The Gutierrez Family

Lucy Ann Gutierrez is Here!!!

2011-11-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Our little Lucy was born Monday morning! 7 lbs and 17 inches long.

Everything happened super quick when we went into our doctor appointment in the morning. The appointment was at 8:45am, saw the doctor around 9am, Laura's water broke while the doctor was checking to see how much she was dilated. We immediately went up to the delivery room and since Lucy was still in the breech position, prepared for a c-section. In 15 minutes, she dilated from 4 to 8 cm and then a short while later was at 10cm. At 10:01am, Lucy was born! Everything happened in the matter of 1 hour...crazy!

Laura is recovering slowly from the c-section, but both Laura and Lucy are doing great! We love her and enjoy having her home now.

Here are a few pictures:

Lucy checking our her new world.

Meeting mommy for the first time.

Lucy making her mark.

Laura texting all her friends the good news!

The kids sharing their new sister with Nana.

Lucy hanging out with the boys.

Natalie loving her new little sister.

Proud big brother.

Bonding time with Grandma.

Hearing Lucy's heartbeat!

We LOVE you Lucy! Welcome to our family.

My 4 Little Pumpkins

2011-11-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Just to show people that my big belly was painted, by the kids (and Dave)...and to put on a picture that could make people feel uncomfortable (mainly MM). ;) 37 weeks!!!

Elijah's Birthday!

2011-10-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today was Elijah's 6th Birthday!!! It's hard to imagine that he's that old already. This morning Laura made cinnamon roles and Elijah opened one present each from Natalie and Jonas:

Light sticks from Natalie.

Pencils from Jonas.

As you can tell, Jonas was really excited about the present he gave Elijah.

After breakfast, we spent the day at Oak Glen. We sampled all the different types of apples, ate apple donuts, drank fresh apple cider, and enjoyed a beautiful day outside. Here are some random pictures:

Posing for a family photo.

Kids were really excited to be holding pumpkins!

Natalie and Allen looking for the perfect pumpkin...

Tricia and Allen.

Tomorrow, more birthday celebration with family coming over, birthday cake, and more presents to open! Wow, being 6 is great!

Legos

2011-10-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

Elijah and I love building legos together! Here are a few of our latest creations. Elijah really wanted his cousins, Micah and Jacob, to see them. See we're posting this blog for them. Hope you enjoy!

Airplane with wings that fold up.

Our version of a Bakugan that turns into a robot.

Another Bakugan creation that turns into an eagle robot.

Transformer...grasshopper turns into an Autobot.

Jonas

2011-10-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show you some recent pictures of Jonas. He is a real character!

For all the time he spent only saying "Da-Da," he is sure making up for it now. "Mom-my, Mom-my, Mom-my" is what I hear all the time. He loves to grab our hands or pull our shirts to get our attention and help with something. He loves watching whatever is going on in the kitchen, running to the bathroom to get our wooden stool so he can be high enough to see over the counter (grunting the whole way from the bathroom as he carries the "heavy" stool). He is a big climber, just like his big brother and sister! And is really great at copying the sounds/sayings we say. But probably his favorite thing is music - singing or listening or dancing to it! It is so cute to hear him sing "Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in My Heart" (and I'm so bappy, so bappy...) or any of his songs off his worship/bedtime CD.

If you have time, you should really hang out with him sometime! He's fun!!! :)

Reading the ABC book Elijah and I made together. I think he enjoys the book even more than Elijah. He loves seeing pictures of family or familiar items.

Cuddling in a blanket with sister. He always says "Ni-Night" when he does that.

Trying to drive away in the big play car Nana and Papa brought over. Almost fits!

Loves playing with ABC blocks, building a tower wherever he can,
just so he can knock it all down.

Sometimes, when necessary, wear the blocks as hats!

Everyone helping make biscuits with Mom. Some reason Jonas thought flour would be great for hair too!

Jonas LOVES our homemade yogurt and often thinks drinking it out of the bowl is a more efficient way to eat it.

Jonas fixing things early on. And sticking out his tongue,
just like Daddy does when he's thinking hard or fixing things. :)

More snuggle time, being tucked in on the couch.

LOVE HIM!!!

2 Months

2011-09-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a while since we've updated our blog. I guess we've been busy...or uninterested. ;) Here's some pictures and quick notes about what we've been up to in the last 2 months.

Dave's Grandpa John Vanderbilt turned 100 on July 30!!! The family had a birthday celebration for him, with the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids all present. (Only a few family members were unable to attend, which is pretty good!)

The whole family: Grandpa and Grandma's 3 kids (plus spouses), 8 grandkids
(plus spouses), and 12 great-grandkids (and 1 on the way!)

The beginning of August was spent getting ready for school. After making the decision to home-school Elijah, I needed to make the decision on what curriculum to use-which took time and asking others lots of questions. :) Finally, mid-August, I had everything we needed so we decided to get an early start on school. Elijah's in 1st grade and Natalie (4 yrs) is doing preschool work - when she's interested - which is usually whenever Elijah is "doing school."

Here they are on their first day of school. :)

Time at the table, getting school work done.

In August, we also got a zoo membership because of a great Groupon deal. The day we chose to go was probably one of the hottest of the summer - over 100! And it was busy! The zoo was having a special Star Wars day so that is why we still went, even though it was hot and a busy Saturday. But because we now have a membership, we knew there was no pressure to see everything and spend a lot of time there. Though we did make sure we stopped to take pictures with a Storm Trooper before we headed to our air conditioned car!!!

(not sure what happened to this picture's coloring?!)

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed to our ministry's beach house with friends. We enjoyed the cooler weather, time playing in the sand and looking for sea creatures, plus Dave and the kids took the kayak out for an afternoon ride. It was a nice, relaxing weekend...but sadly, we took no pictures. :)

On a very sad note, Dave's other grandpa passed away in mid-September. Grandpa Gutierrez was 83 years old. Here's a picture of the last time we saw him - at Grandpa Vanderbilt's 100th birthday celebration. He will be missed!

Mid-September we also took a family vacation to Mammoth Lakes, CA. Through a connection with our ministry, a house is available a few times a year for our missionaries to use. Our friends had reserved the house and invited us and a few other friends to join them. We spent time going on (short) hikes, playing at the park, checking out garage sales, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery and small town (about 7,000). It was great to get out of the city, breathe fresh air, and slow down.

Happy Mama with all the kiddos and #4 on the way (10 weeks left!)

We even saw a bear on one hike! Unbelievable!!! For a family who doesn't normally hike, camp, or spend lots of time in "nature," what a fun blessing to see something so amazing!!!

Now, you're up to date with what we've been doing. With only 10 weeks or less til baby #4 comes, I'm sure the time will go by quickly and we'll stay busy! And we can only hope we'll keep you updated between now and the baby's arrival. ;)

Natalie Turns 4!!!

2011-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Natalie's birthday!!! We had a great time celebrating with family, opening presents, and of course, cake and ice cream. Here are some pictures from Natalie's special day.

Birthday donuts for breakfast per Natalie's request.

Laura made Natalie some new doll clothes for her Cabbage Patch baby.

More presents...Polly Pocket, jewelry beads, books, coloring books, art stuff, stickers, etc.

Special Dora pajamas from Nana and Papa!

Surprise gift (that wasn't really a surprise because she knew about it)...a doll house!

Cousin Naomi, Natalie's best friend to hang out with for the day.

Micah and Jacob, posing for a picture while Natalie opens presents.

The boys enjoyed the doll house and Polly Pockets more than the girls.

Jonas finally warmed up to Auntie Jenn (as long as she had cake to eat).

Dinner outside...enchiladas, rice, chips and salsa, jello salad.

This year Natalie wanted a Princess Castle Cake.

Natalie blowing out the birthday candles.

The kids played together well past their bedtime...having too much fun I guess. Altogether, it was a really fun day. She loved her birthday so much, she asked today when her next one was...364 days...it's going to be awhile.

Jonas in Action

2011-07-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here's some recent videos of Jonas. Enjoy!

Our little Jonas-In-The-Box ;)

Say "Apple"

First Haircut

2011-07-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was cutting Jonas and Elijah's hair. As I was cutting, Natalie asked if she could have her hair cut too. Her hair had gotten pretty long and I always thought when we were ready to cut it, we would cut a lot and donate it to an organization like Locks of Love. I also told her we would cut her hair when she turned 4. Well, her 4th birthday was only about a month away so I thought, why not now? It's close enough. So she finally had her turn in the seat! She was so excited! Before we started though, we had to take pictures! (I wish we had a good picture of her beautiful, long hair with curls, and not just pulled out straight! Also, you may not be able to tell in the picture that her hair goes all the way to her waist when pulled straight!)

I knew when I started cutting that I wanted to give her a good trim but doing Locks of Love was going to be too much. I wasn't ready to lose her curls and length! I decided just a few inches would be good. But of course, as it is, when hair is wet, it is longer than when it dries, especially with curly hair which bounces back up. So the "few" inches I cut off turned out to be a little more than I wanted. Oh well, it'll grow back. Natalie loves her new cut and is proud to show it off! And I'm happy to say her curls are still there (even if it doesn't show it well it the "after" picture)! :)

Special Project

2011-06-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

A loooooong time ago, we bought this bird feeder kit when our Christian school had their annual Christmas toy store. I guess we thought it would be fun to make, but Elijah was way too small to make it with me. Well, we finally pulled it out of storage and decided it was time to put it together.

