summer fun

This is been one busy summer for us with me teaching swim lessons again. We've managed to really enjoy family time and are sadly counting down the days until school starts. We got a hot tub from some friends who have a spa business... and that has provided some of the greatest families times and conversations. We also took a spontaneous camping trip to Tahoe where we hiked, biked, and I even taught Tayven 5 new card games. The last picture is a few days ago when the boys decided that helping me clean sounded fun... for a couple hours! It was a definitely a kiss from heaven... and so much fun. I love my little cuties!




Tahoe Trip!


Harper chomping on chips


Tayven loves cards


This picture is not posed. My boys are obsessed with clorox wipes :)
I know it wont last

In the summertime!

Tayven graduating from Kindergarten, friends coming over, and a week with cousins are some of the fun things we've done this summer...

Tagged (i gave in)

ok ok so I haven't been in love with the idea of promoting myself in this "tagged" thing... but in all honesty I've loved reading the quirks from everyone else. In fact, several of you people have made me laugh out loud. I'm pretty sure my quirks are much less interesting but to avoid being called a "party pooper" or "too cool" any longer, I'm gonna give it a shot... don't fall asleep.

Here are the rules:
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag six bloggers by linking them.

1. Not sure how to word this one appropriately... but if someone "passes gas" anywhere near me when I am drinking water, I will immediately cover my water glass. I have this instant fear that the odor will seep into my drink and ruin the taste forever. Those who know me best have probably witnessed this... its definitely become a quirk for me.


2. I don't like having cold feet at night... and sometimes I can act a little O.C.D. about getting a pair of socks on my feet. One time when on a trip, I bugged everyone who was trying to sleep as I pilfered through my bag looking for some cozy socks. It's a mental thing, I'm sure.

3. I like hot drinks (coffees) extra hot. If I don't order it "extra hot" it wont last me more than 5 minutes before I pretty much wanna throw it away. Wow, I sound snobby. haha, its just the truth, I no longer enjoy it if it's not real hot. Julie pointed this out to me the other day... thanks.

4. When it comes to a job (teaching, coaching soccer, teaching swim lessons) I can be really organized and want things done a specific way. I spend a lot of time thoroughly preparing and can border on seeming like a perfectionist. At the same time, I am that girl that can be totally scatter brained and not know where her keys are for 10 minutes...

5. I have this issue with misspelled words. I notice them a lot when other people do it and I have a hard time not pointing it out. Is that a quirk? One time my friend wrote the word "tomorrow" wrong about 10 times before I finally said something. She wrote "tomarrow" and after a day of prayer, I got the courage to let her know her issue. Ok... maybe not prayer but we had a good laugh. Wow, I'm boring even myself with this post, sorry everyone. haha. The funny thing is, I'll probublee spellde sevrall wurds wrong on dis post, wright?

6. I can't think of anymore. I know have a million more. Feel free to tell me what you think my quirks are... and honestly... if you've made it this far I'll give you five bucks

I am gonna tag....

Jamie Hill
Wendy Penburthy
Nicole Pickard (she's been tagged tons like me and has avoided it)
Sara Molton (don't know if she'll see this?)
Christina Leaman (awesome blog writer)
Chrisy Myers (do you ever get online?)

Limo ride!

At Tayven's school they have a reading program with many prizes to motivate the students. There were many prizes along the way throughout the school year... but the final prize after reading 15,000 pages was a limo ride to Round Table Pizza! Tayven couldn't have been more extactic about this event, as I am sure you can imagine. The night before he couldn't sleep... he came in to tell us, "ummm tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life". haha! It was pretty close, I must say! He enjoyed this event with his buddy Drew making it that much more amazing ;)

Feeling Lost

I was going to write this email to my friend Sara today but decided to write it here... thinking that maybe someone else is battling and growing in a similar way. I'm not "gifted at" being vulnerable on a blog but my heart is heavy today.

