Girl Time!

This season of having two daughters who are teenagers (Okay the little one is steps away) has been very interesting. The clothes swapping and exchanging is constant. The fighting over space in their bathroom is never ending. What's "fair" is still up for discussion in our house. (Insert eye roll)
About once a month we are trying to reel in emotions and decipher what is just "girl craziness" and what needs to be dealt with.
But the flip side is when we do get to sneak away and have just us girl time, it is very sweet. It reminds me of why saying no to most stuff so I'm not a crazy person and only yes to the best stuff is so important. I cherish the long conversations we have, sometimes about deep stuff that could be life changing some day. Just to get a peek into their hearts and see what God is doing there is so good. So encouraging in my own walk as a daughter of the king.  But mostly the inside jokes and ribbing we do to one another is what keeps me sane. I think we have all realized that life can be hard but it can also be an adventure full of twist and turns we didn't expect and as long as we remember where our foundation is and we stick together we can have joy in even the most mundane of days.
Be blessed friends. 

Sweet 16!!

Morgan turned 16 this past Friday. To say she is sweet 16 is an understatement for sure! She is super loving and kind and has a heart bigger than I can even begin to tell you about in this post. On her actual birthday she went to Disneyland with a few friends and had a blast.

Then on Saturday night we had Chipotle catered (her favorite place) and had a house full of friends over. 

Morgan and my mom made these cupcakes and they turned out really cute.

We could not be more excited getting the privilege of watching her grow up and see God working in her life.

We had all of her friends and family write her a note of love and a fun memory of her and gave it to her at the party. The kids all played dance party games and just goofed around.

I tried my hand at my first ice cream cake and I must say it was easier than I thought and really good!

Really fun group of kids and such a blessed time listening to them laugh and love on Morgan for her birthday. Happy birthday my sweet! 

20 Years!

It's our 20th wedding anniversary! We snuck away for a few days down to Laguna Beach and even though the rain seemed to follow us everywhere, that didn't stop us from walking everywhere and enjoying the ocean and our down time together.

I was thinking about how 20 years feels like a vapor of time. Just a blip really.
I wrote in my devotional today that we have had crazy bad times, crazy good times, we have had crazy joy and crazy sadness. We have two crazy teenage daughters and have had to many crazy pets to count.  But mostly we have a crazy good God who loves marriage and loves us!

 

 



 

The rain did let up here and there and when it did it was beautiful!

 

We love finding small cafes and just enjoying food and drink and conversation.

 



 

Happy Anniversary Dan! You are a joy to be married too. Thank you for your hard work ethic, your sweet heart as a dad to our girls and for your never wavering commitment to make our marriage better even when we live in a world that says everything is replaceable. Thank you for always wanting to be at your best for us and being man enough to know when you are off track.

To another 20 years of crazy joy and crazy adventures together!
Be blessed friends!

 

Happy 2017!

Happy New Year! What a winter so far. We have had so much rain and ice it's crazy.
We've been joking that we basically have ocean front property. The up side to living at the top of a hill is the views are endless, the downside is when you have a really wet winter and everything floods.

Poor Dan literally comes home for one day and spends his time doing damage control ha!
Not to mention our catch basin on our septic tank quit working and we are waiting for the weather to clear up so they can come dig up our front yard to replace it....always something right!

 

This is one of the verses my friend Rebecca and I are memorizing right now....so good.

 

With two teenage girls in the house this is me every.single.day. There are enough hormones and PMS to go around; call me if you need some.

 

Bought this for Dan to wear around any boys who have thoughts about coming around our daughters ha!

 

This little peanut is now 13 weeks old and into everything like a toddler. She's so stinking cute so it's hard to stay mad at her for to long.
Pretty much just getting back into school and enjoying the new year.
Blessings and hope everyone year is starting out healthy and joyful.

 

Christmas Peace....

