Category: life as we know it

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Merry Christmas, thankful for you!

Serving since 2010

It’s been a tradition of mine to include parts of our family’s year on the business Christmas blog. It’s important to me for clients to know we are a family business. Once we’ve done work for you, you’re now apart of the Phillips Tile & Stone family. This Christmas, I decided to have a Top 5 for the business, and a Top 5 for our family. This year was full of hard, but when I go back and remember, it was full of good as well. We are still praying for the healing of family members and friends. In the middle of hardships (death and health issues for family and friends), we saw God’s provision and blessings. I’m incredibly thankful for the HOPE Christ brings during trials. Without further ado, here are our business and personal Top 5 for 2024!

 

Phillips Tile & Stone Top 5 for 2024

  1. We took Phillips Tile & Stone back to the basics this year. The last few years we have been working with builders, but this year our projects came directly from residential homeowners again. It was an answer to prayer to see how God provided each project.
  2. Any business owner will tell you hiring is difficult. Our crew is skilled, talented and dependable. We are so thankful for our guys and their loyalty to Phillips Tile & Stone!
  3. The past 5 years have been a dream come true, as with YOUR votes, Phillips Tile & Stone has been voted Best Tile Installer in Omaha! To see our name mentioned with some of Omaha’s biggest names is humbling and unreal. Granted, I think tile isn’t a niche most are looking at entering, so I’m sure that makes our odds of winning much better. 😉 Most of our days are spent installing quality craftsmanship and not ‘building a business’. Earning this award definitely lifts our spirits.
  4. Our favorite project this year might be a heated tile floor, a large project that our oldest was able to help with.  Under Trevor’s keen guidance, our son gained an appreciation for what Trevor and his crew do everyday!
  5. One of my favorite things about owning a construction company, is having the ability to bless others with this business God has given us.

 

 

Phillips Family Top 5 2024

  1. Because of our amazing crew, this year Trevor felt comfortable taking a week long vacation as a family of 8. Our kids fulfilled dreams of flying, sailing and seeing the ocean. The Oasis of the Seas was perfect for us. We made so many amazing memories. Our 2 and 4 year old’s now play airport/pilot regularly. The littlest boys have asked if our next cruise would be “…in 10 minutes?”
  2. Our oldest three boys played Baseball from December-August. They traveled for tournaments and learned so much. Baseball season is full, but so good. Elsie’s been in gymnastics for a full year and the younger two are loving attending all their siblings basketball, baseball, flag football and gymnastics events.  Soon, those littlest two will be playing all the sports and our life will get even more full!
  3. Our oldest turned 13 and his dream was to watch Elly De La Cruz from Cincinnati Reds play. So we drove to Chicago to do just that. We saw some sites and ate great food, too.
  4. This might seem like an odd one, but our kids learned the value of hard work. Their pet sitting business allowed them to earn money for Summer Church Camp, baseball lessons and the 13 year old is saving for his first car. It can get wild having up to three dogs at our home, but it’s also an adventure that everyone enjoys.
  5. We have continued to homeschool and each year looks a bit different. This year, Michelle taught at MKS Studio and the kids took music and acting classes. This is in addition to Band. Altogether this year, our kids are playing: trumpet, saxophone, guitar, piano/keyboard, cello and singing in choir. I’m so thankful our children have the opportunity to learn from skilled teachers. Michelle also was able to attend the NMEA Music Conference in Lincoln because of MKS Studio, which was a full circle moment being able to watch All-State perform.

Thank you for allowing us the honor to serve with construction services. Thank you, Lord, for providing. Thanks for reading, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From,

The Phillips Family

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PTS Projects and the best Banana bread

Phillips Tile & Stone, a family business.

Good morning!

Today I woke up at 5am ON MY OWN! I got right to work and started making the best banana bread to start our busy day. This recipe is from my “Little Grandma” and I even entered it in the county 4H years ago having it bring me a blue or purple ribbon. I don’t remember which ribbon I earned. I do remember the fun I had that year entering a few dishes, crafts and animals in the Russell, Kansas county fair. So much fun, that while my banana bread baked, I looked up 4H camps for my own kids. The best memories.

Here is a healthy banana bread recipe that is heavy on the overripe bananas and low on the butter and eggs. I never used anything but regular flour but I have substituted the sugar for honey. It’s such a forgiving recipe. My six kids like me to add cinnamon and chocolate chips for that extra goodness! Hope you enjoy!

Little Grandma’s Banana Bread

4 mashed bananas

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together. We like to put a sprinkle of cinnamon and a handful of chocolate chips. Pour into a large, greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with butter and enjoy!

Let me know if you make it! We are off to complete a FULL day of work, projects, appointments, homeschool, errands/chores and wrap up with baseball!

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Thank you for your response. ✨

 

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Starting 2024 off with(out) a plan!

