Jayden Matthew & Eli Samuel

pumpkin carving

2011-12-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

Dan carved our jack-o-lantern with the boys! Such fun!

adorable boys

2011-12-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

Just some outside shots, capturing our 3 and 4 year old boys in their element!

Best friends!

I love this one more than I have words for! It captures Eli's sense of delight so well!

"Eli, look sad!" :)

Beautiful beautiful beautiful boy

Can you say fake smiles? :)

Eli in the trashcan!!

2011-12-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Eli LOVES to help my mom with yardwork, filling up our green trash can. These pics are a bit old, but adorable nonetheless!!!

My Sister in Law is very good at hacking

2011-08-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who subscribe or follow and saw "my" last post...I didn't write it! :) My sister in law, among many other attributes, is apparently a really good hacker.

Anyway, I'm leaving the post up cause it cracked me up.

Will make a real update soon, I promise!! :)

My sister-in-law

2011-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

For all of you who don't know, I have the most amazing sister-in-law in the ENTIRE WORLD! She totally rocks and I love her to the moon and back! She will brush my teeth when in town, clip my toenails, steer when I drive, and beat me until I make her cherry chocolate cake. Seriously, I don't know what I'd do without her. I love you, sis!

Dan is 30!!! And he graduated! time to PARTY!!!

2011-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

So Dan finally crossed over to the dark side and turned 30!! Since he also recently finished school and graduated, we decided to have a big shindig! A grand time was had by all, and so now I will post a million pictures for you to see!!

Here's the birthday boy blowing out his candles!! :)

Tracey and Brian. L.O.V.E. them!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan's parents with his aunt and uncle. Fun!

Jillian, Westin, Cameron, and Suzy. YAY!!!! It had been WAY too long since we'd hugged them!!

Dan with Mike, one of the wisest men I have EVER had the privilege of knowing!

One of my oldest (in the sense I've known him a long time...although he IS older than me!) friends, Cardamon, with his sweet daughter Della!

My aunt Ann and uncle Dave. They are VERY dear to me!!

Pizza time!

Steph, Meredith, and Cloe!!

Stephen, Judy, and baby Elijah!! Can't WAIT to meet him!!

Sister-in-laws!! :)

Bestest buddies!!!

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff....I've now known him more than my life! When it comes to people dear and special to us, he's near the top of the list! We love you, Senor Jeffe!!!

Cardamon again. FUN!

Lilly and Lilia. Grandma and granddaughter. Precious.

Jeff again (he has a hard time keeping his eyes open in pictures)

Jon and Laura. Jon is our tallest friend!! :)

Cardamon, who apparently was VERY well photographed at the party! And this is his beautiful wife Lisa!

The Lanes. Avery wasn't too excited about having his picture taken. Jayden was trying to get him to look at him!

My mom and dad. Are they AWESOME or what? And so cute after almost 47(!) years of marriage!!

This is Joe and Stephanie with Dan. I had not met them before they came to the party. Dan knows them from his Canadian days. Fun!

My crazy brother with my mom. Couldn't love them more.

This is Jake. ADORABLE. He is one day older than Jayden and lives next door. And we love him. :)

Kent and Dan. Kent is the pastor of our church. Awesome.

The aforementioned Stephen, Judy, and Elijah!

This was the sign in table before everyone arrived!

The birthday cake...

His graduation cake. Its a mortar board.

Me, Jen, and Lisa. Long time friends, old time classmates.

Meredith and Cloe, looking like sisters, even though there's no relation!

Chatting in the living room.

Jon and Laura again!

The kids enjoying the outside!

Go, Avery, go!!

You go go go too Jayden!!

Eli at a full-tilt run.

Dave and Ann again. :)

Eli was SO tired by the end!

Bill and Karen...so precious to us!!!

Crazy Jayden!

Eli with a cookie. Too cute.

Roger, Bob, Marilyn, and Gayle. FUN.

Tim, Lilly, and Lilia. Some of our favorite people in all the world.

Us and Jen. Big love here.

Eli again. Cause I like him.

Jayden ate and ate and ate. And after his yucky stomach flu, its good to see.

And that's all she wrote!! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy birthday, honey!! And congratulations. I love you!!!!

pictures

2011-03-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I know. Such a bad blogger. Saw someone the other day who said, "So are you doing your blog anymore?" Whooppss!!! Yes I am. I just took a vacation I guess.

Here are some recent pics for you all to enjoy!

This is the boys in their matching pajamas. The lighting is weird for some reason but super cute!

We went on a tour of the new cardiac unit of the hospital my dad had his bypass at. So this is me and Steph all outfitted up for the tour of the OR. Pretty fun!

This was Eli's outfit for helping with the trashcans one morning. Pretty funny!!!

Just thought this one was funny!

Steph and I did a 5k this past weekend out at Zuma Beach. Here's Jayden running on the sand. Fun!

We went to a wonderful wedding this past weekend as well. So here's me and Dan and also me and my mom. Fun!

And the cutest boys ever.... :)

I'll be back with more thoughts soon. Thinking about a big reflective post about Scotland and our time there. We'll see if I can get it all typed out!!!

I'm a bad blogger

2011-02-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry sorry sorry to everyone for being SUCH a bad blogger since we returned from Scotland. I could blame it on being too busy, or on the fact that we don't have anything exciting going on...but in reality that isn't true. The truth is that I'm just lazy. And I haven't charged my camera battery in about one million years (or about 3 weeks, take your pick).

The truth? We've got lots of stuff going on. Dan FINALLY finished school for real, turning in over 300 pages of writing about our time in Scotland. He is now in the thick of the job hunt and has a few interesting leads that we are thinking and praying through. Our other big news is that we are done with diapers in our house!!!! We took the plunge and potty trained Eli and the smart little child had it down in like two days! Amazing. While we will welcome diapers into our house again once we add another child to our family, we are happy for a break after almost four years of them!

Let's see..what else? Steph and I ran a 5k a couple weeks ago. Planning on running another one again in March. Loving the running, loving the getting back in shape.

I think that's all for now. I promise to update with more pics soon but for now, here's a shot from soon after we returned from Scotland (as you can tell by the Christmas lights).

It was taken with Dan's phone (and through the screen) so sorry the quality isn't great but I thought they were being so precious. And on that note, I guess the other exciting thing here is (at least for me) that Dan and I both got brand new iPhones this past weekend!! Fun fun. Thanks Dan's mom and dad! (a.k.a. Oma and Opa)

That's all, be back soon, I promise!!

home, graduation, Christmas, etc

2010-12-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Well we are home from Scotland. We arrived home a week ago and have been busy recovering from jet lag, unpacking (kind of), and busily preparing for Christmas. The other highlight was Dan's graduation a short 36 hours after arriving home. It was awesome to see him walk across that stage. It will be even more awesome when he finishes his final assignments and turns them in January 15th!

So, because its Christmas Eve and things are crazy, I'll leave you with a couple shots of him in his cap and gown!!

Christmas Pictures!!

2010-12-10T05:54:00.001-08:00

We shot our Christmas card picture this past weekend- out in the snow. That was definitely a first for us! :) Here are some of our rejects..and no, I’m not going to reveal the final pick. You’ll just have to watch your mailbox. And watch it really close to Christmas, as they won’t get mailed till we’re home in a week. Hee hee.

My sneaky sister in law, I didn’t know she was shooting this one of me and Jayden! He doesn’t look very happy. :)

We got a great one that I am quite excited about. Thanks so much, Andrea, for shooting them for us!! :)

Out at the Beach

2010-12-08T05:49:00.000-08:00

Let’s rewind a bit, back to early November. Cause I forgot to post these pics. Whoops. :) We headed out to the beach one day with Oma and Opa while they were here. This was in the time period not only known as B.T.S. (Before the Snow) but also B.T.B.C. (Before the Bitter Cold).
Beautiful place we live, eh? Well, place we live for one more week. Its true, we leave one week from tomorrow. Hard to believe. Its gone so quickly and so slowly all at once. We are so excited for home, but also so sad to say goodbye to friends here…and of course to Sam, Andrea, and the kids. Gut wrenching would be an appropriate word for how hard it will be to bid this time with them farewell. To say its been precious would be an understatement. A large understatement.

A Trip to the Farm

2010-12-08T04:47:00.000-08:00

There’s a farm nearby our house here that sells carrots, potatoes, eggs, and parsnip. All fresh from their farm. And for dirt cheap!!

We took a walk out that way with the boys one day recently, before the snow came (in the time period known as B.T.S.- BEFORE THE SNOW).

The carrots are HUGE and we actually just ate our last one tonight from this trip. YUM.

SNOW!!!!

2010-12-01T13:09:00.001-08:00

We’ve been having some serious now here. Jayden’s been off school all week, buses have been sketchy, and we’ve generally been stuck inside quite a bit. Today we took the boys out to play when the snow had stopped falling for a bit. :)

check it out.

Our house is above the “Something Different” place.

Here’s our driveway, which for us is more of a walkway. Since we don’t have a car here and all and, sadly, the bus won’t pull all the way in there to drop us off!! :)

And a couple artsy shots from the park.

Hopefully the snow will be calming down tomorrow!!!

Thankful…

2010-11-26T07:14:00.001-08:00

I am a day late writing my “Thankful” post for this year. But, I figure “Black Friday” is just dawning in Los Angeles (although according to Facebook, WAY too many of you are already awake and shopping!) so I’m good to go.

Wow, what a year. Went back and read my post from last year. While what I am thankful for has not changed much, I have definitely added some new ones, and am also experiencing a new depth of thankfulness for others.

So here we go…

I am thankful for my God, my Savior, whose faithfulness continues to astound me to no end. I did not want come to Scotland. Didn’t want to fly across the ocean with two toddlers, didn’t want to leave home and the familiar. I really didn’t want to come here, get pregnant, lose the baby, hemorrhage, end up in the hospital, and become “profoundly anemic.” But His faithfulness has met me in the darkest moments, even already growing an appreciation in my heart for all He is doing through it and teaching us because of it. Amazing.