Elijah and I brought it out to the garage and first stained it. Elijah thought that was pretty cool...I thought it was pretty cool we didn't make too much of a mess :) After we let the stain dry, we went back into the garage and started putting it together. Elijah helped for about the first minute and then wanted to ride his bike with Natalie, so I ended up putting it together myself...that was our fun father-son bonding time :)

We hung it up outside our kitchen window and filled it up with bird seed and it's been about a week. Today, the first birds finally came while we were eating lunch. The kids were super excited and loved watching them! Well, our special project was a success...at least the birds thought so.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a great Father's Day! Before breakfast, the kids presented me with a huge card that they made with Laura's help. Laura drew the pictures and the kids painted it with water colors. They did such a great job of staying in the lines. Elijah wrote the inside message, "Happy Father's Day, We Love You!"

For breakfast, Laura made cinnamon rolls which were super awesome!

After breakfast, I went outside to play with the kids. Sometimes it takes a lot of imagination to keep them entertained. Today, we decided to build a go-kart with whatever we could find in the garage. It started off pretty simple, but then we kept adding more and more stuff. The kids thought it was great! I'd push, they'd drive...later we added a foot brake and a "turbo" button!

Me...after multiple rides by Elijah, Natalie, AND Jonas.

For dinner: ham, cheesy potatoes, and pineapple sauce! Yum.

And for dessert...Laura and the kids made "tunnel of fudge" cake!!!

I felt very appreciated today! It's great being a dad. Can't wait until next year :)

Cars 2

2011-06-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

This afternoon the World Premiere of Cars 2 took place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.

The Goodyear Blimp changed its logo on the side to say, "lightyear" to promote this event. This is a picture I took of the blimp as it flew over our house.

Cars 2 comes out June 24th! Our kids are excited to see it...when it hits the dollar theater, of course :)

Tea Party

2011-06-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Our kids are back to using a chart where they earn stickers. We are still using the reward coupons that I made a while ago. Just yesterday and today, Elijah and Natalie earned their coupons. For Elijah's reward coupon, he chose "Special Play-time with Daddy." Well, Dave decided to make it extra special and got out the X-Box (thanks, for the donation/gift...you know who you are). Elijah definitely likes video games but hasn't had much time playing them. We have an old-school Gameboy, which he plays occasionally. He's also played old-school Nintendo at Nana and Papa's house, besides games on the computer. Playing the X-Box was "awesome!!!" Elijah kept saying. :) Dave became Super-cool Dad! ;) Elijah was very happy with his coupon choice!

Today Natalie had enough stickers to receive her coupon. And she chose..."Special Play-time with Mommy." :) I felt much pressure to live up to Dave's cool parent experience from the day before. ;) So I planned a tea party. We found/bought a play china tea set at a thrift store a couple years ago and have had it packed up in the closet all this time. I decided today was the day. I got it out, washed it, and prepared our special tea party food - crackers, cheese, carrots, dip, and marshmallows for dessert (all Natalie's favorite snacks). We had flowers, candles, a tablecloth, and red Kool-Aid, instead of tea. My plan worked! :) Natalie LOVED the tea time we had and was still talking about it when she was getting ready for bed (just as Elijah was still talking about his game time when he was getting tucked in last night). I'm now a cool parent, just like Dave. ;)

Now we just have to make a cool plan for next time because I think the kids are both already thinking about picking those coupons again when they have earned enough stickers....No pressure.... :)

Recent Pictures

2011-06-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a couple recent pictures for you to see.

I just found a black button-down shirt for Elijah at a thrift store, knowing that Dave had one similar to it. Elijah was very excited to have a "Twin Day" with Dad! So here they are...

And over a week ago, Elijah lost his first tooth!!! It had been loose since February but just now was ready to come out! At lunch one day, I saw how loose the tooth was and asked if I could try to pull it out. Elijah was fine with that so I tried for a bit but didn't want to pull hard and stopped. Later in lunch, I just wanted another try. And as we were both humming a song, I pulled it out without him even noticing. It wasn't until we were done humming that he asked, "Hey! Where's my tooth?!" I guess there was no pain! Both him and Natalie were SUPER excited to go to bed that night to wait for the Tooth Fairy. (I think Natalie was just as excited, if not more than Elijah!) The Tooth Fairy came very late, according to Elijah, and left a rolled up one dollar bill, with a little note saying "Thanks for your tooth." Dave and I heard all about it bright and early the next morning. ;)

Donuts

2011-06-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

National Donut Day was this last Friday. Our family decided to help celebrate the day and went to Krispy Kreme for free donuts for breakfast. Thankfully, traffic wasn't too bad in the direction we were going so we were able to get there and back quickly. The kids loved watching the donuts being made, maybe even more than the donuts!?! We thought the warm glazed donuts were especially delicious that day!

In honor of the day, I decided to make some donuts too...not ones you can eat but fun felt ones. I actually had the idea months ago, after seeing other crafty blogs I follow. I loved seeing all the felt food made but especially thought the donuts were cute! In my collection of crafting stuff, I already had felt and beads so I decided to make as many donuts as I had material for. I couldn't quite reach one dozen, instead only 9. After cutting out the shapes months ago when I had the idea, I just recently went to work on the sewing and finally finished them this weekend. I'm so thankful all the beading work is done! Now the kids can pretend to eat donuts every day! :)

San Diego

2011-05-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wanted to know how our trip to San Diego went, well...let's just say it was interesting. Good, but not really all that relaxing. Here's the breakdown of our trip.

Day One

We planned part of our trip to meet up with Michael and Leslie since they were in San Diego the same time we were. After lunch at Ruby's Diner, we went to La Jolla to play at the beach for awhile before we parted ways and we went to stay in San Diego at one of World Impact's guest house with the ministry there.

Day Two

Day two was Laura's birthday! We celebrated by opening presents from the kids in the morning and then going to Krispy Kreme for donuts. Things progressively got worse from there. Laura got super sick and spent all day throwing up, sleeping, and laying on the couch. Not much of a birthday :( Then later that night discovered that some neighbor kids had thrown rocks at our car and cracked our front windshield. Sweet.

Day Three

We decided to go to Coronado Island. Kids loved it! The tidepools in front of the Hotel del Coronado had all kinds of sea creatures for the kids to play with. This was Jonas' first time at the beach; he loved exploring everything and eating all the sand :) On our way home, we got rear-ended while sitting at a stop light - a car hit the car behind us who hit us. There was no damage, thankfully...and everyone was ok.

Day Four

Time to go back home, but on our way, we stopped in Carlsbad to pick some strawberries at a U-pick farm. We got a large container to fill and it was a lot of fun...best of all, we could eat as many strawberries from the field that we wanted while we picked! Jonas thought it was the best thing ever! We put a bib on him and let him loose. He picked and ate until his heart was content :)

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Time for the annual Easter egg hunt...

Easter morning we went to a sunrise service on top of the Union Rescue Mission in downtown and then to breakfast afterward at Clifton's. While we were gone, our friend, Danielle, hid eggs in our backyard. The kids were really excited to find that the Easter bunny had come while we were gone!

Baskets ready...on your marks...get set...go!!!

Natalie stopping for a quick picture while on the hunt.

Elijah on the look-out for his 2nd to last egg...where is it?

Oh, there it is on the top of the fence.

Hmm...how do it get it?

Thanks, Mom :)

Jonas decided he'd rather mow the lawn than look for eggs.

Hey, where did that soccer ball egg come from?

"Surprise" egg with a treasure map...wonder where it will lead?

Clue #2

Searching for clue #5

At the end? Presents...and lots of candy, of course :)

The kids had a great time and we did too watching them run around and get all excited about hunting for eggs. They were already trying to figure out how long it would be until next Easter...365 days, guys...it's going to be a while.

Clips of Jonas

2011-04-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

Because it's been a few weeks since we last posted, just wanted to give you something to see until we actually write a post.

Here's a couple short videos of Jonas and what he's been up to lately.

Singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" with Mommy. He sure loves his Mama. :)

Playing with his new ball toy. He has gradually figured it out and been able to do it on his own. First, he kept bringing the hammer to us to hit the balls. Then he used his hands to hit the balls through the holes. Next, was actually "mastering" the hammer and now, his latest "trick," pushing the balls through with his feet! :) While standing up, he holds onto something near him then lifts his foot and carefully gets it on top of the balls so he can push them through. He hasn't quite mastered the balance part of all that yet so sometimes his plan works and sometimes it doesn't. ;)

Wild Kratts!

2011-03-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, Dave, Elijah, Natalie and I went to the California Science Center (CSC) to see a show for Wild Kratts. (The show was at 1 pm so we thought it'd be best for Jonas to stay home and get a nap. Thankfully, Ryan/Danielle were home and could watch him.) Wild Kratts is a new PBS show where the two brothers, Martin and Chris Kratt, highlight one animal per episode, teaching kids all about that animal, with some live action but mostly animation. (The Kratt brothers also have done PBS shows in the past called Kratts' Creatures and Zaboomafoo.) The kids love watching Wild Kratts and one day saw a "commercial," stating that the brothers would be doing a show near us - at the CSC and tickets were FREE!!! We looked into it right away and got our tickets. The kids were super excited!!!

