hosted a flower show this summer. We put it on ourselves, all the club members entered into the categories and I got a blue ribbon in the “have and to hold” design division! That was pretty special to me!
Speaking of garden clubs, the village next to us (which is just stunning) hosted their garden tour event. Every two years, they select 8 gardens to showcase and tour in their village and the gardens this year were STUNNING! My Mom and I had a really great time touring these gardens and checking out how people design their spaces!
My Mom and I also did a flower design class and we really enjoyed learning from the professionals!
August is ALWAYS busy for us! We kick off the month by going on our favorite vacation up north in Michigan! This year we visited some wineries and ditched the boys and kids after a couple stops. The views from these Traverse City wineries are just beautiful!
We enjoyed a lot of sun and swimming! The kids LOVE the lake! I got to play golf at the most breathtaking course! My Mom and sister-in-laws were kind enough to let me join the boys and play. It was a retirement gift for my Dad, so being able to play with him and ride in his cart was extremely special!
The week we returned we dealt with one of the scarier things we’ve faced – a tornado ripped through our area leaving the region without power for 5 days. Crazy enough, we had just made a whole house generator investment in the spring and I think that thing paid for itself in 1 day! We did have quite a bit of tree damage, but nothing to the house (thankfully) – though our basement started taking on water, but luckily this was only in the unfinished basement region and it flowed straight to the sump pump well!
The week following, I had a flower cooler shed installed in the backyard! I am so excited for this investment! I had the kids make a super cute sign for me to make my garden OFFICIAL!
In the week’s that followed closing out summer break, we crossed more things off our bucket list – a visit to Cedar Point, more swimming and a visit to a local water park!
I also had a girls weekend with my cousins and we honestly had THEE best weekend! I love my cousins so much, we spend all weekend relaxing and laughing nonstop! We’ve turned this into an annual thing!
August is when the flower “farm” really takes off! One of my fav times of the year!
We celebrated our best friend’s wedding! I got back to hanging clothes outside (one of my favorite things!) and the kids started school….booo! I always get so emotional, but we had a great and memorable summer.
Now the crazy part…school routine was short lived as we made our way across the pond to SCOTLAND!! Before I begin there, Audrey entered a flower arrangement into our local fair! She got Honorable Mention!! We had to miss the fair this year due to our trip to SCOTLAND, which might be my most favorite place.
Andrew’s sister had been in a graduate program in Medical Illustration for the past year, we decided to go visit (she was moving out to come back home after completing the program!) and explore with her and Andrew’s parents! They were so nice to include us and we were blessed to have a “native” to show us the ropes! It was the trip of a lifetime and one I will share more on at a later date! We are so proud of how the kiddos behaved and handled the 10 day trip!
Back to reality and home to a flurry of flowers. My Mom kept the flower operation running (she’s the best!) and we continued the season strong! We continued with all the fall things – playing out in the best weather, snagging pumpkins, having fires, enjoying the Northern Lights in our backyard and getting together and celebrating friends!
Then comes October – legit in a FLASH! Andrew and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary (how?!!) and we had an amazing meal!
I got my hair done – felt like trying copper and really fell in love with it!
We spent as much time as we could outside because we always know what’s to come. Hikes, fishing, climbing trees, we made the most of it!
Flower season came to a close with the dahlias blooming all the way to Halloween (well a couple days shy of it!). We were blessed with some beautiful weather in October! It was in the 60’s for Halloween and no rain (which never happens)
November blew in quick. Within a couple days, the leaves were GONE! Andrew’s brother and his family came into town for Thanksgiving and the kids had a BLAST playing with their cousins! We saw Wicked and have now seen it 3 times! We hosted my family for Thanksgiving this year and made one long table in our living room, it worked out just fine!
After Thanksgiving it was BAM, right into Christmas mode. ALL THE THINGS!
We visited my sister-in-law in Pittsburgh and stayed at her place! We went to the Cirque du Soleil with the Girl Scouts troop (which was amazing!) and I helped co-chair the kids North Pole gift shop at school which was a crazy week! After that it was Christmas concerts and Christmas prep as it came up so fast.
Christmas was lovely, came and went so quickly, which always makes me sad too.
We finished our winter break with lots of cozy time, playing with new toys and gadgets and some lazy days sprinkled in!
We did our annual staycation and while we had to modify due to illness, we still made the most of it! We stayed at the Hilton downtown and caught the Browns game. They stink, but we wanted the kids to experience it and the weather really wasn’t that bad for a 12/29 game! We did get a SWEET upgrade to the Rockefellar suite – which made the trip! We enjoyed food, swimming and exploring the downtown before heading back home for new years!
New Year’s was spent at my brothers house, and all the kids made it until midnight!
Okay, wow, that was a lot – but you made it to the end and you’re all caught up with our 2024 year! Some beautiful memories sprinkled in and I am extremely grateful for it all. What a blessing.
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