I am thankful for my husband. Deeply, truly thankful. We just celebrated six years of marriage this past week. Every year we ask each other two questions- 1. What is one we have done well in our marriage this past year? and 2. What is one thing I can do to love you better in this coming year? Honestly, in years past, this conversation has turned into a fight, where hurts and disappointments have reared their ugly heads. This year, though, it was a sweet, thoughtful conversation about how we’re growing and learning in our marriage. Our pastor at home is known to say, “Marriage…it is truly a mystery.” He’s right. It really is. It is not what I thought I was signing up for. It is different, but as we remain committed to pressing in and being in it for the long haul, it is SO MUCH MORE.

I am thankful for my two sons. I could write a whole book here about how their little lives have changed mine, how I can’t remember sometimes what is was like to NOT be their mommy, how their voices and laughs can brighten up any day, how much I see God’s faithfulness in their lives….I could go on and on. It will suffice to say I am thankful for the opportunity to be their mommy and for every second I spend with them, even if some of them totally exhaust me!

I am thankful for my family. So thankful. I will have to break this one into subcategories:

-I am thankful for my parents (my Mom and Dad and Dan’s as well). They have all supported us SO much on this journey of Dan’s schooling (that is so gloriously close to finishing!!). I cannot even begin to express how they helped us- with their time, their money, their energy, etc. My heart is filled to the brim with gratefulness for their practical outpouring of love to our little family!!

-I am thankful for my brothers, my sisters-in law, my brother-in-law, and Stephanie (she has her own category, of just being STEPHANIE!). I am so blessed to have sibling type people who are wonderful and amazing. I am particularly thankful this year for Sam and Andrea and the blessing of living near them for this time in Scotland. I cannot even begin to express how much I love walking around the corner and running into Sam, or stopping in to see Andrea at the coffee shop she works at. I love sharing meals, lives, child care duty..I love it all!!!

(this pic of them just makes me laugh!!)

-I am thankful for friends, new and old. I seriously am SO blessed by such amazing people in my life!!! I’ll just post a few.

(Hannah is wearing my sweatshirt in this one, a common Hannah thing to do. She is ALWAYS cold. Love ya, Han!!)

(I’m including the one above cause I’m blessed by my friendship with Steph, even though she’s a sibling-type, and my mom, even though she’s…well, my mom!!)

(I realized doing this there are people I just don’t have pictures of! Time to take some once we’re home!)

-And, last but not leas t, I am thankful for Scotland and everything we have experienced here- for the new friends, for the beautiful scenery, for the time as a little family, for a wonderful church to attend. But also I’m thankful for the opportunity to go home soon, and squeeze everyone so tight.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!!!

Edinburgh

2010-11-19T08:01:00.001-08:00

Our last day with Oma and Opa was spent in Edinburgh, taking in the sites. We had a fabulous time, even though it was SUPER cold and windy.

Now you have to remember we live in a VERY small town of less than 1000 people here in Scotland. And St. Andrews, while it is much larger, is not BIG by any means. So heading into Edinburgh, the “big city”, was a big event. As the bus pulled into the city, Dan said, “Honey, look to your right.” What was he wanting me to see? A Starbucks. Starbucks is not an uncommon site for us, we have one in St. Andrews. I was very tired that day, having not slept well the night before. So I said, “Oh we gotta head back there when we get off the bus!” imagine my surprise when we got off the bus and there was ANOTHER Starbucks. Then we headed off to walk The Royal Mile and there were THREE MORE!!!! I said at one point in the day, “I’ve seen five Starbucks today. I’m HOME.” Ha ha ha.

Anyway, back to our regular scheduled programming…the castle. It was beautiful, and we had a great time exploring.

Check it out!

This is the front of the castle. And this shot turned out WAY cooler than I thought it would.

This is a sculpture of a crowning of some king. Don’t remember who. I’m sure my husband or father-in-law will promptly respond with the correct answer!!

Thought Dan looked like such a classic tourist in this shot, complete with his Starbucks bag. This is on the “Royal Mile”, which goes from the Palace, where the Royal Family stays when they’re in Scotland, to the Castle. We walked the whole thing twice and, let me tell you, I am sure it has the highest concentration of souvenir shops known to man!

The view from outside the Castle at night, once they’d turned on the lights.

From the top of the castle, looking out over Edinburgh

Another view from the Castle.

And another.

This is what Eli thought of St. Margaret’s Chapel. This boy is hilarious. We have always been super intense about being home for nap time at home but here we’ve had to be more relaxed and have discovered Eli will fall asleep ANYWHERE once he’s tired enough!

Another view from the Castle. It was beautiful so I took a lot of pictures!

This is the outside of The Great Hall, I believe.

Ok this one is a little out of place. This is the Palace, at the other end of the Royal Mile. Jayden was very excited that the Queen actually sleeps there!

There was an amazing rainbow over the city while we were at the Castle. You can see one end of it here. My mother-in-law, Gayle, got one of the whole thing, I believe.

St. Margaret’s Chapel had four stained glass windows. These are them. (Dan is obsessed with stained glass and has two tattoos that are copies of stained glass windows. For those who don’t know..)

And here we are, in only our 2nd family picture since arriving here.

Edinburgh Castle is famous for being SO beautiful once they turn the lights on it at night. They also have twinkle lights on some of the trees. Here they are.

Once we walked down the hill and looked back at the Castle, it was too beautiful not to try to capture on film. This was my first attempt, and I accidentally left the flash on. If you click on it to see it bigger, you can see the Castle in the background. But I thought the winter trees turned out cool.

And here is the best shot we could get, with both me and Dan trying. Remember, we didn’t have a tripod and its a LONG exposure to hold the camera steady for. The view was just INCREDIBLE though. The whole trip there was worth just that one view. It is famous for a reason!!!

And that was Edinburgh! Amazing.

Held

2010-11-19T05:51:00.001-08:00

This song by Natalie Grant is just incredible. I remember it being frequented on my iPod when we lost our first baby. And its back!! I have never, in my life, experienced God’s goodness and faithfulness so tangibly as I have in the past month or so. I have been met with the compassion of virtual strangers, people who we have had to let into our hearts and lives. And we have been met in such an incredible way. People we’ve known a month or two, tearing up as we share our sad news. People genuinely asking how we are, and me feeling like they REALLY want to know. We are a blip on their radar. We’ll be gone in a month, but they are still willing to let us in, to be there for us, to show the love of Jesus. It has been incredible!!!

So the lyrics to the song are below. We have truly felt Held, as is the title of the song.

Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling

Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
Were asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

If hope if born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our savior

The other cool thing about this song is that I have a few friends who have also suffered miscarriages or loss and this has ministered to them. I love it when God speaks through something so mightily!!

Bonkers

2010-11-15T06:47:00.001-08:00

As I was going through these pictures, I was struck with feeling SO blessed to be a mommy to these little boys. Today is the one month anniversary of losing the baby (and, oddly enough, we leave our little home here in Scotland one month from today) and so I’ve been fighting some sadness. But to look at pictures of my sweet ones playing and having fun, it is hard not to just revel in God’s goodness and faithfulness. This life is full of loss, and full of change. Thank God its not our permanent home!! So enjoy the bays happy faces as they played at Bonkers (yes, pictured two other times on the blog since we got here!).

(aside note: the little boy behind Eli in the one shot was also named Jayden, and spelled exactly the same way)

The boys love jumping off this platform into the ball pit.

I love Bonkers for a lot of reasons but one of the big ones I am picturing below. Its a brownie/bar thing made out of my favorite candy bar here, Crunchie. I told the girl who rung us up this time how much I love it and a few minutes later she brought out the recipe for me so I can try to make it at home. Ah, I LOVE small town life!!!

I have promised the boys at least one more trip to Bonkers before we go home so I’m sure you’ll see one more post of the fun!! :)

Cathedral

2010-11-15T06:28:00.001-08:00

Oma and Opa (Dan’s parents) came to visit us this past week and a half. It was so much fun to have them here, and the boys of course love the extra love and attention. And extra hands with the kids…well, I love it too!! :) It was awesome to see them and show them around the sites here. One of the days we headed out to the Cathedral to check out the sites. The sun was actually shining and it was beautiful!! I snapped a few shots.

The boys, of course, love any opportunity to get out and run. Thought this picture was awesome!

And then some pictures of the water. So beautiful!!

More posts coming, so be on the lookout!! :)

Stirling Day 2- Stirling Castle and Wallace Monument

2010-11-06T15:26:00.001-07:00

So our second day full day in Stirling we went to the Stirling Castle. This castle is quite amazing and historic. Stirling was once considered the “broach of Scotland” because it joined the Lowlands and Highlands. It was said that “he who holds Stirling holds Scotland.” This castle is also more preserved as it was built later than many others.

Here are a few pics from the castle. BEAUTIFUL. The views were just breathtaking!

This was one of the tapestries in the old chapel. Crazy!

A couple shots of the boys and daddy exploring. :)

I LOVE this one. So cute!!!

In the original kitchen, they added statues and the like to give a feel for what the true kitchen would have been like. The thing I liked was that the kitchen back then was a place for men, not women! SUH-WEET!! Sign me up. :)

These two shots are of the outside of the palace which, sadly, was being renovated so we didn’t get to go in. Looks pretty awesome from the outside, though!!

Our next stop was the Wallace Monument (as in William Wallace, as in Braveheart). What we didn’t know when we paid our entrance was that to get to the top, you had to hike about 1/2 mile up the side of a mountain and then climb 246 steps!!! For my profoundly anemic self, this was quite the challenge. But we made it and it was beautiful. Here are some views from the top.

This is a view of Stirling Castle from the top of the monument. Cool how I bring it full circle, eh? :)

This is the view from the bottom of the hill when we were all done. We were at the very top of that thing!!! Incredible.

And here is a replica of Wallace’s sword. Pretty cool!!

And Dan said I had to post this to give an idea of the size of the sword. I hate this picture of me but oh well. But, again, see? I’m really in Scotland!! :)

And with that we conclude our time in Stirling. Watch for new posts of Camperdown Park in Dundee and a trip out to the beach from today. :)

Stirling, Day 1- Blair Drummond Safari Park

2010-11-01T04:16:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Stirling was great, and full of tons of fun. We headed out that way Tuesday. We rented a car and for our first driving experience here in the country where they drive on the wrong side of the road, it went pretty well. We got checked into our great B&B, went to dinner, and headed to bed. Well I make the bed part sound too easy. It took us until 11 to get the boys to sleep the first night!!!