Happy New Year! I’m seeing several emails about New Year goals and ambitions. For years, I was that way too. Setting all the goals and accomplishing most of them! I’m not sure if it’s because of age or this stage of life. While I do have goals for the year, it’s not like years past. You’re probably wondering what this has to do with construction/design/Phillips Tile & Stone. Well, I’m getting there…

For years, Trevor and I had remodeling projects of our own going on. A little back story that our kids enjoy, Trevor proposed to me in the house he bought in hopes we would live there as newlyweds. I say this often, but it truly was a thing only God could have planned. Trevor proposed and we decided a short engagement of three months was it! So, in that amount of time, Trevor bought a fixer upper, we planned a wedding, he gutted the basement, I planned a honeymoon and also got a new job. It was a whirly three months! For most, it might have seemed outrageous. But we did it. That’s about how the years went. We started Phillips Tile & Stone, had our first kid, had a second kid, that child had emergency heart surgery as a 2-week-old, I ran a marathon and finished my master’s degree, Trevor grew the company, and we had four more children. All by God’s grace and strength, did we do any of that!

I understand goals. I love goal setting! I’m motivated when hearing other’s goals and plans! But this is where the tides turn. 2024 feels different. Yes, we will continue to install beautiful spaces for our wonderful clients. Yes, we will continue to back up our work. Yes, we will continue to grow the company in ways that make sense. 2024 feels like the year we work hard, without huge goals in mind and pray for clarity on the direction God wants us to go. Perhaps that is what we should have gone from the beginning. I’m hopeful going into 2024 as I pray the Lord guides and directs us in family life, business life, church life and homeschool life. That’s a lot of life to be happening, and we are thankful for it all!

This year Trevor and I both turn 40 and we celebrate 15 years of marriage. It’s quite a different feel to walk into a year, waiting/praying for direction. When I remember all the ways God has planned out life events better than I could have, it brings a unique peace. So, my friends. Happy New Year! We are so glad you’re a part of this Phillips Tile & Stone community. We are curiously expectant to see how the year unfolds.

Here is a picture of us on our wedding day, back in 2009. Who else remembers it snowing on October 10th in 2009?

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Merry Christmas 2022

This family business is once again sending our Christmas card on the blog. Our clients become friends. So it only makes sense to send our Christmas greetings out this way. To our friends that sent cards and letters. We adore displaying them in our home. Please don’t ever stop sending your Christmas love.

I will tell our 2022 story by photos. This year has been one of growth and stretching. In our family and business.

Our kids played a lot of sports (soccer, baseball, basketball and flag football), they learned new instruments (saxophone and trumpet), they went on field trips, tried summer camp for the first time, swam a bunch and learned more as we homeschooled together. They performed in plays. Our kids also grew in entrepreneurship. We are thankful they enjoy working hard and seeing the fruits of their labor.

As a family, we went on a couple trips.

Phillips Tile & Stone kept busy! We installed for a new business opening in Bennington called Cup & Cone, it’s a super cute new coffee and ice cream shop, be sure to check them out! We installed and designed spaces for homeowners. Our crew learned new skills as we shifted the business a bit. We were once again humbled by your votes for Best of Omaha.

As Christmas quickly approaches and then a New Year is set to arrive, we want to take a minute and thank you for using Phillips Tile & Stone. Thank you from our family and our crew’s families. We enjoy serving you with exceptional craftsmanship and design assistance.

The Phillips Family & Phillips Tile & Stone Crew

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Merry Christmas from the Phillips!

“It’s the best time of the year,” that’s what our 8 year old likes to say! Merry Christmas from the Phillips family. We hope you are enjoying all the coziness this season brings. Is anyone else in disbelief we are already in December? January will usher in a New Year. To us, it felt like 2021 went incredibly fast. Every year we realize how fast a year can pass. We hope you conquered personal goals and made 2021 the most successful it could possibly be despite everything going on. If we have learned anything, we’ve learned grit and determination and prayer go a long way during difficult times. If 2021 was a difficult year for you, we’d be honored to pray for you.

2021 brought some highlights for us as a family/company and those highlights are…

-Finding out about baby #6, we are due in March of 2022! We are excited and praying for a healthy baby.

-Moving. We are so thankful we found a house with the market as crazy as it was. Is? Who is keeping track. 🙂

-Squeezing in a few family trips before summer ended. It was crazy, especially after moving trying to make all the trips happen that had previously been scheduled, but so glad that we made that effort.

-Winning Best of Omaha for Phillips Tile & Stone, THANK YOU to all who voted!! It’s not lost on us that YOUR votes are what made it happen. We will continue to provide and install exceptional craftsmanship and value to YOU, our clients.

-We are thankful for the connections we’ve made here in Omaha. We are finding so much joy in deepening our roots in this wonderful city we’ve been planted.

Thank you for being our family friend or a friend of the company. We appreciate you all so incredibly much. Merry Christmas!

The Phillips Family and Phillips Tile & Stone Team

Merry Christmas from Phillips Tile & Stone and the Phillips family.
Jeremy- Phillips Tile & Stone Subcontractor
Thank you for voting!
Best of Omaha Tile Installer
We are thankful for your votes for Best Tile Installer in Omaha!
Gary- Phillips Tile & Stone Subcontractor
Working with Big Frog of Omaha
We need to get photos of the whole team! This is really hard to get done.
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New Growth

As we move into spring, I’m encouraged. I’m encouraged by new growth. As I watch my tulips grow and begin to blossom, I see a beautiful miracle. To those of you who have caught the garden growing bug, like myself, it’s addicting to watch new life burst through the ground from those tiny seeds or bulbs you planted. It’s addicting to watch grass gain color and fullness. It’s sometimes a pain to cut said grass, but that’s not my point.

