Friday, October 26, 2012

A day in the rain







The kids having some fun during a rain storm last week. Or maybe the week before that? They all seem to run together after a while... They were having so much fun! I am not sure why they laid down in the water, but it sure looked like they had a bunch of fun. Oh, to be a kid again.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

One of my Favorite Days



Where do I begin... this man that I love so deeply... it is our 7th Anniversary today (well, yesterday... i didn't have time to finish this yesterday!). It is hard to fathom that 7 years ago, we had our beautiful wedding. And now, I still find myself terribly in love with him. Everyday.




For one, he makes adorable children.


And I mean look... he lets the kids dress him up.


One of my favorite pictures, but when our family was only 5 people strong.

He is our rock. Or at least mine.

He is the kids play toy. Seriously. They never stop asking him to play. Even Soren with his little chubby finger points and giggles. Adorable, I tell you.

This is an old gem from our days in North Carolina/Maryland days. Our first stay at a bed & breakfast... and it was fabulous!

In Japan, our first camping trip on Mt. Hakkota. We ended up camping next to a sulfur creek. It was seriously stinky, but memorable.

Doesn't he look pretty much the same? This was 8 years ago!


 And look.at.that.cute.baby.

Did I already say he makes adorable children? His half of the chromosomes definitely shine through (I'm taking biology, so ...)
He still make me laugh on a daily basis. Our world revolves on laughter. Ourselves and the kids are all sarcastic, and it makes us happy.
Life is so good. (except it is just okay when we have sicknesses, like right now. Soren has been letting me get maybe 3-4 hrs a night of B-R-O-K-E-N sleep for the past couple nights...)


Can you get any better than that for wedding day weather? In October???


This is in Japan, at the Oriasi Gorge... so pretty. We got to go behind waterfalls and such. So many good memories of our times together.


And of course, all the camping.
And...
he let me get a dog!

Even if the puppy has been definitely being a puppy, I think it was a good idea!
Oh, and he got a tattoo for our anniversary! It was such a good surprise... a ring on his finger (he doesn't get to wear his ring at work)

Now he is branded!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Austin: Part 2




We had such fun at the Tough Mudder! It was one of the hardest and most fun things I have done in a while. Tyler and his buddies from work set out at the same time me and my friends did, but they finished a bit before us... but I would say we ran/jogged 8 of the 12 miles on the course; we went through some ice cold water, climbed muddy hills, jumped off a 2 (?) tower into water, and over a HUGE pile of those round hay bales.. and some went through the electrodes.... which I did not because of the crazy heart stuff I have had going on in the last two weeks. My back felt great, I was covered with mud, and got to eat a HUGE bbq meal later with a milkshake. Oh, and the next morning we got really expensive yummy doughnuts at Gordough's in Austin (I had the flying pig! YUMMY), and they were worth the 30 minute wait!

We are hoping to run another Tough Mudder next year... who's in?

It was SO much fun.

The headbands are what you get at the end of the race for finishing, and the boys just love them!

More pictures HERE.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Part of our Austin trip



This is the house we stayed at while in Austin.

It was beyond AWESOME!

This was one of the doors on the front porch that led to the living room.... I would say that this house is a place I dream about someday living in. It was that nice. A dream house, I say.


How sweet are these two?

These stairs led to our family bedroom... which was so cozy. There were old double doors on each end of the long room, and opened they let in a wonderful breeze.
Awesome, I tell you.
Here is the upstairs "family room" with the two models. The huge windows let in SO much light.

So throughout the whole house, beadboard (what you might think of as the boards that go halfway up a wall) was on the ceilings.... it looked fantastic.

In this right hand corner of the pic is a chaise lounge... Kellen slept there and LOVED it!

The most awesome old bathroom sink! I really want one in our future house in the "kids" bathroom. I loved that it had three spouts for the kids and one drain. It was perfect.


Looking from the bathroom into the bedroom.

Oh, and the beds were VERY comfy. Even with being super sore from the Tough Mudder, we slept like rocks!

Off the back part of the wrap around porch. The kids had a fabulous time running around the whole house over and OVER again.

Even Soren was loving it. Which was tiresome.

Tyler really wanted to fish... too bad we left the poles at home.


The master bedroom, and its wonderful antiques.

My parents said it was very comfy, and the only complaint was on the last night, and the wind was howling... they said it was pretty noisy.

Something I would be willing to live with. Promise.


Part of the living room.

There was a TV here, along with a DVD player... but no cable and no WiFi, much to my father's dismay!



Here is the rascally crowd! Kellen was not wanting to have his picture taken at all.

And it was cold.


If you can see... Colton is wearing Tyler's special Tough Mudder headband... the kids loved them.

Plus they kept their ears warm!


On the back stairs of the house.

We had a couple people over for dinner the night we got into town, and had a great time bbqing up some chicken and enjoying the beautiful sunset.



The front of the Pond House....

Absolutely beautiful.

Even with the scorpion we found, the mud daubers (we think), and the dead mouse under the sink (in a trap). Those are just things that occur out in the country.

We loved every minute of it!

More to come on the Tough Mudder and how much fun that was (and the week working up to it!)!!!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Soren's first birthday





My boy is getting too big. Just this morning he was deleting pictures from our computer... the little turd. Luckily I found them in the recycle bin! We had a quiet birthday celebration, with Papa and Granna and the Lucas's, our friends here on base. He loved his cake (decoration inspired by Pinterest!) and it was yummy. He also loved our spagetti dinner (I roasted veggies: potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and such) and added them to the sauce. It was delicious! He turned one the day before we headed to Austin for the Tough Mudder (more on that later!) and he is walking, signing, and getting his 6th and 7th tooth!! Stop growing!!