The next morning, though, we got up and headed off to the Safari Park. It was A-MAZING!!!!! We had so much fun, even braving off and on rain. The great part of this park is that you can drive through the animal reserves, so its ideal for a rainy day. When we first got there, it was pouring so after a couple minutes out in it, we jumped back in the car and drove all around checking out the animals.

I should make a quick disclaimer. You’re not allowed to open the windows on your car, for obvious reasons. So these were taken through the window, in the rain. So they’re not perfect. Just FYI.

The lions were eating when we drove past. Don’t want to know what. :)

A cool deer with amazing antlers!

Very cool camels!! This one is a dromedary but they also have bactrian camels, which are critically endangered. Yikes!!

More deer. Cool.

Here is a great example of the whole “in the car, through the window” thing.

When we got done with our little car tour, we headed to the Sea Lion show, which the boys absolutely loved!! We ended up finishing our day with it, too, but I’ll just include all the pictures here!!!

I was excited about getting this shot at the first show….

but then, I got THIS one at our second show!!!

Pretty awesome!!!

After the show, there was a BEAUTIFUL rainbow!!

Next was lunch, and Eli was really cute.

After lunch we were able to walk around and see the animals. So fun! Jayden LOVED the rhinos, even though he had asked about the elephants all day long.

They also had these cool diggers where the boys could dig in the dirt. They LOVED it.

And here are some cute shots of the boys from the day….

I absolutely love the ones of Dan with the boys. Melts the heart….

And just so there’s proof I’m actually HERE in Scotland, here’s a picture of me with the boys. Hee hee.

Stay tuned for Stirling, Day 2- Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. :)

thoughts

2010-10-26T06:49:00.001-07:00

A random conglomeration of thoughts and events…

For those who don’t Facebook (is that a verb?), Jayden tripped and fell Saturday evening, banging/smashing his face on the corner of the coffee table. A trip in the ambulance (its our favorite mode of transportation lately apparently) followed. And we got to visit the A&E (accident and emergency) department at Ninewells Hospital AGAIN! They were able to use glue and paper stitches and he didn’t need sutures, which was a big relief. He loved the attention and loves to tell the story!!

Here’s his precious face all banged up:

We’re off to a place called Stirling today. They have a Safari Park there that is supposed to be amazing for kids and they also have one of the most famous castles in the UK- the Stirling Castle. As if that wasn’t enough, they also have the William Wallace Monument (dude from Braveheart) which dan is very excited about. And also apparently a historical prison. Lots to do, that’s for sure. We’re staying at a B&B. We’ll all be in the same room so we’ll see how that goes. :)

In regards to how we’re doing with all else that has gone on, grief is a jagged line that slowly heads upwards. Bad days, good days. Mostly bad days at first, then more good days interspersed. As I write this, its a sad day- missing the baby, missing the hope and excitement of a new life growing inside, missing the planning and dreaming. We have experienced God’s faithfulness and comfort on such amazing and deep levels though, and we are just full of praise of thankfulness for His care through it all.

I wish i could say we’ll be doing great tomorrow or in a week, or when we get home. But the truth is, things like this change you forever. Miscarriages, while they are a different kind of loss than losing a walking, talking, breathing child, are still the loss of a child and it leaves a scar. I still cry over the baby we lost in 2005.

I was encouraged today by the lyrics to this song by Steven Curtis Chapman. He lost his walking, talking, breathing 5 year old daughter in May of 2008 and he wrote this out of that pain.

I am broken, I am bleeding,
I'm scared and I'm confused,
but You are faithful.
Yes You are faithful.

I am weary, unbelieving.
God please help my unbelief!
Cuz You are faithful.
Yes You are faithful.

I will proclaim it to the world.
I will declare it to my heart
And sing it when the sun is shining.
I will scream it in the dark.
You are faithful!
You are faithful!

When you give and when You take away,
even then still Your name
is faithful!
You are faithful!
And with everything inside of me,
I am choosing to believe
You are faithful.

I am waiting for the rescue
that I know is sure to come,
cuz You are faithful.
Yes You are faithful.
I've dropped anchor in Your promises,
and I am holding on,
cuz You are faithful.
God You are faithful.

I will proclaim it to the world.
I will declare it to my heart
And sing it when the sun is shining.
I will scream it in the dark.
You are faithful!
You are faithful!

When you give and when You take away,
even then still Your name
is faithful!
You are faithful!
And with everything inside of me,
I am choosing to believe You're faithful.
So faithful...

Though I cannot have the answer
that I'm wanting to demand,
I'll remember You are God
and everything is in Your hand.
In Your hands you hold the sun, the moon,
the stars up in the sky,
for the sake of Love, You hung Your own Son
on the cross...to die...
You are faithful...
Yes, You are faithful...

When you give and when You take away,
even then, great is Your faithfulness!
Great is Your faithfulness!
And with everything inside of me,
I am choosing to believe You're faithful!
Oh, oh, oh...
Oh, oh, oh...
When you give and when You take away,
even then still Your name
is faithful!
You are faithful!
And with everything inside of me,
I am choosing to believe...
...You're faithful..

I love the image of screaming it in the dark….cause there are times when I feel that is all one can do when they experience profound loss. If I have nothing else, I know that I am anchored in His faithfulness, and I scream it through the pain and grief, until I hope its all I can hear. That He is faithful.

a little taste of home

2010-10-22T02:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, these arrived in the mail, compliments of the website, americansweets.co.uk.

My mom makes these amazing Halloween cookies every year and I was just starting to feel like it wasn’t fall without them. So after searching our stores here and discovering a total lack of the ingredients necessary to make them here, I found them online and ordered them. And it may seem so lame, but after tearing into the candy corn and eating a few pieces, I felt like it was really fall. Now all I need is some of those little mellocreme pumpkins and I’m set!! Halloween cookies, here we come!! :)

“I wear Daddy’s hat, Mommy!”

2010-10-22T02:41:00.001-07:00

Eli ran into the living room yesterday wearing Dan’s hat and yelling, “I wear Daddy’s hat, Mommy!!” He was so proud of himself!! Just LOVE this boy and his funny antics!!

blessings

2010-10-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

The boys were being super cute on the bus (our primary mode of transportation here) the other day and I had my camera so I took some pictures. They love to sit in big boy seats and not have to stay in the stroller! :)

Last week we were at Sam and Andrea's and I walked into the living room to find all these lovely ones paired off. Dan was reading to Eleni, Jayden was watching Owen play DS, and Everett was spontaneously and repeatedly attacking Everett for snuggles. Precious precious.

These two are post-bath pictures. Thought they were cute. I love Eli's face- "What, Mom?! You want me to be cute and smile?! I don't think so!"

Amidst all the pain and sorrow right now of losing our sweet baby, I am trying to focus on the blessings. Our lives are filled to the max right now with our sweet boys and their cousins. God is good and faithful and I know He will bless us with another baby at some point in the future. But my arms do feel empty. I was already longing to hold our little one, already looking forward to newborn snuggles, first smiles, first laughs, etc. To have that disappear, all the hopes and dreams...it is a pain I cannot describe. But we know God is good all the time and so we keep pressing into that. And we keep holding our boys so tight, so thankful for the miracle of their lives.

updates

2010-10-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been so long since I updated. I've wrestled whether or not to share all of this that I'm about to share on the blog but I figure since it chronicles our family's life and journey, I probably should.

Here is what I posted on Facebook earlier this week.

A few weeks after getting to Scotland, Dan and I found out we were pregnant- a total shock. We were not planning on another baby right now. But, once the shock wore off, we were excited at the thought of another "wee one" on the way. We weren't ready to tell people but family at first, as we wanted to wait for a good ultrasound and an exact due date. We saw a midwife, who sent a referral in for an ultrasound at the nearest big hospital. In the meantime, we booked an ultrasound at a private place since the midwife said it would be a few weeks till our one at the hospital. The ultrasound at the private place wasn't super clear but he estimated the pregnancy at around 7 weeks along. This seemed a little off to us based on symptoms and when we got our positive pregnancy test. Dan and I both had the feeling something might be wrong but without any real reason to worry, we brushed it off. On Monday of this past week, I started having spotting and called the early pregnancy unit at the hospital. They booked for an ultrasound the next day-Tuesday. We went in and sadly, the ultrasound showed no growth and no heartbeat. We were devastated. They told me I could wait for it to happen naturally (which was my preference) or have the surgery to remove the pregnancy. They provisionally booked me for the surgery this coming Tuesday. On Thursday the miscarriage started happening on its own, which I was thankful for. However, yesterday evening I started to have a lot of pain and began to hemorrhage. At first I thought that maybe it was just heavy bleeding but it got worse and worse. I was praying so hard, asking the Lord for help. I then told Dan I think I needed to go in so we called. They sent an ambulance for me. I was so scared while we were waiting, unsure of what was happening and feeling so sick. We called Sam and Andrea to let them know we needed one of them to come over to be with the boys (who were asleep, thankfully). They live a few miles away without a car though. So we called our one set of neighbors we know, and they were already asleep. Thankfully our other neighbors, who we barely know saw the ambulance and quickly came over to sit in the house until my brother got here. They whisked me off to the hospital. I was in tremendous pain and feeling so faint and dizzy. I arrived at the emergency department and they quickly transferred me up to the gynecology/obstetrics floor. They were so nice there. The doctor said the hemorrhaging was probably from the baby/pregnancy tissue getting stuck and she would try to get it out without doing surgery. She was able to and although it was horribly uncomfortable, I am so thankful I didn't need emergency surgery. Once she cleared everything out, the hemorrhaging stopped and the intense horrible pain subsided as well. I had to stay in the hospital overnight. Dan came home to be with the boys and I attempted to sleep through all the interruptions of them checking vital signs and all that fun hospital stuff. Dan came and got me this morning and I am home resting.

It has all been such a whirlwind. I am trying to juggle my sadness and disappointment over the loss of the baby with the intense feeling of relief that the physical part of it is over. We are so very sad about losing the baby, about never seeing our sweet little one this side of heaven. We had another miscarriage back in 2005 (for those who don't know) and to survive one in a lifetime felt like enough. But I have also seen God's faithfulness this week through being here with Sam and Andrea and not being alone, through God renewing my excitement for the plans we had before this pregnancy (classes for pre-reqs for nursing school in the spring, more time with just the boys to love on them extra, etc), through a wonderful husband who just stepped up last night and did everything.