Before we went to the show at the CSC, we took the kids to McDonald's to have lunch. What a fun treat! :)

Waiting to go into the show, outside the CSC, proudly wearing their NEW stickers!!!

Still in line...excited and trying to be patient!!!!
(We only had to wait 5 min. before they opened the doors so we could go in.)

Now waiting inside for the show to start!
Elijah is holding the autographed mini-poster all the kids got before the show.

(Here's what the show was about - the write-up from the PBS site.)

In this 30-minute show, the Kratts re-create an adventure that happened to them out in the wild and teach the kids in the audience the sounds of the animals they met on their adventures. When they meet those animals in the story, the audience plays those animals right from their seats. It’s rip-roar, snorting, bellowing, screeching, flapping fun for the whole family!

(At the end of the show, there was a question/answer time with the Kratt brothers and audience.)

Finally, we got to see the Kratt brothers! Here's Chris.

Martin Kratt

The kids had a great time seeing the Kratt brothers but I think were a bit confused about what it was all supposed to be. There were 2 large flat panel TVs in the room, and before the show started, they kept asking if that was where we were going to watch the show. I guess they thought we were just going to watch a new episode or something. :) And I think I was more excited seeing the "people who are on TV" than the kids. They were probably just waiting for the brothers to turn into animated characters. :) Oh well, they are a little young still. Maybe next time they'll "get it," which will help them to love it even more!

Regardless, we had a great time and were thankful we could do this with the kids!

Thrift Store Finds

2011-03-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

My parents were just out visiting us for 10 days. (They went back to Iowa on Wednesday morning.) :( While here, my mom's request was to go to thrift stores so we could find a bike for Elijah. So we went to six, three local and three "new" ones. After checking out all six, we decided the three local stores were the best. Now I know I don't have to go far for good deals!

Just wanted to show you some of my fun finds from all the stores.

New chair for Dave!!! Brand new!

A new home for Sally, our turtle!

Sadly, we found no bike for Elijah. :(

Francis Chan- World Impact Teen Center

2011-03-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Francis made this video today about our World Impact Teen Center. We'll hear him speak tomorrow morning at the LA Mayor's Prayer Breakfast too. Yippee!!!

Our Recent Projects

2011-02-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Even though we've decided to not make this a busy project year, we still have found "little" projects to do,which is great for me and my desire for change. :) Here's what we've been doing:

In the kitchen - (okay, this wasn't as "little" a project as the other ones but still was done in a few days.)

We received a great breakfast nook from Dave's aunt and uncle but knew the fabric didn't go with our kitchen so we decided to recover it. Finally, after sitting for months in the garage, we recovered it with a fun oil cloth we found downtown at the garment district. Now we can just wipe off the spills. :)

Here's the kitchen before.

Here's the breakfast nook, with the old fabric.

And now the "new" breakfast nook.

In our entryway:
In our house, we don't wear our shoes. I think it's gross to wear shoes all over outside, stepping in who-knows-what, and then walking that into the house and all over the carpet. Yuck! (Especially thinking of little kids who chew/drool on everything, then drop it on the floor, just to put it back in their mouth again.) I decided to make a little sign so everyone would know to take off their shoes and I wouldn't have to tell them. :)

A few months ago, Danielle and I went to a flea market in Long Beach where I found the letter cards. It only took me a while to get inspiration for the complete project, ;)

Finally, just because...
I've been thinking of ways we could spend less, save more and be more green. One way we are doing that is by using cloth napkins. As I was going through my big trunk of fabric, I found a few napkins, already sewed in there. There was also a small stack of cut, but not sewn, napkins. I finished sewing the seams and then also cut and sewed more fabric to make more. I think I'm done now...I have 40+ napkins. :) Come eat with us! It's so fun having real napkins! It makes every meal feel special. (cheesy, I know) ;)

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2011-02-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

Our Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

This year, as Valentine's Day was on a Monday, we had the day off as our Sabbath so were able to spend the whole day together. (Since we have church in our home on Sundays and are "working" that day, we take our day of rest on the following Monday. This is a big change for us but one we love! If you are interested in hearing more about our journey to having Sabbath, let us know and we can talk.) :) Our Valentine's Day started with a new coffee cake recipe - which was delicious. We also gave our little valentines a small gift at breakfast, which was a surprise treat for them!

Jonas got some new bath toys from us that (supposedly) change colors in warm water. Well, Natalie tried it out and...nothing! :/ What a bust! (Jonas has no clue though.) ;) Natalie received a new Dora plate and cup, and Elijah got a little Lego jet ski set.

Later in the morning, Dave and the kids went outside to ride bikes. Elijah had been asking for a few days about taking his training wheels off his bike and trying to ride without. (He kept telling us that cousin Jacob said when he turned 5, he took his training wheels off. I guess we have to do what Jake does.) ;) As soon as the wheels were off, Elijah took off on the bike - alone!!! Dave just did the typical hold of the bike to steady it while Elijah got himself on and then Elijah was off! He LOVED it and rode around the driveway until his bike broke. :( Dave tried fixing it but after it broke a 2nd time, Dave decided the bike was done. Elijah was so bummed!!! Now we are on the hunt for a new bike. Hopefully we'll find one soon! (Although, I'm sure for Elijah, it won't be soon enough.)

While the kids were outside with Dave (and Jonas was napping), I made a little "city" with butcher paper and blocks. The kids were excited about the surprise when they came in and we all played with it using our animals/people and cars. Thankfully, our dining room table is only used on Sundays so the kids have all week to play with it.

After naps, we watched some Clifford Valentine's specials on TV and munched on our heart-shaped frosted sugar cookies. Then after dinner we went to Coldstone for ice cream. Because it was so busy there (and too cool outside to eat there), we brought our ice cream home and ate it by candle light. The kids thought that was super fun. :) After that, bedtime! They all fell asleep immediately, which was their gift to us! Priceless! ;)

Hope you felt loved on your Valentine's Day!

Random Pictures

2011-02-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures of things that took place over the past few weeks at our house:

Elijah and Natalie making new crayons in fun molds from pieces of broken crayons - penguins and hearts - what a disaster! The molds apparently weren't oven proof...but boy the kids sure look happy in this picture :)

Jonas being creative as he tries to reach the ball box which always seems to be just out of reach.

Having fun with Daddy! There's never a dull moment in our house!

Elijah and Natalie looking at an I Spy book together. Reading I Spy is something we've been doing almost nightly before the kids go to bed...I guess they just couldn't wait.

Sing to the Lord a NEW Song!

2011-02-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

A few mornings ago, Elijah was playing in our play room building legos by himself with the door shut and then we went upstairs to brush teeth. As we were in the bathroom, Elijah said, "I made up a new song..." It was so cute, we had him sing it again later and recorded it. Our little Elijah singing worship songs to God :)

Happy Birthday, Dave! (25 days late!)

2011-01-31T19:40:00.000-08:00

Dave had a birthday!

Since the new year, we've been trying to update you with what has been going on with us, in the order of how things have happened...finally, it's time to tell you about Dave's big day! (and we're even still in January! Barely!!!)

On the morning of his birthday, way back on Jan. 6, Dave picked up his own birthday donuts after his morning run. I did my part by decorating and making breakfast "look" special. :) The kids did their part by making birthday notes for their daddy and picking out a special gift for him.

(in order) Notes/gifts from Jonas, Natalie and Elijah. Doing Jonas' handprint was not as easy as I thought...Natalie's was way easier. She also cut out a heart to put on her palm. (She dictated a note to me which I wrote on the back, and she "signed" her name, which is a backwards N.) :) Elijah cut out all the patterned circles and wrote the letters. On the back, he drew a picture of our family.

Dave with the special gifts from Elijah and Natalie - slap bracelets!!! The kids were so excited for Dave to open the presents...they had been waiting so patiently to play with them! ;)

After naps, Dave opened his gifts from his parents, my family, and the kids and me. Here's what he got: money, lots of books!, magazine subscriptions, an Amazon gift card, a Home Depot gift card, and, from us, a new drill!

Before our monthly missionary gathering that night, we went for his free birthday ice cream at Coldstone. Mmm!
And the grand finale of his birthday celebration - his birthday cake a few days later! He requested a coconut cake. It took a little searching to find the cream of coconut that the cake and frosting needed but it was all worth it! The cake was DELICIOUS!!!

Happy big 3-2, Dave! I love you ;)

The Light Saber Battle

2011-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Jonas' Birthday

2011-01-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

You only turn 1 once, so why not celebrate your first birthday twice?

Jonas turned 1 on Dec. 29 when we were with family for Christmas in Washington. Dec. 29 is also our wedding anniversary and we have the tradition of getting donuts since that is what we did the morning of our wedding. Jonas got his first donut and enthusiastically embraced this tradition! Three cheers for sprinkled donuts!!! Later we celebrated with cupcakes made by Auntie Beth and then opened presents. Birthday #1 was a success.

