The Shafferland Shuffle

Good morning, and Happy Mother's Day!! I'm thankful for my mom and for all the many other women who have shared mom-like love, advice, and investment in my life! Sending big hugs to you all!

On this Mother's Day Shuffle...we'll give you a peek at our quarantine-phase-two life!

* We had a beautiful day last Sunday! It was bright, sunny, and filled with Ryan's amazing breakfast cooking and another week of jammie church! We enjoyed some time outside, and I even tried out the hammock to make sure it's still in good, working order! (It is.) We were able to take a walk that evening and enjoy a beautiful sunset, and then it was time to gear up for the week!

* Monday was Miss Braeya Jo's 14th birthday! I wanted a picture of her with the quarantine birthday sign I'd gotten for Ryan's birthday. Amazingly enough, I was able to get the photo I wanted, and as soon as I did, she spun around in her little bed in protest. That cracked me up! That evening, Ryan worked on some painting in our living room, and we potted the ferns he'd gotten last week. (Two of them are these tiny little runts and they look like carrot tops in their pots!)

* Our pastor wanted us to meet in person for staff meeting on Tuesday. It was the first time in 26 days I'd driven a car! (Fortunately I still remembered how it worked.) It was good to see my work friends, and we even got to eat McAlister's for lunch, because staff meeting lasted five hours! Tuesday night? More painting. (And a small nap for me - five hours of minute-taking called for some recovery!)

* Our living room painting adventures meant that we had to repaint a couple of walls in the kitchen, too. It's a whole story I'll have to tell you someday. I helped out a little with that on Wednesday - and check out this pretty sunset we saw on our walk that evening! (Its not my best framing work in a photo, but a gentleman was fishing at the pond, and I didn't want him to think I was trying to take a picture of him, so I snapped the photo quickly!)

* You know so many details about our Thursday, because I did a Day in the Life documentation on it. I won't rehash it too much! It was a pretty day filled with SO MANY phone calls! It still holds the record for most church calls I've taken during my quarantine phone coverage. That night I also went to a store for the first time in almost two months - helped pick out our flowers at Lowe's! And Ryan hung up my spice rack shelves that we've had for over a year.

* I must have been worn out from documenting on Thursday, because on Friday I didn't take many pictures at all! I had to run a church errand, so I stopped by the hospital to drop off something to Ryan. He ended up getting caught in a meeting and got out of work almost 45 minutes late. I was so sleepy in the sunny car and wanted to kick back and take a nap, but I was so afraid I'd wake up to a police officer doing a well-being check on me! I did some proper meal planning and grocery-list making that night, and I even made a batch of no-bake cookies to be part of our Mother's Day goodie basket gifts.

* Yesterday morning I spoke via Zoom at a Mother's Day event! That was a first for me, and I tried to limp along in self-documentation since Ryan was at work. My photos are fairly poor, but they exist! After the meeting, I spent the day in the kitchen, baking and washing dishes - and then packing up the gifts to give away! Ryan mowed the yard, which is speed-growing right now, I think!

The Saturday Six

One.

I have been enjoying my friend Brooke's beautiful hand-lettering through social media for a few years now! She just launched a new website and now is also a designer for rubber stamps! (Some of you may not know that a few years ago, I was a voracious stamper.) I don't believe I've ever known a stamp designer before, so I think that's pretty wonderful! You can check out her talent here...

Two.

When I was in elementary school, my bedroom had the coolest little office nook in it. Of course I in no way fully appreciated its coolness back then, but I do now! I believe, if I remember correctly, that in the early years of living in that house, my sisters had shared that bedroom, so there were two regular non-walk-in closets in the room. When they no longer shared the space, one of the closets was converted to a built-in desk space with shelves above it. Who knew? My parents were trendy before Pinterest! Here is a much more modern version of such a space, and I love everything about her decorating here, but I also love that she calls it a cloffice! That's what we call Ryan's office at work!

Three.

I've probably seen this sign/saying for the laundry room before, but it still made me giggle right out loud.

Four.

It seems like libraries are starting to slowly reopen around the country, so if you're looking for some new books for your kids to read here at the end of remote schooling and the beginning of summer, here is a list for readers who love the Little House series. I did not know there were some books that look at the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother (in Scotland), grandmother, mother, and daughter. So if you're big fans of the Ingalls clan, there are some more options for you! And then there are other books from the pioneer days. Oh, how I loved the Sarah, Plain and Tall books and all the Grandma's Attic books. Anyone else?

