Back in the blogging saddle

Well, here we go. My effort at a real post, the first in months.

The kids are (of course) counting down the days until Christmas. Teagan keeps reminding us that it is not just about presents, however, she would really like her own kitchen, tie shoes and a REAL Goldfish. Blake wants baseball "stuff", especially a catchers helmet and glove and Penelope doesn't have a clue whats going on but she likes to play in the Christmas tree.

We are trying to settle in to our house. It would probably go better if I would stop painting, but I'm not settling on a color I don't like. So, that leaves one option...repaint. I am almost done...just one stretch down the hallway. Then I will finally finish my Christmas shopping. We picked a crazy time to move in...not only are we swamped with holiday things...just moving in and finishing projects has consumed us. Which will lead me into letting everyone know that we are not sending out Christmas cards this year. I decided we would do a Happy New Year (or it may even turn into Happy East) cards. Things are just too busy and I thought it would be one big thing I could cross off my list.

We are really enjoying being back in Klamath. (We do miss our friends in Hermiston) Things seem to be working out really well and I am SO excited that we are not traveling this holiday season.

Stan has been busy with work and things at home. He has put down beautiful wood floors in our house! He is so good at projects he really does great work.

I have been painting and doing lots of Christmas things. I have also been helping coach a basketball team which I am loving! It is so nice to be involved in a hobby/sport that I really enjoy. I am coaching with my old high school coach so it is really a kick!

Ok, well I think that is the best I can do for now. I'll have to work my stamina back up for this serious bloggin' stuff.

Teagan's Christmas Program

Small update

So I'm sure this is the most lame update to do since I haven't posted anything in nearly three months. But...this is all I can manage right now.

We are doing great! Teagan is loving preschool, Blake is loving Teagan being in preschool and Punky is just loving life.

We should be moved into our new house in the next week and then I promise I will post on a regular basis. Although, I'm not sure if anyone even checks our blog anymore. (If you do could you leave some kind of comment so I don't update it for myself)

So....in a nutshell....we will be settled (finally) in a couple weeks.

The Rehearsal Dinner

The wedding (see previous post) was wonderful but I think the rehearsal dinner was a blast!!

Me being a goofball

Teagan sportin' the grass skirt

The groom (my cousin) playing a game

Blake partying with a buddy

Teagan and Brynn being cheesy

Summer Pictures

I decided today is the day I am going to update the blog. We have some great pics from some summer that I have yet to post....so we'll begin with a wedding back in June. Teagan and Blake were the flower girl and ring bearer (along with my cousin's daughter) for my other cousin's wedding. What a fun time we had!!!

These two little cousins danced the night away!

The amazing cake by Myriad Cake Design.

The bride, Bri, and groom, Joe.

To Us!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!

Speed Bump

So we have hit a speed bump in our "plan". Last week we had two great offers on our house, this week we are back to no offers.

Isn't it funny how we say God is good when everything is coming together just liked we had hoped and prayed. And then the second things start slowing down, turning the other direction or even stopping we begin to doubt.

I start doubting myself, my plan, my wisdom and worst of all I start doubting God. Why is that?

I know, I know. It's because we are human. But seriously when is my faith really going to grow? When am I really going to let go of my plans and my desires and trust Him completely? Will I ever? Will this battle continue all the days of my life?

I'm sure God rolls his eyes at me when I begin to let worry, fear and doubt creep in. Just like when my kids don't trust me....I laugh at them. Where is their faith? Don't they know I am their mother? I would never put them in harms way.

Maybe I need a timeout. Maybe I need a good whoopin'. Or maybe I just need to grow up in God!

I found this quote by Martin Luther King Jr. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

This step of faith that we have taken is a big one. It might end up being steeper, longer and harder then we thought. I can either keep going up or fall back down, however, I have a feeling that to get where I want to be I'm going to have to climb those stairs sooner or later.

A BIG Thank You!

Whoa! What a whirlwind these last couple weeks have been. So much to post about but first I would like to tell all of our friends and neighbors in Hermiston THANK YOU!!

We had so much help packing and loading our UHAUL, what a blessing!

And to all of our friends that stopped by, invited us over and wished us well, THANKS!

These last two years have been, well, strange. We have never lived in limbo and uncertainty for so long. (I promise we are not as unstable as it may have appeared)

We are so happy to have a direction and be working towards a goal. What a great feeling that is!