When we got back home from our trip, we celebrated birthday #2 with friends. Jonas opened some more presents that were waiting for him from Grandma and Grandpa and his aunties, uncle, and cousins, then we ate more cupcakes. Laura and I attempted making rubber ducky cupcakes. Jonas seemed to like them...we weren't so sure.

Since this is his birthday blog, here are some things you may not know about Jonas:

1) He started walking when he was 11 months old
2) He loves bananas (and pretty much every fruit for that matter)!
3) His favorite toy is his light saber

4) He can easily beat both Elijah and Natalie in an eating contest
5) Favorite books are "Touch and Feel Animals"
6) LOVES Music!
7) Jonas' "other" favorite toy is our TV Remote (which is always being misplaced)
8) He'll do anything to get a laugh
9) Loves playing Transformers with Elijah and Daddy
10) He can climb the stairs like nobody's business!

Our Christmas Top 10 List

2011-01-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

10. Santa brought presents to the kids!

9. Celebrating Jenn!
(and being able to make her cake - Hot Chocolate Cake
with homemade marshmallows!)

8. Kayak Point
(Time at the fun, cold, rocky beach)

7. Kids Imagine Museum - so much for the kids to explore!

6. Seeing/feeding kangaroos, ostrich, lemurs, and more...
even kissing llamas (for some!)

5. The colder, wet weather
(tough for some, better for others) ;)

4. Seeing our great friends again (after 7 years!), the Senti family
(Laura's best friend from college)

3. Jonas turns 1 year old!

2. Getting to know our new Sister-in-law/Auntie Darcie. LOVE HER!!!

1. Being together!
We had such a great time being all together - so many late nights
of talking, laughing, telling stories and playing games.

Merry Belated Christmas! :)

More Cookies!

2010-12-01T21:11:00.001-08:00

Natalie's turn to make cookies with Mommy! Oreo cookies dipped in peppermint flavored almond bark with various Christmas-y toppings. Super yummy! Natalie sprinkled all the toppings on herself and was really proud of them.

Boy this reward coupon thing is turning out to be pretty good! :)

Water Rocket: Part 1

2010-12-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

Elijah and I (Dave) built a water rocket for a fun little project that we could do together. We saw one shown in a science experiment book and thought we'd try and make it. I guess for a water rocket, it was a little over the top (side engines and a space shuttle attached, plus I made a separate launch stand) but never-the-less, it was fun to make.

We saved the launch date for Thanksgiving when we'd be at my parents house. We went to the park. We had no clue how high it would go, so a park was a safe bet. It flew pretty good...about 40-50 feet in the air! Our only mistake was not including some type of parachute. We tried to catch it on its way down, but after a few crash landings, there wasn't much left of it other than the 2 liter bottle - which by the way, we still launched multiple times. The kids thought it was cool regardless.

Preparing to Launch

Launch Sequence - 5...4...3...2...1...

Natalie Waiting to Catch the Rocket

Elijah's Turn!

Great Catch, Dave!

This is Hard Work...Time for a Break

Our Rocket Had Seen Better Days :(

I've got a few ideas already for how we can make it better for next time. When we build our new rocket, we'll continue with Part 2.

Reward Coupons

2010-11-24T21:11:00.000-08:00

Charts are very popular in our home. Ever since Elijah was 2ish, we've been doing positive reinforcement charts with him. They have been very effective in helping him make changes in his behavior and thinking. After Elijah would complete a chart (by putting stickers in a square each time he did the "right" thing), he would receive some kind of toy. Well, I got tired of him (and Natalie) expecting a toy for doing the right thing so I decided to come up with more creative reward coupons.

This is what I thought of and made as an alternative.

To earn these coupons, the kids have a few jobs to do, like making their beds, (taking turns) setting the table for meals, bringing their dishes to the counter after a meal, picking up toys before bedtimes, plus behavioral/character building "jobs" of listening the first time and showing the fruit of the Spirit. The kids like the chart and are motivated to earn the reward coupons. And I love that they are forming habits of little jobs that will be something they'll be able to just do to help out in our home.

(And can I just say, my favorite reward coupon is "Taking a Nap with Mommy"!!! Wonderful! Elijah and Natalie both still take naps and occasionally ask if I'll take a nap with them. I decided to make that a reward for them. Elijah has already cashed in his nap coupon and Natalie has earned/selected that coupon but we just haven't had a nap day together yet.)

This week, Elijah earned a coupon and chose "Bake Cookies with Mommy." If you know me, I'm making something sweet in my kitchen all the time so the kids get to help out often but this cookie time is something different, above and beyond what I'd normally do (or what they'd do with me). Elijah (and I) chose some yummy holiday cookies to make - Peppermint Frosted Chocolate Yummies. He helped me mix all the ingredients together, flatten the dough balls out with a glass on the cookie sheet, and after they were done baking, make frosting (he chose the color and ran the mixer) and lastly, sprinkle candy canes on top. He loved the special time with Mommy and we all love the yummy cookies!

Random Conversations

2010-11-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

Our dinner conversation tonight...favorite sugar cereals! Here's our list of all-time favorites (in order):

Dave
1. Captain Crunch
2. Trix
3. Cookie Crisp

Laura
1. Cocoa Pebbles
2. Cocoa Puffs
3. Reese's Puffs
(All the chocolate ones)
(And for all-time, one would have to be Frosted Mini-Chex, which they don't even make anymore.)

Elijah
1. "Everything Mom and Dad likes" + Honey Combs

Natalie
1. Lucky Charms
2. Fruit Loops

Jonas
1. "Are you kidding me? Cereal has sugar?"

We'd love to hear yours...Leave us a comment.

Elijah's 5th Birthday: Day 2

2010-11-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

Finally back to Elijah's birthday!

On Friday, Dave's parents came to visit so we could celebrate with them. (Have I mentioned yet that my sister, Auntie Tricia, also flew out to visit us and be here for Elijah's birthday?! So great!)

After naps, Elijah got to open his presents. He got a Lego watch (he's really into wearing a watch and checking the time), Robots movie, clothes (which he didn't care anything about) :), remote control car from Cars, a Transformer, Bakugans, an ABC magnetic puzzle of vehicles, and a booster seat for the car. Thanks, everyone!

After our spaghetti dinner, chosen by Elijah, we had some friends come over for cake and home-made ice cream. Elijah looked through all my birthday cake pages and chose an excavated dinosaur bones cake. It was definitely an easier cake to make, yet fun! :)

And that concludes Elijah's 5th birthday celebration. :)

Elijah's 5th Birthday: Day 1

2010-10-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Elijah's birthday was on Thursday! He is now 5!!! We were actually able to celebrate his birthday for 2 days. Here's how it started:

It actually "started" Wednesday afternoon. After naps, I changed Jonas' dirty diaper and joked to Elijah that Jonas had a present for him...the wrapped up, dirty diaper. (I often joke with the kids about the diapers. "Here, Jonas has a present for you." Of course they never want it and run from it.) So after that little joke, I knew what I wanted to do.

To start off birthdays in our family, we get our first gift at breakfast, under our plate or bowl. This year was no different. Jonas really did want Elijah to have a gift from him :) so I put a CLEAN diaper, wrapped up to look like a dirty one, under his plate. Elijah did not like that. :) He was upset and disappointed. Tricia, Dave and I couldn't help but laugh at the funny joke. ;)

After we got done laughing, I was able to explain it to Elijah and then told him Jonas must have taken the real present. (Elijah also was finally able to see his new plate I found at the thrift store the day before, just in time for his birthday! Power Rangers!!!) Elijah then looked all around Jonas' seat to find his real present from Natalie and Jonas. He found it! It was a foam airplane!

Thursday after naps, Elijah got to open 1 present from Auntie Tricia and then Danielle and Dante came over to give him a present too. He got 2 Lego 3-in-1 sets! One makes a dump truck, race car and jeep; the other makes a rescue boat, helicopter and airplane. After opening the gifts, Elijah (and Dave) got to work right away and made a dump truck.

To finish his real birthday, we had our small group and brought cupcakes to celebrate. Elijah chose frog cupcakes (green cake and green frosting)plus home-made green mint and oreo ice cream. Mmmmm....

Jonas vs. the Window

2010-10-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

Lately Jonas has been very interested in looking out our glass patio doors as Elijah and Natalie play outside. I guess just looking got to be kind of old and boring so he decided to start licking too. Here's what he looks like while tasting the door. :)

Jonas' Dedication

2010-10-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, we had Jonas dedicated at our monthly missionary worship service. Just for fun we shared a slide show of pictures of his first 9 months. Mostly the slide show was put together just for the song, "My Name is Jonas" by Weezer. (That's where we got his name.) Enjoy! :)

(More videos of Jonas to come)

2 Projects Down...

2010-08-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

...2 million to go!

This weekend we finally finished Jonas' room...yes, he is now 8 months old and was still sleeping in a plain, boring room. But now all that has changed!

We completed his robot decorations and put his name on the wall. Here are the pics. You probably can't see it very well, but the little stuffed robot sitting on Jonas' changing table was the inspiration for his room, colors and decor.

