10th Anniversary Trip!

I can't believe that it's been 10 years already! I want to spend hours trying to find the right words to describe how much I have grown through my marriage, been blessed by it and have thankful I am that I have the most amazing husband ever...but life is crazy so for now pictures of our trip will have to suffice. We had so much fun in the Dominican! We were in need of some rest from the chaos of life and to prepare us for the next adventure that awaits. We're so thankful for God's perfect timing in all things!

 

 

The first night we went to the hibachi style restaurant! We love food so you will see lots of pics of food! :)

 

 

 

Mike reading his Bible on our balcony

 

 

 

I LOVE the ocean!

 

 

 

 

They had a sushi bar at the hibachi restaurant. We ate lots of sushi! This was Mike's plate, I only eat the rolls not the actual pieces!

 

 

Our own private patio and jacuzzi!

 

 

They had this sign waiting on our door when we arrived at the resort! :)

 

 

We went ziplining, it was SO much fun! You do 12 different lines and land on a platform and then walk to next platform or they just hook you into another line from the same platform. The drive to the zip line was much scarier then ziplining itself! It was really nice to get away from the resort but once we headed onto the dirt roads in the mountains it was a little scary...ok I closed my eyes a few times while our tires were spinning out on a steep narrow road. But we obviously survived and it was totally worth it! :)

 

 

The zip line course

 

 

 

It's hard to see in this pic but one of the ziplines went right over all of this. Some lines went right between trees, one of the longer lines took us over a river and one line you can't even see the platform they just tell you start braking as soon as pass the second tree. It was easier to do then it sounded! :)

 

 

 

Our favorite pool to hang out by and we LOVED the Bali beds! They were so comfortable to read on and lay out on! The vacation was not totally perfect because I did actually get strep throat. :( Thankfully they had a doctor and antibiotics available at the resort so thanks to that I wasn't down long. But it was great to just spend the day I didn't feel good napping and reading on these beds, with the occasional swim.

 

 

For all you health nuts out there...coconut water from the coconut tastes way better then the boxed stuff! The man cut the top off and put the straw in and there was so much liquid in there, it was amazing!

 

 

 

 

We thought it was hilarious to sit on this bench and try to get a good pic of ourselves...there were lots of double chins and cheesy grins before we ever got a good one or just decided to ask someone!

 

 

 

 

 

We had a blast swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, reading, eating and just hanging out! I am so thankful to God for this amazing man that He has given to me! I'm SO excited for the next 10 years and though I know there will be rough moments, as well as great moments, I am confident that God has great things in store for our marriage and family! Thanks to all our amazing family and friends who watched our kids so we could go on this wonderful trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIG Changes Ahead...

Almost 9 months ago, God began to move Mike and I to ask the question, “Will you yield yourself to Me?” Which at times can seem like an easy question to answer yes to but when it comes in regards to our future in Flagstaff it can be very hard to respond yes. But, we know that God's plan is best and so we began to ask God to help us fully yield ourselves to His will. Mike had decided to take a day to seek God on a number of things, and that question was front and center coming out of that time. In the coming weeks we simply wanted to obey and we felt that God brought us to the place where he placed Faith Church in Rio Rancho, NM in front us. Our sense was that He “wanted us to pursue this.” And I might have occassionally asked God are you sure you mean Albuquerque?? :) At that time, we thought that meant submitting a resume and going from there.

However, with lots of prayers and seeking of God's will...drumroll please... Mike has now accepted the job of lead Pastor at Faith Church!!! I could not be more proud of my husband and all the ways that God has been building him up and preparing him for such a time as this. I know that God has great things in store for us and we are confident that this is His will! We will be moving in the end of June.

Are there fears? YES! Are there lots of unknowns? YES! Are we SOOO sad to leave our family, friends and the church we have come to love so deeply, North Point? YES!!!! But here's what we do know...

We are leaving because we firmly believe that Jesus is who He says He is, and that eternity really will be WAY better than anything we could think of or imagine here. We currently live in an amazing house with awesome neighbors, in a beautiful mountain town, near family, in a great neighborhood and on and on I could go. But we recognize that this is both temporary and fading, which makes a move to a new place not as big of deal. We're not in it for the next 40 or 50 years and all that we can accumulate, We're in it for the Savior and the eternity we're going to spend with Him!

I have been so blessed over the last 6 1/2 years to watch Mike and my dad work hand in hand! I'm so grateful for the love and respect they share for one another and the joy it has been to get labor for the Lord with my parents. Yep, currently trying not to tear up about this one! 

