California here we come, right back where we started from!

(So yes, I'm the lamest blogger of all time. I know, I've been horrible about posting in the last several months. Sorry. Doing my best here to stay afloat!)

We took a trip to California to celebrate both Bry's & DJ's birthdays @ Disneyland. Also, this month we will celebrate our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY so we went back to Laguna Beach, to the very spot we got married. We haven't done this sort of trip since Elle was born. Sure, we've traveled PLENTY but this time was just for fun. It was a nice time for the 5 of us. I will post a bunch of pictures we took mostly with our point & shoot. Not much high quality photography going on here, but lots of fun nonetheless.

First we went to Laguna Beach to show the kids where we got married:


We had a delicious lunch at a groovy little cafe across from our favorite surf shop:


Here you can see the big natural wall in the far background. That was our wedding site:













Then we went to Uncle Pete & Aunt Debbie's for a BBQ, where we got to see aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. What a great time.

The kids wrestled and played all evening:












The next morning, we arrived at Disneyland before the gates were open. Lots of characters were standing around on Main Street in the town square. Here's a pic with Chip & Dale or as DJ says, "Dale & Chip":


The Dumbo ride was one of our first stops:










Bry feeling too old and too cool for the rest of us:


It worked out great because 2 of my favorite cousins live near Disneyland and they have season passes. They joined us, along with their families for a few hours in the morning. I treasured the time I got to hang out with them. They were such a big part of my childhood and I love them both dearly:


I still love the old Jungle Boat ride:






Here is the whole gang. Me, Sara & Rach with our husbands and 8 of our 9 kids. (Sara's baby boy stayed home with the grands):


Blue Bayou for lunch is a MUST!:


We were there on DJ's birthday so she got in free and our waitress noticed her birthday button and brought her a birthday dessert:




"Did you see that?":




Caleb was determined to carry Bry on his shoulders, while he still can.


Tired Bry taking a cruise in the stroller:


Bry flexing his muscles:






Leaving Toon Town for the night:






Just about ready to leave for the night:




The next morning we slept in and visiting quite awhile with Aunt Deb before we hit the road again. Elle was prepared for the ride home. Excited for another adventure:


Fast food stop (yuk):


I don't know why, but I think car shots are funny. To me, it shows real personality and it just seems comical that we sit in such a small space for so many hours....







We bought the girls new swimming goggles and they were so excited they wore them for the last couple hours of the trip. Silly girls:




DJ watching a movie with her goggles on:






And we made it home safe and sound!

Just for Fun

Bry is playing Coach-Pitch baseball and DJ is playing T-ball. What a blast! This is the first time either of them has played baseball and it has been so much fun watching them learn as they go. I love both of their teams and their coaching. It's a very laid back environment that involves a lot of cheering, high-fiving and laughing. Both of them are doing really well and having a good time.

DJ with her crazy curly hair after we took it out of tiny little buns we had in all day.


Elle before we took her buns out. She looked so cute when we took them out with ringlets everywhere. I should have taken a picture! I'll have to do it again soon and post it.


Bry ran into Dj's dug-out to congratulate her with a hug after she made it home. "That's my sister!", he said as she cleared the base.


Sleepy Elle.


I'll try to get some more action shots. Bry's games are later and it's dark so it's harder to take decent pics, but I'll try to get some of him batting or something fun.

Until next time...

A Grand Visit

Caleb's oldest brother came for a visit this week with his lovely girlfriend. We had such a great time together. I'll post a bunch of pics to recap our hike in The Grand Canyon and a trip to the zoo.

BTW: I know I'm SUPER behind on blogging. I still need to post T-ball pics and other stuff when I get a little more free time. In the meantime...

Day 1:
We left our kiddos in good hands and headed up North first to Jerome, AZ (one of the coolest towns ever!) and then to Sedona, AZ- Gorgeous as always.

This is Seth and Ruthie in front of the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome:


Ruthie's dad's name is Jerome so she had to get a picture with this shirt:


One of the many historic buildings in Jerome:


We got to visit my favorite shopping spot in Sedona:






The bros acting like cowboys:


Day2:
And so the hike begins... It was snowing at the trailhead and was surprisingly cold for April:


There are many petroglyphs and Indian dwellings along the Bright Angel and South Kiabab trails. Here are some of the ancient paintings on the an inner wall of the Canyon:


On the trail, mules always have the right of way. This is one of the many mule trains we moved over for during our hike:


Here are some of the countless switchbacks we treked through. At times it seems you'll never get to the bottom but step after step, mile after mile, hour after hour, you do eventually get there:


You can see how far we'd come down in this picture and the mules behind us on the trail:


We're in the inner gorge here, just past Indian Garden, heading toward the Colorado, anxious to see the mighty river ahead...