Please know that we had planned on telling everyone we were pregnant soon but then all this happened. If anyone feels out of the loop, we are sorry. Trying to navigate big, unexpected news from this far away was tough. We love you all and are glad to be able to share what has gone on. We ache for home at times like this but also know that we have an amazing opportunity to rely on God in new ways, and to be with Sam and Andrea and growing closer to them.

For those of you who pray, we appreciate and covet your prayers...

We hope to just let ourselves grieve but also enjoy the rest of our time here in Scotland and not let this experience mar the whole journey of being here.

No need to say much more I suppose. Its all in there. I'm uploading pics for a picture post as we speak so keep your eyes open!

art project...

2010-10-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so those of you who know me well, or have known me a long time, will know that I am NOT a crafty person. I usually leave the craftiness to people like my friend Liz or Tracey. But it rains A LOT here, and we need things to pass the time. So I started googling different things to do and we tried one the other day.

I got construction paper and wrote their name in glue and gave them beans to put on the glue to spell their name in beans. I figured this would help with fine motor skills and learning their letters.

Here they are getting impatient to start their craft! :)

And here they are getting started.

It was hilarious to see the differences in their personalities come out in how they placed the beans. Eli was precise and slow and not one bean was out of place. Jayden, on the other hand, was more carefree about it. Love their differences, and seeing how God made each of them unique!! :)

Eli actually did way better with this craft than I thought he would. Smarty pants!!!

After they were finished with their names, they were still excited to do crafts. So I gave them glue sticks and cut out shapes and let them glue them on and color. They loved that too!!!

So if any of you crafty people out there have ideas for other things I could do with them, please let me know!!! It rains so much here, we need some help passing the time inside!! :)

Camperdown Country Park

2010-09-27T08:09:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we attempted to go to a Food and Flower Festival up in Dundee at a place called Camperdown Country Park. We didn’t bring cash and their ticket system would not take our bank card (they use a “chip and pin” system here and some places are not equipped for swipe cards) so we weren’t able to get in. After being super frustrated for a few minutes, we realized that there was a sign that said, “High Adventure Play Area” with an arrow pointing down the hill. So off we went. We discovered the largest playground we have ever seen!! It is ginormous. Imagine a big park in L.A. and multiply it by 5. They also have a wildlife park right next to it. So that day we played for a bit but then had to head back. So we’ve been wanting to return ever since. The weather forecast said Saturday was going to be one of the last sunny days for quite some time so we loaded up on the train and headed into Dundee. The boys had a blast!!

While on the train, the boys looked so cute in the light coming in the window that I decided to snap their pictures. When I first told Eli to smile, this is what he did! Stinker!!

Then Daddy started being goofy and this was his response. SO CUTE.

Its much easier to get this boy to smile…..

So we finally arrived at the park and the boys had tons of fun. I love this shot of my boys. All walking exactly the same. :)

Always together….

After running around at the park, we headed over the wildlife center.

A goat…

Ponies..

A wolf. Jayden was VERY excited about this one. They read a book about wolves at school and he has been talking about it EVER since.

A bear…WOW. This particular one is a European Brown Bear.

This was a red bellied lemur. It was so cool to watch it jump from branch with lightning speed. Eli would laugh hysterically when it would move really quickly. He LOVED it.

And just a couple pictures of our walk back to the bus. Beautiful!!!!

the park across the street

2010-09-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

We have a wonderful park across the street from us. Literally, a 2 minute walk. The boys love to take their soccer balls over there and kick them around. There isn't any playground equipment but I love watching them find ways to play and ways to be creative without it. I took them over there yesterday, even in the COLD, to burn off some energy. I remembered to bring the camera this time!!!

This picture is of our house from the park. The three windows on the right (of the building farther away. The one closest to Eli is the back of our local convenience store!) are ours. The far left one is Eli's room, the middle one (with the foil on one side to darken it) is Jayden's and the far right is our living room. The kitchen, bathroom, and our room face the back parking lot of our building. :) Not quite as nice a view. Oh well.

Pretty stinking cute

Ok, so now pictures of the boys, which I know is what you grandparents and the like really want to see!! :)

This is the face Eli makes now if you ask him to smile. So silly!!!

His face is a bit fuzzy but isn't he just BEAUTIFUL (if I do say so myself?! And, oh wait, I do!)

so silly

There's a very cool memorial at the park for the "Great War" (WWI). It lists all the men who fought and died from our small town of Guardbridge. Sadly, Eli does not understand the solemnity of it all and loves to climb on it.

For some reason, they both love to lay on this bench. Unclear on why.

This boy LOVES to run!

I just love this shot. I am going to enlarge and hang it on the wall!! It totally captures their personality at this point in time!!!

The colors are starting to change!!

We are doing well for the most part. Jayden is loving preschool and asks to go all the time. We may switch him to four or five days a week instead of three. We'll see. Eli is fully 2. He needs constant supervision as to not destroy himself or our house. We take him to a couple playgroups during the week while Jayden is at school and he enjoys them. Dan is busy with schoolwork but also spending lots of time with us, which is so nice!!! And me?!? I'm busy trying to keep up with laundry, dishes, the boys, running whenever possible, and getting some sleep too!!! I'm homesick here and there but mostly doing well. :) It helps to know we'll be home before Christmas!

Alrighty, that's all for today!!!

the faces of snack time

2010-09-22T07:29:00.001-07:00

Just some shots I took while the boys snacked yesterday!!

Bonkers and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SWEET ELENI!!!!

2010-09-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

We decided to take the train into Cupar to visit Bonkers, an indoor play area we visited our first week here. The day was kind of gross and rainy so it seemed like a good way to pass the time.

Here's a view from the train....

The boys playing...

Eli was on a mission for sure

Jayden had a blast!!!

Eli loves the ball pit!!

Later on that day, we headed over to the Adams' house for Eleni's FIFTH birthday celebration!!

I caught this shot of four of the kids riding Daddy/Uncle Dan like a horse. I love this shot!!!

Other than that, things are well here. Jayden is thoroughly preschool and doing well there. He comes home and jabbers on and on about all the things he did and saw. Eli went to a toddler playgroup in town today for the first time. He loved it and was very excited to have something that was "for Eli." Today marks four weeks since we arrived and it honestly has FLOWN by. We are enjoying small town life and being with Sam, Andrea, and the kids. We miss everyone at home, though, tremendously, and are already looking forward to reunion hugs in December.

Stay tuned for more posts as we take more pictures!! :)

Love to everyone.

air show

2010-09-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

There is a huge air show just up the road from where we live every year. Thankfully, we got here in time to see it!! The boys loved seeing the planes but it was LOUD and that freaked them out a bit.

So enjoy these pictures of the planes...

I thought this was a great picture of Scottish weather...beauty with blue sky and puffy clouds with storm clouds hanging over!! :)

first day of school!!

2010-09-05T13:49:00.001-07:00

We were so excited to get Jayden into preschool here!!! He started this past Wednesday and will be going three days a week from 9AM-11:30AM

Here he is, ready to go the first morning

The boys ready to head out!

Here’s the front door of Jayden’s school

The view walking up…

The outside yard which he LOVES

Eli was QUITE sad he didn’t get to go to school so we took him to the park in an attempt to cheer him up. It kind of worked. :)

another long walk

2010-09-05T13:48:00.001-07:00

My cousin and Kevin suggested one day that we go to a place called Tentsmuir Forest. It is a forest on a beach just a few miles north of here. So we said, “Awesome!!”

After a few missed cues, we got on the bus and headed off. The walk was BEAUTIFUL and the boys had a blast!!!

Needless to say, Eli was quite worn out by the end!!

We all had a great time and there are too many pictures to even post. But I thought this was a good sampling!!

a long walk

2010-08-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

My cousin and her new husband (!) are here visiting us as they traverse through Europe on their honeymoon. It has been great having them. When we are ALL together, though- us, them, Sam and family- we are literally a small village. On Sunday afternoon/evening we walked out to the historic graveyard and shorefront here in St. Andrews. It was beautiful. You can walk quite far out on this wall that I guess was part of some structure at some point (i need to ask my brother about this). All of us walked all the way out, while worrying and fretting over the open sides of the wall and the drop to the sea. We all survived though!! Here are some shots of our day...

This is the graveyard. Love the old architecture.

Love how this one turned out

Walking out to the end of the wall...four of the people I love most in the world!

Cousin love

The view from the end of the wall....

Everett getting serious air

I just loved the look of this shot!

Everett looking VERY cool

Jayden climbing the ladder up the lookout

Owen with serious air!!

And Eleni too...love that she keeps up with her big brothers!!!

The artist at work...beautiful!!!

one last gorgeous view

late evening walk

2010-08-27T06:17:00.001-07:00

The sun goes down really late here right now so we have been putting the boys to bed later and enjoying longer evenings.

Last night we went for a walk to the nearby hotel to see the petting zoo and then walked around our little town a bit.

First up, the animals.

This is our little town, as seen from the bridge coming in.

And views from either side of the bridge..

There’s a park across the street from us with a bird estuary attached to it and it also overlooks the water.

And because I know all you guys probably really care about are shots of the “wee ones”, you can now feast your eyes on these….

Seriously…could they BE any cuter?

thankful

2010-08-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things I am thankful for here in Scotland, and in my life in general.

So, here are some, in no particular order!

- a great flat to live in while we're here, where the boys each have their own room
- a king bed to sleep in, which means I don't get elbowed in the head in the night anymore
- wonderful landlords who are super helpful
- beautiful scenery to make me thankful to our Creator daily
- wonderful parents who are supporting us greatly on this venture
- being in the same town as my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and niece
- lots and lots of green space for the boys to run and play
- Skype, which keeps us connected to home and keeps me sane
- the internet in general, without which I would most certainly lose my mind

And then there are things to be, um, not so thankful for. Two in particular

- the electricity here!!! it is so different and we have ruined too many things to even mention on here. GGRRRRR....
- apparently there are US DVDs and UK DVDs. this means our DVDs do not play on the UK DVD players. LAME. so the boys are watching everything either on our computers or on our portable DVD player (thanks, Mom and Dad!)

All in all, I am grateful for this opportunity, thankful to the people who are making it happen, and glad to be here!!! I just wish our stuff worked here!!!!!! :)

beautiful Scotland

2010-08-25T13:11:00.001-07:00

These are all just shots from our walk to the train and our train ride today!! AMAZING. We most definitely live out in the country and it is GORGEOUS. The amount of green space here is just incredible. I said to Dan yesterday, “I want to live here…but in California.” Hee hee. So check out the shots….

