Staying Busy

I was looking forward to moving because I thought it would slow our life down but moving made me realize that we are not slow down type of people.

• We have jumped right into Young Life
• I joined a MOPS group on Tuesdays
• Tyler has gymnastics every Monday

Our down time usually looks like this......

Tyler loves to find thing in his drawers before he goes to sleep

Crud War

Tyley on his puter" Daddy on his computer

He is the happiest when he is eating sugar

And the quietest when he is watching cartoons

August

A lot great things happening here. This is a quick update but more to come. We have settled in and are still loving it. We absolutely love our church. It is so perfect for both of us which is something we have both been needing really bad. We have met so many great people. Here are some pictures and quick updates.

This is our new really good friends Keith, Jenny, and Nolan. They are in charge of Young Life in our area and are a huge reason we are now taking over the Stanwood YL. Tyler loves Nolan but for some reason wants to rename him and call him Noah.

I joined a local MOPS group here. Which is awesome btw. It is the highlight of my week. They have a glass that teaches Tyler. I told him he was going to school and he got so excited. He was in the class for over two hours and he got great reviews from the teachers. He also told me that he didn't cry and was so proud of himself. He is such a good boy.

Football season has started and it is a little weird not being in Texas. Washington has many football lovers too. Aaron is apart of two very competitive fantasy football leagues

(Lord help me)

We have decided to start liking the Seahawks. We will see how this goes. We are also keeping an eye on the University of Washington.

Tyler is growing so fast and he is so sweet. He has his manners down so well. He says please and thank you to everything. He is so compassionate he loves to help. This is him sweeping and then he just got tired and decided to lay down. He talks great and loves to tell you that he loves you. He melts my heart daily.

Bad Family picture but I will say that we have a lot more family time here. Loving life!

Stephanie

So one of my Young Life girls that just graduated made a trip up here to see us. Over the years she has become one of my best friends. This girls love of God, life, people, and adventure is inspiring. I always have so much fun with her. We stayed busy the whole week.

I always seem to relive my past when she is around by giving her advise and sharing good and bad stories. I forget to an 18 year old it can look pretty crazy at times ;)

We started off the week with a beach outing and bike ride. Then we did some crazy stuff like visit a kangaroo farm. She was with us when we bought the boat so of course we had to take it out. Stephanie and I took off one day and drove up Mt. Baker. We had a blast. We explored and found some random roads to climb. We almost hiked but I wimped out. I was to scared of the cougars and bears. (It wasn't a real hiking trail)

My time with her is always life changing. She challenges me in everyway but gives me such happiness and joy being apart of her life.

Thank you Steph for such an awesome week.

This is a cute barn that is down the road from my house. Steph loved it. She was amazed there was nothing bad written on it.

Tyler would do everything Stephanie did. She also goes barefoot everywhere. This is our exploring islands day.

This is the waterfall at Mt. Baker. We tried to hike it but I got scared. I used to be way more adventures.

This is the valley we found after driving up the mountain. It was so fun and just breath taking.

This girl is such a big part of my life. I love you so much Stephanie.

The Boat

Both Aaron and I have wanted a boat since we were teenagers. When we got married we went boat shopping all the time. We never purchased one because it just wasn't good timing. So of course we get here and there is water all around us. Every weekend we kept thinking there is so much more to discover if we only had a boat. Sooooooo we did it. We made our first toy purchase. We went with a boat that had a cabin in it so Tyler can nap and he thinks it is his cave. So far we have not regretted the purchase at all. The first day we took it out and Aaron got it stuck in the mud so he had to push us out. Pretty funny. The next day we did a sunset cruise and saw little seals playing. It was worth waiting for! I am so excited to go camping next weekend and explore more islands here in Washington. I think this boat is going to give us some awesome family adventures.

Deception Pass from the boat

The Boat

Tyler's Cave

Tyler loves to drive

Exploring an island

Tyler

For those of you missing Tyler here are a few cute updates.

He talks so much now. He repeats everything you say.