The robots were made out of foam board and felt and then we added all the hardware from random pieces of metal and "junk" we had lying around the garage.

Jonas' name evolved from previous plans that we had at the beginning, namely painting some boards and painting letters on them. This turned out much better. We made letters out of industrial materials: J - bent pipe, O - spoke rims of a wheel, N - aluminum scraps, A - welded pipes, S - curved spring and attached them to the wall to go along with the robot theme.

Natalie's Birthday in Pictures

2010-07-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, here are those pictures that were long in coming. :)
(This is only some I (Laura) have from Tricia's camera. Dave will maybe add more from our camera.)

During present opening time, Nana and Papa were there to watch, plus friends Danielle and Dante. Grandpa and Grandma were also able to watch with Skype. Natalie got some nice clothes plus books, Dora dvd, Dora doll, legos, giraffe/pony toy, camping chair, hair barrettes and head bands, shoes, and a Little People play castle (plus more I'm probably forgetting). She was able to open one present (from Elijah) at breakfast before we ate birthday donuts; the rest had to wait until after nap time.

After all presents were open, it was time for dinner. We had our friends over to eat burritos and cake and ice cream. Natalie wanted a pink princess cake so I made a purple cake with pink frosting with a tiara on top. She loved it!

Happy Birthday!

2010-07-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Natalie turns 3 today! Happy Birthday, Natalie!!! We love you!

More pictures from the day to come...

Garden Tomatoes

2010-07-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

We love fresh garden tomatoes!!!

4th of July

2010-07-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend at World Impact's beach house with our friends Tammy, Michelle, and the Peters family. Here are some pictures from our time together.

Posing for some pictures!

Laura ran her first 5k with Michelle!!! Tammy and I ran the 10K.

4th of July Parade...let's just say it was interesting.

Watching fireworks to end the night.

New Videos

2010-06-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here are three recent videos, one for each of our kids. Hope you enjoy them!

Elijah saying his new memory verses.

Natalie singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Jonas Laughing.

Randomness

2010-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures we've taken over the last few weeks.

Brotherly Love! "Is that your eye I'm smashing?"

Jonas and Auntie Jenn at Cousin Amber's Wedding.

Our New Triple Bunk Beds :)

Elijah & Natalie fell asleep in the same bed one night.

Natalie Dinosaur!!!

Natalie & Jonas enjoying a book together.

Elijah...the puzzle master.

Father's Day

2010-06-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

It's been a great day. This morning, Laura made sweet rolls for breakfast and as we were waiting for those to cook, I opened cards that Laura and the kids made me.

Laura is very creative. The shirt & tie card was from her, the notebook was from Natalie which inside were drawings from her. The tape measure was from Elijah, when you pull out the tape, it says, "I love Daddy thiiiiiiiiiiiis much!" Thanks guys!

A surprise present...a new camera bag! Awesome.

My only request was that we went to Shakey's Pizza for lunch. We love the food, the kids love playing games and trying to win tickets to get silly little prizes. It's a win-win, plus the kids love the food too. While Jonas watched the World Cup game playing on the big screen, we ate and then headed to the game area. Elijah really wanted to get a sticky man (60 tickets). I was wondering how we were going to do that. They each got a dollar to spend. Somehow, we ended up with 379 tickets!!! Elijah threw his quarter into one game and walked away with 250 tickets, jackpot! They were both able to get what they wanted :)

Tonight we had church at our house and we grilled hot dogs, ate potato salad, veggies and fruit for dinner, with an ice cream cake for dessert. Yum!

I think Father's day should be everyday :)

Mother's Day

2010-05-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

This year for Mother's Day, Dave said I could do whatever I wanted. :)

So here's what I wanted:
1. Breakfast - yummy donuts at Krispy Kreme (white cream-filled my FAVORITE!!!)
2. shopping at Michael's (I had some project supplies to buy...Dave, Elijah and Natalie actually went to Target while I went to Michael's so I had time to shop leisurely):)
3. IKEA - just to pick up some shades I wanted for the kitchen
finally...
4. lunch at In 'N Out

We did everything I wanted and it all was great! But...what was even greater was what I found when I came downstairs to the kitchen right away in the morning. :) Dave and the kids made flowers for me. Each kid colored a picture for me, which Dave made into the center of the flower. I LOVED my flowers!!! (Dave is so creative.) ;)

Elijah's flower

Jonas' flower

Natalie's flower

Elijah also made a special picture for me. I LOVE it!!!

Blueberry Pies

2010-05-11T20:13:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the kids were playing with playdough. Natalie, especially, REALLY loves sitting at the table for a LONG time quietly playing with the playdough. I got out some of the kids' play kitchen items for them to play with too...one item being a mini pie pan. I helped Natalie and made a pie crust with the yellow playdough while Natalie made little balls (aka blueberries) with the purple. Finally, we topped it with lattice strips. Natalie was so proud of her pie!!! (And I was inspired to make a real blueberry pie!)

While Natalie worked on her pie, Elijah made a pizza. (Sadly, we did not have "real" pizza colors of playdough but he didn't seem to mind.) He worked hard on his blue crust then had a great time topping it with pepperoni. (And, since my original dinner plans didn't work out that night, we went with Plan B and had frozen pepperoni pizza. The kids were pretty excited to have their play food turn into real food later.) :)

Family Day at Travel Town and Griffith Park

2010-04-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, our family had a special "Family Day."

Dave and I put "Family Days" into our growth plan this year at every six weeks - a day set aside where we will do something more "fun," going somewhere as a family and really just making sure those days happen, that something else doesn't come along and make us "busy."

Our first Family Day was about two months ago. We went to the Natural History Museum (on the first Tuesday of the month it's free!), then went out to eat (using gift cards)...pretty cheap Family Day. :)

This time we went to Travel Town in Griffith Park. We actually weren't there very long. It didn't take long to walk around and look at the train engines/cars they had there. While we were there, we also rode on the little train ride around the area. It was a very popular place for birthday parties that day!!!

After Travel Town, we drove through the park to a large playground. The kids played for a while and then we ate lunch, sitting on the grass. After we ate, Elijah worked really hard on flying a kite but there wasn't enough wind, while Natalie kicked around a beach ball. (Jonas just watched.)

Before going home, we stopped by the carousel so Dave and the kids could ride.

We were able to do all of that and still get home early enough in the afternoon for naps. Elijah was already asking on the ride home when our next Family Day will be. Looks like these fun days will be a hit! :)

Try Again

2010-04-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay...we made that silly "quiz" waaaayyyyy too easy! Everyone knows our kids too well. Maybe we should really be asking, Who does Jonas look like? Do you see Dave or me in him or does he look like his big brother or sister? We keep hearing mixed reviews.

Guess Who?

2010-04-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of our kids at 3 months old. Can you tell who's who? How well do you know them?

Jonas Smiles!!!

2010-03-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post some pictures of Jonas smiling. He's been smiling for a couple weeks now but smiles more and more each day! He likes baths, bouncing on the big exercise ball, and his mama best of all, much to Dave's dismay. Elijah and Natalie are still sooooo crazy about him! They are constantly wanting to kiss him and are eager to hold him - they have even started holding him in the bathtub, with MUCH supervision!!! :) Anyway, enjoy the pictures. Wish you all could see his cuteness in person!

Trip to Iowa

2010-03-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, we've been really terrible at keeping up with our blog. Sorry to our all the faithful followers, mostly Michelle!

Over Valentine's Day weekend, we surprised my dad and flew home to Iowa. I, Laura, flew out with the kids on the Wednesday before. Flying by myself with a 4 yr old, 2 1/2 yr old, and 6 week old was kind of crazy but we did it!!! I was mostly concerned about getting thru security with all of them plus a stroller, having to take off shoes, jackets, take out laptop, fold up stroller, then put everything back together -- all while holding Jonas!!! But, praise God!, Dave was able to go all the way to gate with me using a "escort pass." We didn't even know about that option before...amazing!!!

So, the kids and I got there with no problems and Dave joined us a couple days later. We went to Iowa to be apart of my dad's retirement dinner. He won't retire until July but his company was having their annual core show dinner for managers, where they also honor any retirees. This year was my dad's turn. (He didn't know we were coming and that all his girls would be there for the celebration!)

The kids had a GREAT time with all the family and especially the snow!!! Elijah would have stayed out in the snow every day, all day if we let him! They were busy building a snowman, snowfort, snowball fights, and one day went sledding.

Here are some pictures from our time away:

If you aren't on Facebook and want to view our entire album, here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196936&id=626588267&l=013c82c9bf

40 Weeks

2010-01-13T19:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the big day! 40 weeks! Jonas' due date!!!

It was actually 2 weeks ago yesterday, at 38 weeks, that he was born! I can't believe all that has taken place in his 2 weeks of life! Here's a recap for any who don't know:

Tuesday, Dec. 29: (Dave and I celebrate 8 years of marriage) Since we are in Oxnard at our ministry's beach house, with my whole family, we came back into the city for our 38 week check-up. Yep, just as it was with the other two kids, we stayed and had our baby. I was already dilated to 4-5 cm, again with no contractions. My doctor broke my waters to get things started...after getting an epidural, Jonas' heart rate slowed down a bit, which caused some concern and I couldn't feel ANYTHING from my tummy down, which caused me some concern!!! After a couple hours on the epidural, it was finally turned off so some feeling could start returning. I started feeling some tingly-ness but still no real contractions; still it was time to push - our son was ready! (Even when I couldn't feel anything, my body was busy getting everything ready.) With 3 pushes in 3 minutes, our son made his appearance! Hooray!!! (He was 6lb, 5 oz, and 18 1/4 in. long. His name, Jonas, comes from a Weezer song and Dixie, his middle name, is my dad's middle name.)

