For Makka and Grandpa

Keagan Whistling, Walking & some Words

Thankful Turkey

I love this time of year for so many reasons. Thanksgiving and Christmas are something I look forward to all year round. In the past it has been for all the usual reasons....the hieghtened awareness of our savior & all He has done for us, all the festivities & celebrations, getting together with loved ones, the anticipation in the air, the decorations & traditions, the shopping & hustle and bustle (yes, I love those too), the smells and yummy foods.....just about everything that goes with it.

But, this year I have discovered something else I love about it. I love the new opportunites for great discussions with Gavin about God, Jesus & all the reasons for the Seasons. Of course, we try to incorporate this into our everyday lives all year around, but this year he is definately getting old enough to ask some great questions. Today, we made a Thankful Turkey....and we got to talk about what it means to be thankful and who we are ultimately thankful to. We talked about how everything good in our lives comes from God.

I Chronicles 16:8 & 9

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing praise to Him, Sing praise to Him, tell of His wonderful acts.

the Itsy Bitsy Spider

Friends

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

A quiz about Me

A quiz about me
In answer to a friend who suggested that I also blog this little quiz....here I am....

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30 - that is when my boys got up.

2. How do you like your steak? Medium

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? G-Force - we were doing whatever we had to do to get out of our 102 degree day.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Only show on this summer that I like is the Philanthropist.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Since it is anywhere in the world....that is just too hard to choose. I love Brazil, & Cambodia, but I am sure there are other places I would love too. But in the USA...I really love Washington, but would be open to Oregon or Colorado. (Of course, there is a certain draw to Texas too that I just can't explain ;)!!!!

6. What did you have for breakfast? Coffee with coconut creamer

7. What’s your favorite cuisine? just too hard to choose....love Mexican, Indian and Thai!

8. What foods do you dislike? raw fish and other raw meat.......thought I was braver, but can't stomache it at ALL!

9. Where is your favorite place to eat? Good breakfast places!

10. What is your favorite salad dressing? Ranch

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Lexus SUV

12. What are your favorite clothes? sweaters

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? France

14. Is the cup half empty or half full? I try really hard to be a half full person.....

15. Where would you want to retire? somewhere 3rd world!

16. What is your favorite time of the day? After dinner is made and we settle as a family into our evening routine, leading into night night!

17. Where were you born? Victoria, BC

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Soccer

19. Are you a bird watcher? no

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Lately, I feel like neither..I need more energy.

21. What did you want to be when you were little? missionary

22. What’s your best childhood memory? Having best friends, Camping with my family at minister's creek in the appalachains, spending time at my Lamoureux grandparents cabin, Christmas with extended family.

23. Do you always wear your seat belt? Yes

24. Do you have any pet peeves? hmmm...I am sure I do...but cannot think of it.

25. Favorite type of pizza? A good veggie pizza

26. Favorite flower? Dahlias - since I moved to washington

27. Favorite ice cream? Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup

28. Have you done anything spontaneous lately? Aaron and I decided last minute to go away
for the weekend.....luckily my mom was able to drive up in a moments notice.

29. Do you like your job? Being a mommy is the best job I have ever had!

30. Do you like broccoli? yes

Cloudy Lake Day

My friend, Melissa, and I had no idea it would be so cold when we headed to the lake one morning. But the kids didn't care, and it was so much fun to see them playing together. She has 2 sweet girls very close to the same ages as my boys.

Sweet 17 month old Allie and 13 month old Keagan

Some fun stuff

Last week we took a great trip to Seattle to the Children's Museum with new friend of mine, Shelley, and her sweet little girl, McKenna. We all had a great time, it just wasn't quite long enough with the needed naps threatening to cause some meltdowns.

Gavin loved all the pretend stuff. Everything was so much like real life...just in a mini version.

The grocery store was a favorite for all

Picking out some bread at the bakery

Checking out...the scanner actually beeped.

Then the lumbar store

A little stop at the theater

A little restaurant. This is the only picture I got of our friend McKenna. I am going to have to make a better attempt next time. They were just so busy and headed in every direction.

The boys dining at the mini Mexican restaurant after Gavin prepared it in the kitchen

Good thing these weren't real cactiCrawling out of the marmot cave

Here is Gav using the international phone in the mini international district

Sweet brothers playing with some pretend sushi

A day out with Thomas

We had a great DAY OUT WITH THOMAS. Thomas the Train. Gavin is mad about trains, and his little trains from this cartoon are his most favorite toy. So, we treated him to a day where they had a life size Thomas Train, and several train displays, some live entertainment. But really, all Gavin cared about was that we got to ride the passenger trains that Thomas pulled.

One very excited boy, waiting for the train ride to start.

Me and my boys.....

Thomas's train whistle was just too loud!

Waiting to see Thomas go by one more time!

Tea Time

The other day Gavin discovered my tea set that I bought when I was in Vietnam. He thought it was the GREATEST thing pouring tea(water) into the tiny little cup. I love seeing him get excited about discovering the smallest new thing. Of course, the gentle part only lasted a little while and Mom (me) had to take back my tea set.

My homemade walker

4th of July at the coast

For our 4th of July this year, we met up with the Werner family for a little celebration and camping. For the west coast, we actually had some really nice weather. We were able to spend a few days at the beach, had lots of campfires, smores, a cute little small town parade with lots of candies being thrown, some very serious sandcastle building, and a perfect end to the 4th with a fire on the beach and small fireworks shows around us.

We also had a celebration for Keagan's first birthday, as my family was unable to make it up for the earlier celebration. Here is Keagan opening his present...
Loving his hostess birthday cupcake....

Singing Happy Birthday

For those of you who don't know, Aaron and I were engaged at Cannon Beach, on July 3rd, 6 years ago now. So, we were able to slip away for dinner that night to eat at the restaurant we ate at that night! Wow, that feels like a long time ago.

One of the amazing sunsets!

Keagan and Grandpa, walking on the beach.

My mamma on the beach....

My Dad....looking out at the ocean....thru the fog.

And.....at last...the castle creation by Aaron, Justin, and Caleb. It took 8 1/2 hours to build this masterpiece.....

Keagan took to the sand with no problem. He was so excited....he would rub it in his hair, throw it up, dig his toes in deep....so fun. And no fear of the waves...he tried crawling out into the water.

Just one of our mornings at a park near the beach....love this kid like you would not believe!!!!

Keagan and Aaron....