So, to all of my Hermiston friends, thank you all for the impact you have had on my life. Whether big, small, in person, via blog, daily, monthly, often or not you all have left a footprint on my life path. I will never regret my time there and all the amazing people I met.

Catch up

Once again I have been really bad at blogging but I will try and catch everyone up on what's going on.....

-We are in Klamath Falls.
-Stan is in school full time and working part time.
-We have an offer on our house, PRAISE GOD!!
-The kids are in VBS this week, and loving it!
-We are still searching for a house in KFalls.
-The end of July we will be in Hermiston to pack up our house.
-We are LOVING being close to family.
-We are really LOVING being back at our church.
-I miss my friends in Hermiston.
-I miss my house in Hermiston.
-We feel like God is at work and alive in our life.

Isn't it amazing to be able to have so many emotions, thoughts, feelings, strengths and weaknesses all at the same time?!

Penelope Jane

Happy Birthday, Penelope!

We can't believe how fast your first year of life has gone. You have been such an amazing addition to our family and fill our hearts with much joy.

Your spunky laughter lights up a room and your sweet cuddling makes my heart melt. Teagan and Blake adore you and your love for them is evident.

We love you Punky!

Early morning head fog

Do you ever think it might be better to just insert an IV of coffee rather than drinking it?

This is one of those mornings!

New things coming

It seems like I'm saying this all too often lately but.....where has the time gone? I can't believe we are well into June...and where is the summer weather?

It's been tornado alley here lately. The kids pool has now been deflated because 1) it's been too cold to play in and 2) it was flying into the neighbors yard due to our blustery wind.

We had a little early bday get together for Penelope and her/our friend Mya. They are only one week apart (and we won't be here for their actual bdays) They are complete opposites....Mya has a ton of hair, Penelope not so much. Penelope is a lot of chunk and Mya is a tiny little thing. They are sure cute though.

Things are really changing for us. Friday is officially Stan's last day of work, YIKES!!! Sunday he will be leaving for Klamath Falls while the kids and I stay here. Stan will be spending the first few days next week getting things set up at school and hopefully securing a job. Yes, you read it right, he is going back to school. WOWZERS, you say, we have been talking about this for a long time it is just a big step for us. How does the only provider of a family of five quit his career and go back to school? Well, there are lots of details that I will spare you from, I will simply say that we feel like God is with us in our journey and we are excited to take this step of faith.

The kids and I will head to KTown around the 24th of June. We are hoping to have an offer on our house by then. We have dropped the price again.....so we have reduced the price by $30,000....somebody is going to get a great deal! So once again, if anyone knows a buyer in the Hermiston area give us a shout.

We are SUPER excited to have a plan and be taking action. It has been quite the journey the last couple years. We know we will be able to look back with much wisdom and see all of the lessons we learned.

Penelope

I love this girl!! She has been such a wonderful addition to our family and I can't imagine our unit without her. It's is so hard to believe she is almost a year old. Where has the time gone?!? I just had to share this picture of her snoozing in my bed. I love her chunky Punky cheeks.....

Wildlife

Here's just a little of what we saw....I couldn't believe these deer, people were feeding them right from there hands. The whole place was seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Wallowa Lake....amazing!

We had a fantastic weekend at Wallowa Lake!! We had never been there before and we were amazed. It is breath taking! We had a wonderful time exploring, fishing, playing and just being a family. The kids loved our cottage that we rented (they called it our "cottage cheese") and had a blast seeing all the wildlife. It was a great family weekend!

Catch up

The kids loved the hot weather we had a couple of weeks ago. Even Punky got in on the sun bathing! We have been busy with lots of visitors, getting the house in tip top shape to show and hopefully sell, yard work, fun and work.

Stan's fishing trip was canceled last weekend, total bummer for him, but I took advantage of having him around for an extra day. We moved a lot of furniture around (thanks to my good friend Rachel that was visiting) and even managed to get a little fishing in with the kids. Blake loved reeling the fish in but Teagan would scream and run away. Of course, I didn't have my camera. I'm having issues with it! I think, actually, it's the battery charger and not my camera.

I'm hoping we have a really good thunder storm!! I'm loving this rainy weather!!! Maybe we'll even make cookies today....I'm sure my thighs would love it.

Pictures for Mom

Ok Mom, here you go. They aren't very good pics at least I finally got them posted.

