House to Home Transformation: Stage 1

This weekend was filled with an insanely large amount of tears, hugs, hello's, and goodbye's.  I'm not sure I can cram them all into one joyful post, but here's a little sneak peak of why we all came together: 

Redden, Big Mike, and Jolly

Cal Poly Pomona, Class of 2010

Yep, here come those tears again.  These yahoo's all graduated this weekend, and I can tell you between all the families that were shedding tears of joy and the graduate's jokes about college, I was shedding tears of joy and laughter all weekend long. 

Some of you may not know this, but Mike is the first in his family to get a college degree.  His younger sister, Lauren, isn't far behind in attaining her degree from Cal State San Marcos.  A single generation with 100% college degree success?  Well to me that shows that their parents and grandparents did an excellent job instilling good values in them. 

Well what is a graduation without a party?  So Mike & I opened our home for the first of (hopefully) many gatherings.  Some of Mike's family came up from the Imperial Valley, while most of our friends and family were just a short 15-20 minute freeway burst away.  We threw carne asada on the grill and kept the La Tolteca chips & salsa stocked at all times. 

But more important than who was there or what we ate were the memories that we made.  In my humble opinion, it isn't who or what is inside of your house that makes it a home; instead it is the memories created inside of those four walls that make a house into a home.  Believe me, we made an excellent set of memories this weekend. 

Maddie showed off her sleeping skills by falling asleep anywhere she wanted. 

Mike's father impressed every one with his excellent carne asada and grilling talents. 

Mike's grandfather hugged each and every person telling us all, "At my age, I need to get all the hugs that I can get!"  With his warmth and kindness, we were all happy to oblige him. 

My family was greeted with a long-lost cousin that I recently came back into contact with.  I invited him to the party, but "forgot" to tell everyone he was coming. 

Many friends were greeted at the door and astonished with all of the progress that has been made on the house since their first visits a few months ago.  When they had first come to see us, we were still beginning our dramatic facelift of the interior, and now they're beginning to see the final product. 

For the first time, our home was filled with babies and toddlers.  Mike's cousin, Megan, brought her tiny little girl followed later by Lucius (10 months) and Devin (11 months) who were eager to play and give Maddie open mouthed kisses. 

I can honestly say that this weekend was more of a blessing than I could have ever imagined.  If you were part of it, please pat yourself on the back or give yourself a big hug from Mike & I.  We are truly thankful for each and every one of you in our lives and we cannot wait to have you all over again for another gathering. 

Love, Mike & Kipp