Wednesday, Dec. 30: After finding out we wouldn't be able to get Jonas circumcised while in the hospital, Dave and I decided to leave early and go back to the beach house to surprise my family!

Thursday, Dec. 31: Back to LA - Jonas comes home for the first time! (Dave and brother-in-law Michael decide to stay overnight on Colorado Blvd, saving us a great spot for the Rose Parade!)

Friday, Jan. 1: The whole family makes the trek to Pasadena to watch the Rose Parade! Jonas' first parade! (It'll be hard to beat that experience! (as if he remembers)) Later in the day, my cousin and his family come over from San Dimas. Jonas is passed around a lot! :)

Saturday, Jan. 2: DISNEYLAND!!! Enough said...

Monday, Jan. 4: My family all flies back to the midwest and we attempt to get life back to normal.

Tuesday, Jan. 5: Jonas is 1 week old! He goes in for his 1-week-check-up and pediatrician says he looks a little yellow. His blood is drawn to check his bilirubin level. Late that afternoon, the doctor calls and tells us to go right to the ER. His level is high (18!) and he needs to be under phototherapy lights. After 5 hours in the ER (just to check and make sure he doesn't have any viruses/sicknesses), he is admitted to the NICU.

Wednesday, Jan. 6: (Dave's birthday....but no celebrating yet) Jonas spends all day and night under phototherapy lights to bring his bilirubin down. He gets stuck a lot to draw blood. :( He goes from 18 down to 15 and then finally 9.9. I stayed at hospital all day with him so I could nurse.

Thursday, Jan. 7: Jonas comes off all the lights and I am able to actually hold him for longer than just a feeding. He is checked one more time for his bilirubin level and it has lowered even more, without the lights, to 9.5. He is allowed to go home!!!

Friday, Jan. 8: We finally celebrate Dave's birthday since the family is all together again! Dave's parents come out to take us out for dinner, plus we do presents and cake - everything you'd normally do on a birthday!

Saturday, Jan. 9: Jonas goes in to pediatrician to be checked since leaving NICU. Doctor only looks at him and says he looks good; no need to draw more blood.

Monday, Jan. 11: Jonas gets circumcised by a different pediatrician, who tells us he still looks yellow and we should have his levels checked again. *sigh*

Tuesday, Jan. 12: Back to our pediatrician to draw more blood...his levels come back at 12.3. Even though his levels have risen again, no need to panic. :) Just put him in the sun and supplement some formula to bring it back down. Doctor also says there's no need to have to check him again. We are all glad to be done with doctors' offices for a while (Jonas especially!!!) -- at least 2 weeks off before his 1 month check-up.

**SIGH**

So there is what Jonas' life has been like for his first 2 weeks of life! Crazy! Busy!...Even with all that drama, we are so glad he decided to surprise us and come early! We wouldn't have wanted it any other way! :)

Elijah's "Prayers"

2009-12-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

It's been over a year and a half now since we first started dealing with Elijah's sleep problems - his fear of being alone in his room, fear of the dark, visions of people (or the big, bad wolf) outside his window and then a man sitting on the chair in his room. We spent many nights and afternoons (during naps) sitting outside his bedroom so he would stay in bed and go to sleep.

Finally, after the vision of a man in his room and the terror we saw him exhibit, we spent time late at night praying over the entire house and anointing it with oil. Since that night, things have been different! Elijah has had peace and all fear is gone!!! Since then, we have also been reading scripture every night with him - scripture that God gave us when praying over the house/his room. Elijah now knows all those verses by heart and can recite them by himself (or along with Dave, as seen in the video). It's been so amazing to see God transform Elijah's sleep, our home, and show us how a little child can hide His Word in his heart.

(Now Natalie is starting to learn the verses too and loves to chime in!) We definitely recommend reading (the same) verses every night with your kid(s) so that they can be memorizing already at a young age! (We have them memorized now too, of course!)

(In case you couldn't understand everything, these are the verses they read...)

1. God does not give us a spirt of fear but of power, love, and self-control. (2 Tim. 1:7)

2. Where God's love is there is no fear because God's perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:18)

3. If God is for us, who can be against us? Can anyone separate us from the love Christ has for us? (No!) But in all these things we have full victory thru God who showed His love for us. (Rom. 8:31b, 35a, 37)

4. You can lie down without fear and enjoy good dreams. (Prov. 3:24)

5. I lay down and slept and woke up in safety for Jesus was watching over me. (Psa. 3:5)

6. I will lie down in peace and sleep for you, Jesus, will keep me safe. (Psa. 4:8)

Now we have also started adding more verses to this list so he can continue to memorize new verses.

More Pictures...

2009-12-11T20:50:00.001-08:00

Superstars

2009-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

In April, my parents along with Jeff and Beth came down to visit us. We stopped by the book fair that was happening at our Los Angeles Christian School. The theme was "Lights, Camera, Action!" and we dressed the part. Here are two pictures that we just received a few days ago from our time while there. Boy, do we look good!

Jodi's Baby Shower

2009-11-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Danielle and I had a baby shower for our friend Jodi. (Of course, we had help from other friends with setting up and food so it really wasn't just me and Danielle...)

Jodi is due January 6 and I'm due January 12. It's really fun to be pregnant at the same time with a friend, and it was fun to give her a shower for her first. (She's expecting a girl and me a boy.) Since we are in the middle of fall, we decided to go with pumpkins as our theme. It was really fun thinking of fall/pumpkin ideas! I especially had fun carving the pumpkins since I don't remember ever having done that before. Crazy, huh?!

We had the shower at the elementary school, which gave us lots of space for all the guests. Half of the tables had a flower arrangement in a carved out pumpkin (which we gave away as game prizes) and the other half of the tables had our carved pumpkins on them. (Danielle did the pumpkins with the stars that were partially carved out (layers of the pumpkin pulled away) and I did the pumpkins fully carved with a candle in them.) Dave did the masterpiece pumpkin - the baby's name and due date - Nadia, 1*6*10. Besides the real pumpkins, we made party favor pumpkins for the guests - tissue paper pumpkins filled with candy.

We used our wagon, wheelbarrow and a friend's wooden glider bench to help complete the theme. For food we had pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bars, caramel corn, roasted pumpkin seeds, apples/caramel dip, summer sausage/toasted bread, jalepeno jelly/cream cheese and crackers, baked brie with nuts, apples, and crackers, savory cheesecake with crackers, and pigs in a blanket. (Lots of food!) Our drinks were punch, hot apple cider, and coffee - with pumpkin spice creamer, of course!

Besides eating lots of yummy food, we played 3 games, had a prayer time for Jodi/baby and then the gift opening. Jodi received lots of nice baby stuff (outfits, bath stuff, bottles/food items, books...) which will really help get her and Manolo started with their little girl!

Everyone said it all looked so nice and we didn't have very much food left over so I guess it was a success! :)

Disneyland!

2009-10-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

(We decided to go to Disneyland on Elijah's birthday to take advantage of Disney's deal - get in free on your birthday! With Elijah being free because of his birthday and Natalie getting in free because she's so young, we couldn't pass it up!) :)

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Celebrating Elijah's birthday at Disneyland was a blast! We had such a great day, from the weather to the rides to the kids just making it all day without naps (and without crankiness!)...everything was great!

We got there right when the park opened at 10 and went right to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride, which we walked right on - Perfect! Elijah REALLY loved that ride and rode it again with Dave and then we tried once more after dinner but they closed it down for some reason. :( Dave and I really tried to pick out rides (before hand) that the kids would love, could ride on without lots of height restrictions, and also ones I could do too, being pregnant. I think we did a pretty good job of figuring things out ahead of time so we wouldn't waste a lot of time during the day.

While still in Tomorrowland, after Buzz, we went to Finding Nemo's submarine ride and drove our own little cars in Autotopia. Dave said Elijah did pretty good driving in his car! Before lunch, we even got to watch some of the Jedi training show and saw the "real" Doctor Gator (aka Darth Vadar). Elijah loved it but did step back a bit when Darth Vadar came close to us. :)

After lunch, we hit Fantasyland: Peter Pan's Flight and King Arthur Carousel. (Small World, Casey Jr. Circus Train, and Storybook Canal Boats were all closed) :( Then on to Toon Town, where we saw lots of Disney characters but decided to only meet Mickey (there were lines for all the characters). From there we took the train around Disneyland to the other side of the park so we could go to Splash Mountain. Elijah really wanted to go on the "log ride." After seeing there was a wait, they decided to get a fast pass and come back later. While waiting we went on the Jungle Cruise and to the Tiki Tiki Room.

