Embracing the Season

There's no denying that fall is in full swing now. Even though I like fall, I still try to hold onto summer for as long as I can. Mostly because I know that long winter days are soon on their way. However, this year I've been trying to embrace this season while it lasts and delight in all that it brings! One of my favorite things about fall is the beautiful colors!

Here are a few of our favorite fall moments...

A "stroll" in the park...

Picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch

Our little jack-o-lanterns.

All dressed up for our church harvest party! The cutest fireman and fairy I've ever seen.

Fun games, candy, and prizes at the harvest party!

The glow in the dark games were especially FUN!

How thankful I am for a change of seasons. Even though I sometimes find myself having a hard time letting go of summer, I am thankful for the creativity of our God in bringing the change of seasons. Embrace THIS particular season (in your life). For it is just a season, and a new one is always around the corner.

A Few of our Highlights...

I haven't posted in awhile and wanted to share just a few of our highlight moments over the past couple months:


When we go to the park Ashlyn spends most of her time in the swing. Mommy just doesn't push her high enough...she prefers Daddy's SUPER FIRE HIGH pushes!

My parents came out to visit in September. The kids always look so forward to special visits from Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some photos of an evening at the park. Yep, Ashlyn is in the swing again and had to convince Grandma that she really DOES want to go high!


Sheldon took the kids to the zoo while I held a baby shower for my good friend. The kids LOVE special times with daddy.

Sheldon got some new flash/studio gear and so these last four shots are taken using "the gear." I love having fun portraits of the kids.

This first shot was taken before bed. We let Ashlyn pick out her jammies and she always picks her hand me down "Bob the Builder" ones instead of all those cute pink ones! Oh well...what can I say, other than she's still cute in blue!

This shot was taken on a wooded walking trail near our house. This particular spot is an old mill and we thought it was an interesting background.

Braden and Sheldon on a sunset photo outing. I think Braden is getting a bit tired of taking photos?!?! Just a guess!


BEAR JAMMIES! Got these jammies in Alaska, and couldn't resist a portrait.

That's just a quick overview, but thought I'd share a few of our favorites!

Adventures in Alaska

We were SO blessed to be able to go to Alaska this summer!

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Our Alaska trip plans started last winter when my parents invited Sheldon and I to take an Alaskan cruise with them, my sister, and her husband, Jonathan. Just when we thought we had our trip all figured out, Sheldon's brother got engaged. His fiance is originally from Alaska so they wanted their wedding to be on the coast in Nikiski, AK. Thankfully they planned their wedding to occur just a few days before our cruise was going to start, and we were able to combine everything into one big Alaskan journey!

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR ALASKA TRIP:

We started our trip by attending Byron and Maria's wedding in Nikiski, AK. The wedding was outdoors overlooking the ocean at Maria's Aunt/Uncle's home, who fish salmon for a living. They served THE BEST salmon I've ever tasted at the reception!

The newlyweds: Maria and Byron Nalos!

Flower girls: Ashlyn, Melea, & Lily

The Groom's proud parents!

Freshly Caught Salmon BBQ!

After the wedding we headed off RV Camping, with 11 people crammed into one small RV (Sheldon's parents, sister/husband and their 3 kids, plus our family). We stayed in some of the most absolutely gorgeous places!

One of our campsites. The kids had so much fun playing in the trees and looking for firewood.

A moose in fireweed next to our campground

After a couple days of camping we visited Glennallen, Sheldon's hometown from birth to age 12. He got to see his old house, walk the trails near his home, and even see the old tree that he had cut down with a hatchet as a little boy! Things look so much smaller than he remembers...


From Glenallen we left our children behind in the RV (this was bittersweet) while we headed up to Fairbanks to meet up with my family....AND getting that first shower after days of RV camping! What a LUXURY!

As part of our cruise pacakge, we were able to take a bus tour of Denali National Park where we saw caribou, ptarmigan, bear, moose, sheep, eagles, and the best views of Mt. McKinley seen the entire summer!

