For the Faithful Few

Hi to the people who still come by every once in awhile to see if I have posted anything new. We got rid of our Internet last month and so that is why I disappeared. I originally thought I could post from the library. Ha. I think I was in denial. Why else would I think I could blog with my two and a half year old and one year old? I miss you all in blogland and hope your doing well. God bless you.

A Good Trip

We loaded up the kids and headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday. It was so pretty. Plus I saw a Moose for the first time. I actually think I may have seen one when I was younger but I obviously don't remember it well if I did. I got out of the van and tried to take a picture but the dumb Moose hid behind a bush. It was raining out so I didn't wait very long to see if he would come out. So we moved on. We didn't stop to walk up any of the pathways but one. And just Anna and I walked up while Chris and Sam napped. It was really pretty and Anna liked all the people who walked by. We stopped a few times at the roadside viewing spots. The rain came and went throughout the day though and put a damper on some of the roadside stops.

Rocky Mountain National Park

No Assembly :(

Well as some of you know, we didn't get to go to the assembly after all. I'm sad. I was really looking forward to it. Lord willing, we will be there next year. Well, the kids are doing good. Anna is almost running around the house. She seems pretty happy now that she can keep up with Sam better. Sam is talking more and more and still loves to help me around the house. I have such great kids. Here are some pictures of them in the yard, swinging at the park, and Sam at the store on the horse. He rode six times straight.

Silly Sam

Sam is so cute. Yesterday I was cleaning the kids room and decided to tease Sam by laying down in his bed. He asked if I wanted him to tuck me in. I said yes so he did, then he told me to sleep and shut the door. He came back in and asked if I wanted to get up. When I said yes and went to sit up he told me no. Then he went to the kitchen and got me a drink. I was beginning to wonder if he would try to spank me if I got out of bed so I hid behind the door and jumped out at him when he came back in. He just took me by the hand led me back to the bed and tucked me in again, silly kid. Later on I was fixing their light fixture. It is too high for me so I had to use a short stool when I was done and went to grab it Sam indicated he wanted to keep it so I left it for him to play with. Next thing I know he is up on the stool with his small bible open yelling at the wall. He is so funny.

What a Week

What a Week

Anna is officially one. Wow, where did the time go. We had a small Birthday party for her on Saturday. It was nice, she really liked her cake. She is so cute. It is great to see someone so small walking around and crawling onto the couch. It’s just cute to watch. I have bad news about my new van, the a/c went out. Ironic, that’s about all I have to say about that one. It was a great few days that it worked. Hopefully it just needs to be charged.

We are having vacation bible school this week at church. It has been lots of fun. We had a marketplace Thursday night and Chris and I helped the kids squish fishing weights with hammers to make coins. I was one of the people with a part to play that night so I made Anna a little matching outfit. Then I thought Abbie might like one too. Emilee made hers. It was fun. Sam is really enjoying VBS. He loves being with big kids.

My Mom is moving to Castle Rock. She got a job near Highlands Ranch so Castle Rock is much closer to her work than Northglenn. For all of you who are not familiar with any of the cities I just mentioned, lets just say my Mom lived up north and got a job down south so she moved a little farther south from there. I went and loaded up her caravan and my caravan yesterday and moved a lot of her stuff for her. The furniture is just going to have to wait. On the bright side she has until the end of the month to move.

Tomorrow I’m going to a wedding at the Monarch Mountain Lodge. A friend who I haven’t seen in years is the bride to be and it will be really good to see her. Afterwards I’m going to spend some time with my Dad, Aunt, Grandma, and my cousin Jacob. I’m really looking forward to it.

Miss Me?

We have a van, that’s right after several months of wanting one we finally want one. Okay I’m actually the one who wanted a van, Chris would have been happy to keep the car and buy some after market air conditioning. But not me, I’ve been feeling kinda cramped in our little car but no longer. No I have enough room to run very small laps if I really want to. So how did this happen? Well it was not as evolved as the great car fiasco of 2006. Basically I had my car for sale on Craigslist forever and ever and ever. I kept changing the price and the picture but it just wouldn’t work people would e-mail but then they found out there was no a/c or power locks or power windows (all of which I now have) and they would run the other way. I had given up and was about to accept my fate of spending the rest of this summer hot and cramped when one Saturday I had another yard sale, actually this one was a garage sale, it’s cooler in there. Anyway during the sale this Italian guy stopped buy and asked about the car. I told him our price and he wanted to pay $300 less so I told him no. He came back later with his phone number and his price and I told him no again. Then after I he left I crumpled his number and put it somewhere I still can’t remember. The trash? Maybe. Somewhere in the garage? Maybe. So I went on Craigslist out of curiosity or maybe just to torture myself and see what Caravans were for sale. To my amazement the one I wanted almost three weeks before was still there and listed $700 less for quick sale. I called to see if it was still available and if we could come see it. He said yes and yes. I will tell you to my shame I spent a very long time looking for the phone number of the guy with the low offer because I wanted that Caravan so bad. But it’s still lost and I don’t care if I find it now. Deep down I felt like if God wanted us to have the Caravan it wouldn’t be a financial hardship and coming up with the difference for the van would have been very tough. Well I caught some motivation and posted my car once again on Craigslist but no one wanted it again so I called the nice owners of the Caravan and cancelled our going to see it. I didn’t want to waste their time or ours but later that night I decided I really wanted that Caravan so I posted again with a new picture and our phone number. All of the sudden the phone was ringing so much I felt like we were at a telemarketing convention or something. A guy came over and test drove the car and right after he was done another guy showed up. This was so great because it kept them from trying to talk us down lower than we wanted to go. The first guy decided he wanted it and the other guy said he would be on stand by if it didn’t work out. So Chris went to find the Title. About half an hour later I found it where he had carefully hidden it in an illogical place to look. The nice man gave us cash and I could barely sleep with my excitement. On a side not it was rainy that night, he didn’t ask if it had a/c and Chris didn’t volunteer any information in that regard. Is that wrong? Anyway that night and the next morning I was just hoping they hadn’t sold it yet. I finally got a hold of them and they hadn’t so Chris borrowed a friend’s truck from work since we won’t all fit in his and we went and got a Caravan, finally, I am so happy. Also, the people turned out to be Christians and Chris got to tell them about the Church and some of our doctrine. God is so good at working things out. Also, the van ended up only costing us what we got from the car plus a hundred dollars still I had from buying some speakers and reselling them on ebay. No financial trouble. The rest of the money from the speakers will cover the tags so it’s worked out really great. I have a Caravan with a/c!!! Which is really great since we are driving to the assembly, that’s right we are going to the assembly for the first time as a family!!! I am so excited. We found a room for $135 or so a week that is only five minutes form the Assembly. Biggest of all Chris got the time off of work which is huge because that week is the worst possible week he could have taken off all year. But, God worked it out. Praise God!!! Oh I almost forgot I named the van Snoopy. I call Emilee’s big red van Clifford so it seemed only right to name my two toned white and gray van Snoopy. The interior is two toned too. They let someone borrow it who broke the electric seat and then replaced it with a gray (instead of tan) one. Here are some pictures of you. The first is the one of my car I posted that started the firestorm of calls. The second is Snoopy and the third is of my two toned seats.

