Many faces of family!

If a pictures worth a thousand words...

Fall Fun!

"Nee Nee (granny) and babies!"
We've celebrated Open house, birthdays, and fun in general as we said goodbye to Summer! We had a great season of chaos but it's been good getting settled into a fall schedule of Scouts, Soccer, Church, School and free time! Gus turned 9 and we had about 25 or so kids out to the school for a football tailgating party! It was a lot of fun! Even the parents got involved by playing kids vs. parents! I was tackled by the whole lot of them! (and felt it into the next day!! HA!)

From the turning of the leaves to carving pumpkins, we enjoying each day!

Congratulations!

So sweet....

So gentle....

So content...

So beautiful...

Oh, the joy you will bring, baby Chi!

It's an amazing thing to watch your little brother become a father for the first time. That whiny, tattle-tailing snot that used to drive you completely insane glows with pride and the respect you have for him fills your heart so much it hurts. So much, that you aren't sure whether you want to hug him or shove him to the ground. The grown up part of you wins and you hug him; congratulating him. And as you share that embrace you whisper sweet congratulationsand want to add a few snickering things like "don't screw this up or I'll tell mom and dad."

May God bless your beautiful family.

Love you.

Summer Summary

If I could paint a picture of our summer, I couldn't find enough colors! It was beautiful, busy, and a whirlwind of laughter & fun! The memories of these past months will not fade, even as the exhaustion finally begins to lessen. As we fit ourselves back into a schedule of church, school, scouts, guitar lessons and soccer we find comfort in have one another to lean against. Thank you Lord, for my family! And thank You for a Summer that's memories will warm our hearts all winter long!

A Glimpse of Beauty

There is something magical about a garden at dusk.

Girl's Weekend!

Girls will play while the boys are away! Swimming, snuggling, & ice cream for dinner, OH MY! You betcha! Giggles galore! We could get used to this... but we sure miss those boys! Maybe when they get home we'll have chocolate for breakfast?!

Uplifting!we

Date Night! We escaped! Don't tell anyone, but we made a break for it! And what a night it was! We enjoyed dinner at the chophouse and then we went to the "Night Glow" at the Thurston Classic! It was amazing to see the hot air balloons light up at night! Shhhh-don't say anything, but we may have to make a habit of this!

Happy Birthday Granny!aw

Granny celebrated her birthday in style!~ With a new necklace made by SG himself! He hand selected the beads and strung them on in the order he thought she would most enjoy them! Cupcake helped~by trying to eat the beads! We finished the evening with an hour swinging on the porch swing and eating vanilla cupcakes. It's the simple things that remind us of the gifts we have been given. We love you, Granny!

A Year in the Making.

Can you believe it has been one year since we came home?! That's amazing! How quickly the time flies this side of the journey! All those years we waited never went as fast as this precious last year. We have had our ups and downs, and inside-0uts along the way, and every moment is worth it!

We celebrated the day at a petting zoo/animal park. The animals thought we were awesome! Well, it could be the treats we brought? Cupcake wasn't intimated at all by the very friendly animals and Supergus was the hero when we rescued my purse from a hungry goat-TWICE! She was a purse-loving kind of goat, I suppose. We even remembered to feed the "Angry Monkey". We call him that because if you stop feeding him, he throws a fit. We did not feed the tigers....even though we offered him Supergus. SG did not find that very funny.

Reflecting on the year, w know the bonds we share as a family are firmly rooted and we are very thankful for the opportunity to call each other our own. Love is what holds us together, and love will see us through each day the Lord gives us together. ~Here's to many more years together (and a few less purse eating goats!).