Sorry it's been so long!!!!

So I haven't posted in 2 weeks. Time flies!

I don't have a ton of time tonight. But I wanted to post some recent pictures of the kiddos.

I have a lot on my mind, and will hopefully get a chance to write more soon. But if not, at least you get to see the precious little gifts that God has allowed Chip and I to enjoy and raise......

A few of my current favorites:




Another one of THOSE nights....gotta just smile and take pictures : )



Little climber!



Love it!

Painting Pumpkins!

Last Thursday at play group, the activity was painting and decorating pumpkins! I always wondered why in the world moms did activities like this with kids 2 and under. I am still not sure I know why......I guess we want our kids to experience the fun of doing new things. But I am pretty sure we're a crazy group of moms!

Here is Kenzie "picking" her pumpkin:

We decided to get a group picture before things got TOO crazy....I'm not in it because I took the picture : )


Kenzie...still fully clothed. Luckily we realized the bad mix of a 1 year old wearing clothes and painting pumpkins BEFORE any clothing was damaged! YAY!



Kenzie going at that pumpkin with a brush in each hand!


"Helping" her friend Avie paint her pumpkin.


A little bit later, after we came in, Kenz and 3 of her little friends decided to sit on this step...it was completely unprompted! Such a cute photo-op though! I am glad Lindsay's camera was nearby and that Season was able to snap the shot before they were gone! (haha...notice how all the other "good" moms had gotten their children back into clothes while my little hooligan ran around mostly naked with paint all over her body.....oh well)


Here we are back at home...Kenzie was showing her wonderful masterpiece to her daddy.


It's paint...not blood : )


Kenzie liked carrying around her pumpkin and Ryken's pumpkin at the same time..


**A special thanks to Heather and Lindsay for the pictures...I forgot my camera that day and would have been really sad not to get any pictures!**

A Wonderful Wednesday.....

First of all....I took this picture yesterday. I found it quite funny that Ryken got the big couch while Daddy got the loveseat.


Now for today.......Today was a great day. It is the middle of the week and Chip had the day off. It was full of so many things.....we got things done, enjoyed relaxation, and had fun!

Our day started EARLY. Chip got up with Kenzie around 6:40 and Ryken and I joined them about 10-15 minutes later. We had wanted to go to the zoo, but remembered that since it is October it doesn't open until 9am. This summer it opened at 7am so we were able to go and enjoy a good hour before Kenzie's morning nap. So we skipped the zoo. Here is a run down of what we got done today:
- Trip to Sprout's to stock up on fruits and veggies....always a good thing!
- 4 loads of laundry : )
- kitchen things...like cooking up some tomatoes to freeze and cutting up some apples...washing grapes and lettuce...you know...all those things that take time but make things easier later on.
- Yummy pita pizzas and salad for lunch
- I worked for a couple hours
- An afternoon nap for mommy...always makes the day better!
- Chip sold his old video card to a guy on Craigslist
- A date....Ted's HotDogs for dinner and then to the movie Fireproof
- The home to watch ANTM and eat brownie sundaes....yum!
And now...here I am updating......a great ending to a great day. Here are some pictures from today....of Ryken, Makenzie, and the two of them together. Oh yeah....and a couple right before we left for our date!

This one is a little blurry...but such a cute smile! It is SO hard to capture his smiles. He is usually too busy either not looking at me or the camera at all, or if he is looking he is trying to figure out the camera. So I was just happy to catch one of his cute little grins. I love them!


This is a very common Ryken look:


Here he is snuggling with his Little Giraffe blanky from Chani...he loves it!



Kenzie giving Bubba kisses. She loves him.


He responded with a little smile. I think he is starting to like her a little bit too : )


Kenzie being her little busy-body self....we wouldn't have it any other way!




Here is her new cheesy fake smile : )


Getting ready to head out the door!



So...that concludes our day! Thank you Lord for the food, the rest, the fun, the work, and the enjoyment of living life together : ) Amen.

4 years. 5 months. 20 days.

That is how long Chip and I have been a couple.

Out of that time, we've been married for 3 years. 3 months. 18 days. And I love him more today than the day we got married....and I loved him A LOT that day!

This morning I went to a monthly Bible study at our church. The topic was The Delight of Loving Your Husband. Sadly, there are many people who would probably be tempted to laugh at a title like this. DELIGHT in loving your husband?! Our culture tends to too often see marriage as dull and boring and a burden. I am so thankful NOT to have that mindset and to REALLY and TRULY DELIGHT in loving Chip! I am not always perfect at it. There are my days where I am less than delightful, I'm sure (just ask Chip!) But God has truly blessed our marriage and continues to grow us each day in our love for each other through our love for Him.