More switchbacks to conquer. You can see the very top of the rim and the tiny mules on the trail.


Finally, the grand Colorado River below:


...About six hours later...we're almost to Phantom Ranch here. If you look really hard, you can see one of the suspension bridges up ahead. Not much further to go:


DAY 3:
We totally scored with getting the River Ranger Station, which meant we got to shower and didn't have to freeze in tents(which we've done every other time we've hiked the Canyon). We ate a "home-cooked" meal and played cards but were so exhausted we were in bed by 8:30! (It felt like midnight) This is us the next morning ready for the difficult hike ahead of us:


This was our view from a foot bridge, just outside of the cabin we stayed in. Not bad, hu? See those top mountains? That's where we were headed. It's both exciting and a bit daunting to see the top, but SO WORTH IT once you get there! We got there in about 5 1/2 hours. It's such a mind thing because even though I know I'm capable, it's HARD work getting out of the Canyon.


This is the second suspension bridge we crossed to get back over the Colorado. We crossed it with mules behind us and the shaking was enough to make us pick up our pace and get over it as quick as possible. It was a little nerve racking:


This is the result of me running across the shaky bridge and shooting at the same time:


I can't even tell you have refreshing it is to be out in God's raw creation. For me, it is one of the most rejuvinating ways to spend my time. It is revealing and it reminds me of how great our God is:


We made a great team and had such a FUN time together:


We made it out!!! This is us back at the top after 5 1/2 hours of vertical hiking. Exhaustion and exhileration meet up at the trail head:


Day 4:
Let's go to the zoo. Hey, why not we're not sore and exhausted or anything- yeah right.










All of this adventure, travel and excitement made for a very tired trip home:
(just for the record, Seth & Ruthie wanted to ride in the back to spend time with the kids and watch movies with them. We didn't make them sit back there- just so you know;)

Perception

This is just random, but funny...
One night as we were sitting at the table eating dinner, Elle gave me a disgusted look with her nose wrinkled up and said: "Hers got her sock in it?" She was apparently very irritated with the BBQ bottle, but I couldn't figure out why.

It took me a few times of asking Elle to repeat herself and FINALLY, I realized what was bothering her. Check out the bottle of BBQ sauce:



To her, the picture of the brush on the BBQ sauce bottle looks like a girls foot dipped in the sauce. Once I realized what she was referring to, I could see it. It looks kind of like Dorothy's ruby slipper.

I saw a leg of chicken covered in BBQ sauce. Elle saw a girl's leg dipped in sauce. It's all about perception.

A little bit of this and a little bit of...

I've had people from all directions who have said I need to start blogging again. (As if I have nothing better to be doing). But I know I'm WAAAY behind. So this is an attempt to catch up a little bit.

We've been working hard in the yard preparing for company and some other things. It's getting hot already here in AZ. We've been in the mid 80's all week and I even got sunburned one day while doing some gardening and yardwork. I will post some current pictures of our house SOON. We've come along way, but it is still very much a work in progress. Today, I'll post some BEFORE pics of the house from late December:

This is part of the living room before we yanked that ugly powder blue carpet out:




This is the Master Bedroom in all it's blueness:


This is Bryant's Room before we got his furniture in there: (he and Elle were playing Legos while we worked in the house)


This is looking from Bry's room, into the Laundry room:
(This house has a pretty funny layout. The whole thing is like a big circle around the bathroom. You can go from the Front Office to the Living Room to the Master to Bry's Room to the Laundry Room to the Kitchen and back to the Living Room)


This is the view from the Girls' room. We live downtown in the historic part of our little town. They have a great view of the historic church across the street as well of the town square called, "The Plaza":




This is Caleb working on the floor after we pulled the carpet up in the office. The rest of the house had hard wood floors, which were MUCH easier to cleanup than this tile covered in glue:



As we were still moving in, Elle was playing dress up one afternoon and I found her crashed out on the couch:


I also found DJ one night crashed out with her chin propped up on her hands. Notice her dirty little arms. This is sheer exhaustion:


Okay, more pics to come soon. We have a couple of fun things coming up this month, so I'll try to be good about posting them. Until next time...