Five.

As I showed you earlier this week, we just did a board and batten feature in our entry in our house. And you might remember we did a shiplap wall (painted dark, not white) in the bathroom earlier this year. Though both provided a decent amount of work to accomplish, both also created a significant upgrade in appearance for a very small cost. (And Ryan says the work wasn't so bad. He can say that because he has the skills. I'd have been in trouble on my own.) Anyway, if you're not a shiplap fan, but you like the idea of bringing some extra class and poise to one of your spaces, this post offers a whole gaggle of ideas for other types of patterns. (Don't worry, Ryan! I don't have any projects in mind. Right now.)

Six.

Much like the laundry sign, I'm sure I've read some (if not all) of these uses for used coffee grounds, but since some of them pertain to gardens and plants, I'm sharing this one today!

Day in the Life: May 2020

Throughout 2020, I'm doing a series of day-in-the-life posts, looking at each day of the week! For May, I'm looking at a Thursday!

Date: Thursday, May 7, 2020
Ryan is 41 years old, Bekah is 41 years old, and Braeya is 14 years old.
(Both Ryan and Braeya have had birthdays since the last DITL documentation, and this is the one window in the year when Ryan and I are the same age! Side note: loving the matchy matchy numbers in our ages right now.)

Weather: High of 68, mostly sunny, with wind gusts of 20-30 mph expected. 

* Special note: We are currently in stage 2 of returning to regular life after the Coronavirus quarantine. This means in our state, people over age 65 are still encouraged to stay home. We're all supposed to wear face masks in public settings and continue to practice social distancing. We can now have up to 25 people at a social gathering, instead of a max of 10. Our essential travel ban has been lifted. People have been urged to work from home where possible, but businesses are slowly beginning to reopen. Ryan is working on a proning team at the hospital, and I am working for church from home. 

Midnight-6:00 a.m.

Both of us sleep hard, after a busy day yesterday. My alarm starts going off at five, but I ignore it until closer to six. I'm such a snoozer. I'm not sure what time Ryan gets up and starts getting ready, but I eventually stumble out of bed to do the same. I make the bed and get my water tumbler and first cup of coffee for the morning.

6:00 a.m.-noon

I turn on "Big Beach Builds" on TV to play in the background while I sit to check email and blogs and do a little journaling. Ryan's still getting ready for work. (He has to fully shave his face for his work gear to seal correctly, and I still haven't gotten used to the look.)  He eventually emerges to pack  some snacks and everything he'll need for his shift and gets another cup of of coffee. The sun is rising beautifully when he leaves for work, and I get my own second cup of coffee. I hunker down to do some Bible study.

I'm still working my way through Psalms and today I'm focusing on the second half of Psalm 74. I'm also doing a really wonderful study from The Daily Grace Company (called Amen) that walks me through "The Story of Scripture from Eden to Eternity." I am loving it.

I have a little extra time before I have to get ready, so I take a few minutes to wander around Pinterest and blogs and let my mind slowly wake up. I disturb Braeya's slumber (at my feet) to go take a shower. My stomach was growling when I went to bed last night, so it's REALLY growling now. After my shower, I make some yogurt with honey and granola, which most of you probably know is my go-to breakfast almost every day.

Before I get started on the work day, I put a load of clothes in the washer and throw some gel in my hair. (I decide to make it a curly-hair day since wind gusts of up to 30 miles an hour would negate any prolonged work on said hair.) I don't have any Zoom meetings today, and the only place I plan to go is to Lowe's later to pick out flowers, so it can be a t-shirt and comfy pants kind of day. (Taking full advantage of those while I still can!) And in my effort to conserve makeup for work-outside-the-home days, I just put on foundation, eyeliner, and mascara.

Since the church office is still officially closed, Abagail (the administrative assistant whose place I filled while she was on maternity leave earlier this year) and I share the responsibility of answering the forwarded office phone. I'm on duty today, so I make sure to turn the ringer volume on and all the way up to avoid missing any calls! (Why do phones only ring when you walk away from them?) My coffee cup is half empty and fully cold, so I top it off, warm it up, and settle in at the desk to work!