Scotland, entering week 2

2010-08-25T13:04:00.001-07:00

So we FINALLY got our camera working. Our battery was dead upon arrival and then we’ve been fussing with the SUPER CRAZY electricity here…blowing out all sorts of stuff since we don’t have the right converters. We even blew out a converter! AARRGGG. So our camera battery charger needs a voltage converter which we are waiting on to arrive in the mail. So my wonderful brother gave us an extra one they have but apparently I am inept and thought it was charging the battery when it wasn’t!!! So…once my wonderful husband got ahold of it, we had a charged battery and working camera. As they would say here, BRILLIANT!!!

Today was also a fantastic day for the camera to start working!!! We had a few adventures!

First up was meeting up with a local friend, Kelly, and her son Connor who is Jayden’s age, at the park. The boys had a fantastic time playing…

Then while we were at the park, our neighbors walked by, who have a sweet little 2 year old daughter, and asked us if we wanted to take the train into Cupar, a nearby town, and go to an indoor play area. Jayden has been DYING to ride the train so we of course said yes. Big smiles ensued.

We arrived in Cupar and commenced some serious playing…

They also had a super tasty, kid-friendly little cafe so we had lunch!!

All of this wore them out quite a bit!!

Well I guess wore Eli out, cause Jayden continued to enjoy our train adventure.

“Look that train track!!”

And more smiles for train time…

We made it home , relaxed and then picked up dinner for “The Scotland 9” (us, Sam, Andrea, and the kids). Sam and fam are moving tomorrow so they were knee deep in packing and asked us to bring dinner. We happily obliged!!!

After that, we came home and the boys promptly collapsed into bed…

And I started blogging… :)

some random shots

2010-08-22T14:10:00.001-07:00

One of our family’s big fun, traditions for the past couple years is going to Souplantation! We wait for 2 for 1 coupons and off we go! So we had to have a final outing before we departed to Scotland.

Here’s Eli, expressing how we all feel about eating there. YUM!

Some of my favorite people in all the world (minus Eli, of course!)

This is a random shot of Eli from the week before we left. We thought it was so funny he was sitting there with his leg crossed…

And here are a couple shots from the plane. Ways to keep a toddler entertained on a long flight:

1. feed them cookies and let them watch movie after movie after movie

2. Play peek-a-boo with them over the seat!

And here are a few shots of St. Andrews

I wanted this next one to be much cooler but my camera kind of freaked and then the battery died…so not quite the shot I wanted. But this church is BEAUTIFUL.

There will be more shots to come, esp. since I finally got my camera battery charged today. Figuring out the electricity here has been one of my biggest challenges for sure!!

Love to you all, whoever is out there reading… :)

our first pictures from Scotland!!

2010-08-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so as promised here are a few pics. I didn't actually take them, my sister-in-law did. We went to the park today and she snapped these! Thanks, Sis!! :)

Eli and Everett are good buddies!!!

All 5 grandchildren/cousins together!! SO FUN

Jayden sliding at the "castle" park

in Scotland!!!

2010-08-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

Wow wow wow, we are here in Scotland. Crazy crazy!!

The trip was definitely long, definitely hard but not as bad as I expected. What I expected to be the worse was our layover in London, which was in the middle of the night West Coast time. And it was! The boys were totally exhausted and cranky and generally uncooperative. But we finally boarded our last plane, that flight was quick, and we landed in Glasgow. We quickly met up with our taxi driver who drove us to our flat we are "letting." What was really amazing was as I was getting out of the taxi, I looked down the street and there were my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and niece getting off the bus at the exact same moment. I almost just burst into tears at the sight of them!! They brought us groceries, and some toys for the boys. It was fantastic to see them!!

So the last couple days we have been settling in, running what feels like a million errands. We got cell phones, internet, etc. and have been exploring our new world.

I know, I know, there aren't any pictures in this post. I will get to it, I promise. I don't have many yet but I'm working on it!! Trust me, once I'm more recovered from the trip and jet lag, I'll be posting them like crazy.

We are thankful to be here, thankful for family close by, but definitely missing home too. The boys have been doing pretty well. They have been up in the night but generally go right back to sleep. They are adjusting to the time difference better than I am, I think!

Anyway, will post more soon.

YAY SCOTLAND!!!!

Time to celebrate!

2010-08-12T15:34:00.001-07:00

I am ready to call this 3 year old boy right here

officially potty trained!! We are so proud of him as he has just taken this on with all sorts of gusto! He still doesn’t savor going to the bathroom in public but he’s doing it! Here’s hoping it stays that way once we’re on the plane and in Scotland!

Go Jayden! We are so proud of you, big boy!

Someone….

2010-08-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

is ready for the Scotland rain!!! I guess someone should tell him he’ll need a little more than a diaper for cltohing, eh? :)

Scotland Bound!!!

2010-08-03T07:25:00.001-07:00

In 15 short days we will be on an airplane bound for Scotland. Well, our first plane will be Philadelphia bound, and then the next one London bound. And then, finally, our third will be Scotland bound. Glasgow, to be precise! This has just snuck up on us. I find myself verging on panic quite frequently- in regards to how much there is to do, in regards to leaving so much behind, in regards to thinking about somewhere so new. I think, for some reason, it really hit me yesterday that we’re going. And as a result, I’m feeling emotional about everything. I even got sad at Trader Joe’s today.

Anyway…enough moping!!! Here are some recent pics of our sweet ones.

The above shot is of Eli after a roll in the dirt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite capture just how Pigpen-like he looked.

Here’s another attempt…

I’ll be back soon with pics of our trip to the Aquarium and I’m WAY late with Eli’s 2 year check up stats.

the 2 year old

2010-07-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Eli is 2!!

2010-07-18T07:41:00.001-07:00

Our sweet Eli boy is 2! Amazing, huh? These past two years have FLOWN by, especially this last one.

After Eli enjoyed the bounce house at Jayden's party so much, we knew he would want one! We also knew that our mellow guy wouldn't enjoy any huge party anymore than he would a smaller one so we just invited some friends over to bounce in the morning and then had a family BBQ in the evening.

Opening his first present on the morning of his birthday...

Bounce bounce bounce!!

I love love love this one!

Mmmm....cupcake!

Check out Avery in this shot! Serious air!!

Eli really loved the corner of the bounce house! Hee hee.

And Jayden followed...

Opening presents...

The awesome cake my mom and Steph made for him.

The "Three Musketeers"- Jayden, Eli, and Avery

And here's Avery and his mommy, Tracey! We love them.

All in all, we had a fantastic day celebrating our little man. Stay tuned for his 2 year stats and our letter to him! :)

first swim lesson and trash truck day!!!

2010-06-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a big day in our house.

Jayden had his first "big boy" swim lesson. He's been doing Parent/Child swim lessons for the last 7 weeks and has done so well his teacher decided it was time to move him up! Now, our sweet boy is very scared of new things and we were concerned he would be afraid of being left at the pool without Mommy or Daddy. And we were right. Dan ended up having to stay the entire time and there was quite a bit of crying. But, he did get in the pool with the teacher once or twice. See?

Other than that, he did a lot of clinging to Daddy. So we will try again on Saturday.

After that fun was over, however, we headed off to the trash truck open house!! Eli and Jayden, but esp. Eli, are OBSESSED with trash trucks and trash cans. The Los Angeles Department of Sanitation holds yearly open houses where they do trash truck demonstrations, give out plants and trees, and give out toy trash cans. Awesome, to say the least. So the boys had a blast, and they even fed us free hamburgers and hot dogs. YUM.

Pointing at a trash truck...

Getting to drive the trucks. Does life get much better than this?

They got to play a game where they picked which trash can different items go in and then got the toy trash can as a reward!!

Grandma and Stephanie came too and Jayden enjoyed potting a plant with Grandma!

All in all, great fun was had by all!!! Yay for the Department of Sanitation!!!

Let's hope great fun will be had by Jayden at swim class this week!!

lots going on round here!!!

2010-06-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, we've got a lot going on. Or maybe a lot coming up. Hard to tell somedays. We are moving to Scotland in just 50 days! YIKES. Hard to believe that in less than two months, we will be living in Scotland!!! I plan on updating this blog quite a bit while we're there. I want to be able to keep a good record of our time there and also keep our family and friends updated on our happenings.

Other than that, Eli will be two next week!! Amazing!!!

Dan is in summer school and working. He also is still struggling with health issues. For those of you who don't know, Dan got strep throat last fall and started experiencing tremors while sick. They didn't go away once he was better. A neurologist ran every test in the book and found nothing. They resolved and then came back around Christmas. They have persisted since. We still have no diagnosis, no idea of what to do to help. It is super frustrating. Along with the tremors come debilitating fatigue, and it comes on unexpectedly. Any prayer on that front would be greatly appreciated as we try to figure out our next step in this process.

The boys are simultaneously delighting and infuriating. :) They both are just full of energy and they are very curious! They're boys, right? So this is normal! But we're exhausted trying to keep up with their antics. Eli is turning into a chatterbox, talking almost nonstop about all the things he's thinking about. Jayden continues with his passionate ways- he is either passionately happy or passionately mad!! He loves loves loves to sing. He attended Vacation Bible Club at our church last week and learned almost all the songs!!! Jayden also has a double ear infection right now but seems to be coping well with all of it.

As for me (Sarah), I am just trying to keep up. There is MUCH to be done in the next 7ish weeks, including much celebrating as my cousin gets married two short days before we leave!!! Lots of packing, lots of preparing, etc. I love being a mom to these crazy boys, even if some days I just want to tear my hair out!!

I will now stop babbling and leave you with these cute pictures of our wee ones!!

Vacation

2010-06-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful vacation up north. We headed up to Windsor, which is right north of Santa Rosa smack in the middle of wine country!!! Our timeshare has a location up there and it is BEAUTIFUL! We decided to break up the drive and stop in Fresno overnight. My friend Amy was gracious enough to let us stay at her house, even though they weren't there! We also were able to meet up with my friend Katie from college and her FOUR kids! It was super fun. So after a morning at the park getting the wiggles out, we set off for Windsor. The first night we had dinner at a place called Mary's Pizza Shack, which apparently is a chain up there. It was super tasty!