Finally, Splash Mountain! Natalie and I sat out but Elijah made the height cut off - and loved it!!! There was one medium drop in the dark that scared Elijah a bit but he loved the big drop! He told Dave right after, "Daddy, that was totally cool!" :)

We also stopped to watch the parade and after dinner Elijah and Dave went to Star Tours (which Eli also loved!). To end our day, we waited around to watch the fireworks at 8pm but they made a few announcements about possibly canceling them because of the high winds. We decided not to wait to see if they would have them or not and just went home. (They ended up not doing the fireworks so we made a good choice leaving early.)

We were all tired after our fun day at Disneyland! The kids fell asleep on the ride home and once Dave and I unpacked all our stuff, we went to bed too! If only we could go to Disneyland more often!!! Guess we'll just have to wait til Christmas time when we'll go again with my whole family!

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If you want to view our entire photo album, use this link to view them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159072&id=626588267&l=aea8a991e9

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2009-10-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday ELIJAH!!!!
Happy Birthday to you.

Today Elijah turns 4 years old and we are spending his special day at Disneyland. He is super excited and so are we. Here are some random pictures of Elijah...

The Wild Parrots of LA

2009-10-23T20:04:00.001-07:00

It's long been rumored that there is a flock of wild parrots roaming around our city, but we can now confirm that this rumor is true. The parrots visited our backyard this week. We were eating lunch and heard all this squawking outside. We went outside to check what it was and it was the parrots - probably about 20-30 of them. Weird. It doesn't seem to make any sense that wild parrots would be roaming around such an urban area, but they must like it here.

Here are some pictures I took. We later looked some info up on the internet and found out that most people believe they are Amazon red-crowned parrots, but to be honest, I'm not really sure.

Here is a video also so you can hear how loud they are...I guess they don't sound as loud against the noise of the freeway also in our backyard :)

Star Wars

2009-10-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

This week when I (Laura) was working at the thrift store (my two hours of volunteer/helping out time), I found a light saber. I thought Elijah would love it. He really likes "fighting" with swords but using a light saber would take the fighting to a whole other level. It was all in pieces in a shoe box but I thought maybe we could figure out how to put it together. Right under that shoe box donation was another identical shoe box with, you guessed it, another light saber. Having two kids now we have learned that one toy is not usually enough. It works so much better to have two - no fighting, playing at the same time...a "fighting" partner for Elijah...perfect!

So I bought them, brought them home and Dave put them together. The kids loved the surprise!!! We've been telling Elijah a little about Star Wars (more about Darth Vader, aka Doctor Gator as Elijah calls him, Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knights, etc.). We took a video of the kids' first time playing with them, with lights out. Then Dave and Elijah took another video of them playing.

Finally, here's a picture of the light sabers found on-line. They are sold for $25-30 and have lots of different parts that allow you to change the color, sound, and style of the light saber. Totally cool!!!

LA County Fair

2009-10-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

We thought we'd share some pictures from our time at the LA County Fair. We went this week with my parents and had a great time checking out all the new exhibits. We had planned on going a week earlier, but passed when it was supposed to be 103 degrees that day and opted for a cooler time.

First stop...the trains. Elijah thought this was the coolest thing ever. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't go on every single one, but forgot all about that when he was able to blow the horn on one of the trains.

While waiting for the pirate show to begin, we checked out the flower garden and took some rides on the Big Slide. Both Elijah and Natalie went down with me separately. Natalie loved it! I thought she might be a little scared, but when I asked her if she liked it, I got an enthusiastic, "YEAH!"

On to the pirate show. We weren't really sure what this was supposed to be all about, but ended up being a high-wire act and was pretty cool. They did some pretty neat stunts.

Next to the trains...again - this time model trains. This year they had some Thomas trains. Natalie decided she was going to walk onto the displays and take a police car off the set. She was so excited that she found a police car and really wanted to show Elijah. She got in trouble and the staff seemed to keep a close eye on us the rest of the time we were there.

They had a new exhibit this year on Dinosaurs...

Then we headed off to the petting zoo...

Then rides...Natalie was a little disturbed when she was riding in an airplane and her steering wheel fell off. Elijah rode on the bumper cars, but afterward decided that it was too scary. Maybe next time?

After dinner, we tried to go on the large farris wheel, but it broke down, so we went on a few more rides and then headed home. Both the kids fell asleep in the car. Another fun time at the Fair!

Our Newest Blog Ever!

2009-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, I think we're finally done changing our blog around. We decided that it was finally time to make the change from the old blogger where everything was done through html code and get with the program and update to the newer version. It took us a little time to figure out what to do and how to do it, but I think we're finally happy with our page now. Comments? What do you think?

Tis the Season for Fairs!

2009-09-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our LA County Fair is going on right now and we are very excited to go! We hope to go this coming week (unless it's going to be so terribly hot, then maybe we'll wait til the next week). Thinking about going to the fair gets me excited about the yummy food! This year instead of paying for fair food (at the high price!!!), I thought I would be smart and thrifty and make some of our own yummy "fair food."

So this morning I made caramel corn! Yum-my!!! I had never made it before but found a recipe in my new favorite cookbook, which I found at our thrift store, Blue Ribbon Winners: State Fair Recipes. (How appropriate!!!) The actual recipe is from a winner at the Iowa State Fair - how even more great is that?! It turned out easier than I thought and I would definitely make more. I'm just hoping we still have some left when we actually go to the fair!!! I guess if we don't I'll just have to make more...

I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone else wants to eat yummy "fair food."

Caramel Corn
yield: 8 1/2 qts.

8 qts. popped corn (that equals 4 bags of microwave popcorn; I used kettle corn since that's what I had which I think makes it extra yummy)
1 cup pecan halves
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter/marg.
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Grease 2 large baking pans. Remove any unpopped kernels from popped corn. Keep popcorn and pecans warm in 250F oven while making caramel mixture. In a heavy 4-qt. saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt and vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in baking soda thoroughly. Place popped corn and pecans in a large bowl (I used my largest stock pot -- it's a LOT of popcorn!). Pour caramel over popped corn and pecans, stirring gently to coat popped kernels. Spoon caramel corn into greased baking pans. Bake in 250F oven 40-60 min. or until crisp, stirring every 15 min. Turn caramel corn out onto sheets of foil. Cool completely, then break into pieces. Store in tightly covered containers.

The 8 1/2 qts. of caramel corn made filled this large plastic container (which used to be filled with pretzels from Costco, in case you have or have seen that container--for size comparison) plus more than half a gallon sized ziploc bag.

Videos for You!

2009-09-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've posted anything so we thought we'd just show you some recent videos of the kids.

Here's Natalie dancing to one of her favorite songs - "The Dora The Explorer Theme Song." She's crazy about Dora, even though we don't have cable and only watch her on a couple dvds. She can't get enough. :)

Elijah and Natalie thought it would be fun to rock in the chair one night. Elijah did the rocking; Natalie did the rolling.

Elijah wanted to sing a new song for me. Boy, was I in for a special treat! ;)

Canada: Part Three

2009-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Day Seven

Time to hit the road again! We packed up and left our hotel at around 9am (a little later since we had a late night). Before we got to the border, we stopped at the Canada Welcome Center that was all about dinosaurs. Elijah seemed to be more interested in playing in the "caves" with his cousins instead...

We spent the night in Helena, Montana.

Day Eight

We continued through Montana, Idaho, and into Utah. We had a bit of a scary moment when we entered Provo, UT. A car crashed a few lanes over as we were driving, flipped over on its top and skidded over into the center divider. It just missed the car with my parents, Jenn and Darrick and their kids by an inch. We watched it in our rearview mirror. They were pretty shaken up. It was scary, but God's protection was great.

We ate at Fuddruckers for dinner and then went for a swim in the pool at our hotel before going to bed. Natalie really liked the taste of chlorine...who knew?

In the courtyard of the hotel, they had an Amish Country Gazebo!!! Totally sweet. I used to work at Amish Country building gazebos when I was in high school :)

Day Nine

We got up early and travelled for a long time. It was really hot driving through the desert. We stopped at a rest area in Nevada and it was 110 degrees! Hot! Hot! Hot! Good thing for air conditioning that works! We made it home at 7:30pm and there was a "welcome home" sign made with chalk in our walkway entrance. What nice friends we have :) It was good to be home.

It was a great trip and nice vacation! Thanks for taking the journey with us :)

Canada: Part Two

2009-08-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

Day Five

In the afternoon, we went to Edworthy Park for a BBQ! It was nice weather and we had a lot of fun getting to know many of Sam and Darcie's friends.

After the BBQ, we made our way over to the church for the wedding rehersal. We ran through the ceremony twice and I think we got it down :)

Day Six (Wedding Day)

In the morning, Sam took all the groomsmen out to breakfast at Denny's. Yummy! Then Jeff and I took decorations over to the church and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. Pictures were at 3pm and the wedding started at 5:30pm. The church was decorated with about 100 paper lanterns! The wedding ceremony itself was very neat. Sam and Darcie wrote their own vows that they shared with each other. Sam was very emotional.

