the 1st of 2 bday parties...

tj is one lucky boy this year! he gets to celebrate his birthday twice!! for his first bday celebration we went w/ seth's side of the family to wild river's. all the boys (6!!) had so much fun. afterwards we came back to our house for pizza and cake.

the boys then played army in the yard..

happy bday tj. we love you :)!!

kindergarten memory verse program...

tj completed the kindergarten memory verse program at church. he had to memorize 15 verses. for all his hard work he was presented a bible last sunday at church. it was very special cause two of his best buds were also awarded bible's . we are so proud of you tj for working so hard to memorize God's word.the boys praying together. how cute is that?!

4th of july...

we had our annualy 4th of july block party again. it was a blast! the kids were on the waterslide from 9am-8pm. so much fun :) we also had tons of food, friends, family, bike parade, and a firework show. it was an awesome 4th!

M3 ...

this week for my M3 post i am asking for prayer over my man. as i mentioned last week he stepped out in faith to follow God's will to start a new job (self employed, no salary, no benefits). even though he know in his heart he did the right thing and he knows that he is doing what God asked him to do , it still has been VERY STRESSUL for him. so please if you are reading this would you please lift seth up right now to the Lord in prayer. pray for guidance, comfort, peace, patience, trust....thanks :)

**Lord, i lift seth up to you right now and i ask that you fill him with your peace and comfort. may he hand his stress over to you, because we know you are our provider. thank you lord for directing our path and being in control when things don't always feel in control. we love you Lord and praise you! thank you for proverbs 3:5-6 "trust in the lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understandings. in all your ways aknowedge him, and he shall direct your path". **

sara's shower...

my friend sara is pregnant with her second little girl. we celebrated her a few weekends ago with a shower/breakfast at pj's abbey. it was so fun and i am so excited for sara and her new little one :)

swimming...

the boys have been taking swimming down at our local pool for the past few weeks. they are all doing amazing. isaiah is perfecting his strokes and even had to swim a 500meter the other day. tj is learning all his strokes and is doing awesome. back stroke is his favorite. smoosh is beginning to really learn how to swim. he is a little fish but sometimes gets afraid to be in deep water. i am so proud of all of them.

abby grace.....

the day we were coming home from camping i got a call from my bro-n-law that my sister was in labor. the whole way home we kept getting updates. i missed the birth :( but i was able to race out to temecula and meet my niece about an hour afer she was born. katie, micah, me, abby
me and abby
so happy to have a niece :)

camping at el capitan....

we started our summer by camping with our good friends at one of our favorite camping spots, el capitan. it was so much fun!

this road is the road we take when we ride our bikes from el capitan to refugio beach. it is about 2 miles between the beaches and you ride along this beautiful secluded road parallel to highway 101. it is absolutley breathtaking. taking a break during our bike ride :)
smoosh and seth (i LOVE this pic)

on our way back to our campsite we road our bikes on the beach. i had never done this before. it was amazing.

the boys enjoying the big tree at the campsite.

smoosh swinging on the rope swing.

closing cermonies...

i am really late posting this cause my computer has been down and i haven't been able to load pictures..about a month ago tanner had his closing ceremonies for baseball. even though baseball ended for us in May we had to wait for the older teams to finish all of their tournaments. tanner had such a great year playing baseball on the single A yankees. he did awesome. it was so much fun to watch him blossom into such a great little baseball player.

M3 ...

man of faith

last week my husband quit his job with a salary and benefits to become self employed because that is what he felt like God was telling him to do. he stepped out in faith. i'm not going to lie and say that it was easy cause it wasn't. but both of us felt a clear "GO" from the Lord so he obeyed. i am so proud of seth for taking this leap and going blindly on pure faith alone. i know in my heart that God is going to bless him for it. thank you seth for being a man of faith and for obeying God's call.

M3 ...

seth is a MAN OF GOD. i think that is enough said but of course i will elaborate :) seth seeks the lord in all his decisions and dutifully tries to stay in God's will. he teaches the boys the importance of seeking the lord and praying to him everday for all things whether big or small. he loves unconditionally even if you have wronged him and he is always quick to forgive. he leads our home in a way that is honoring to the lord and guides the boys through his instruction and discipline. what a blessing he is to me and the boys. thank you seth for being a MAN OF GOD.

sad :(..

my computer is broken AGAIN!!! actually everything works but the usb port, so i can't upload any pictures. we have been having an amazing summer and i have so many pics to put up. hopefully soon :(...