(Close eyes, go sleep)

(All better)

(I lub u)

(bye bye thank you)

He told me the other day his ear itched?? It amazes me how much he knows.

He even tells us exactly what he wants. Usually it is change the channel or roll down the window, turn the air off, put him down, don't hold his hand... He is Mr. Independent. He is still very picky but is venturing out and trying things. He loves to hide. Sometimes I find him in a closet or under a blanket. We play the "I am coming to get you game often" That usually motivates him to get in the bath tub or jump in his bed.

He is getting better about going to sleep at night. He calls it "Sleepy Time" so cute!! He says his prayers and tries just about every tactic he can think of to get us to stay in his room.

He is the master of the dogs. He is usually telling them they are bad or yelling at them (Ha I think he is actually imitating me :%)

He still loves to hug and kiss. He can work my iphone better than I can which has caused me to spend too much money on apps. He is for the most part a really good boy. He minds most of the time. My biggest battle with him is making him sit down or climbing on the dogs.

He loves to play outside. We are running around or going to the park every chance we get. He talks about Texas a lot. He knows he is going on a plane in a few months to see his family.

He can count to 10 and sing twinkle twinkle little star. (Melts my heart) He loves TV which I try to limit as much as possible.

I adore this little boy. He is so much fun!

New helmet... he won't take it off. It is for the big bike so don't think we are that over protective and I promise we don't make him wear it in the car.

He loves to show us his food

Random Fun

Each weekend we have gone a an adventure. The only bad thing is that neither Aaron or myself are planners so we usually end up driving in the car for hours. We have found some pretty cool stuff. About an hour north of us is a town called Bellingham. It has some of the most amazing rolling his and a very pretty mountain called Mount Baker. This is where we will go skiing in the winter. We have found amazing lakes, waterfalls, whale watching, and some great biking. (We jazzed our bikes up a bit so we feel like locals now. Aaron found out his bike was made for 9 to 14 year olds HA HA LOL. He now has a complex about it) I will take pics this week.

MT. Baker

Then we realized that just 15 minutes from our house is an even more amazing place called Camano Island. (So we finally stopped spending hours in the car) We tried to camp there this weekend but it was full. It is right on the Sound (Washington's Bay) and has this peace about it that draws you in. Tyler is now a little fisherman and we are dying to buy a boat.

We have our second visitor coming this week!!! YAYYYYYYYYY So who is next? A quick flight and we can show you paradise :)

It has been a long time

I have not updated this in awhile. We have been in the middle of a move to Washington. I have to say I went into this move with no expectations. I was leaving all my Young Life crew which has been my life the last four years. We are also close with our families and leaving them is soooo hard. Another scary thing was leaving my house. I felt like I was walking away from everything,

but....... after being here a month I can say we left a lot but God has great things in store for us here. We got here and I saw all the furniture crammed in the house and started balling. I was so overwhelmed. Thank God my parents were here to help. My dad is such a fix it guy and was here to make a 20 year old house feel new. My mom spent days helping clean and organize. I can say we had this place practically put together in 2 weeks. Which was awesome because we got to be tourist every weekend. We have been to so many amazing State Parks, The Islands, The Mountains, and Lakes. It has been so surreal. Everyone told us the weather was horrible but I have to say the weather is amazing even when it is raining. There is just so much beauty in the green grass and trees. I love looking at the clouds uncover the snow capped mountains. We are 20 minuted from the beach, 45 minuted from skiing, and I would have to say minutes away from some of the best camping in the world. We also live in an older home but the view makes the home feel humble and homey.

We have already found a church that fits us perfectly. We are looking forward to getting involved and developing lasting friendships. We also reached out to the local Young Life chapter, that is a whole different post, but I am so curious to see what God has in store for us there.

Tyler loves it!! He is such a little outdoors boy. He loves fishing, the water, and digging in the dirt. We are living outside these days trying to soak up all the sun we can before the rainy season. We are going camping next weekend and I just know he is going to have the time of his life.