Sweet spring rain

I love days like today!! The fresh smell of the warm spring rain is awesome. It makes me want to clean and organize everything in my house (which is not something that comes natural to me, hehehe). Days like today recharge my batteries!

We dropped the price on our house by $15,000. We are very serious about selling now. I think dropping the price is a good plan, especially right at the start of buying season. So, to all of our local Hermiston peeps, if you know someone looking to buy a house let us know!

We are also selling our Hiker. It's a great piece of equipment but it is a beast in size and we really don't want to move it. If anyone is interested let me know, they are not cheap but well worth the money.

I hope everyone enjoys this wonderful Tuesday!

Slippin' Away

Once again I haven't been great at posting. It seems like time is just slipping away and with all the great weather who wants to sit at the computer?!

Since our last post; the kids and I traveled down to Klamath to visit my Grandma; we had two sick kiddos for a week; my mom came to Hermiston Mother's Day weekend; we had a fairly successful garage sale; had a really rough experience at the dentist office with Teagan (now she'll have to be sedated); put a fantastic kids pool in the backyard so we could cool off in our 95 degree heat and Stan's parents visited a couple of days ago.

This next week Stan is heading to Idaho on Thursday for a guys fishing weekend. I think he is excited and I am excited for him. He needs a break!! While he is gone my good friend, Rachel, is coming to visit. It will be a great weekend for all.

I will post some pictures of the kids in their pool. They are already tan and have that healthy summer glow. Penelope will be one next month.....WOW.....time really does fly by.

Snip

Ok, I really think I have the cutest kids (when they aren't talking)! Blake has been a real stink lately!! Yesterday he tells me "Mom, I'm going to knock your head off." and this morning he is singing "Mommy, Mommy I don't love you"

I tell you, I'm feeling the love around here!

Teagan has a cute new hair cut. You can't really see it in the picture but it's a real cute bob. She is loving it and doesn't pass a mirror without taking a chance to admire herself.

Penelope is still the sweetest baby!! She isn't crawling yet (thank goodness) but she rolls all around the house. We are really enjoying the stage that she is in.

We are once again in a waiting season. We have to do something fairly soon because Stan's job here is coming to an end. Three guys were laid off on Friday so everyone now feels like they are walking on thin ice there.

We are SO ready for a change once and for all. We hope to have some new and exciting news soon....if we don't we'll just have to have another baby! hahahaha!!

Redo

So I updated our blog a little and rearranged a few things. It feels good! It's sorta like your living room....it just needs a little face lift sometimes. I won't be blogging on my own site anymore, too much effort with too little news. Hopefully, that will mean this blog will be more interesting and up-to-date.

We've got some things going on in the near future, I just can't go into detail yet. And NO, we are not pregnant again. We will keep you all posted on what is going on when we can. Until then, just keep praying for God's clarity in our life.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for the encouragement lately. You all are so awesome and keep the comments coming ;)

What's Next?!

As many of you know we have been waiting to hear from the Oregon State Troopers about a job for Stan. Well, we received an answer yesterday.....it's a no.

It's one of those bitter-sweet things! We are a little disappointed that he did not get offered a trooper position, however, we are so relieved to finally have an answer.

We don't know what direction we are headed next. We will have to take some time to think, talk and most of all pray about things. We are excited for whatever is next in our lives and we are looking forward to planting roots....somewhere!

Huh, soccer?

Teagan started soccer last Saturday and I have to say, it wasn't her best performance. Now, I don't care if she is some super star but I do want her do enjoy herself....she looked like she was about to bust out in tears the entire time. It cracked me up because we play soccer all the time at the park and she is fierce! We showed up at her first practice though and she acted like she had never seen the game of soccer before. I'm hoping, for her sake, that this next week goes better.

Here's a picture of all of us. I don't know if I've ever posedt one of all five of us.

Just playing

I downloaded Picasa so I had to play around with it. Thanks Shelly for the tips!

Nature Boy

His favorite place to pee.....in the grass

and you gotta check out the airplane overhead!

The Last Few Weeks

We've had some fun activities the last few weeks. Just a quick recap...

a great visit from Stan's sister, Shelly, and her husband, Chris.

a trip down to Klamath Falls to see family and a surprise party for a family friend.

a visit (finally) from my mom and niece and nephew.

a fantastic girl party for Teagan's good friend, Kaylee.