Christmas is upon us. I LOVE Christmas. I love the smell of the Christmas tree in our house every morning when I wake up. I love wrapping presents and opening presents. I love leaving little gifts for people that least expect it. I love listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies with Dan and the girls. I also love the peace that washes over me. Christmas reminds me of what I already know; Jesus was born and lived so I could have a role model of how to live my life. He came for you and for me. When I think back over the year I think about how this year has been a year of refreshing for our family. The last year and a half has been hard. My aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. December was a difficult time for our family as the San Bernardino shootings took place affecting our entire department. Then on December 22nd we unexpectedly lost Dan's dad. The San Bernardino City Fire Department shut its doors and Dan was forced to start over with another department in a new location. In March Morgan was feeling badly and got some crazy blood work back that caused concern.  But as I sit and reflect I can see Gods goodness everywhere. I can see His hand of mercy and grace. I think we are stronger and more grounded in Him. We long more for heaven. I think sometimes life comes at you and you think," Great! What's next?" But I feel like the scripture that says, "In this world you will have many troubles, but take courage for I have overcome the world." Is something we can all hang onto this Christmas season. It rings true in my heart this year for sure. He has overcome the world!

Ryanne found this at the grocery store one day and tried to convince me that we needed to take it home.....can you even imagine!!

Our annual trip to the Christmas Tree farm did not disappoint. We actually all agreed on the same tree this year...well mostly ha!

We took the Scout to get our tree and it gave me a flash back to the 70's!

Ellie is growing big and strong and weighs in at about 4lbs.
Basically she is terrorizing the house, chasing the cats, tearing up my furniture and bites us with her razor sharp teeth buuuutttt......we love her so much and know the puppy stage is short...right?
(Insert panic look here)

The girls and I took a day and played hooky from  school to make some gifts for loved ones. The advantage of home schooling is we can take mental health days once in a while.

This is my view for devotionals every morning. So good!!



We do an advent calendar for the girls each morning and we fill the doors with little treats or surprise outings. This year I bought tickets out to the Living Desserts Wild Nights and the girls insisted riding a camel was on their bucket list ha! So a camel they rode.



Morgan got to get dressed up and go to the LA Symphony one evening with friends....

Every year without fail since Morgan was 3, we have had one of the advent doors be a dinner at the Mission Inn and then a horse drawn carriage ride through town...This year we surprised the girls and had Dan's mom go and his aunt and uncle drive up from Santa Ana and meet us there. The girls were so excited! My mom was supposed to go but sadly she was sick. Dinner was great as usual and the company even better. So blessed.

Never ever gets old.

Morgan, Ryanne, Aunt Jerri and Grandma Betty. Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. Be blessed and know we are lifting you up in prayer! 

Ellie...

Most of you know we had to put our Macy to sleep back a couple of months ago. Morgan adored Macy and was basically crushed when she died. Her friends Dachshund had puppies and Morgan asked for one for Christmas. We went and visited her until she was old enough to bring home. Don't mind the pink dot on her head...that's how they marked the puppies to tell them apart. :)

Morgan instantly bonded with this little girl and named her Ellie...

She has moved right into our home and hearts...

She is full of spunk but thankfully still naps a lot ha!

Of course she might be a tad spoiled and has decided this is how Morgan should do school from now on. I've never had a puppy this small so we went from moving around our HUGE Dane to trying not to step on this little peanut. She's growing fast though and we can't wait to love her up.
Be blessed today friends. 

Family Pictures...

Last year I tried for like two months to get Dan's schedule to line up with a day our friend Jessica could take family pictures and sadly it never worked out....

This year I told Dan I was more determined than ever to freeze just a few sweet moments with the girls because they are changing so fast and they are just lovely, sweet girls that in a blip will be off on new adventures....

Dan & I were Jessica's youth leaders when she was in high school and speaking of amazing girls; we have had the blessing of watching Jessica grow into an amazing wife and mama to three kiddos...and as usual she did a great job catching some great shots of our family...

The weather could not have been more beautiful that evening.....

and even though it was near impossible to get us all dressed and out the door on time we made it.....

Thanks to Dan & the girls for indulging me and freezing some sweet time  in pictures for me.
I love you guys! Thanks again Jess, you rock girly!