Caribou

Bears!

Mt. McKinley, what a blessing that it was so clear!

While we were staying at the lodge near Denali we were able to surprise my parents with a visit from Braden and Ashlyn! Sheldon's parents drove several hundred miles in the RV through wilderness (over mostly gravel roads), just so my parents could see the grandkids. It was a HUGE surprise and a huge blessing, since it had been over 8 months since they last saw them!

Lots of love and hugs for Grandma and Grandpa!

Then we headed off on an all day train ride from Denali to Whittier. We had absolutely amazing views of Mt. McKinley and the Alaska Range the entire day. Our tour guide said this was extremely rare - the best he'd seen in three years. I guess he was telling the truth, because even he was taking pictures!

We loved the glass top train so we could see the amazing views along the way.

McKinley through the train window.

After the train ride we were off to THE CRUISE! We enjoyed spending time with my parents and Jon and Kristin, eating, playing games, eating, working out, eating, viewing the glaciers, eating, swimming, eating, great talks, eating, relaxing, and EATING!

The whole gang: Jon, Kristin, Dad, Mom, Sheldon, and I in front of our Cruise Ship in Skagway.

Glaciers! We had amazing views from our ship.

A true sense of scale...

Our "Formal Night" date at the dining room.

We stopped at many ports along the way, including the towns of Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. We were able to enjoy hiking, biking, shopping, beautiful scenery, and even a boat tour at the Misty Fjords (in Ketchikan).

Hiking in Skagway.

View from our boat tour of the Misty Fjords.

This trip was such an amazing time for us! We had the best of both worlds - being able to camp and see the "real" Alaska, and then going on a cruise and seeing the "tourist" Alaska. The combination of these trips allowed us to see so much of this beautiful state. This was my first time in Alaska and I was just amazed at how HUGE and BEAUTIFUL it really is!

Thanks SO MUCH to my parents for taking us on the cruise, and thanks to Sheldon's parents for making the RV trip happen and for watching the kids for us while we cruised! We are so refreshed and seeing our life at home from a different perspective.

Praise the Lord!

Summer Days...

I LOVE SUMMER! We've been enjoying our summer and the many outdoor activities it has to offer. Here are photos of JUST a little of what we've been up to lately...

Berry Picking: We've picked strawberries and raspberries and are looking forward to blueberries in August!

Creative Snacks (not my idea, you can see the diagram in the book next to it)!

Chilling in the hammock and Nana JJ and Papa's house.

Drying off after playing in the fountain.

Racing on the track.

Enjoying chocolate fondue (leftovers from a shower at our house)!

Sheldon and Braden enjoy daddy/son days of hiking and camping!


Ice cream at Coldstone.


Chasing rainbows in the fountain!

And the best part, summer isn't over yet! More to come!

And This too Shall Pass

COUGH. And then crying, "I swallowed all my money," said Braden, as we drove away from the dollar store after making his long awaited purchase. It took me awhile to realize what exactly had happened. He REALLY had swallowed 19 cents (6 whole coins) of his change all at once. I'm not sure why he put the money in his mouth (and neither is he), but we were both surprised that it ALL accidentally slipped down his throat so easily.

With all that being said, we had a dr. visit and x-ray later that day, with news that this should all "pass" in a few days, and I that I had the "fun" job of searching for the coins! A follow up appointment was also scheduled in a couple days to make sure all was okay in case they did not pass as expected. We left that appointment feeling fairly confident that this would all be over with quite soon.

I told several people about this "money eating" ordeal, sorta because it was slightly amusing and quite unbelievable, but I also wanted them to be praying for us. Of course we were praying with Braden too, as we wanted him to know that we can bring all things before GOD in prayer.

A couple days came and went. No coins.

I pushed the follow up appointment back a couple days to give it more time.

A couple more days passed, still no coins. Not even one.

The follow up appointment day finally arrived....no coins.

