Happy Birthday and Happy Resurrection Day!

What a great (but cold) Spring! Bean is 4 and Easter with family and friends was such a blessing! After a Candyland birthday party and a few Easter egg hunts in the snow, we have so much to celebrate! And after several weeks of late snowfall and colder than usual weather, we are really ready for some sunshine, shorts and flip flops! That, and after a few home projects, some reorganization and moving peanut to a big girl bed, we are ready for our little man to arrive. The baby blue and sweet smell of baby powder will soon pour through the house again, and we can't wait. God is SO good!

My Bean before preschool on his birthday. The Young Life Banquet was on his birthday, so we ended up celebrating the rest of the week - lucky little guy!

On another note...notice the old carpet in this picture. Look below to see the new carpet - one of the many projects happening around our house. We are SOOO excited to have new floors!

The candy and cake spread for the Candyland party! So fun!

Look at Peanut eating one of MANY skittles. 

Woo Hoo! I'm Four!

Bean's friends claiming their piece of cake.

Some seriously cute Easter smiles! 

And...some new carpet! 

Love those two. 

A little time outside before it started snowing...again.

So cute, I know.

A kiss from Daddy's girl.

Love that one too.

Don't really want to hold hands, but we will.

Yes, the stuffed cheetah is taller than Peanut.

And kisses for you too.

Sorry for the lack of posts. We have been so busy but so good. We have extremely full lives and hearts - and our hands will be full soon as well. Around three more weeks until the little man arrives. We'll keep you posted!

"You're going to have your hands full..."

To all of the women who have said these words to me in the past few months (and there are many; although I don't think any of them read this blog, but it makes me feel better to write this), this is what I want to say to you...

"Really? I didn't know."

"Thank you."

"By saying that, are you trying to be nice, encourage me, point out the obvious, or is this your way of saying, 'Wow. You are having another baby. That makes 3 total. That's more than 2, all 4 years and younger.'"

Because that's how it sounds to me.

"I actually have my hands full now, and I love it. I cannot wait until our sweet baby boy arrives. I am not an idiot or naive to the fact that having a third child means, well, having a third child."

"I LOVE being a mom. And, my husband and I know how babies are made and actually planned to have a third child. Crazy, I know."

"We feel so blessed to have our children and are excited to add another boy to our family. Thankfully, we love and pursue the Lord and His plans for us and did not make this decision on our own. It is part of God's perfect plan for our family and for our lives - to "have our hands full."

Thank you, God, for allowing us the privilege and honor of raising these children to know and love you.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...    Psalm 127: 3-5

Disclaimer:  Rob thinks I am too sensitive about this...maybe I am. No one says it to him. In fact, he gets the great comments where people quote scripture and think it's great that we are having another baby. I am not sure why the pregnant lady gets the negative comments and looks. It's almost always from strangers - and I know, not everyone means it in a negative way. Forgive me for venting via blog.

It's been a long time...

Since I have blogged! I know. I apologize.

It's also been a long time since Rob and I have taken a break from "doing" Young Life... a really long time for Rob.

Rob became a leader for Young Life in Lubbock, TX in 1992. He has been a volunteer, on part time staff, an Area Director, and an Area Developer during that time - in Utah since 1997. I became a volunteer leader in Houston, TX in 1997 and went on full-time staff in 1999. After a little over 5 years on staff I married Rob and moved to Utah as a volunteer leader. I have been volunteering on and off since then (off due to having babies).

After 7 years of full-time staff, Young Life allows and encourages their staff to take a Sabbatical. After 8 years of full-time staff and almost half his life devoted to this ministry, Rob took his well deserved Sabbatical!

We are in our last week of his time away from ministry now and are spending our last few days in San Diego. It has been so great having dad around all the time, and we have LOVED the warm weather! All of us are feeling a little warmer, more relaxed, full (we have eaten some great food), and "full" (we have spent some great time reading books and reading God's Word), disconnected (which is good in so many ways as we have stayed away from the computer and our phones), and we are closer as a family. This has been a HUGE blessing for us!

Rob is ready to hit the ground running when we return home and ready to see what God has in store for him and this ministry in the years to come. I am ready to hit the ground running as we prepare for this sweet baby boy to arrive at the end of May or beginning of June. We have some room rearranging to do and we need to come up with a name for this sweet boy. Sawyer has some ideas - Parker, one of his best friend's names, and other suggestions that I can't pronounce, much less spell. Needless to say, we need to start thinking!

We love that Young Life is such a huge part of our lives. We are so blessed and so thankful!

Here are some photos from our time in sunny California!

NOvember

Last week I was the coop parent at Bean's preschool. This is always a pure delight as I get to be in on the action that takes place at school. We coop once a month, and this is always a treat. During Circle Time, I learned that there are NO birthdays during the month of November. No one in the class has a birthday. This means no parties, no cupcakes, no singing of "Happy Birthday" and no shared gifts with the class. The kids remember this every time they talk about the month of NOvember.

This got me to thinking...scary, I know.

NOvember

No more leaves on the trees or a warm, dry nose.

No more hummingbird feeder or exposed, flip flop toes.

No more grassy picnics or tank tops and shorts.

No more bees in the air or playgrounds and forts. 

No Farmer's Market tomatoes or slurpees to sip.

No more bike rides and hikes, no more swimming pool trips.

NOvember

In an effort to sound a little more positive...It's not all bad. Seriously. For what it lacks, November marks the beginning of a great (did I mention long) winter here in Park City. We get to ski, sled, snowshoe, and drink hot cocoa snuggled up next to a crisp,warm fire. The snow covered ground reflects the moonlight to light up the sky at night, and this remains one of my favorite things. True, the snow blowing and shoveling gets a little old, and the monotonous routine of bundling up the kids before each outing remains a pain; however, I wouldn't trade it for a trip to the pool for a second. We'll get plenty more of that this summer! 

Fabulous Fall Fun!

Here are a few photos of our little trick or treaters! Bean refused to be ANYTHING but Ironman since dad was Ironman this summer at Young Life Camp. He doesn't have a clue who that is, but he knows dad wore the costume on stage for a month and he wanted to be like dad. So sweet. Peanut didn't care too much for the costume but did enjoy taking on the character of a lion. She had a sweet raspy roar that we couldn't get enough of.

The Fall Festival at church. Peanut is finishing up her pizza as we head down the hall to the games.

Roar!

Cheese!

A quick family photo!

A fun trip to the zoo. This gorilla amazed us as he sat at stared at us through the glass.

One of our favorite zoo moments ever!

Raking leaves before the snow falls!

It doesn't get old! (Well, maybe the raking but not the playing!)

Fall has been so fun and surprisingly warm! Not anymore! It is crisp and cold outside today, and the snow continues to make it's way down the mountain. We are excited and ready for winter, and we look forward to Thanksgiving in a few weeks.

Peanut is ready!

Maybe...

Help me out here, folks. I am a little concerned and wondering who might be visiting the blog from Moscow, Lisboa (don't even know where that is), or Ankara. I leave my blog open to make it easy for friends and family to read, but I don't want creepers checking out pictures of my kids. It would be great if some of you would leave comments so I have an idea of who you are. Dad, I know you visit often! Thanks!