Busy, busy busy!

Just a quick note... I've been so busy living my life that I haven't had a spare minute to write about it! Things are going very well here in the sunny West. We have something of a pulse on the house in SC but it will be a process that takes a few weeks. If it's anything definite, I'll be sure to post about it. Please continue to pray that God will miraculously sell it for us in this horrendous market.

We are all moved into our charming little place in downtown. I will try to post pics soon of the house. When we first moved in, we yanked out old powder blue carpet to expose gorgeous, old hard wood floors throughout. It's not huge, by any means, but it's nice and we're enjoying it.

The kids are all doing great. Bry's school is going very well and he is learning so much- I'm learning right along with him. I know that sounds crazy to think that a 3rd grade curriculum could offer so much, but I'm learning (or perhaps re-learning) a great deal about American history. Also, I'm rediscovering a love for late night reading. I guess I love reading at anytime of day, but late night is the only time I manage to squeeze it in. Both girls are doing super too. They are learning, growing and loving this gorgeous AZ weather. I'm sure summer will be another story as far as the weather is concerned. All 3 kids love living near my parents and their cousins. All 3 are very excited about Granny & Pops visiting from MI in the next few weeks too.

Cal and I are good but often don't see each other nearly as much as we'd like. I wish I could share all the details of his job but since that would be a serious breach of security, I'll just say he and the others on his team are doing some great things. Please continue to pray for their safety as they're fighting the war on illeg*l subst*nces coming into our land. I believe lives are being saved because of these guys and the many others like them across the country. It is because of their service that we get to enjoy many of the freedoms we do. Have you thanked an officer lately? Their job isn't nearly as easy as many people think. May we not take them for granted and let us give them the respect they deserve. Not all cops are jerks like the media and a lot of people want to indicate. Most of them just want to do their jobs well and make it home to see their families at the end of the day. (THUMP- that was me stepping off my soapbox)

Well, just wanted to do a quick post. I have some pics I've been wanting to put up. Another day, another post!
I hope to have internet at the house soon so it's not such an ordeal to get online!

New Beginnings

This is what I woke up to one morning this week:

I did not alter these photos in any way


Within seconds, the sky lightened
In minutes the vibrancy of the sunrise was gone


I was laying in bed (in our unimpressive 5th wheel trailer) and I could see a radiant pink coming through the window. I threw on some shoes, a jacket and grabbed my camera to head outside and capture it before it was gone. Much like this sunrise, I don't want to miss the beauty of my life around me.

For the past 2 months, the 5 of us have been sleeping in a crowded 5th wheel trailer on the back of my parents' property. I haven't mentioned this to many people for a few reasons. The first being that I didn't want people to worry about us. We are doing fine financially and unexpectedly great emotionally, thanks be to God. We needed to take this leap of faith without the approval of others. The last thing we needed was people worrying about us or criticizing us. So we went for it, even knowing we'd be staying in a little trailer with 3 children for a season.

So, all of our belongings have been in storage and we've lived very minimally. That tiny trailer is so cold at night, you wouldn't believe it. The kids all share a snug room with one bed and a trundle air mattress. Cal and I have been sleeping on a crowded full-size bed. It has been anything but glamorous. The funny thing is, I wouldn't have missed these past 2months for anything.

At first, I wondered how on earth we'd make it through this time, living in a tiny trailer. We wondered if we were completely scaring our children for life. Soon, I grew more and more grateful and could see this is a good part of our journey. I realized that this was a great adventure for our children on the road of gratitude and away from the trap of entitlement. Instead of thinking about all I didn't have, I began to focus on how much we DO have. Yes, the temperature isn't ideal at night, but we never froze. We've had shelter all along. How many people don't even have that? We have each other. We have loving family all around us. We have food, clothing... everything we need to live. We had laughter and joy. We have old memories and new hopes. Perhaps, best of all, we have had simplicity.

Tomorrow, the movers will bring our countless items and furniture out of storage. The power was turned on yesterday to our new house. There is a fireplace and a lovely view. So many things that are little blessings that I don't want to fail to notice and be thankful for. I think the house will serve it's purpose nicely and I'm looking forward to it. But, I don't want to forget this time of living off the bare essentials. I am so thankful to have experienced our "long term camping adventure". I'm thankful for the fresh perspective and the realization of just how little we need. Happiness absolutely does not come in the things we have.

I'm excited about this new beginning. A new year. A new home. A new perspective.