At our staff meeting earlier this week, we began making plans to meet together as a congregation (live and in person) soon. So my first order of business today is to contact our greeters to see which of them are planning to start attending right away and which ones feel they need more time at home to be safe. I need to put together a greeter rotation for those first few Sundays back!

I also start making a list of things to put in an FAQ document to send to these greeters a bit closer to time so they remember all the little details that come with reopening a church during a pandemic. (There are so many pieces and parts to that! I didn't even realize how complicated it was going to be until our staff meeting!)

After leaving several messages and taking a few calls, I pause to get some steps in around the house and see if any of my greeters call me back! They begin to do just that, so I walk and talk. Ahhh, the perks of a portable office phone! The calls come in so fast, that for a while, I have a new voicemail after every call. (That never happens.)

I catch a fast enough break to move the clothes to the dryer and throw in a load of towels, and then I resume returning messages. As I walk and talk, I notice some of our neighbors are putting in a fence and find Braeya hanging out on the sun porch supervising the work. I've done so much talking for the past two hours that it's time to refill the water tumbler and hydrate! Probably should have a snack, too. :) Peanut butter and dark chocolate chips for the win!

More phone calls come in, and I multi-task folding and putting away the clothes while I answer questions. I move the wet towels over into the dryer - while still answering questions. In between calls, I text with Ryan to see how he's faring at work. Our county's virus cases are actually on the rise (ironic and unfortunate for the week of attempting to reopen, but still our reality) so he lets me know that it's busier than it had been, but he's doing just fine.

Noon-6:00 p.m.

I have no idea if the phone will stop ringing just because it's lunchtime, but you know how I do love to eat on a schedule, so I head to the kitchen to warm up my leftovers. I have sauteed zucchini and summer squash and a turkey burger with cheese left from various previous meals. It might be a weird combo, but I'm too hungry to care. I start to surf for something to watch while I eat before remembering that I am about 3 episodes behind on Bringing Up Bates. I pull up the oldest one I can find in the DVR and watch while I eat.

I really want ice cream for dessert but remember that we finished it last night. Just to remind myself of this misfortune, I open the freezer to stare longingly at the hole where the carton should be - AND THERE IS A CARTON IN THERE!! Ryan didn't take a full serving last night so I could have a tiny mini-serving today. That is love, right there!

Ryan sends me a picture of his lunch at the hospital. He gets a free buffalo chicken wrap from the cafeteria and says it's very good. He calls partway through lunch to talk to me for a little bit and mostly laughs at how excited I am about this fence going up at the neighbors' house. When he hangs up to go make some coffee (because he heard me make some for myself), I fold and put away the towels.

Phones start ringing again promptly at 1:00. It's a busy one today. My sisters and I do a weekly 1/2 hour phone call/Bible study, and it's scheduled for 1:30 today. I've already notified them that I might disappear frequently.

I do have to disappear - but only once. And when we finish up our call, I work on returning emails and eat a Clif Bar for my afternoon snack. (I'm on my third 20-ounce round of water too, so I'm pretty happy with my daily consumption.) Braeya sleeps through it all. Because that's EVERY day in her life. ;)

Ryan comes home from work, and we gather up our masks and hand sanitizer and get in the truck to go to the store. It will be my first time to be in a store in almost two solid months. On the way, we stop for a Coke at McDonald's. We don't often drink Cokes, but this seems like an auspicious occasion that calls for a celebration! We arrive at Lowe's, determined to scurry through the outdoor flower section, pick out what we need, and get out. I've made a list of all the little pots and baskets we need to fill. Normally we take quite a bit of time to pick different mixes and matches of colors and heights of flowers, but not today.

Prices are higher than last year, and selection is way down. Everything they have looks really beautiful and healthy, though, so we're excited for that. We grab a four flat-selection that is on the biggest sale we can find, add a couple of fillers, and check out. And of course it rings up incorrectly, so we have to go to the customer service desk to get our $12 overcharge back. Once we're done with that, we load the flowers in the back of the truck, and I stay with them while Ryan runs into the regular part of the store to pick up a couple of things he needs. I disinfect myself and everything in my hands. :)

We stop at the grocery (the extra one...not the one on our normal rotation...) because we have coupons for freebies, and I stay in the truck while Ryan gets them. We come home, unload the flowers into the garage, because it's too cold to safely plant them yet, and disinfect the few groceries we've purchased.