Even though we are having a great time we miss all our friends and family so much. We will be back in Texas in November and look forward to seeing each and everyone of you.

Tyler's truck it is just like daddy's

Papa and Tyler looking at all the wild animals that we could see 2 feet away. Amazing!!!

Tyler helping fix the house. So cute. He is such a helper these days.

One of the many beauties here. We have so much more exploring to do and more family time to do it. We are surely loving life!

It is all coming to an end

These days have been really sad for me lately. The last few weeks have made me think of so many different and great memories. As all of you know we have been involved in an amazing ministry called Young Life for the last four years. Our kids graduate on June 4th. We had the last Young Life club this week and I got to see 30 kids stand up and talk about what the Lord has done in there lives. So amazing. I have been crying for days. When we first volunteered to do Young Life I remember thinking I don't have the time or anything to offer these kids. At the time I didn't realize that God had his plan and we were just a small part of a bigger picture. These kids just wanted to be loved on and they absolutely loved feeling like a kid in a world that makes our teenagers grow up to fast. God allowed us to plant seeds in these kids that will forever change their lives. With all this being said the weirdest thing is I got more out of this ministry and serving than I ever gave. God changed my heart forever! He blessed me with the most amazing friends and YL family I could imagine. He revealed more to me through their eyes than I had ever seen before. He taught me that serving is all about giving up control and putting yourself out there. I am changed forever because of this ministry and am so humbled and blessed that I have had the best 4 years of my life.

Yes we are moving to Seattle but guess what.... they have Young Life there too!! So I look forward to the new chapter of ministry work that will be put in front of us.

Leaving their mark on our house

Dressing up for dodgeball

Most of the crew

The Move to Seattle

Here is an update on our move to Seattle. It looks like we should be up there by June. We have not had any luck on selling the house. (only one person has looked at it) So we are deciding to lease it. The house is going up for lease today. We are competing with a property on our street that is unusually low and has been siting there for awhile. Please pray for us. The traveling is really getting to Aaron. Being up in Seattle will take a huge load off of him. I am really excited and ready to get this thing rolling. I search for houses daily in Seattle! I am ready for our new adventure in life!

San Fran and Lake Tahoe

We planned a family trip on Aaron's points and flyer miles. We were gone for 10 days. Tyler was great on the flights. The flight there was 6 hours!! He did good but it was exhausting keeping him entertained. I had a direct flight on the way back in first class and it was awesome. Tyler was an angel. I could not believe it. I flew back alone with him.

We went to San Francisco first and I lovvvved it. Next time I will not take Tyler and do a romantic weekend with Aaron but I made the best of the trip with him. We stayed in an amazing hotel downtown. Aaron worked during the day and I found a few things to entertain him. We walked down to the Warf everyday. We went to the aquarium and fed the birds. We also saw the sea lions sun bathing. Tons of fun. That weekend we met up with my sister and her family and drove to Tahoe. Wow can I say amazing. We skied and played at the lake. We even went bowling one day. We had a blast!! Thanks Stephanie and Gary for letting us crash your vacation. Love you guys.

Bowling! Tyler looooooooooved it.

These ducks were the prettiest ducks I have ever seen!

My wonderful sister and her family!

He is going to be my little snow boarder someday

Lake Tahoe is 100 time better than Colorado!!

Aaron fixed his hair that day!

My dad thinks he is an Indian Cheif

My brother-in-law! Tyler loves him.

Tyler is so cool in his shades

He loved the aquarium

Snow Snow And More Snow

It has snowed here a lot this year and Tyler loves it. We have a dog door and I could not keep him from going outside all day. He would even put on his own shoes before he crawled out. Check out the pictures below from the snow day we had weeks ago.

Ginger and Jack are best friends these days. They play all day long together. She is still a pain. But kinda cute ;)

Tyler and Dada's snowman. We never put the eyes and mouth on it.

He kept eating the snow.

The crew playing it was a perfect day.

I found him outside in his diaper. He didn't even care.