We love to watch nature grow, but how have YOU grown as a person? Have you ever taken the time to write out your dreams? Do you know how to make those dreams into small goals to accomplish everyday so you CAN reach those dreams you’ve got?

Here at Phillips Tile & Stone, we like to dream. We like to plan. We like to accomplish.

I’m here to challenge you to dream and to plan. Do you want to remodel a room in your home? Do you want to take a trip? Do you want to get healthy? Do you want to change careers? Do you want to finish that degree?

No matter your dream, big or small. We’d like to encourage you to take that next step, beyond the dream and move into the planning part to make that goal a reality.

We believe you’ve got what it takes to accomplish that dream! Let’s start this new spring season filled with HOPE and gusto. Happy spring, friends!

#PhillipsTileStone

Hexagon floor and subway shower. Install by Phillips Tile & Stone LLC
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2021! New Year-New Opportunities!

As we wave goodbye to 2020 and say hello to 2021. We can honestly say it was a packed year. We worked hard to continue serving clients and our employees are always at the forefront of our thoughts. We are so grateful for our Phillips Tile & Stone Team! We are so grateful for those who continue to utilize our services!

We are pumped to roll out a new opportunity for 2021, we’ll call it t-shirts for a cause! If 2020 taught us anything, it’s to shop small. We are partnering with Big Frog Custom T-shirts to not only support AJ’s small business but $4 from your t-shirt sale will go directly to the Open Door Mission. The Open Door Mission is a Gospel Rescue Mission founded in 1954 committed to breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Each day, Open Door Mission’s campus offers 917 safe, shelter beds to people experiencing homelessness, serves over 4,747 nutritious meals to feed the hungry, and provides homeless preventive resources to more than 1,000 people living in poverty to empower them to remain in their own homes. Trevor and I ordered our own t-shirts a few days ago (click here to order yours) and we can’t wait to show them to you all! On our end, you’ll be a walking billboard for Phillips Tile & Stone and that alone sounds pretty cool to us.

We wish you all a Joyful and Happy New Year!

From,

Trevor, Michelle and the kids.

#PhillipsTileStone #ShopSmall

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Merry Christmas from the Phillips!

What a year 2020 has been.

If it’s alright with you, I’d like to share 10 things we are thankful for that happened in 2020 for our family and Phillips Tile & Stone. As a small, family business, we have felt all the feels this year. Growth, stretching, momentum, tiredness and lots of hard work are some words I would use to describe this year. Here are 10 things we are thankful for this year.

  1. Our rainbow baby boy was born! He came fast and furiously on February 26th, right before the world was paused. We are so thankful for him!
  2. We were able to still participate in Awana at our church. The older four kids enjoy it and Trevor enjoys being a Sparks Leader.
  3. We created a co-op! It has been such a blessing as we homeschool and we weren’t sure how the school year would look. Creating this group has been such a good outlet for both fun and educational.
  4. Phillips Tile & Stone won Best of Omaha Tile Installer! Thank YOU to all who voted. We work hard to make our clients happy!
  5. We made a few more of our own home improvements.
  6. Our family was able take a couple short vacations. One was glamping in a beautiful cabin by a lake with wonderful friends and the other was to The Elms. It was so refreshing to have these short getaways!
  7. Phillips Tile & Stone turned 10 years old and we celebrated with local giveaways on our FB and IG accounts!
  8. Trevor and Michelle celebrated 11 years of marriage.
  9. Trevor coached baseball while our older two played. The boys also were able to play soccer and continue piano lessons.
  10. Through everything that happened this year, we were still able to work and provide service to our clients while providing for our family, our employees and their families! We are grateful. So grateful. Thank you to all our clients this year!!

This year we saw God provide again and again. No matter how your Christmas looks this year, remember that the Savior of the world was born in a lowly stable. He was born to die for my sin and yours. You are loved by Him. Jesus is worthy to be praised!

Merry Christmas from The Phillips and Phillips Tile & Stone!

Phillips Tile & Stone
Phillips Tile & Stone
Merry Christmas from the Phillips family!
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We are thankful for you!

This year, as a small and local family owned business, we are feeling extra thankful for you!

While Thanksgiving this year might look different than it did last year, we are counting our blessings. Everyday, we work hard to cultivate a construction company that our families and clients can be proud of. We, as a family of 7, personally wanted to THANK YOU for continuing to support this dream of small business owning. We have some additional services that we plan to be rolling out for 2021. So hold on to your socks. 🙂

We hope you take time today to reflect on what you are grateful for. We would love to hear from you and what makes you thankful.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving day, friends!

The Phillips Family

We are thankful for our bundle of love that was added to our family in 2020.