After the wedding, we headed over to downtown Calgary to THE VUE - half art gallery, half restaurant. We ate and hung out and listened to a live jazz band. Dad gave a short speech welcoming Darcie to the family. Sam and Darcie cut the cake (no funny business) and danced for the first time as a couple. The reception lasted well into the night. We picked up the kids from childcare around 11pm and the party was still going. It was off to bed for us...time to hit the road in the morning!

Canada: Part One

2009-08-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Calgary! I thought we'd do a little recap on our trip so far:

Day One

We left Los Angeles at 4:30am and met up with the rest of my family at my parent's house. Then we traveled through Vegas, Arizona, and into Utah where we spent the night in Orem. We brought lots of stuff for the kids to do. Elijah played with my old Optimus Prime transformer which he thought was the best surprise ever (thanks Dad for digging it out of storage). Natalie had lots of coloring books and her dolls. We also bought a DVD player for the car so the kids could be entertained :)

Day Two

We got a good start in the morning and made our way through Utah, Idaho and into Montana. We stopped for lunch in Pocatello, ID. The park had a huge rock that was really smooth on one side. Everyone had fun sliding down the side! After lunch, we discovered that our van was leaking coolant. A small hose had developed a crack in it. Along the way, it got worse and we ended up having to stop in a small town called Spencer. The only mechanic was about 30 miles in the next town, so we used some duct tape to make a temporary repair until we got to Lima. We used some tools from the mechanic in Lima to fix the hose. The day had been saved! We ate dinner there in Lima and continued to Butte, MT where we stayed with our friends, Jason and Debbie Rasmussen, for the night. It was fun to meet their family!

Day Three

We continued through Montana and stopped for lunch at a rest area about 40 minutes from the border. We finally made it into Canada around 2pm and made it across the border with no problems. We arrived in Calgary at 6pm and unpacked everything into our hotel near downtown. We relaxed in the spa at night....Ahhhhh.

Day Four

Today we ate breakfast and then headed straight to the pool. Elijah and Natalie were super excited to be in the water. The pool has a really great water slide. Both Elijah and Natlie went down with me. Elijah is still getting used to the idea of a "water" slide, but I think he's going to love it!

Right before lunch, Sam and Darcie came over to the hotel and we were able to meet Darcie for the first time. That was fun...hopefully not too awkward for her :) They couldn't stay long, but we'll get to see more of them tomorrow.

Brick Wall

2009-08-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a project that's taken a really long time...longer than I'd hoped. It's been in our plans to build a small retaining wall in our backyard. About a year ago, I sorted through old bricks that were taken from one of our World Impact homes when they were getting rid of their chimney. They were old and worn and covered with mortar. I spent many hours scraping off the old mortar and cleaning all the bricks. Then about 2 weeks ago I finally built the wall. This weekend I added mulch around all the plants. We really like the change that it brings to our backyard. Hooray for change!

And as follow-up, for those that do follow our blog...Thanks!!! We didn't really mean to give you such a hard time - we don't even watch "Heroes" either. :) And we do follow our friends' and family's blogs but don't comment much, so you probably don't even know we're there. We'll try to be better too. Thanks for reading! :)

Are you there?!?!?

2009-08-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

After no comments on our last entry, it just got us thinking that maybe no one reads our blog anymore...Is that true??? If so, we'll just stop wasting our time on this thing. :)

Or perhaps, maybe nobody gives a rip about Heroes....

whatever...

Heroes

2009-08-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

This blog is for all you HEROES fans out there! This evening they were filming an episode (to the aired in mid-November) at a house down the street from ours. Laura and Bryan had to go check out the action up-close.

It was actually filmed on Van Buren street where we have some of our World Impact houses, so we made our way over there for a little Heroes "party."

It was pretty cool watching, but all of the actually filming was done inside the house, so we only got to see stuff when they came out. We did get to see Peter Petrelli and Noah Bennet (Claire's Father). We didn't take any close up pictures while watching...

Natalie's Birthday

2009-07-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here's what we did on Natalie's birthday...

In the morning, at the end of my 3 mile run, I stopped and picked up donuts for breakfast. As I was walking home, a homeless man told me I looked like Jesus and then proceeded to hit me up for some money. I love LA! We had everything decorated in purple (Natalie's favorite color). We got some noise makers that the kids loved blowing them all morning.

Breakfast was good and Natalie opened one present from Elijah...a purple Dora watch.

Elijah and Natalie played in the pool for a little while and then my parents and Jenn and the kids came over around mid-morning. Everyone played until it was time for lunch - mac & cheese, one of Natalie's favorite meals.

After naps, it was time to open presents. Natalie got a lot of nice stuff from friends and family. I restored a broken crib that was going to be thrown away and gave it to Natalie for her baby dolls. Auntie Tricia (plus Grandpa and Grandma) stole the show though with a play kitchen set - all the kids were excited about that one!

After dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream. Laura made a purple butterfly cake and we had some friends come over to help celebrate.

Overall, it was a pretty fun day. The two things that Natalie kept doing all day was saying, "purple" and having to show everyone that she was "2" every time the word "birthday" was mentioned.

Happy Birthday, Natalie! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today Natalie turns 2 yrs old. Happy Birthday Natalie!!!!

More pictures from her Birthday to come...

Beach House Weekend

2009-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, we went to World Impact's beach house with my family (Mom, Dad, Jenn and kids). We had a super fun time hanging out, going to the beach, shopping at thrift stores, eating lots of good food, and watching fireworks. Here are some pictures.

"Show Us Your Muscles"

2009-06-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video we took during lunch the other day. Elijah (and Natalie) wanted to show us the exercises they do to make their muscles grow bigger :)

Pretty funny! These two are a bunch of clowns...

Sharing What God Has Done

2009-06-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.

This verse from Deuteronomy 4:9 has been one I have been meditating on for a few months. God has been teaching both me and Dave a lot about Himself, His peace that passes understanding, His sovereignty, and His plan for our lives. We wanted to share with you what’s been going on with us.

Late last August, we found out we were expecting a baby and we were thrilled!!! I called and made an appointment for my first OB check-up, and then I miscarried very early on at only 6 weeks. We were shocked and thought this would never happen to us! This wasn’t what we planned. We had figured out how far apart we wanted to have our kids and moved forward with our timeline. Well, God had other plans. He wanted to teach us about trusting Him and giving Him full control of our life and plans.

A few months later, we were trying again for a child. Around Christmas, I started feeling nauseous, a very clear sign that I was pregnant. I again made an appointment to go to the doctor around 8 weeks into the pregnancy. We were very anxious to go since we had previously miscarried. The date of our appointment finally arrived. Our doctor did the ultrasound but what he saw was not an 8 week old baby growing. He was confused and thought maybe I had gotten my calculations off and I was really 5-6 weeks pregnant instead. He scheduled another appointment a week later to see if the baby had grown any larger. That next ultrasound did not show a baby. Instead it was only a “bad” egg. My body believed I was pregnant, was growing a placenta, had symptoms but no baby was there. Again, we were surprised! This time I was actually feeling pregnant so why was this happening?!

We scheduled a procedure to have the pregnancy cleaned up/removed and looked forward to moving ahead. For what could have been another devastating loss, God gave us indescribable peace, a testimony to the power of prayer (we had a few close friends and family aware of the “bad egg,” praying for us). Through this second miscarriage, God was again teaching us to trust in Him and give Him full control of our family plans. (I guess we didn’t really get that figured out with the first miscarriage. :))

Since January and that last miscarriage, we have experienced such freedom and peace. We trust God completely and look forward to what He has planned for our family. We stopped thinking about “trying” for another baby and just allowed God to be in control. We were at peace with whatever He would decide. If it was His plan to give us only two beautiful kids, we would be more than blessed!!!

We are excited to share that God has now blessed us with another little one!!! Again, I started feeling nauseous and tired and knew I was pregnant. We made it, again, to the 8 week check-up and this time saw a beautiful, growing, healthy child with a strong heartbeat! We are completely thrilled and honored that God would trust us with another child. Right now I am 11 weeks pregnant, expecting the baby around January 12!

As Deuteronomy 4:9 says, we don’t want to forget what God has done for us. He has revealed Himself to us over and over through these past nine months and has blessed us abundantly with this child. We’ll be sure to pass on the stories of His goodness and faithfulness to our children and grandchildren, but we also wanted to pass it on to our family and friends now. :)

God is good! Rejoice with us!!!

Laker-Mania!

2009-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today was the parade for the Lakers. After winning the championship by defeating the Orlando Magic (4-1), our city has to celebrate, right? We went since it was right down the street.

The parade started around 11am and the route went from the Staples Center down Figueroa St. to the Coliseum. There were tons of people lining the street. According to the news, the estimate was 150,ooo people watching the parade and another 80-90,000 at the Coliseum for the celebration.

The Lakers rode on double-decker buses and it was really neat because we were able to be super close. It was hard to try and pick out certain players as they went by, but I think we did a pretty good job. We almost missed Kobe because he was on the other side of the bus waving at the crowds on the other side of the street. We did get to see Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, and Kobe Bryant...we didn't find Luke Walton or Phil Jackson. You'd think that they'd be easy to find since they are some of the only white people on the team :)

It was a lot of fun! It was cool celebrating the Laker's victory. Congrats guys! Let's do it again next year...