M3 ...

in honor of father's day i would like to brag about what a GREAT dad seth is. ...

seth is an amazing dad. he loves the boys more then anything and it shows. when i think of his fathering (is that a word??) i think of this verse " dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but in actions and in truth. 1john 3:18" this verse decribes my husband to the T. he is so involved with them and hands on. he not only tells them every day that he loves them, but he shows them. he plays with them, wrestles with them, cuddles them, hugs them, kisses them, and listens to them. what an amazing example they have of our heavenly father through their own dad. seth i love you and i LOVE the dad you are to the boys.

M3 ...

in previous posts i have talked about seth loving to have fun and play, but he is also a very hard worker. i always knew he was a hard worker but this attribute became even more evident to me 1 1/2 years ago when he was unemployed. most of you who read my blog or are my friends know that seth was laid off and was out of work for three months. this was a VERY hard time for our family, but during this time i came to admire seth and see a side of him that i fell even more in love with. he NEVER NOT EVEN ONCE looked at his unemployment as a time to play or a mini vacation. he woke up every single day and looked for a job, went on interviews, worked on his resume, and when he was done doing that he would do things around the house....clean, do laundry, wash the car, organize the garage. we didn't have a lot of money at this time so house projects were out of the question, but he filled every single day for three months being productive. he worked so hard to look for a job, and to keep our family secure. he was my rock during this time (even though i probably should have been his). his hard work ethic proved to me that he wasn't going to ever give up. seth i was so proud of you and still am. love you!

kindergarten graduation...

tanner john graduated from kindergarten yesterday. it was bitter sweet for me because i can't believe my baby boy is growing up so fast but at the same time i am so proud of him. he had such a great kindergarten year. he is so smart and such a wonderful student. he got the award for 'most creative' which is funny cause isaiah got the same award in kindergarten. i guess i have two budding artist on my hands :) tj we love you so much and could not be more proud of you . i can't believe you are a big 1st grader! love you buddy!! (doesnt' he look so handsome in his little tie , love it !!) tj with nana and papa

tj and his best bud peter
tj and his awesome teacher mrs. regan. we are going to miss her next year. but luckily we will have her again with the smoosh :)

the end of 3rd grade...

today was isaiah's last awards assembly and class party. i can't believe is going into 4th grade. i am going to be a mom of a upper grader. oh my gosh!! that is crazy!!

today isaiah got the award for "responsibility and behavior"

i am so proud of him :)

this is zah and the best 3rd grade teacher in the world, mrs. houlihan. she was an amazing, wonderful, encouraging teacher. isaiah had a great year with her. we are all going to miss her next year. hopefully tan, and smoosh get her :)
isaiah i am so proud of you . you worked so hard this year and improved so much in your reading especially. on a side note: just to brag a bit- isaiah improved by 375% in his reading. how awesome is that!! we are so proud of you!

M3 ...

i am loving manly man monday's, not only do i love bragging about my man every week, but i am loving thinking about what i am going to write about during the week. it makes me intentionally focus on the positive qualities that he has and less on the negative.

helper

seth helps me out so much, and i think we make a great team. if i am having a busy week, or am going to be hosting something at the house, and i am stressing about the house being clean, he will set aside a night or afternoon to help me deep clean the house. if the laundry has piled up he doesn't even hesitate to do a few loads for me. every night after dinner he either does the dishes or gets the kids ready for their bath. we definatley have very seperate roles in the family. he goes to work every day and provides for our family. i stay at home with the kids and manage the house. but just because we have seperate roles he never, ever hesitates to lend me a hand. even after a long hard day at work he gives to our family. i have a very recent great example of this awesome quality....on saturday i was gone from 4:30am -3:00pm (side note: seth not only had been home all day with the kids but had also spent the night at their school for an overnight campout with all 3 boys) when i got home the house was clean, and he was doing the dishes from the day. i was super tired and just wanted to take a shower and nap. he understood and i took a 2 hour nap. when i woke up it was 6:30 and there was dinner on the table. after dinner i was still groggy from my nap so he told me to lay down and he cleaned up the kitchen and went and got a family movie for us all to watch together. wow! isn't he awesome :) thank you seth for being my help mate :) love you!

muddy mama's...

on saturday i ran the camp pendelton 10k mud run. it was so much fun. there were 15 of us altogether and we called ourselves the muddy mama's..

here we are pre-mud..

here we are post-mud..

