212/365 - Thank you BeBe

BeBe,
Thank you for letting us stay with you and allowing us to turn your life and house upside down for the last couple of weeks. We had such a good time and appreciate everything you did for us. We loved going to Disneyland with you, having lunch on the pier, sharing yummy meals out on the beautiful patio, going to the Pirate Dinner, stopping for decadent double decker ice cream treats, going on walks, reading together, swimming in the pool, and best of all, just spending special time with you! You are a wonderful stepmom and grandmother! We're lucky to have you, and we love you very, very much.

211/365 - In the airport

We had a two hour layover in Denver on the way home this afternoon, and it didn't take long for Ryan to find a cute girl to try to impress. Her name was Emmy, and I think they had a little thing going for each other; Ryan even asked her mom for her phone number (because she liked his game and he wanted to send her one when he got home!)

210/365 - My little James Dean

I wish the boy would let me style his hair a little bit like this sometimes because he looks so cute, but every time I mess with it, he just pushes it down and flattens it all out.

209/365 - Aunt Mar Mar

We made it back to Rancho Mirage late last night and are spending the next couple of days here so we can spend time together with BeBe, Uncle Ogre and Aunt Marcia. We also plan on going through some of Dad's things...something I'm not looking forward to but know has to be done...

When we met up with Bret and Marcia last week, we gave Marcia some letters we'd bought for Randi's room. I'd recently bought some super cute letters for Ryan's room, and Randi wanted some for her room too, but all we could find for her were some really plain white ones. However we both knew just the person who could doll them up for her...Aunt Mar Mar. Marcia is a florist and very talented at making and creating all kinds of things. She did all the flowers at our wedding and they were beautiful. I had about a 20 minute conversation with her on the phone a couple months before the wedding telling her what my dress was like, what the color scheme was and what flowers I liked and didn't like and that was it. I never saw any samples ahead of time or really talked with her much more about them, but when she arrived at the wedding with flowers in tow, they were amazing and exactly what I'd envisioned in my head! I still can't figure out how she did it! So when Randi and I gave her the letters to decorate, all we told her was what color Randi's room was and that she loved mermaids, and I had complete confidence that she'd come up with something wonderful...



And once again, she outdid herself!


Here's a photo from my wedding day so you can see how pretty my wedding flowers were...

208/365 - On the road again....

Besides checking up on our properties and visiting friends in Phoenix, we also had a date with the Superior Court of Arizona. Every two years the county assessor attempts to value our greenhouse property at a very high rate, and every two years we go before the State Board of Equilization and get the value lowered quite a bit. Well this year we felt it should have been lowered even more than it was, so we went one step further and sued Maricopa County for over-valuing our land. We met before a judge this afternoon and successfully got our valuation lowered an additional $90,000, which will save us about $5,000 over the next two years. Yeah! We wanted take the kids with us to let them experience what a courtroom was like, but at the last minute we thought better of it and left them with Shelby, Clarissa's daughter. I'm glad we did because Michael and I were able to better concentrate on the task at hand, and Randi mas able to make a new friend!

After having a yummy dinner of burgers and ice cream with the Shank family, we hit the road once again and headed back to California. It was bittersweet leaving the desert for some reason. There are many things I don't miss about Arizona...the heat, the poor air quality, the lack of vegitation, etc. But other than good friends and Trader Joe's, one of the things I do miss about the desert are the amazing sunsets!

207/365 - Judy

I got to spend some time with my dear friend Judy today. I can't remember exactly when I met Judy, but it was a long time ago. I moved to Phoenix in 1985 and met her the first year I was there, so I guess I've known her for about 26 years. Judy is one of the sweetest, kindest, most generous, caring and thoughtful people I know. She is also silly, quirky and a little bit crazy, so she's a hoot to be around and I adore her to the core. We've seen each other through many stages and changes in our lives, and our paths have always been entwined in one way or another...the nursery business, the dogs, my Mom, etc. We don't talk as often as we used to, but when we do, it's like we just talked the day before, and she's the kind of friend I can talk to about anything and everything and know she won't judge me or think any differently of me. And best of all, I know she always has my back...no matter what. That's a great feeling! I would go to the end of the earth for her, and I love her with all my heart.

Thank you Catherine for helping me edit this picture. I love your b/w processing technique!

206/365 - Flower Girl & My Home Girls

We still own several properties in Phoenix that we can't sell because of the depressed real estate market. Fortunately we have them all rented to wonderful tenants. This morning we visited our greenhouse tenants who are doing a great job of restoring the buildings and breathing new life into the property. After several not so good tenants who used and abused the property, it did my heart good to see it looking like a plant nursery once again.


This evening we went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restrant ever, Oaxaca and some of my best girlfriends from Phoenix joined us. Once again, it was so nice to share food, fun, laughter and good times with some of the people that mean the most to me. I love you girls...mean it!

L to R, Judy, Trish, Claire, Clarissa, Shelby, Alexi and Me
(Note to self, remember not to wear the same outfit to dinner when you think you might take a picture again the next day! But heck, I thought the top was super cute so I was trying to get some good usage out of it!)

Ryan kept messing with Auntie Clarissa during dinner, so when we were getting ready to leave, she scooped him up and made him pay for his mischievous ways! I just love this picture!