6:00 p.m.-Midnight

I make a big batch of homemade marinara sauce to portion out and freeze - which I intended to do about a week ago, but I forgot until today. Ryan makes the evening pot of coffee and refills the K-cup stash underneath the Keurig while I brown some ground turkey and cook spaghetti for our dinner. I transfer some of the marinara sauce into the meat; it smells SO GOOD!

We eat dinner in the living room while we watch an episode of Matlock (because we are so cool like that). It was classic 80s big hair and alllllll cheesiness. We pour our first evening cups of coffee and immediately fall over to take a quick nap. Again with the coolness...

One of my friends texts to ask if she can send me some house listings to view. I'm such a house hunting junkie and her son is in the process of buying a house. Don't have to ask me twice to weigh in with opinions!! YES, PLEASE!!! I scroll through all the pictures, prices, and locations and send her my thoughts.

It's a nice evening, and the weekend forecast isn't overly delightful, so Ryan asks if I want to go for a walk around the neighborhood. YES, PLEASE! We walk about two miles, and enjoy the sunset. When we come home, we pour our second cups of coffee, and Ryan hangs the spice rack shelves we have owned for over a full year. How embarrassing is that? We bought them at IKEA and needed to spray paint them to match our kitchen cabinets. It became one of those projects we never got around to doing, so earlier this week, he painted them. He hangs them up and I alphabetize the spices so I can place them in their new home. (We have cute labels for the jars en route to us. I can't WAIT for them to arrive!) Of course the hanging of the shelves doesn't go nearly as seamlessly as we plan, so that project takes a while. We love the way it turns out, though, and it's so nice to finally have all these little jars in their proper home. We do have a few more empty jars, but we need to wash them so they're ready to fill.

About 9:30 I realize I really need to work out before it gets too much later. I've been doing some sample workouts from Revelation Wellness, so I do the "No Treasures on Earth" circuit workout. Ryan often works out with me but wants to do some strength training today, so we divide and conquer on the  exercise. (And I work on my fourth and final tumbler of water for the day.)

When I'm done working out, I return to the kitchen to portion out the marinara for freezing and to cook more spaghetti so I can make our lunches for tomorrow. I box up our lunches in containers so Ryan can just grab his on his way to work tomorrow and all I'll have to do is reheat mine. I wash all the pots and pans, which is something Ryan normally does, but I want to surprise him. :)

We hunker down on the couch at long last, have a little mug of cereal, and I work on the finishing touches for the blog. We have the perfect amount of time to unwind before heading to bed!

And that's a Stage 2 Quarantine Thursday in 2020 in Shafferland!

Right Now

I wrote this piece a few days ago to share with our small group and some of our ministry leaders at church. God kept nudging me to share it here too, so if you're one of the readers who needs to hear this today, keep reading!

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
- Romans 8:37 –

            It’s one of those pump-your-fist-in-the-air verses we love to quote. In fact, I found it on a list of verse to study, meditate on, and pray during this pandemic. It’s a great verse for that, by the way. But it’s the kind of verse that deserves a little extra elbow-grease on the study end of that three-part suggestion.

            It deserves extra study, because it begins with the words “in all these things…” What things? If you glance back up a couple of verses, you see a question that lists these things. Romans 8:35 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

            Did the words trouble and hardship stick out to you like they did for me? I did a little study on those two words from the original language and learned this: the word trouble comes from the word Thlipsis, which means to crush, press, compress, squeeze. Tribulation, affliction pressing in from the outside. It demonstrates grievous physical affliction, or mental and spiritual distress.  Hmmm…anyone relate with that? How about hardship? It comes from the word Stenochoria, which means literally a confinement to an uncomfortably narrow space. Symbolically, it means great distress that arises from within. Again…anyone?

            We’re pressed in and crushed by outside fears and regulations. We’re confined to the narrow spaces of our homes (which may suddenly be feeling much narrower than square footage would indicate). And some of us are distressed from within, facing fears that well up from places we didn’t even know existed in our hearts.

            Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Did you see that? MORE than conquerors! I looked that one up too, and it said that means to prevail mightily…to vanquish beyond…to experience a decisive victory. So in all the crushing and confining we’re experiencing from within ourselves and coming at us from outside forces, we aren’t going to just squeak by in our hearts. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS. We might not be able to perceive it in the moment, but we are prevailing mightily. We’re in the middle of a victory of the soul that will be easily distinguishable – not determined through still photos from the finish line.