To our friends and family in Flagstaff  we love you and can’t even begin to express how thankful, grateful, and appreciative we are to you all. This decision has been a very hard one to make! Many tears and heartaches have come along with this decision, as we have had to process what leaving Flagstaff will mean. You can ask anyone at our church business meeting, where we announced our leaving, about the tears...I'm pretty sure I was sobbing!! :)

The life verse God gave Mike and I before we were married and that we had put on our wedding rings in Acts 20:24, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God," It's to this end that we strive and we pray that our lives may bring great glory to God!

For any who want to pray for us, we could use prayers for our house here selling (hoping to get it on the market this weekend!) and my sanity as I try to keep the house clean with four kids! :) Also, for a house in Rio Rancho, the kids as they prepare to leave, our marriage as we head out on this adventure and Mike as he prepares to take on the roll as lead pastor. Thanks SO much!

Christmas Time

We had a great Christmas season celebrating our Savior's birth, hanging out with family and friends and heading south to enjoy some warmer weather!

 

It's a tradition that my friend Alissa and I always make Christmas sugar cookies together. This year we decided we better let the kids join in on our fun! Then we did dinner and exchanged gifts...Chris and Alissa hit a home run this year and the kids LOVED everything! Thanks sweet friends!

 

 

Then we celebrated with Mike's dad. Kara is so into baby dolls and finally got a baby doll and stroller for Christmas!

 

 

What's it going take to get a good pic of these kids?!? I love how the boys look like a choir singing in the middle pic! :)

 

 

No seriously what's it going to take?!?!

 

 

 

Obviously something was very funny!! Probably me yelling at them for not smiling right just made them laugh harder! :)

 

 

I love this pic! And I kind of want a big, puffy, soft jacket just like Kara's!

 

 

On Christmas day we headed to Tucson with my parents. Mike's aunt and uncle were out of town on a cruise and so graciously let us use their house! We were out of cold weather and snow so immediately we headed to the parks!

 

 

Who says parks are just for kids?? My mom and I couldn't resist getting on this spinning toy and seeing how many times we could go around without putting our feet down. It wasn't easy I might add, we had to keep those legs swinging!

 

We had a blast just hanging out with my parents and getting to enjoy some beautiful weather! But all good things must come to end so it was back to freezing Flagstaff we went!

Polar Express

There's a nearby town that has the Grand Canyon Railway. Every year around Christmas time they do a Polar Express train. We've been wanting to take the kids and thanks to some sweet friends, who gave us tickets, we were able to take the kids this year. Grammy and Papa came too so that was really fun. So we put on our pajamas and headed for the train.

 

At first when we got there it felt like we were the only adults wearing our robes! It seemed like everyone was giving us funny glances (they were just jealous of how comfy-cozy we were!) but then we started to see some other adults in their pj's too!

 

 

We are all bundled up because it was REALLY cold this day! But the cold made it super fun and we were all ready for the hot cocoa and cookie on the train.

 

 

I absolutely love this pic of Mike and Jason!

 

 

We all had so much fun!!! We don't do Santa at our house, not because we don't think its right but neither Mike or I grew up doing it in our houses.  So we've talked with the boys about Santa and how it is something fun that some families do. So this polar express train takes you to the "North Pole" and we pull up and they have Santa standing in a sleigh waving. Well, Trenton yells, "he is real!!" It was SO funny! With all the other kids on the train I was not about to yell "No he's not!" :) So on the drive home we chatted more about Santa and then we talked some about Jesus and celebrating His birth.  So Trenton says, "Mom, I wish Jesus came down and put presents under our tree." I love that kid! Sometimes I ask the same question instead of truly grasping that Jesus IS our present! What a fun night we had!

 

 

 

Winter Time Fun

It's hard to believe that winter time is in full swing! Ok, I'm actually way behind on my blogging so I have to pretend that we are greatly anticipating Christmas (though it's over!) at the time of these pics!

 

First of all, whenever you look at pics on my blog and wonder why on earth did I pick the picture where one of the kids eyes are closed or someone has a goofy smile, just remember my kids are the HARDEST kids in the world to get to take a good pic!

 

The people who owned our house before us left a TON of Christmas decorations! So we decided to use the big bulbs they left  and put them on our big pine tree outside. The kids were waiting for their turns on the stairs to go outside with daddy and hang their bulbs.

 

Our fake little tree is getting more and more full each year with homemade decorations! It takes a little restraint on my part to not move all the homemade ones to the back (I know I'm a bad parent!) but it is SO much fun watching the kids decorate the tree now. They get so into it.

 

Also, thanks to pinterest I had the idea of making these advent trees and reading a part of the Christmas story from the Bible each night and doing some sort of fun activity or act of service. Wow, it seemed like a good idea until I realized this goes on for 24 days and is really hard to keep up with! The idea needs some work because instead of focusing more on Jesus with the kids, like I was hoping would be the case, the kids became more focused on what they got to do or what was in it for them. Oh well, you live and learn...that's the joy of parenting.

