What We've Been Up To Lately

Finishing up the soccer season with a smile.









Thanking Pacific Life for giving Mike another iPhone and thanking Steve Jobs for quality family time.



Deep cleaning our house in the middle of the night. Anyone want to buy a cozy condo in Irvine?



Reading the Bible in comic form. She's been loving this new series and has already learned so much.



LOVING CA Grandma's new cello and sometimes playing it without pants.



Developing a stair-climbing addiction



Developing a castle-building obsession



Roseola-ing. Poor baby. But Lord-willing, he is our last child to endure this ugly virus.



Everyday-ing



(Michelle H., could you email me? I wanted to reply back to your comment on "Sad", but I didn't know how to contact you. Thanks.)

My New Favorite Theme Park

Reasons why I love Legoland:

Because my daughter and her Daddy could do this



And this



And while the rest of us wait for them, we could do this



And this



And this



Because the Legoland designers created this musical fountain knowing my son would one day visit it



Because the day we went, the weather was perfect, there were no crowds, and CA Grandma was delighted to spend the day out with her peeps, especially Lover Boy



Because slides were invented for my daughter and she rode this one 3 times in a row



And her father watched her in awe



Because Audrey and I got to spin around on one of those round and round rides



Which made her flash her crazy-teeth smile again



Because there was also an aquarium there and Marcus was enthralled





Because he was able to really explore the sea critters without being scared





Because Audrey was stoked to learn about seahorses



Because it gave us an excuse to fill up our kids on sugar



And because we plain ol' had a good time together



Love ya, Legoland! Hope to visit you again some day!

The First Thanksgiving In 9 Years

What made this Thanksgiving heart-exploding wonderful? Being able to celebrate it with my parents for the first time in 9 years. They took some time off from their ministry duties in Hawaii to fly out, hold their newborn grandson (my new adorable nephew), and try their best to share themselves amongst 5 grand-kids.





"I don't know who to look at," my dad would say, scanning the room full of kids. And for me and my sister, it was pure joy watching Mom and Dad enjoy each one of them in real life rather than admiring their pictures through a computer screen.

















The older cousins got in some good playtime with each other too.











With Grandpa's thanksgiving day prayer, yumalicious food, and Audrey asking everyone what they were thankful for, it was a day of gratefulness indeed.

Derek thought Thanksgiving would be an appropriate time to start taking first steps.

The night ended, we said good-bye, and I had to hide my red cheeks and wet eyes from my dad who had to leave the next day.  Saying "Bye for now," always stings, especially because sometimes I want so badly to be their little girl again and feel the warm safety of being under their care.  But now that I'm grown up, I love, respect, and thank them even more.  They've given me and my sister unconditional love, unceasing prayer, and a legacy of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.  That's what I'm thankful for this year.