Our homework from today was to write out a list of reasons, traits and attributes that we admire, respect, and love about our husbands....then share them with our husbands. It was interesting to me that this was presented as quite a challenge. I am not sure how many other women felt this way, but I got excited thinking about my list and trying to figure out how I was going to keep my "list" from turning into a novel! It really opened my eyes to just how much God has blessed me with the man He has given me. And it saddened me to think that for other women, this homework assignment was going to be a hard thing to do.

Here we are today......





Still loving each other and life we have together. I love you Chip! Thanks for loving me too. And most of all, THANK YOU LORD, for the love that you continue to put inside us for one another!

Up To Date!!

Whew! I finally caught up : ) I think I have finally caught up to the current day! Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of things better now! Ryken turns 10 weeks old tomorrow and Kenzie is a week away from being 18 months! Time is flying and we're just trying to enjoy each moment and rest in the hands of our Maker. He is so good to us.

Thank you, Lord, for all you provide! Help us to trust YOU fully for our needs. Thank you for being in complete control and for the peace that Your sovereingty provides! Amen.

Our fun mini-vacation to Tucson!

We got to visit my parents in Tucson last week for a few days. Chip had Wednesday and Thursday off and didn't have to be to work until 3pm until Friday afternoon, so after breakfast Wednesday morning we headed down to see Grandma and Grandpa! Kenzie is pretty familiar with my parents, even though they live a couple hours away. My dad stayed with us a few nights a week from before she was born until her first birthday. And she had a few trips down to their house this summer. She also gets to "see" them when we Skype. She even likes to take pictures of them......


We had a lot of fun while we were there. We got to hang out and relax and see friends and family. On Wednesday, we didn't do much. We had lunch and all took naps. We went swimming that afternoon. I will add a picture if I can get one from my mom!

After we swam, my friend Chani stopped by for a few minutes. She lives in LA, so it was fun that it worked out that we were both in T-town at the same time and were able to make connections! She got Ryken some REALLY cute little gifts...thanks Chani! Wednesday night my brother and his family came over for dinner. We had a good meal with good company, although I was sad my sisters and their boys (big and little) couldn't be there.

Thursday was a fun day. We played outside in the morning, enjoying the nice cool weather. Kenzie got to go to a class at The Little Gym where Uncle Dave (or Mr. Dave at TLG) was her teacher. She enjoyed running around and climbing with a bunch of other kids. After that, we went home and got Kenzie down for a nap...she was worn out.

My friend Danielle from high school came over for lunch. She had a beautiful baby girl 2 days after I had Ryken. It was fun introducing each other to our kids! And it was so funny how different our babies are! Her little girl is long and skinny....Ryken is a short little chub! It is really cool having a friend with a baby so close to mine!





While Danielle was over, my mom and Chip started making caramel apples! MMMMMM! I am not sure how I missed getting pictures (probably because I was talking to Danielle)...but BOY are they good. I will try to take a picture of one and get it on here before we eat them all up!

After Kenzie woke up, we went to see Chip's cousin Micah. He is living down by the U of A (and attending there) and it was great to see his house and talk with him for a little bit between some of his classes!

That night we had another family dinner (minus Dave...he was still working hard!) We got some good cousin pictures, but were sad that Amory and Lucky weren't able to be in them. We will have to get COMPLETE cousin pictures this May!







Kenzie helped me with some dishes before bed and thought it was a lot of fun to play in the bubbles.



On Friday morning we had brunch and then sat around the table just enjoying a few more minutes together. We also gave Grandma and Grandpa a sneak peak of our cute little chickens (their Halloween costumes). We loaded in the car around 11 and hit the road.







Kenzie slept most of the way, but we heard her make a little noise about 10 minutes before we got home. But then she was so quiet. When we got home and opened the door, this is what we found..............





We had given her stickers for the car ride and she had made the most of it! Those particular stickers were VERY sticky and we didn't realize it. She had them on all day and when I went to take them off they were STUCK! WE had to rub lotion and baby oil on them and a few even had to soak overnight.....but they finally came off. We now test the stickiness of stickers before we allow her to plaster them all over her face.

So that was our trip down south! Thanks Mom and Dad! We had a great time : )