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!

Fabulous Friday Night Out.......

Two Friday nights ago (9-26-08), I got the chance to meet a couple friends for dinner.......with the kids : ) Chip was working. My friend Jenn (from the previous birthday post) and another friend/co-worker of ours, Polly, were getting hair cuts and then having dinner in the area. I don't get to see Polly very much now that I work from home and she lives on the other side of the Valley so I was excited to get out and have fun with them.

We decided to have dinner at Paradise Bakery at Tempe Marketplace. When I got there I felt SO OUT OF PLACE! Here I was, with two kids in PJs, pushing them across the parking lot. I was surrounded by jr high and high school students and happy couples out on dates. I felt like everyone was staring at me! Oh well though...it was worth it!







So, it may not have been the average 23 year old's idea of a girls night out, but it was still fabulous! The next night I got a REAL girls night out...with NO kids. I went out for dinner with the moms from the playgroup I go to. I was super disappointed when I got home and realized I took NO pictures. Oh well! Next time!(if there is a next time....)

Dressing Up.

Kenzie has started to like accessories more the past few weeks. She will also attempt to put on clothes, but isn't quite successful on her own with full outfits. She really likes hats, necklaces, sunglasses, etc. though!

Here are a few pictures where she was getting all pretty!





Here's one of Ryken too....can't leave him out! This was taken about a week and a half ago....he was just over 8 weeks old!

Bath Time!

Ryken in the bath at 2.5 weeks


Ryken in the bath at 7.5 weeks....he's chubbin' up!






Ryken is starting to like his baths a lot more these days! He just doesn't like to get out of the warm water and into the cold air.

STICKERS!!!!!!!!!

Kenzie has been really into stickers lately. We bought her a pack of stickers from Target's dollar spot. She also did a sticker chain letter but so far has only gotten one pack in the mail (hopefully more are on their way!) Here are a few of the fun times we've had with stickers!


She LOVES putting them on her face!




She thought it was super funny when I was teaching her how to stick out her tongue for a picture!




Here she is checking out the new stickers she got in the mail....of course, the first thing she did was put one on her face!



I love that she is still at the age where such simply things can bring such fun and enjoyment to her and keep her occupied for "long" (long is relative...) amounts of time. YAY for STICKERS!

My PLAID cuties : )

A couple Sundays ago, our whole family ended up wearing some sort of plaid to church. Kenzie was also super cute with her tiny pigtails. I don't make her sit still to do her hair often, but it is always so fun when I take the extra time to do it. It makes her look so old : ) Her plaid was at the bottom of her skirt......here she is before church. She was too busy playing with a bear to really stop and pose, so we just caught her in action as well as we could.





I found Ryken some cutie patootie plaid shorts at Target for less than $5. I had to get them! Here he is taking a Sunday afternoon nap. Not really sure how he is comfortable like that....


And here he is with his daddy. Couldn't pass up this photo-op. I love my handsome boys : )

Happy Birthday Aunt Jennifer!!!!

September 20th was our good friend Jennifer's birthday. She and her husband had a little get-together to celebrate. They live in our complex, so Kenzie, Ryken and I headed over to enjoy the shin-dig. Chip had to work : (


It was also her friend Lori's birthday earlier that week...so we sang to both of them.


Kenzie was a good little party-goer!

Here she is lovin on her brother.

And learning how to bounce the workout ball with Uncle Tim.

Happy Birthday a little late Jenn!!!