 

 

We went to the light parade downtown with some friends from our life group. Everyone bundled up and we brough hot cocoa and snacks and had a blast! Ok, well Trenton felt like he was going to throw up on and off but other then that it was fun. :) The bottom pic is from our Life Group Christmas party. We did a pj party and this sweet fam all came in footy pjs. It was a little hard to take them seriously and come on we all know only certain people can pull off the footy pjs and they did a great job of it. I LOVE our life group (what we call our small groups from church) and am so blessed by these great friends that we get to share life with!

 

 

We have had the perfect winter...so far! We had amazing weather until a few weeks before Christmas and then we got a huge snowstorm. We had so much fun playing outside. We continue to love our neighborhood and how all the kids head outside to play together. We took the kids sledding on this pretty big hill and after a good long while we had to drag them away cause it was getting dark. Playing in the snow takes a LOT of work to get everyone ready but it's totally worth it! The kids love it and I love coming back inside to make hot chocolate and all sitting around.

 

 

 

Pajama Ruuuuun!

Tim and Kristi came up with this great idea called Pajama Run. You wait until the kids are in bed and then you yell "Pajama Run" and they know that you means you jump out of bed and go crazy because you're going to get a treat in you pj's. Disclaimer: this is not meant to be done too often, due to the crazy kids this produces! :)

We are finally getting to the stage with our kids where we're not worried about waking a sleeping baby, so we're hoping to implement this more often. Flagstaff just got a Dunkin Donuts (yes, a big day for our small town!) so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do a pj run!

 

 

 

 

We had a blast...ok there were a few complaints about wanting more donuts but come on we already felt like super star parents for taking our kids to donuts at 7:30 on a school night. Two donuts might bring on a sugar high that would make us not like these pajama runs to much! I love getting to spend time with our little family.

Family Vacation!

The first week of October, we loaded up the van and headed for a small lake town in California that was 10 hours away! A 10 hour car ride is not always fun with four little ones but we survived!! We got to enjoy this beautiful house that a Christian family, we don't know, lets pastors use for only $95 for the week! It was probably our most fun family vacation yet because the kids are starting to get to ages where vacation can be fun and not all work. Oh don't get me wrong, there's still work involved, just not as much. The house was in the middle of nowhere near a lake. There was a pool and a playground, where we enjoyed lots of hours of fun! There were deer everywhere. Each morning we got to sit on the porch with coffee and our Bibles and watch the deer. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

 

We went on a couple different day excursions that both ended at the beach. These pics were at this ghetto aquarium in Morro Bay. The kids loved it and had no idea that it was pretty run down, which I guess is all that matters!

 

 

The boys at Morro Bay. So here's a funny story: While we were walking around the kids saw a pillow pet store and had to go in! So we headed in not realizing just how much pillow pets are in the actual store! Of course each boy found one that he absolutely had to have. So Mike and I tell them that we need to go to the car to count their allowance and see if they have enough. Really, the cheapskate in me is thinking let's see how much we can get these for on Amazon! So we check amazon and count their money and Trenton is the only one who has enough to actually go back to the store and buy the pillow pet. So Mike is giving him the whole talk about how if he waits and gets his pillow pet on amazon then he will save $10! But nope, T just wants to go buy the pillow pet. On the way in to the store Mike gives it one last valiant attempt to help T save some money by telling him he can use the extra money and go buy 10 things at the dollar store. Trenton looks Mike right in the eyes and grabs his face and says, "Dad, I can always earn more money! Let's go buy that pillow pet!" We have laughed a lot over that statement but it's very true of who Trenton is. :)

 

 

Here we are at Avila Beach...we LOVE the beach! And I love all my boys!

 

 

More beach fun, Mike buried all the boys in the sand and fearless Kara would run as deep as we would let her go into the ocean.

 

 

Here's a different beach that we took a trip through wine country to get to. I love these pics of the boys!

 

 

 

We found a pumpkin patch while on the way to beach that looked like fun so we stopped. The boys weren't too thrilled at first because they were anxious to get to the beach but once they spotted those giant cookies and rice krispie treat they were happy as can be! :) It seriously was the most amazing rice krispie treat ever!

 

 

They also had putt-putt near the house where we stayed. Oh and a friend of ours recommended a restaurant in San Luis Obispo that served the most amazing tri-tip BBQ sandwich! So of course I had to take a pic and send it to her.

 

 

What would vacation be without some frozen yogurt?!?! The kids love getting to add their own toppings...actually I love it too!

 

 

Also, what would vacation be without some wii playing in underwear!

 

 

Last day at the beach the boys went on an adventure and found some starfish! So fun! And here's Mike trying to keep Kara from going too deep!

 

 

We had such a great time! What a blessing to be able to get away for a family vacation!