            And how will it happen? Through Him who loved us. Through the tender esteem and concern (which we call love) that comes from God to us.

            One more note for you, here. This verse doesn’t say we will be more than conquerors. It says we are. Right now. More than conquering all the things that pile up around us and within us. Right now He loves us. Right now He’s giving us the power to prevail mightily.

            Right now.

Sprucing Up the Entry

I must say, I don't think our neighborhood has ever looked better than it does this spring! In our neighborhood walks the past few weeks, we've seen teenagers up on ladders, power washing their houses. We've seen whole families crowded in flower beds, ripping out old, dead plants and bringing fresh life (and mulch!) into the space. Lawns are starting to resemble baseball fields, with perfectly straight lines.

One driveway has a bright green dumpster taking up a parking space. When we walked by one evening, Ryan said, "I wonder what they're doing!" I told him when I'd walked by the day before, the garage door was open, and I saw a man sitting on a pile of plank flooring boxes, reading instructions. I had a feeling we'd soon be seeing old carpet peeking out of that dumpster. And bless the man and his instructions. What a project!

With all our evening activities canceled by the virus, we've been spending our off-work time...well, working. Working on the house! We finally gave our guest room a cohesive look, as I showed you last week. My beloved Anne of Green Gables room still makes me smile every time I enter. 

The next project on the list was one of my dreams that may have been inspired by Pinterest. I wonder how long it will take before the very mention of Pinterest will cause Ryan to fall over and cry. Pinterest for me = projects for him, it seems. 

But because of his hard work, today I can introduce you to our spruced-up entry!

When we bought this house, I was so excited to have an official entry area. In our old house, you walked in the front door and found yourself immediately in the living room. We had to place a little shoe tray and coat hook beside the door, because we didn't have a closet. But the new house had both an entry area and a closet! 

We loved it then, and we love it now. It was plain, though. I'm pretty sure the only update we made after we moved in was a new light fixture. So when I found this post detailing how to add a board and batten feature, I casually mentioned it to Ryan as a suggestion for our little entry. He read the post and declared it would be a fairly easy and inexpensive upgrade, and it would make a big impact in the entrance. 

So we did it! Okay, he did it. (I did help a little bit!)

Ryan actually purchased, cut, and installed the whole board and batten feature in one day. (He's so gifted with things like this. I'd still be standing in Lowe's, picking out wood.)

I think it took him longer to caulk the seams and fill the nail holes than it did to cut and install the wood! But he had unending patience and persevered. It looks so seamless!

We painted the bottom portion of this project the same bistro white that we used in the guest bathroom earlier this year when we upgraded it. It's a really bright white that we love. (The word "bistro" in the title doesn't hurt!) 

Then it came time to pick the color for the top.

Remember when I told you last week that picking the gray paint for the guest room became the bane of our existence? Remember when I told you that it was supposed to be gray, but it turned green...then blue!...on walls? Ryan called it "ambidextrous" paint. Totally the wrong word, but oh so funny. 

Well, our maddening ambidextrous paint adventures continued with the upper wall color. We just wanted gray that leaned more toward a blue undertone than green or yellow or purple or anything else.

We won't count how many paint sample jars we purchased, but we will say paint samples saved us from sitting in the middle of a mint entry AND a periwinkle entry, for starters. 

We finally decided on a color called Gray Screen. It was the perfect subtle gray. How could it be anything but the perfect gray with that name?

Well, I'll tell you. It was called Gray Screen and rolled on our walls an unmistakable blue. The same blue, ironically, as our kitchen walls, which are a completely different color (by name, anyway). 

Come back another day and I'll tell you how this one ambidextrous gray paint choice has led to so much painting.

But until that day comes, I will unveil the new entry area!

Here it was before:

And here it is now!

The sign that had been hanging over the front door (which was a wedding gift that is one of my favorite things) is now in our bedroom, and I love it there! 

Let me show you another angle!

Before:

After:

The little sign above the large canvas in the before picture will be going back up in this space, but I need to repaint it to match the new color scheme. We have two canvases in our house that are the same size, and sometimes I rotate them, just for new scenery. So I switched those. Everything stayed the same with the mirror and table. 

