This is the house that love built...

So fitting that today is the 13 year anniversary of Jeremiah and I "meeting" for the first time.  It's a bit of a long story, but to keep it short... I was 20 and had saved a bunch of money to travel from Iowa, out west, to Oregon.  I had tickets to several shows on Widespread Panic's summer tour.  Along the way, my car was totalled, but I was still determined to do what I had set out to do... lots of shows to see, and I didn't want to miss out.  I was dropped off in Eugene, Oregon at the Cuthbert Ampitheatre with just a backpack full of clothes, a tent, and a blanket.  Hopeful that a friend would have some room in their car, I walked the lot until I found a good sized group of Iowa and Colorado "kids".  Lo and behold, I was connected with a couple of Iowa natives with room to spare.  Jeremiah, of course, was one of them.  He had already been living in Colorado for a few years, and I was about to move to Durango for school.  How funny that our hometowns were about 100 miles apart, and that we both loved Colorado, WSP, the outdoors, camping... well, really more in common than I could list.  After that, as Jeremiah likes to say, we were basically attached. 

I feel so fortunate that the two of us did so much "growing up" together.  We did a lot of traveling in our early years together, some rugged mountain living, tons of camping and Jeeping trips, hiking, hanging out by rivers.  I know we've seen hundreds of concerts together.  We have been married for nearly 11 years, we have three beautiful children, and a precious, lovely and unique spot in the friendliest mountain town in the country (I'm sure of it!).  We've seen the best of times, and as of late, some of the hardest times.  We've made it through though, and are celebrating what is to come.

As some of you know, I spent some time away from our mountain home this winter/spring.  While I was away, we were incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to remodel our mountain cabin - our home.  Jeremiah has spent countless hours working on it.  He's done it all himself!  He tore just about every wall down, reinsulated, re-wired, drywalled and painted.  It's just the beginning, but the changes are indescribable!  We are still not totally moved back in, but we're getting there quickly!  I wish I could share some of our before photos with you today, but I'm sure if you read back in my blog pretty far you can find quite a few.  I'm working on our laptop - we barely have our internet hooked up ;) and the big hard drive doesn't have a place to be quite yet.  But, for those of you who would like a peek, here is what we have going on in our home...

The living room - where we've all been "camping out"!

Our bedroom, primed and ready for paint!

The kiddos entertaining themselves while we get some work done.

Georgia lends a hand in our room!

BIG squeeze!

Enjoying dinner on the deck after a good day of work!

So, this is our home.  The house that love built, and is building.  I'm happy.  We're all happy... and the future is looking good!  Now that I'm home, and getting settled, I'll be back to blogging much more often!  We have got some really cool stuff planned for the summer, and I'll be sharing all that I can!

*~Sending SO MUCH LOVE to my readers, friends, family, and supporters!  I feel so blessed to have come this far with so much to look forward to!~*

Nicole