Time Away

 We just got home from a wonderful time away with family! First we spent a few days in beautiful Camarillo before heading up north to spend a week with our Manteca fam. Summer gets pretty busy around here with summer camps, retreats and all the fun stuff that goes along with student ministries so we cherished some "down" time before the fun begins!

We had a lovely beach day with big waves and lots of sea life to watch. Gabriel took a little bit to get over his fear of pretty much everything, but after 30 minutes of crying he was busy playing in the sand with brother.

While in Camarillo I had been experiencing some significant pain and decided to have it check out before we headed up north for a whole week- while in the Ob's office the Dr. found I had pulled a muscle in some scar tissue and also saw that we are expecting another boy! Sadly I was in the office by myself but that gave me the opportunity to surprise Andrew with the news. So I popped into Macy's and picked up a few baby boy things and wrapped them up. When I got back to the condo I handed Andrew the box and told him it was an early Father's Day present. He opened the box and looked at the contents for a few moments and then started to cry with a big smile on his face! It was such a sweet moment :)

When the boys woke up from their nap we had them open the box and guess what gender the baby is- they were very excited as well!

We are so blessed by our 2 little monkey's and are so excited to see our quiver filling up with little boys! We are trying to cherish these baby days because before we know it our boys will be men 

(Yikes!)

While at my parents condo we also enjoyed extended time at a few different parks, eating at different restaurants and having daddy home all day with us. Then we got ready to head to Manteca and the boys were BEYOND excited to see their cousins whom they had been missing since we saw them at Christmas.

Pics of that to follow...

It's a...

A Very Happy Momma

Since Sunday is a full day for us my guys took me out for an early dinner and dessert date last night and I felt so loved, spoiled and blessed :)

We had a yummy dinner outside where daddy had prepped the boys to tell me something special at dinner - Weston said he loved me because I am so sweet to him and Gabriel said "Happy Moders Day momma!" It was a gorgeous breezy night that almost felt perfect and I was so overwhelmed at how much the Lord has blessed me with my precious family.

After dinner we stopped by a little bakery called Susie Cakes to pick up some treats and the boys were overcome with awe, it was pretty cute.

I love that Weston chose a pink cup cake that said happy Mother's Day on top, as we stood out side the shop he sang to me at the top of his lungs " Happy Mother's Day to You" to the tune of happy birthday

What I chose and enjoyed with my hubby on the couch after the kids were asleep :)

Although little people require a lot of work, prayers, tears, money, time, etc- they fill our lives with so much joy and teach us so much. They truly are a gift from the Lord and a treasure that we are entrusted with. We as imperfect parents love our boys so incredibly much and it is amazing to think that we have a heavenly Father who loves us with a perfect love! My prayer is that with the Lord as our guide we would continue to grow in unconditional and sacrificial love for our children and eachother.

Beauty

We have all heard this before, but it's always a good reminder for me to think on what the Lord deems beautiful in us. 

I just love getting the Anthropologie catalogs in the mail. The clothes are just so gorgeous and feminine and the models so lovely. Sometimes I have to be careful not to sit too long wishing I could go shopping all day and fill my closet with what I see on those perfect pages :)

But God's word says that "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But the woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised" Proverbs 31:30

Those of us who are getting older know too well that our skin isn't what it used to be and the more cute babies we have, the more we see it on our bodies!  Those things shouldn't matter, BUT they often do. The Lord reminds us that what is on the outside is not going to last, so why fuss and worry? He gives us somewhere else to look and that is our hearts. 

You all know those women... who because of their personal love and joy in Lord just radiate a beauty that can't be explained by just looking at them?! It's because of their heart.

I read this quote today and I'll share it because I think it hits home

"The Holy Spirit of God is the great inner-beauty consultant. His beauty manual is the Bible. It is illustrated with pictures of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. The more we look at these pictures, the more we will be willing to forfeit earthly treasures to wear Jesus' likeness." - Joyce Rogers

~I hope you have a beautiful day ~

Family Visit

This past week we had some pretty special visitors! It was a short but sweet time together of just hanging out and playing with the kids. Ryder is getting so big and it's so fun to hear him talk and his little personality coming out. He really loved Andrew and I tried not to be too jealous :)

Weston and Grandpa like to sit around and be silly and of course fly helicopters

 and rockets

Gabe and Ryder are so sweet together as long as Gabe isn't trying to bug him, throw something at him or steal his special blanket! 

 Auntie Leah and the babes enjoying some yummy watermelon

The last day of the visit we had a delicious lunch from a cafe near us- isn't my dad's beet panini just gorgeous?!

Omie pitched a little baseball

What can I say, we all love each other and what a blessing that is :)