Good and Bad News

The good news is Anna can walk! Yay! She started last Thursday night. It is so cute. She is very pleased with herself or maybe she is just pleased with our reaction. Either way it is adorable. The bad news is the kids have been sick. Sam woke up early early early Sunday morning throwing up and then Anna started on Tuesday. When I woke up yesterday morning I felt like it was going to be my day which would have been a huge bummer. Chris stayed home from work Tuesday to help with the kids and he wouldn’t have been able to take another day off. But we had prayer and the Lord touched me. I don’t think I’ve ever been immediately healed like that before. What a blessing, God is so good. Today we are going to help my Mom get a new/used van. After her wreck she has decided that bigger is better. Her neck and back still hurt and she still has a headache. Please pray that God will heal her. In other news, Chris and I have been looking for a house. Our landlord raised the rent and we might as well be in a house for what we are paying. We will probably wait until after the assembly to get in to one. That is our chief financial concern right now. Well that is about all that we’ve been up to.

Sam???

That is what I wondered around the house saying in the middle of the night. Sam came into our room at some point crying and wanting to get into bed with us. We sent him back to his own bed but apparently he didn't like that option. A little while latter (I have no idea how long) Anna woke up. I went in to check on her and noticed Sam was not in his bed. So I decided it would probably be good to find Sam before I picked Anna up. Sometimes he relocates to one of the couches in the living room. He wasn't there. So I went back to the kid's room to see if I just overlooked him. I didn't, he wasn't under his bed or on the rocking chair or in the closet. So I checked our room. I thought maybe he had snuck in after all, maybe on Chris' side. No he wasn't there or on our floor. So I checked the locks on the front door just in case he made a break for it. He can unlock both locks but they were still locked, so I headed to the kitchen. He wasn't there either so I decided to check the basement. He wasn't in the laundry room or in the play room or in Chris' office on the couch. So I went back upstairs and checked the tub, mainly because it was the only place I hadn't checked. Then I checked our room again (he still wasn't there) and then went to check the kids room again. Anna was still crying and as she caught my attention I thought maybe just maybe my crazy little boy had climbed into his sister's crib. Sure enough there he was sound asleep and cuddled up in a little ball. I guess I should have gotten Anna before I went looking for Sam it would have saved a lot of time and stumbling around in the dark. So I picked him up, put him in his bed and finally took care of poor Anna. I guess he was cold and just needed someone to cuddle with.

Baptismal

We had a baptismal today. It was a really great blessing. God is so good to us.

Nathan Smith got baptised as well but I figured that Emilee might want to post those since he is the first one of her kiddos to get baptised.

My Mom

July 16th is my Mom's birthdayd so I put together some pictures for her. Please pray for my Mom. While we were in Wyoming this weekend she got into a car accident. Someone ran a red light and T-boned her. She is okay but I would appreciate your prayers. The other driver was going about 45 miles per hour and it is by God's mercy and grace that my Mom didn't get seriously injured. Times like these make people think about death. Thank you for your prayers she needs salvation.

Wyoming

We went to Wyoming this weekend for a visit with Chris' folks. It was really nice. It was a short trip though this time so we could make it back for the baptismal this afternoon. We left Saturday morning and got back in time for church at 2:00. But even though it was Short it was very nice. My niece Mikaela (Mike's daughter) was there too. Sam found the doggie door and kept going outside. Anna thought it was pretty great too.

Mr. Potato Head Extreme Makeover

Sam just likes to put whatever wherever when building Mr. Potato/Mrs. Potato head. This particular version had no arms or feet but it did have several mouths, noses, eyes, and one ear. Oh and a construction helmet so no one would mash him for being so freakishly ugly.

Anna is getting so big. One of these days she is going to walk. Maybe. She really likes to tease me and pretend like she is going to take more than one step.

Well, I'm off to bed. We are going to visit Chris' parents tomorrow and that means we are driving to Wyoming. Bye for now.

More Convention Pictures

Some Convention Pictures