The next morning we headed out to the pool for some splashing and fun in the sun. One of the reasons we were excited about this place was that they have a kids pool. The boys LOVED it!!

They just swam and swam and splashed and splashed. That afternoon during nap time I went to Wal-Mart and got them some noodles (not spaghetti but the swim toy kind that you can tie around kids to keep them afloat(. Jayden is in swim lessons and does great swimming with his noodle around him. So that way they could go in the big pool easier. Very fun!!!

The next day we headed off to a local park to play.

After that, we headed to the local post office to apply for our passports!! I know, super exciting vacation activity. But we needed to get it done soon and it was actually really nice to do it in a small post office. The boys are getting their first passports, Dan needed a renewal and I needed to get my name changed on mine. So after a lot of filling out forms and getting things together, they are all done! Wahoo!!!

The next day we headed to the absolute COOLEST park known to man in Santa Rosa. It has a train, a carousel, a petting zoo, pony rides, a splash pad, and a bunch of play structures. WOW!!! The boys were in heaven!

Needless to say, the boys COLLAPSED after this outing for LONG naps.

Sadly, the next day was our last day in Windsor. We spent the morning prepping to get ready to leave. We stayed in Fresno again that night, seeing Amy and Beau this time! So fun!! Jayden LOVED their dog but Eli was a little scared. The next morning we loaded up early and headed home as Dan had to close at Starbucks that night. All in all, a wonderful vacation!!! We are already talking about going back there for another vacation next year.

Yay for family road trips!!!

so proud

2010-06-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Just have to make a quick post and say how proud I am of our Jayden boy. He is growing up so much, becoming such a helper and such a good listener. I often hear throughout the day, "Oh, here Eli. I help you with that." Or if I tell him not to do something, he'll say, "That's not a good idea, right Mommy?" I just love this age. Today we went down to Orange County to pick up the boys' birth certificates. Eli stayed home and Jayden came with me. On the way home, we got stuck in HORRENDOUS traffic. A few months ago Jayden would have whined and cried and begged to go home but instead, today, we just talked and laughed about everything around us. At one point he was being so silly that we were both hysterically laughing. I was crying I was laughing so hard!! He is just a delight and I cherish him!!

one more month!!

2010-06-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Eli is 23 months old today!!! Just one short month until he is TWO. Can you believe it? I can't. This past year has FLOWN by.

And here is, in his new jammies, which are 24 month size and he's filling them out. So that's good. Jayden's are 4T. :) Ha ha ha. I know that there IS a full year age difference between them, but I really don't think Eli will be that tall in a year. He's kind of short and squatty. :) And I love every inch of it, let me tell you!

cute boys

2010-05-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

3 year check up!!

2010-05-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Jayden and I headed down to Orange County for his three year check-up with our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Ball. My mom was super helpful by keeping Eli here so Jayden and I could enjoy some Mommy and Jayden time. It was wonderful to see Dr. Ball. We just adore him!

After his check-up we headed to see "Baby Charlie" and "Baby Eva." Our friends Kevin and Stacey live in Rancho Santa Margarita, where we used to live and have two little twins, Charlie and Eva (Charlie pictured in birthday party post below). We went on a nice walk around the RSM lake, complete with a trip to Starbucks. This is the lake I used to walk around with Jayden everyday when he was a small baby. I have a lot of sentimental attachment to it and to that Starbucks, to say the least. It was great to be back and enjoy the pretty walk, and the wonderful company of Stacey, Charlie, and Eva!!

So, without further ado, here are Jayden's stats:

Height: 38.5 inches (85th percentile)

Weight: 30 pounds, 8 ounces (60th percentile)

On the BMI chart (height to weight ratio), he's in the 25th percentile. So still long and skinny. But we knew that!! Other than that, he's doing well. Dr. Ball confirmed for me that he has asthma, as his many nebulizer treatments would indicate. So we're hoping its something he outgrows sooner rather than later. He gave us some precautionary measures to take as well to keep him from going into respiratory distress, as he has done in the past. All in all, a good check-up! The highlight for me was when Dr. Ball asked Jayden what his favorite food is and he said, "Ummmm...lollipops!!" and Dr. Ball said, "Well at least I know he wasn't coached on what to say on the drive down!"

We love you, Dr. Ball!! Great to see you.

more birthday!!!

2010-05-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

On Jayden's birthday, I asked him, "What do you want to do today?" and he promptly responded, "I want to go to the bulldozer mall...with Tracey and Avery!" After much contemplation I realized he was talking about one of our local malls that has a bulldozer ride-on toy in the kids' area. So after ensuring Tracey and Avery's attendance on this outing, we headed off. The boys had a great time, finishing up with a yummy birthday lunch in the food court.

On the infamous "bulldozer."

The motorcycle

Eli attempting to sit on Avery's lap in the ice cream truck

Another ice cream truck shot

The food court at "the bulldozer mall" has these cool little tables for the wee ones. The boys loved them!

Three Years Old

2010-05-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

Jayden,

You are three today. Three years ago I was watching you sleep, unable to sleep myself because I was so afraid you would stop breathing or something would happen and I would miss it. You were PERFECT. Incredible. Beautiful. Breathtaking. We waited a long time for you, and were told early in the pregnancy you would not live. But you did. And we are so thankful.

You have filled our lives with joy and laughter. I described you today as vivacious. It really could not be more true. You literally bounce through life, finding amusement and joy in small things.

You love to laugh and be silly. You love to make people laugh, and you think so many things we do are funny. You always have.

You have such a precious heart, full of tenderness and sensitivity. When I cry, you say, "Mommy, you sad?" and then a few minutes later, "Mommy, you happy now?" I love how in tune you are to people's feelings.

You are also easily scared, and we often hear "Hold me!!" when you feel frightened by something. God has made you with such sensitivity. Some days I feel overwhelmed thinking of how to shield you from unnecessary hurt but also teach you how to be strong and rely on Jesus and us for the courage that you need.

You love to dance and love to sing. Some days I come in to get you from your nap and you say, "Mommy, I was just singing in here, in my bed."

You love your little brother. Your first question in the morning right now is, "Where's Eli?" You miss him when you're apart and always greet him with a hug when you see him again.

You love your family- Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, Opa, Uncle Matthew, your cousins, Stephanie, Auntie Andrea and Uncle Sam. You are happiest when you're with your family.

You entered our lives "in person" three years ago today, my love, and we have never been the same. God gave you to us, and gave us such a gift. We love you, sweet Jayden boy- every ounce of you, from head to toe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

May 24, 2007

May 24, 2008

May 24, 2009

May 24, 2010

party party party!!

2010-05-24T21:22:00.001-07:00

We had a super fun birthday party for Jayden on Saturday. When we asked Jayden what he wanted for his party, he said, "A bounce house and a white guitar cake." We happily obliged.

Here are some shots from the festivities.

Here's a shot without the birthday boy. But this is Tracey with Avery, who is Jayden's BESTEST buddy besides Eli. And Tracey and I are kind of fond of each other too. :)

The white guitar cake. Here's last year's cake.

And this year's cake..

I say practice makes, not perfect, but better. :)

And here's the birthday boy, very excited to open his present from Avery.
And the birthday boy again. Could he BE any more beautiful?

This is Charlie. He'll be one on Eli's birthday, as will his twin sister Eva. We love these babies and their parents very much. These babies were long awaited, with many prayers and tears. So they deserve a shout out!! What kind of birthday party would it be without some sandbox time with your brother?
The whole family!!
I absolutely love this shot. My mom is AWESOME and jumped like a madwoman in the bounce house. And Steph looks SO happy. And Jayden is bouncing away. You can even see a slice of Uncle Matthew. :)
Opening one of his many trucks he got. He LOVES them ALL.

This is Auriel and Molly. I could write a book. But I won't. My awesome friend Jen came to celebrate and brought her BEAUTIFUL daughter Tess.
This is what happens to a little one year old who bounces ALL DAY LONG and also LOVES his Oma. :)
Another shot of Jayden and Avery. Cause they're cute.
And even though this is blurry, I just love it. Precious boy.

All in all, a great day. And Jayden had a blast, which made every ounce of work and planning worth it!

Oh and yes I know a lot of the pictures are of me with people. Its hard to get an excited three (!) year old to stand still for pictures. :)

Happy Birthday Jayden!!!

2010-05-24T07:33:00.001-07:00

Jayden is three today!! Stay tuned for an update post, pics of his party, etc.

WE love you little man!!

reflections on Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!! Today was a great day spent with family, loving my boys, and eating yummy food cooked up by my AMAZING hubby.

A bit of reflection though...on this day 5 years ago, I was enduring a VERY painful Mother's Day, having just miscarried our first baby 6 days before. The year following found us not pregnant, and feeling pretty hopeless about the whole situation. I remember that being a very painful day, even in the midst of celebrating my mom and mother-in-law. The NEXT year, however, found me VERY pregnant with Jayden.

What a difference a year makes huh?

Every year since has found my life full of my little one(s). Funny thought, by the NEXT Mother's Day, I was ginormously pregnant AGAIN and on bedrest due to pre-term labor. Dan made me a wonderful photo montage video of our journey together and we played with Jayden all day.

And these last two have been filled with time with my little ones and celebrating our moms.

I never want to forget, though, the pain of those early Mother's Days where I cried so much. Cause there are so many women still walking that road. I looked around at church today, wondering how many of the childless women don't want to be that way, and what kind of hurt they were carrying to church this Mother's Day. Its good, though, cause it reminds me to pray for them, and to hurt with them, and to be sensitive to where they are at.

But, also, it does make me SO thankful that God met the desire of our hearts to be parents. Not only did we have Jayden but also Eli. Kind of felt like a two-for-one deal. Hee hee. They are SUCH a blessing and I am so grateful to be their mommy. So, on that note, here are some shots of THIS Mother's Day.

Me with MY Mommy and my brother

Sweet Jayden boy

The whole fam

Me and my boys

recent pics

2010-04-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Just a fun little collage of recent pics of the fam and the boys.

*a disclaimer. I look WAY more tan in this pic than I am. Wait. What's that I hear? Oh, I don't look tan. Ok, maybe I should say "less white." I had just spent two days at the beach with my sister-in-law and the kids. Trust me, any "less whiteness" I acquired quickly disappeared and I am back to my pasty self you all know and love.

