Happy Valentines Day!

Here is a favorite verse of mine regarding LOVE....

Favorites of Christmas Part 1....

These were some of my favorite shots from the holidays this year....I still cannot believe how quickly Christmas came and went. I love this time of the year and am always a bit saddened to pack away the lights, paper, holiday trimmings, and wreaths for another celebration next year. We spent alot of time with family and with each other trying to keep up a few of our traditions and make some new ones. We always ice skate over the holidays and this year our 4 year old was up for some skating fun-he loved it! I couldn't skate this year because of my pregnant state but was happy to shoot photos in the bad light of the indoor rink with my new camera-which was an early Christmas gift seen below in my self-portrait.
My sister and kids came to visit for the holidays and joined us for some skating fun! We loved having them home!! My kids cried big buckets of tears after saying goodbye. They love their cousins!!



Halle joined the Grace Notes choir at school and we attended 5 performances over the course of a couple of weeks and loved every minute of it. I also helped with her Christmas Party for her class and took the photos below during the festivities.



My new Pentax DSLR camera---it has made taking pictures twice the fun and even my husband has gotten into it-which means I might actually show up in a photo or two from now on. ;)

The two cousins and best of friends!

I think I will share a few more tomorrow as it is taking entirely too long to upload all the favorite photos. Happy Tuesday!

been way too long...

It has been too long since I have written a blog post. I know hardly anyone stops by here to check on us, except my family and a few friends but I thought I should do another post since it had been since September -nearly 2 months ago- that I logged in and did any writing. We have had a busy month and it probably won't slow down any because November is here and the holidays are sure to follow soon after. We did take some time to celebrate a birthday and to enjoy the gorgeous weather we have had and crunch in the leaves. Halle had fall break from school and we took the opportunity to head north to a pumpkin patch where we got to cut our choice pumpkin right off the vine and do pumpking patch related activities(jumping castles, hay bale mazes, visiting the farm animals). We also carved pumpkins-Halle actually carved her own this year and Caleb was into it for the 1st time that I can remember. Lastly, we dressed up our cuties and took them out on a beautiful night to collect treats from our neighbors. I have more pictures of the festivities but you get the point. It keeps messing up when I try to upload photos! ARGH! I can't forget our trip to Illinoise to visit my sister and kids and see them off on their new adventure. It was like a party for two days for the kids and they are already asking to go back??!! I am not ready to drive 17 hours in a car again anytime soon. (but it was worth every minute of that drive to see them.) I will post again soon as we have been up to lots more and another thing....I got a new camera as an early Christmas gift and have been snapping away!!

last of Spring Break trip and Easter

These are the last few pictures from our trip to California on Spring Break. Fun with friends on the beach. Caleb could hardly be pulled away from his shovel and pail. He really enjoyed digging in the sand while Halle ran around with her friends collecting seashells.





Easter this year was so wonderful...we had the 1st celebration with our friends at their country club where we visited the Easter Bunny and had brunch with crafts, a show and an egg hunt. We were in the bathroom when they started the egg hunt so we missed out! My kids only got 3 eggs between the 2 of them and those were given to them by other kids who had a basket full. Caleb loved the Easter Bunny and Halle flat out refused to meet him. Caleb kept asking me "Mom, where the Eater bunnee?" Then when he had the chance to get a photo with him Caleb would become shy and scared. I finally jumped in there with him and got the photo. Caleb carried that Polaroid shot of him and I with the "Eater Bunnee" for a couple of days. I will definitely be adding that picture to his scrapbook.....
Caleb peering out to see the Easter Bunny but not get too close to him...






The next morning on Resurrection Sunday we went to Church at Sandy's house for the service and lunch with an egg hunt. It was a wonderful message, I sang "The Glory", and it was just a powerful service. The food was delicious, the fellowship sweet and the egg hunt was memorable. The weather outside was misting a bit of rain here and there so it was quite muddy and humid. Caleb would hunt the eggs then shake each of them after finding them, then throw them in the sack-he had a great time! He had Nana to hold his bag while mommy ran around taking pictures and giggling like a child. It was quite the scene. Needless to say, all of the kids did quite well and we had so many prizes and candy that we could hardly count them all.








Halle loved opening them all and finding money, toys, candy. Caleb just loved the hunt and shaking them. After opening them, he really enjoyed the toys inside but I don't think he ate one piece of candy. It was a beautiful day and even more so because we serve a savior that LIVES! He gave his all that we might live eternally and Hallelujah He is Risen!

It's getting late and I haven't been to bed before midnight in about a week-it is killing me and I have some baggy dark circles under my eyes! Good Night!

Just so that I remember

We had an interesting Thanksgiving-very non traditional spent in the beautiful Colorado Mountains. Upon arriving home I realized that somehow someone mistakenly erased all the pictures from our trip. I sat last night thinking about the things that I did not want to forget about our special family trip to Glenwood Springs for Thanksgiving 2008.
Here were some of those things....

.The kids looking with awe at the many decorations at the Hotel Colorado.
.Caleb gagging himself with too many mashed potatos at Thanksgiving dinner until he threw up and guess who got to clean him up?
. Halle and her infatuation with the carousel on a tabletop at the hotel. That was such a great picture I had of her looking at it. :(
.Swimming with our kids in the hot pool for the first time. Brent had never been there either.
.Halle singing Jesus loves me at the top of her lungs in the swimming pool with lots of admiring people listening-including me. Even Caleb joined in.
.Pictures in the park with Santa, the toy soldiers-Caleb knocked one over without realizing it. His name was Bob. (They had named all of the toy soldiers)
.Ice Cream and shopping with Halle (just the girls) through several stores downtown Glenwood. We have so much fun together.
.Purchasing a special Christmas night light for Halle and finding The Night before Christmas in hardback-our Christas Eve Tradition. (No more reading it from the internet)
.Halle telling me she will never forget those gifts and our special time shopping together.
Brent watching the CU/Nebraska game in our hotel room with Caleb sleeping. CU lost in the last minute of the game when Nebraska kicked a 57 yard field goal! Go Buffs!
.The Christmas festivities at the Hotel Colorado-loved the Christ-centered show they put on complete with fireworks and hot cocoa.
. The candle light service candles that both of our kids wanted to hold while lit....Caleb thought it was a birthday candle of course and kept blowing it out and making us relight it.
.watching the trains go around the track a thousand times at the Hotel Colorado.
.Hating the stuffing at the hotel Thankgiving dinner and longed for some homemade goodness at that moment.
.Watching Halle and Caleb look at the beautiful Christmas tree and Caleb repeating APPLE, APPLE, APPLE as he points to each red Christmas ball on the tree.
.Going to bed sooooo early because lights were out in our hotel room for the kids at 8:30 so we decided to join them. The bags under my eyes were suddenly gone after just two nights!
.The beautiful weather for the first two days-you hardly needed a jacket.
.The long and slow, snowy and cold drive home. We left at noon and arrived home at 9:45pm.
Spontaneously going to a movie to get off the I-70 parking lot and choosing to watch Bolt without knowing what is was about. The kids loved it! Caleb hogged all the popcorn as usual! I think he ate 75% of it himself.

That is about all that I can remember now but it was a good time and very healthy for all of us. Just because I cannot post any pictures from that time and I have to post a picture with nearly every blog post, here is one from our time decorating the day after we came home.