We did add hooks on the board and batten. Like I said, we have a coat closet, but when we have several people over at a time (like our small group), there isn't enough room in our closet for all their puffy coats. We wanted to offer something a little nicer than asking them to throw their coats on our bed, so we added these hooks. We love them!

And the other side before...

And after!

I changed the art between the doors. I just swapped it out with a piece I had in another room, because I loved how this one fits with the colors. The rest stayed the same!

We feel so fancy now with our new entry area.

And if we ever stop painting colors that promise to be gray - but are not - we will let you know!

89 Months!

We hit another marriage milestone over the weekend! 89 months! Almost to triple digits. (I probably won't be nearly as enthusiastic about reaching triple digits in years of age when that time comes - ha!)

Our monthiversary was Saturday, which was one day after the Indiana governor released the proposed return-to-life schedule from now until July. That press release, when I read it, brought a surprising mix of feelings to my heart.

I was excited to hear that he felt our state is on track to attempt returning to whatever regular life will look like. I'm excited to think about the possibility of someday soon returning to Hobby Lobby for a stroll down the aisles or a trip to the salon to cover these crazy roots. I was excited that he released not just the immediate changes, but the long-term plan, too, because I felt like it gave people some hope. I've sensed that some people really needed a lot of hope. So those were good things.

But I was surprised to discover a great sadness within me, too. I didn't expect it.

As I've said on the blog before, I haven't hated this quarantined life. And as I sat there on the couch Friday night, reading that press release and realizing I'll have to go back to a regular outside-of-home busyness schedule at some point, I just felt overwhelmed with great sadness. Ryan was asleep on the other side of the couch (Friday evening nap), and I just stared at him, wondering if I had fully appreciated enough the time we have been able to enjoy together.

When he woke up and found me all mopey on my end of the couch, I told him that these last two months have been my very favorite part of our entire marriage. I have loved the forced stall in our schedules so we could be home together.

I have loved watching him totally in his element, bringing projects to life in his own house. He spends so much time helping so many other people with so many projects. It has been a gift to me to watch him enjoy his own dreams-come-true.

I have loved late night talks on the sun porch, both of us wrapped in blankets, listening to rain on the roof.

I have loved his stellar breakfast cooking skills, which were always great, but somehow seem to continue improving. His omelet game is STRONG right now.

I have loved evening walks together on nice nights - and I've appreciated the string of nice nights.

Yes. This has been my favorite, and I'm not ready for it to be over. I told Ryan that they say it takes 21 days to adopt a new habit, and we've had about twice that amount of time in our quarantine. I'm used to it now, and I love it. It's going to be hard to go back to schedules of old.

So those are my thoughts on 89 months of marriage. I've loved all 89 of those months. They've all been a gift - even when life circumstances haven't been easy. But these last two in particular have been an extra sweet treat. So I celebrated this milestone even more than usual, I think.

Ironically, Ryan did have to work on our monthiversary (ha!) but when he got home, we took our photo in front of our still-blooming tree. God gave this tree a magnificent blossoming season this year, and I celebrate that, too. It's been the most gorgeous sight for me every single day as I work.

What? What are those things in the picture? I think they're called shoulders? Why, yes! Yes they are! That's because we actually had a proper spring - almost summerlike - day on Saturday, and we were able to pull out summer clothes!

One of our favorite things to do (in season) is visit the ice cream shop, and we hadn't been there yet this year, so that was our plan for our celebration. Ryan suggested we walk, so we did! We don't actually live super near the ice cream shop, but it was a beautiful day and we had the time, so we surely did walk right on over!

When we arrived, we discovered they had a line all mapped out in the parking lot, with spaces clearly marked, six feet apart, so we could all wait our turn. I have to say that though the line was decently long (and we got there just in time before it got REALLY long), people were very respectful and not pushy.

We had our masks in our pockets, and we put them on before we walked inside. The shop had a rule that only two people could go inside at a time, and the people working were kind and efficient. We picked out our treats and got out pretty quickly. I had hand sanitizer in my other pocket and we cleaned up before walking home a bit more slowly (and down a more scenic route), eating our ice cream, talking, and looking at pretty houses!

When we got home, Ryan grilled chicken, I roasted some broccoli, and we had the healthier version of nutrition for dinner. :)

I loved this day - what it stood for in the grand scheme, and the actual day itself. Delightful.

Love you, Ryan!!!