She and I had a great conversation this morning about how lost we often feel in life. How do you balance out what God has for you each day? How much time should we spend investing in our children... and how do we balance that out with time spent pouring into the lives of unbelievers in our neighborhood and communities? How radical should we be about these things? Or is it... that we are to be open and ready for what God does bring in our lives each day? Who knows what will happen when I go to the store, or a wedding or to the park. Am I ready with a humble heart for what may come? Am I soft and open to what God may put in my path? Whether that be a teaching opportunity with my children or an amazing conversation with someone I meet at the park... OR... is it how I respond to seemingly tragic situations? It seems that every day lately I am hearing stories of "awful" situations- death, chronic illness, natural disasters, loss of children, health issues... disappointments all around... even in my life. Yet I know God is behind all of this and in His holy perfection.. it is what He sees as perfect at this time.

I would hope that this would do nothing more than bring me to my knees with a heart of humility and a heart that desires to worship the Lord. Here is where I am left with more questions. How do my prayers really affect God? Am I really making a difference? Is prayer merely changing my perspective or it part of God's ultimate plan? Does He really want me to cast my anxieties on Him... is it really true that he cares for the sparrow that has fallen from the tree?

Are you tired of my question marks? These are questions I have asked myself years ago and felt I knew the answers too... yet God continues to challenge me and expose my pride. My head has been spinning for weeks thinking through of all this and I have been deeply affected by a few different books. In hopes of making a little more sense and stopping myself from babbling with a thousand questions... I want to quote them. The first is from, A Call to Spiritual Reformation" by D.A. Carson:

"Two truths that must be held together if we are to think biblically about rayer:
1. God is absolutely sovereign, but this sovereignty never functions to reduce human responsibility.
2. Human beings are responsible creatures- that is, the choose, they believe, they disobey, they respond, and there is moral significance in their choices; but human responsibility never functions in Scripture to diminish God's sovereign or to make God absolutely contingent." (page 148)

I'm tempted to quote the rest of the chapter :) -but I will leave it as a strong recommendation to read! Another quote out of Piper's, "Battling Unbelief:

"When something drops into your life that seems to threaten your future, remember this: The first shockwaves of the bomb are not sin. The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in. Putting up no spiritual fight. And the root of that surrender is unbelief- a failure to fight for faith in future grace. A failure to cherish all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.

Jesus shows us another way. Not painless, and not passive. Follow him. Find your trusted spiritual friends. Open your soul to them. Ask them to watch with you and pray. Pour out your soul to the Father. Rest in His sovereign wisdom. And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God." (page 130-131)

I am blessed by and have learned from friends who pray with me.

I feel that all I have written is jumbled and chaotic-- which would match up with how I feel. Yet I find a peace in feeling "lost" before the Lord. What a sweet thing it is to come before the thrown of God in prayer. How could a just, holy, supreme God actually want a relationship with us? Yet, He does... and I find my hope there. I put one foot in front of the other... tell God how lost I feel... and rest in His mercy and lovingkindness. I pray He is pleased with my little life.

Trip to the Coast

We had such a great time on the coast visiting family and celebrating my Grandma's 90th a few weekends ago. The boys rarely see the ocean and it makes me sooo happy when I see their sandy faces after a day there. Having grown up going to the beach I want them to have as many chances as possible to enjoy time there. Celebrating my still "very with it" grandma's 90th was so great... way to go Grandma!... and seeing family is always a blessing. A special congrats to my awesome sister Erin who just graduated with her Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology! I wanted to put up more pictures of the boys in the sprinklers b/c my sister and I were in tears from laughter at their attempts to eat the water. Hopefully the one will make her smile :) We are so blessed to have such a great and loving family! I was so thankful to have lunch with my old friend Jamie Hill on the way home too :)

happy moments

I love this picture. It was one of those moments where I said, "hey look up here" and this was what I got. Pretty good huh? Usually decent pictures require 20 minutes of me bribing them to pleeeease just pretend they love smiling for a camera. Slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. This picture just captures pure happiness on a spring evening with friends. Would you believe that the two in the middle were actually asked if they were twins at one point? nope, not a joke.

Life has been filled with some reality checks for our family lately... and for others around us. I'm thankful for the moments God gives us to look at pictures like these and remember His abundant blessings in our lives.