Santa Barbara

We had a fabulous 3 night get-away to Santa Barbara for our 10 year anniversary trip. We had great weather and filled our trip up by hiking, riding bikes, lounging at the beach, eating good food, and exploring a very cute town. View from the top of the court house= amazing! Beautiful old building.

Mission

A big thanks to Jeff's Mom for making this happen. She stayed with the kiddos and they all had a wonderful time together.

I'm almost finished with my 10 year photo album that I made as a gift for Jeff. I'll post it once I'm done. I was so fun to look back over all we've done these past 10 years. We've had a lot of fun together and love being married to each other.

Addition-al Help

Our buddy Mark came and stayed with us for 5 nights and was a great big help to Jeff as they worked on our addition.

We got together with our Camp Hammer friends for a BBQ. It was fun to see everyone with their families. We all worked together a long, long time ago...

They did all the demo and plumbing.

Tori was their shadow and wanted to help any chance she was given. She really took to Mark quickly which is unusual for her but she must have known that Mark is a great guy. He and Jeff have been buddies since high school. Unfortunately he lives in Washington with his family and we don't get to see them often anymore.

There is now a sub-floor where Jeff is sitting and all the walls are up. It's moving a long but still requires a lot of work.

1st Hair Cut

Tori finally got her first haircut at age 4! She was nervous that it would hurt. I was a little sad thinking... she was born with this hair. Isn't it beautiful? Thanks to our friend Ginger for cutting Tori's hair... and the rest of the families as well.

Here it is- just a little bit shorter and much more straight.

Art

Here are two pieces of art... one created by Siah and one created by Tori. They were using the same exact dot pens at this is what happened.

I'm sure you can tell which one was made by Tori- it's the first one with the perfectly placed dots. Siah's was create by pounding the dot pens and watching them splatter.

I thought this artwork perfectly represents their personalities.

End of Summer Fun

We went to Capitola Beach for the final concert of the summer. It was a lot of fun and we saw tons of friends since it was a local band from Twin Lakes Church. It was followed up by a fabulous fireworks show. Dancing with Mimi

Tori with Auntie Len

Bass Lake

Here are some pictures from the trip the kids and I took with my parents and Nana to Bass Lake. (Jeff stayed home to work.) After our San Diego trip we were home for one night and then got right back in the van in the morning and drove 5 hours to the lake. It's kind of fun to do last minute trips. I didn't even repack or check supplies... we had some odd clothes combinations and were down to the last diaper but it worked and we had a great time.

Siah's first time on the boat. He was a bit nervous at first and then actually feel asleep on my lap... he never sleeps on me. It was really sweet. Tori went "catching" that's even better than fishing. She caught 3 fish in a very short amount of time... no one else caught one.

Papa helping her pull it in. Some day ask Tori about how the fish got back into the water. She tells a great story about how the fish came off the hook and flopped itself back into the water. She laughed and uses her hands to tell her funny story.

Fishing with Mimi.

It's was wonderful that Nana felt was feeling well enough to join us this year. The kids loved spending time with her... of course they don't understand that they can't climb on her like they do everyone else.

Uncle Dan and Karla joined us for dinner one evening. It was great to catch up with them.

We took the boat to a sandy island and played one afternoon. Josiah enjoyed yelling at the ducks.

Warm, beautiful, clean lake water. I LOVE swimming in the lake.

Auntie Pam came to join us this day. It was so fun to spend time with her. It has been a tradition in our family since before I was born to go to Bass Lake for the summer. I've missed it the last couple years.

ART!

Resonating With God

I started a new blog. Check it out. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I'm speaking at GateWay Bible Church this Saturday for a Women's Brunch. I really want to let God speak through me and "me" to not get in the way.

http://resonatingwithgod.blogspot.com/