Another x-ray confirmed that the coins were still in his stomach, and it didn't seem hopeful that they would be coming out anytime soon. In fact, if they did not pass in the next couple weeks, then he would have to have an endoscopy at Dornbecker's Hospital in Portland. No fun....he would have to be sedated and all!

Although I was still not overly concerned, I did begin to think that they may not pass. I was still praying, as were many others, but it just seemed to be taking too long. I was also concerned about what Braden would think if God didn't "come through" since we had prayed for this with him. Would he begin to wonder if he could trust God? Would he think that God doesn't answer our prayers?

All of this got me thinking about other things in life. So many times I come before the Lord with a request. I often expect an immediate answer. I want things to go MY WAY RIGHT AWAY! Days pass, weeks pass, months may even pass and I may lose hope, or simply just stop praying about the issues, sometimes assuming that nothing will change. It's not that I don't believe that God CAN answer, it's just that the answer doesn't come soon enough for me, so I just lose heart. Or I try and forget. Or I assume that God may choose not to answer this time.

This story has a happy ending though! After 8 days, which is much longer than myself (and even many of the drs.) thought it would take, the coins passed. I, of course, was still hoping and praying they would, but I really was SURPRISED when I hit the "JACKPOT" one coin at a time, each time rejoicing as I did. What a relief, and how thankful we were to put this all behind us, and to avoid the endoscopy. Immediately Sheldon grabbed Braden and we thanked the Lord for his faithfulness.

Compared to many things in life, this is a VERY small ordeal, and 8 days of waiting is quite short (unless you're the one "searching" through stool everyday). But GOD used this little ordeal in our lives to teach me persistence. To remind me to keep on praying. To not lose heart. That he DOES indeed come through in HIS time, and HIS way!

SO keep on praying. Do not lose heart. God does hear our prayers and He does answer.

Surprise Gifts From God

We are thankful for beautiful weather this spring and the many opportunities to "play" outside. We've even been able to take some outings and have seen God provide blessings for our family in extra special ways!

BLESSING #1: Braden is FASCINATED with campfires, and loves building pretend ones almost daily. If he's outside he collects all the sticks he can find (sometimes by pulling them off the tree or saving them from walks) to make a pretend campfire. In the house he uses legos or pillows to build one. We finally decided that it was time to impress him and build a real fire! So one Saturday we headed to a local park along the Lewis River in hopes to build a campfire to cook our dinner. We ventured out not knowing if we would find a legal place to build a fire at the park. When we arrived, the park was VERY busy and it looked as though every BBQ grill was taken and that there was nowhere to build a fire. After much hunting and praying silently, we finally saw the ONLY open spot at the park: A fire pit (and the only fire pit in the park)! It was perfect for our fire and for cooking our dinner!

Time for an after dinner spin!

Praise the Lord for providing a campfire just for Braden!


Blessing #2: On the Friday of Memorial Day weekend Sheldon casually mentioned to a friend that we may head to Long Beach (Washington Coast) on Saturday. What he didn't know was that this same friend had a condo there. The friend graciously offered for us to stay there if it wasn't rented out for the weekend. We tried not to get our hopes up as we waited to find if it was available since we knew it was a BUSY holiday weekend and chances were slim that it would be open. A few hours later, our friend called back and said that his property manager had not rented out the condo and that it was ours for the the weekend. We packed up that day and were blessed with a 2 night stay at the condo right on the beach!

The weather was nice, we were able to fly kites in the breeze, play in the sand, and even go see a lighthouse. The kids had a wonderful time and we were able to enjoy some much needed relaxation on a wonderful three day weekend.

Ready to head out to the beach first thing Saturday morning!

You have to finish your breakfast before you can go outside...

Braden explores the sand dunes

Jamie flies a kite while Ashlyn plays in the sand

Braden at North Head Lighthouse

An evening view from the condo

Thank you Lord for friends and for providing an unexpected and lovely trip for our family!