Ok so it turned out really small. Oh well. Enjoy anyway!

Eli....21 months

2010-04-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Some words to describe our Eli:

*sweet

*stinker

*resourceful

*charming

*inventive

*daring

*adventurous

*stinker (yes it deserves two mentions)

*determined

*focused

*meticulous

*smart

Those are just a handful. This kid keeps us on our toes, let's just say that. Back when he was a tiny infant, Stephanie said, "You know, he never looks confused. All babies look confused. He doesn't. I think he's a genius." She was right then about both things. He really never did look confused and seems to be VERY smart. And I know that all parents THINK their kids are the smartest. Hence the reason I shared what Stephanie said. Not a parent of Eli's, thinks he's smart. :) Hee hee.

Eli is into all sorts of things these days. He loves to climb, loves to run, loves to get dirty, loves water, loves trashcans and trash trucks. The kid is constantly on the go. However, he is interesting because I could also include "mellow" as one of my words up there. He happily plays by himself, is happy to be in the yard by himself (although this isn't the safest venture in the world). When we go out to eat, he sits and eats happily and calmly. We went to Red Robin for Oma's birthday and he sat and methodically took the crayons out the crayon box and then put them back in. Not a peep out of him as he did it over and over again. He still loves his mommy (whom he calls MA-MA) quite a bit and gives great snuggles. He also loves Daddy and loves it when Daddy gives him showers. He loves Stephanie, Papa (grandpa) and Mama (grandma). He adores his big brother and wants to be just like him. He is a happy wonderful kid. But he has a mind of his own and if you cross him, watch out. He can throw quite the fit. We are interested to see what the "2s" bring.

Eli, we are loving watching you grow into a little boy right before our eyes. You are charming and strong and adorable. Your cute smiles and chubby thighs make our hearts happy. We look forward to watching you grow more and are so thankful God gave you to us to raise! You are a delight, our son!

And what was he so intent on, you ask? Why, this, of course!

randomness

2010-04-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Some funny things going on here, partially for you all (are there really any people reading this blog anymore?) to enjoy, and partially so I don't forget them. I don't get much rest these days and am sure there are things leaking out of my brain daily.

Jayden:

*he insists on doing things "my byself." not a typo. that's what he says. its too adorable to correct

*he LOVES his brother. when I go in to get him up from his naps, he always asks, "Where's Eli?" or "What's Eli doin'?" his love for his brother still gets too rough but I love that he wants to be with him all the time.

*he also stutters quite a bit. this goes in phases and seems to be connected to big language explosions. so many sentences start with, "I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I...."

*he loves to play the air guitar. today in church he stood there, strumming away on his belly, big grin on his face. love that boy's enthusiasm for music!!!

*we went to have our taxes done by our friend Dave. my uncle is also named Dave so when we were almost there, he said, "We go see Uncle Dave!" we tried to correct him. so he then called this Dave "friend Uncle Dave" or "the other Uncle Dave." pretty cute.

Eli:

*he is OBSESSED with trashcans. and I mean OBSESSED. he wants to touch them, sit on them, see them, talk about them. he has learned their colors and now will say, "See! Trashcan! Blue! Green! Black!"

*we often holler up the stairs when there's a phone call for someone who lives up there. the other day, Eli walked over to the stairs and yelled, "PHIL!!! PHONE!!!"

*Eli also LOVES Jayden and gets quite impatient if Jayden is still asleep in the morning or afternoon when he's awake. but he will also say, "Jayden (sounds more like JAY-DE)! Sssshhh...sleeping."

*he loves water. loves to play in it, loves to drink it, loves to talk about it. loves water bottles.

*he is slowly learning his colors. if he says the wrong color for something and we correct him, he will argue with us. "No, YELLOW." Pretty funny.

ok, hope you enjoyed that. :)

a massive update...Easter, outside play, etc.

2010-04-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well I have been HORRIBLE about blogging lately. Just horrible. I won't take time to complain about how crazy our life is or bore you with lame excuses. I'll just blog.

So...where to start? EASTER!!! We had a pretty good one. Enjoyed, of course, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior! He is risen indeed! Although things could have been better on the health front. Jayden came down with double ear infections and the stomach flu all at once. And he passed along a more tame version of his stomach flu to his brother. So we had to opt out of church on Sunday but still had our gathering at our house, which was great fun! I got to get up super early and go to the sunrise service on the beach with my mom and Steph and that was BEAUTIFUL. Had a great time praising the Lord and ran into lots of friends. Woo-hoo!

The boys managed to recover enough to enjoy the party and do some egg hunting. So with further ado, here are some pics of the boys Easter egg hunting and all that jazz.

And here are some other fun shots from the week.

We are in the big push towards the end of Dan's semester which means lots of schoolwork for Daddy and extra work for Mommy on the home front. To say I am anxious for Dan to be done with school would be an understatement. It has been a marathon two years. Once we finish up this semester, then there's summer school and then we're off to Scotland for the entire fall for "Global Learning Term." YIKES. Prep is in full swing for that, too.

So while we're crazy busy, I still want to get better about updating the blog. So here's hoping...

Watch for 21 month post for Eli coming up. Oh and did I mention that Jayden will be THREE next month? Sniff, sniff.

iPad giveaway on MckMama's blog!

2010-04-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

Check out this awesome giveaway, with a good cause!!

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2010/04/little-ipad-with-big-purpose.html

Big Bear

2010-04-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

We took a short family trip to Big Bear for a couple days this past weekend. The road to Dan's family cabin was still all snowy so thankfully Oma and Opa were gracious enough to rent us all a condo for a couple nights. The boys had a great time! They loved the snow (there was some left on the ground by our condo), hanging with Oma and Opa, and going to the zoo (although, silly me, I forgot the camera so we have no photos of that outing!)!!

Thanks, Oma and Opa! We had a great time!

Here are some pics of our time.

As you can see in a few of these, Jayden has taken to giving quite the "ham it up" smile when asked to smile for pictures. We think its hilarious, though!

Sorry for the lack of updates on the blog. Things are just crazy busy! I am going to try, though...for real! :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

2010-03-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today is Dan's birthday!!! Happy Birthday, honey, to the best dad and husband our family could ever want! Thank you for all that you are to us- a provider, a strong presence, a caring hand and shoulder, a leader, and a playmate! I cherish your Godly example and the way you love our boys. The boys are so blessed to call you their daddy. Their faces light up when they see you and when they're with you and that speaks volumes.

We are so so so thankful for your life!! We love you!!!

loving the outside

2010-03-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

quick update

2010-02-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

We are busy busy busy these days.

This weekend Dan was in the wedding of our dear friend Jason, which was beautiful and awesome.

We are both in school.

We have two small children.

I'm running at 5K this Saturday.

You know, the usual Stephens Family insanity.

But I am DETERMINED to get back to blogging frequently. I love keeping track of everything the boys are up to, and keeping our friends and family (the ones that care, of course) updated on the goings on of our lives.

So what is up with these little boys of ours?

*As of this last week, Jayden is now 2 3/4. Less than three months till we will be parents of a 3 year old. WOW. He is already making requests for his party. He is obsessed with guitars. Every person's house we go to, we inevitably here Jayden ask, "You have a guitar here?" He also loves basketballs and basketball hoops. He also asks everyone if they have a basketball (which he pronounces basket-ga-ga...don't ask me, I have no idea why). He loves snuggles, loves to play outside, and loves to do things "by self."

*Eli will soon be 20 months old. Man, is he a STINKER. This kid has a mind of his own. He is determined, deliberate, intentional. He knows what he wants and he's going to get it. He is obsessed with trash trucks and trash cans and Veggie Tales. But really mostly trashcans. Everywhere we go, he points them out. He is full of new words daily. He loves his grandma, grandpa, Uncle Matthew, and Stephanie. He is still a mama's boy, though, and that makes me happy. He went through a phase where he wasn't too into sleeping through the night. But we're on a streak of 6 nights of sleeping through so I'm hoping and praying he is back to being our champion sleeper.

We are enjoying watching our little ones grow even amidst all the other stuff going on. They are our such a joy and delight.

And just cause they're also STINKING cute, here's a couple pics.

OLYMPICS

2010-02-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

We went to the Olympics! It was SUCH a wonderful trip. Next to our honeymoon, I think it is my favorite vacation ever. The boys did awesome, we had a great time, made great friends, saw cool sites. It was just PERFECT.

We flew to Seattle and spent the first night with our old Orange County friends, the Idols.

The next day we headed into Vancouver, where we had arranged to stay with friends of our good friends, Amber and Deric. We had never met them so it was a little nervewracking especially since we were bringing two destructo-toddlers into their home. They were AWESOME, though, and we liked them from the first second. They have a little girl on the way and we can't wait for her arrival and fun pictures. This is them, Aaron and Amy!

We spent 5 days seeing as many Olympic sites as possible, including taking in one hockey game, Czech Republic vs. Latvia. We also saw the Olympic cauldron, played in Robson Square (the social hubub center), etc.

This is the boys listening to a band we happened upon outside the Sochi exhibit house (its a venue where you can see pictures and previews of what's to come at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
I just think he looks cute in his hat!!

In the above shot Eli had just woken up from an all too short nap. Isn't he cute all sleepy-eyed? His cheeks also got chapped from the cold. :(

My three boys...beautiful!!!

We wrapped up the trip with one more night at the Idols and got to see Lyndsey and Mark on Saturday night and then swung by the Trumans on Sunday morning before our flight home. It is always SO good to see old friends and reconnect. We finished our trip with our hearts and souls full for sure!!!

wow...BOOM

2010-02-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am super lame with the updating these days. Life is just CRAZY, I guess. Dan is in full-swing with his new semester at school, the boys run run run all day, I'm training for a 5K race in March, and on top of everything else, I started a Chem class this week!!! WOW.

Plus...we had some super crazy "excitement" on our tiny little street last week. An early morning search warrant served on our neighbor's house turned into a "2 hour" evacuation while they searched. That turned into a full day of being evacuated. And since we were told 2 hours at the beginning, we took nothing with us.

Big big thanks goes to Tracey, my friend whose doorstep I showed up on, smelly and exhausted and near tears. We had just found out that we had to find elsewhere to sleep for the night and i was a bit panicked. She gave us a Pack N Play to borrow for the night, diapers, blankets, etc. THANK YOU TRACEY!!! You provided for us physically and also a much needed sense of welcome in the midst of our crazy day!!!

