Happy Father's Day Clay

We surprised Clay with a painting of the Milkbarn!

My friend Cristen Miller is an amazing artist that we both knew in our SF days before we were married.

(she also did my children's portraits which I adore and cherish)

(she also told me I am her number one collector! woo hoo! I beat out the owner of Ameritrade, haha)

It is exquisite.

She captured little details only we would notice...the wire from the smokestack, our patron bunny statue, little weeds and bare limbs that have died on some of the cottonwoods :)

I also commissioned her to paint this portrait of the valley. It took my breath away each day. Really. This was one of my favorite views coming down the 93 on my way home. I took a photo in June which is my favorite month there. The light, the sky, the green pastures and clouds in the afternoon. Dreamy.

I worried this would make everyone sad to see. I wondered if it was too soon?

But not so!

We look back fondly on that time in our life. It shaped and reshaped us as a family.

Those highs and lows were a gift.

Okay, so after picking up the paintings we headed to Juanita's! We brought Clay down through 4 hours of traffic and he said as long as there was mexican food, he would be fine with the surprise :)

it is a Montgomery family favorite and seriously, never disappoints, it was better than I remembered!

haha...my models

We headed over to Marty and Diane's afterwards to hang out :)

Her beautiful home was decked perfectly for the 4th

They did an extensive remodel and pushed open their kitchen.

I have been coming to their home since my early days in college, it always feels good to be there

They have a diving board so the kids did a competition :)

It was a great father's day!

I mean, I even made my delicious egg salad sandwiches for the men in our ward but really, I made them for Clay per his request.

He is a good man and a good, honest father. He is patient, slow to react to teenager things, he loves them and provides for them.

And he loves me.

A good father loves his wife :)

Happy Father's Day to the guy who can build just about anything.

We love you💗

Comments

Sports Mom Era

I think I saw this coming but maybe I didn't really see this coming:) I am a sports mom. Plain and simple. I had other hats too like library mom, classroom aid mom, costumes for musicals mom, outdoorsy hiking mom, musical mom, jazz band mom, tech crew mom, art mom, spring break mom, etc etc etc But sports mom has been a pretty big theme in my life:) So, in honor of my Dad's birthday today and his absolute love of sports, I share this to save the memoires. Because one day, it will be just that, sweet and crazy sports mom era memories:) Okay, so I love JV games because the weather at 4pm in the Bay Area and even coast side was amazing last year. Tee shirt and jeans? Heavenly Fall 2024 (he already looks different) Friday morning fits Becky Ruppel photography↑ In the middle of football season lies the beast of the high school basketball pancake breakfast. It was actually fun to serve all of the people coming through... even the complainers...haha Homecoming! And nothing better t...

Audrey Opens Her Mission Call!

It's been so long since I wrote. but THIS! This needs to be recorded for all. Earlier in the fall of 2024, after wondering why she hadn't had any specific experience letting her know if she should serve a mission, Audrey did receive her own personal answer. You already know. She called me and relayed her quiet yet powerful experience. She later met with her YSA Bishop and opened her mission papers! Everything fell into place with all her appointments and paperwork *phew On the morning of December 31st...she received an email alerting her she had her call waiting to be opened in her missionary portal! She was all nerves haha So, we got ready and headed to Montara Beach per her request to read her call...and thankfully, we were all home to share this with her. Such a sweet and tender moment to launch 2025 with💗 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission! Spanish speaking June 2nd Mexico MTC after a week of home MTC :) I'm really proud...

We Are Officially Building That House!

And....we're off! First concrete pour was a success Along with a crew involving other people outside of our humble brigade! This is the garage floor which really should be called Clay's shop floor haha let's be honest here :) the mastermind at hand :) ten years ago we took this photo upon our move into the Milkbarn, the home that changed me, changed all of us really. What an era that was for us! I mentioned to Clay as we build our home here on the coast, my heart will finally mend from leaving Boulder. We are much older(sigh), much wiser(that's good!), and even more patient(almost killed us and we wanted to quit too many times to count). But here we are. The immense joy we get when we work together creatively is really something else. It's taken us forever. The pieces are fitting together. God definitely took his time with us. And now...we're back :) (p.s. most of what we'll do will be in my stories section on my instagram @jenniferjoycoll...

Hello Collins

Search This Blog