(our shirts don't even look the same color)
the 4 of us ran together the whole race. it was so fun to play in the mud w/ friends.

gina, me, and vern..

M3 ...

it's that time of the week again. time to brag about MY man :).....

people person

last week i wrote about seth being FUN, well part of him being fun is him being a people person. nobody, and i mean nobody is a stranger in seth's world. he loves to talk to anyone, anywhere and everywhere. if you are in line behind him at the grocery store then you are his best friend. i love this about seth, because again we are complete opposites in this area. i'd rather just leave the person behind me in line a stranger. seth has the ability to strike up a conversation with anyone and genuinly get to know them. he is meaningful in all his interactions and really tries to relate to everyone he talks to. this is why i believe God has placed him in the field of sales. he has to talk to strangers on a daily basis. he is so amazing at his job , i know i could never do it. when my girlfriends call me seth will usually talk to them for a good five minutes before he hands the phone over. i love it and so do they. it's not that he is girly or anything but he is super easy to talk to so even my girlfriends love talking to him....i love this quality about my man and am thankful for it. love you seth!

lip sync....

every year at vpe there is a end of the year lip sync. today isaiah's group performed. they were so cute. they did "sharped dressed man" by zz-top, and there were 10 3rd grade boys. the lip sync is a VERY big deal at our school and everyone really goes all out. our boys did awesome and i am so proud of them.

M3 (Manly Man Mondays)

last week i recieved a very encouraging email from my friend marilee. she thought it would be a great idea for all of our blogging friends to post an encouraging blog about our husbands every monday. i LOVED this idea and am so excited to start. every monday the blog title will be M3 which stands for Manly Man Mondays. so here is my first entry :).....

fun

seth is so fun and so full of life. i love that God matched us together because we are polar opposites. i am a very structured person and have my days, weeks, and months planned. seth is not like that at all! he just lives by the moment and in the moment. and i love him for that. he loves to try new things and always has to be doing something. he has taught me so much about just letting my guard down and going for it. this has been very hard for me to do, but when i do i always have a good time. he loves to play and be with friends and family. every weekend we are busy doing stuff cause seth doesn't like to sit still. he loves going to the beach, hiking, riding bikes, going on walks, playing soccer, running ect.. this attribute makes him an outstanding father. he loves to play with his kids and have fun with them. the other day isaiah said " Mom, you take care of us and daddy plays with us". i love it! and i couldn't have said it better myself. i love that they have a father that is fun and loves to play with them. what a blessing that is to their lives and to mine. seth, thank you for being a fun dad and husband. thank you for showing me that it is okay to do something even if i don't have it written on my calendar..ha ha!! i love you :)

another funny one from the smoosh...

smoosh- mom, thanks for taking such good care of us.

me- you're welcome :)

smoosh- because if you didn't we could be eaten by killer whales.

wedding shower...

this past weekend we had a wedding shower for my good friend darcey. it was a very small intimate shower with 10 girls. we have all been friends since the early calvary days. it was fun to all get together and to honor darc. no matter how much time that has passed these girls will always hold a special place in my heart.

mother's day...

i had a really great mother's day this year. i woke up to breakfast in bed made by my men. complete with gifts and home made beautiful cards.after church we went to my parent's house for a bbq and shared the day with my mom, aunt, and sister.

katie's baby shower...

last weekend we celebrated katie and her soon to be little girl.

YAY!! i am going to have a niece :) they are going to name her ABBY GRACE, isnt' that so cute??

i can't wait to meet my new baby girl niece.

and doesn't katie look awesome? she's so cute and little. only a few more weeks :)

(sissy, katie, mom, me)

tanaka farms field trip...

last week i went on a field trip to tanaka farms with tj's class. it was fun spending the day with just tj and i . even though he doesn't look like it in this pic he had a lot of fun :)

surfing with dad....

tj and seth went surfing a few weeks ago. it was so cute and tj had so much fun. seth is praying that one of his boys will love it as much as he does.

smooshie...

a conversation between smoosh and his gf rox...

smoosh- i am going to be an astronaut when i grow up so i won't be able to get married, cause astronaut's don't get married

rox- well, i am going to be a cheerleader and cheerleader's can't get married either.

smoosh- YEAH THEY CAN! (in a very bossy voice) they can marry boy cheerleaders.

glad we got that covered :)