Our next big thanks go to Dan's parents (a.k.a. Oma and Opa) who let us sleep at their (new!) house that night. We really appreciated their hospitality and I think the boys loved their time at Oma and Opa's. Our only snafoo came when Eli woke up in the night and didn't have his "nigh-nighs" (his lovies he sleeps with) and wouldn't go back to sleep. So he and I headed home, hoping the craziness would be gone. It was. He promptly passed out in his crib and I passed out in our bed, resisting the urge to kiss the floor on my way!!!

What was going on, you ask? Feast your eyes on this shot my mom took mid-day (you can see our house at the top of the cul-de-sac. Its the two-story blueish gray one).

Our neighbor, who we've known collected guns for a long time apparently went a bit too far with his hobby, got some illegal stuff, some potentially dangerous stuff, and the cops noticed and got the search warrant. There was much more there than they originally thought and it took all day to search, detonate the dangerous stuff, and clear out. WOW. For those of you who have ever been to our house, you know we live on a QUIET cul-de-sac in Mar Vista. This was A LOT of excitement for us. If you want to watch the news story, you can do it here.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/explosives-firearms-found-in-mar-vista-20100204

More pics of the day we spent roaming through L.A. coming later (i.e. once I get them uploaded!).

RYAN!!!!!!!

2010-01-25T20:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend Ryan (best guy friend from college) came for a visit!! We had such a great time. It was too short, but wonderful. His wife and kids are in Idaho visiting her parents so he seized the opportunity to head down here. The boys LOVED him and I think the feeling was mutual.

We love you, Ryan!! Thank you so much for coming down to see us. It was the highlight of our year thus far. :)

Ryan is a cop and is currently working graveyards. So, being the stud that he is, he got off work Saturday morning and just drove straight down (from the bay area). Once here, he decided to just stay up and not sleep. So he was awake for like 31 hours!!! What a guy. So here is him sound asleep on the couch this morning. You should know that the boys were running around crazy, watching Veggie Tales, and he just slept right through it. Now THAT'S talent!!!

Reading to the boys this morning...

Bestest buddies!!!

still alive!

2010-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, haven't posted in awhile. Things have been BUSY with Dan starting back to school and entertaining two young children.

Eli had his 18 month check up last week.

23 lbs., 14.5 oz (25th percentile)
31.5 inches (25th percentile)

So still small but definitely proportionate. To give you an idea, Jayden was 33 inches at 18 months. But he was also 24 pounds. So longer and skinnier.

Don't have much else big to talk about so here's a cute pic to tide you over.. :)

These two little boys are the bestest of friends. Its pretty stinking cute.

bestest buddies

2010-01-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

18 months old...wow

2010-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Eli is 18 months old today!! Hard to believe. His first year felt kind of slow and long, full of sleeplessness and exhaustion. But these last six months, they have FLOWN by. I really feel like I BLINKED and bam, here we are.

What's he up to?
*He has 8 teeth now and is working on cutting his molars.
*He is walking, running, climbing, falling...basically doing all the things a little daredevil 18 month old would do.
*He is taking just one nap now, which is very nice cause it means we can be out and about all morning.
*He still loves his early bedtime and crashes at 6:30 every night. He sleeps till 6:30 or so in the morning. We are very blessed!
*He is definitely talking much more. He isn't stringing together two or three words much yet but he has TONS of words, too many to list here. He is repeating all sorts of things and tries to say anything we ask him to, including things like velcro and Jello and the like.
*He is wearing almost all 18 month clothing and a size 5 shoe (small feet).
*We have taken a break from cloth diapering for a variety of reasons and Eli is in size 4 diapers (same as Jayden, ha ha).
*Eli is as mellow as they come for the most part. He loves his mommy and daddy, loves his brother, and loves to be outside. He can get quite mad when he decides to be but for the most part is content to play and go with the flow. He is quite the cuddler and will often reach up and say, "Ma-meee" (his name for me right now) just so I'll pick him up and cuddle him. Needless to say, this MELTS my heart.
*Other than that, he has recently had an ear infection so bad that his eardrum ruptured. In his mellow, unaffected way he complained just a little. We took him in thinking he had an ear infection but had no idea it had gotten so bad! This kid amazes me!! He also has been fighting off a stomach bug the past week or so. Poor little guy. You wouldn't know it from him, though. He just cruises along, happy as can be!!!

We also think he is just ADORABLE, so feast your eyes on these shots from today!

Sweet Eli, we could NOT love you more but somehow manage to still fall more in love with you every day. We thank God for your surprise life, and the gift of raising you and calling you our son!!

a new decade

2010-01-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

So my friend Jenny did a cool look back over her last decade. I decided to borrow a page from her book and do the same.
*A side note: This turned out to be REALLY long so if you can't get through the whole thing, I understand. :)

So, here we go...rewinding...

New Year's Day, 2000. I was in San Diego with my friends Ryan and Ann having a blast! It was our first of many New Year's spent together. Unfortunately, we have married (well that's not unfortunate..) and scattered and birthed children so we are not able to be together anymore. I still miss them every New Year's. When I think of the people who God has most used to shape who I am (with the exception of parents and Dan) these two top my list!

Summer of 2000 I spent in Colorado interning with Youth for Christ. Made some of the best friends I've ever had. Didn't sleep enough. Worked a lot. Had a blast. Fell in love with Colorado. God changed my life!

Fall of 2000 found me at APU. By the way, Dan will enter the scene in a starring role very soon but at this point, he was the guy who would show up on my doorstep in Azusa randomly and everyone wondered if he was secretly in love with me.

Summer of 2001 I moved home for the summer and spent a lot of time with Dan, who was working and hanging out in L.A.

Spring of 2002 I graduated from APU! Wahoo! Dan didn't make graduation cause he was in Mexico. I saw him that weekend and poured my heart out to him about my recent broken heart (he just keeps popping up huh?).

I also started working at Hillview Acres Children's Home right as I graduated. It was a wonderful and challenging time in my life. Life changing for sure. Made some of my best friends of all time.

January of 2003 Dan up and moved to the east coast, which really left me very sad, even though I would have said that I didn't care at the time.

March of 2003 Dan returned home for his birthday and we had another "random cuddling incident." Back he went to the east coast and I said to Ryan and Ann, "I think I MIGHT KIND OF like Dan." Ryan celebrated quietly in his own mind as he had been wanting us together for quite some time.

May of 2003. Dan returns home again. During another random cuddling incident he says, "So is this a good idea or does it happen just because its comfortable?" We agreed to think and pray about our relationship. He returned again to the east coast, leaving me near heartbroken. At this point I was definitely "in like."

At this point I was still working at Hillview. That July I flew out to see Dan and attend a conference with friends. When the issue of our relationship came up, Dan said to me, "I love you but I'm not IN love with you." Heartbroken again. The rest of the trip, though, the sparks were flying and I kept thinking, "Ok either Dan was lying to me or to himself."

August of 2003 Dan flies home again and we spend mounds of time together.

August 30, 2003 we start dating.

That next February we got engaged.

In March he moved back to L.A.

November 20, 2004 we say "I Do!!!"

May of 2005 we experience a miscarriage. God really showed me a lot through that but one big thing was how amazing the man I married is. His love and support through that time was incredible.

September of 2006...PREGNANT again. This time, with the Jayden boy!

may of 2007...Jayden arrives!!

November of 2007...a trip to the ER for a possible kidney infection turns into finding out Eli was on his way! 6 weeks pregnant and had no idea. It takes about a week for the shock to wear off.

May of 2008 we moved back to L.A. so Dan could start school in the fall.
Jayden also turns ONE, just a mere seven weeks before his little brother is due to arrive. Craziness!

July 2008...Eli arrives!
November of 2008- The Thanksgiving 2008 Stomach Flu hits our house. Wow, talk about A LOT of people VERY sick at the same time, with two very small children to care for.

December of 2008- Our first Christmas as a family of four. We managed to survive the first 6 months of having a 1 year old and an infant. At times it felt like it we might not, let's just say that!

January of 2009- We head to Seattle for a family vacation, visiting the Trumans and Lyndsey and Mark (pictured below). Fun fun fun!!!

May of 2009

Jayden turns TWO!!!

June of 2009. My dad undergoes quadruple bypass, flatlining twice on the table. We're told he might be brain dead. He wasn't. Praise God. Flatlined again in the hospital a few days after the surgery. Got a pacemaker. Had a stroke. Clot miraculously dissolved, leaving him with just a slight limp. We all praise God again.

July of 2009- Eli turns ONE. I marvel at how fast a year can go and simultaneously rejoice that Eli is one and mourn the end of his babyhood. Life is weird like that.

September 2009- Dan starts L.A. Term, a required semester for his Global Studies degree. Four months of exhaustion ensue, accompanied with a nasty bout with strep throat that leaves him with weird tremors. Many medical tests follow- everything comes back clear. Life is weird like that. I am reminded to not take my wonderful, amazing, incredible, handsome, Godly husband for granted!!

November of 2009- Dad lands back in the hospital with blood clots in his lung and his leg. Enough medical stuff already, God!! :)

December of 2009- Dan finishes L.A. Term and the entire world breaks out in rejoicing. Ok, maybe it was just me. Hee hee.

December 31, 2009- We say good riddance to 2009 when it comes to an end!!! Ok that's a bit dramatic. God has used this year to teach us a lot and we are thankful for that. But I would say it has been, by far, my most challenging year yet. Challenges in parenting, in marriage, in trusting God with my dad's life, etc. have continually driven me to my knees, even if to just say, "God forgive me..." for handling it all so poorly. We are looking forward to what God will teach us in this next year while also hoping for less "drama."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

ladies

2009-12-29T20:15:00.001-08:00

So we did a fun photoshoot of our little community/family right before Christmas. Here's one fun shot we got of the ladies of the house (we are SERIOUSLY outnumbered around here and have to STICK TOGETHER). We all got matching shirts, too, as you can see.

almost too much

2009-12-28T14:21:00.001-08:00

Eli's cute little face is almost too much cuteness for me to handle sometimes.

Just sayin.

cute boy

2009-12-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

My friend Tracey took this and I tweaked it a little bit with my new Lightroom program (thanks to my mother and father in law for the wonderful Christmas present!!). Isn't he precious?