Monday, August 6, 2012

Beach Vacation

On the road & couldn't be more excited :)

Beach Bums or Lums? Both! 


This little fish face :) makes me smile

SO Proud she learned to swim underwater!

Yummy-o (and look at that cuteness in the back)

Oh.So.Good!

Friends :)


Photo Shoot with Miss Jorden Rae



Look mom found a sea shell

He's my Favorite :) 

They are too :) 

Fun surprise...fireworks on the beach!

Ready for the beach.

Storm rolling in.

JuMpInG jUmPiNg WavES

Sand Castle Time

love

Going home- and couldn't be sleepier!
What a great vacation we had! Spent 4 nights 5 days in Ocean City, Md. We were so thankful to be able to stay at a family friend's condo! It was a perfect place for us! The kids were so excited and so were we! Growing up both Darryl and I's families spent time at oc md. But our experiences were different so it was really fun to blend those together and do a few new things too! The kids were champs. Absolute champs! I was impressed and blessed to watch them conquer the waves and swim in the pool. What a gift of just spending time together! We can't wait to go back! :)

Monday, July 16, 2012

29,30,31 & counting

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARRYL! 
You are Amazing. We are so thankful for you. What a great husband & incredible father!
I know you are proud of us & we are proud of you!


I am blessed to be your wife. So glad I get to spend my life with you! 

I pray that this year would be filled with fresh encounters, peace, joy, more traveling, health & wealth :) I love you babe!


Happy 31st Birthday:) 

Crayola Factory

A couple weeks ago we took a family day road trip to the Crayola Factory! What a fun trip! It was great for the kids! Very interesting to learn how the crayons & markers are made. Also fun to read and learn the history of Crayola! I highly recommend this place for a family outing! Got a few freshly made crayons & markers & lots of good memories! I love family days! 
Jorden in her glory! This girl LOVES to color! Just look at all those crayons! 

Uriah too! Happy to be able to scribble on everything without getting in trouble! 

I love my life! 

Color Wall

Darryl's highlight: the family photo with spiderman turned coloring page! SO FUN! What a great family I've been given! BLESSED!

Birthday Time!

Five years ago....are you kidding me?! We welcomed this precious beautiful bundle of sweetness! Stole our hearts in a second and still does! Jorden is kind & gentle. thoughtful & caring. silly & funny! loves to color, paint, cut, glue, CREATE! She's good too! Loves barbies, ballet, jewelry & lipgloss! Has opinions about her hair & clothes, as well as yours! SMART as a whip, loves to learn. She's looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall, as well as ballet classes. 

JORDEN, what a blessing you are! Your heart for your family & friends is precious & God given. Your desire to do what is right & admit when your wrong is a gift as well! You are beautiful both inside & out! You have much creativity, it inspires me to be creative as well! Keep on being you. I pray grace over your life & peace. May you continue to find Jesus in all areas of your life! We love you & your heavenly daddy loves you more! 

Baby Jorden Rae- a few hours old!
Miss Jorden Rae- 5 Years old!
 cookie-making-slumber-party :)



Friday, July 6, 2012

Photos

Jorden has been into taking pictures recently. She is always asking if she can take a picture or have the camera. So the other night we were outside for maybe a half hour or 45 mins and I decided to let her have at it between her and Jonathan they took 99 pictures! Here are a few favorites from that night and another day she was going to town taking pictures!!!

Self portrait
Self portrait with flowers :)

Uriah, what's wrong? 

Crayons

Flowers

Darryl and I were cracking up when we saw this one come across the computer screen! Oh Jon! 


Sweet boy! 

Pretty Girl! (this one was taken by Jonathan) 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

National Anthem

My video skills aren't the best, I was trying to also take still pictures in the other hand! But Darryl did such an amazing job singing the National Anthem at the La Academia Class of 2012 Graduation, that I just had to post it! I am SO proud of him!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Anniversary Get Away

Barnget Lighthouse
This month, next week actually, Darryl and I will celebrate our 6th anniversary! We stole away for two nights three days in mid may, to a little bay town called Tuckerton, NJ, to celebrate! We stayed at the J.D. Thompson Bed and Breakfast about 20 mins from Long Beach Island. After navigating through ridiculous traffic on Friday afternoon we checked in our B&B then headed to a little restaurant right on the water. It was a cute place, but packed...it felt a little uncomfortable sandwiched between the neighboring table and the entrance to the kitchen. But we settled in and ordered some yummy food, and some not so yummy food. We decided to order fried calamari. I picked up on piece that I thought looked safe and it ended up being a whole little squid! I dropped it and let out a little yelp because I just wasn't expecting to look so much like squid. After I recovered from that I decided to actually try a piece. I put it in my mouth to take a bite and I literally couldn't bite it in half...it was so chewy! So there I am squid half in half out of my mouth....it was a mess! :) We thought some wine might relax us, so Darryl asked if we could get a glass, that's when we found out it was byob. Oh well, live and learn :) Our meals really were delicious and the water was really beautiful! The next day we headed out to LBI and decided to travel to the north tip of the Island to see the lighthouse. It was so beautiful to see the water and the lighthouse, the water was really clear there. I had this great idea to climb the lighthouse! On our way to the lighthouse that morning we saw a Rubicon Jeep. It stuck out to both us and we discussed the idea of how the phrase "crossing the Rubicon" was like being at a point of no return. Where you have to keep going, even though it feels hard, because you can't go back. Okay, so I had this great idea to climb the 165ft. light house!
The stairs- Darryl took this picture :)


So in we go up the narrow winding metal mesh flight of stairs, you know the kind you can see right through to the bottom. I got about three stories up and was starting to feel unsure about going the rest of the way up. By the 6th flight I felt like I was going to pass out and was trying to convince Darryl to go up the rest of the way by himself because I wasn't going to be going up any higher. But Darryl being the wonderful man/husband he is. Waited patiently as I gathered myself together, trying to figure out what I was going to do-stuck half way up this lighthouse. It was a RUBICON- Here I was scared of going higher, yet scared of going back down for fear of falling. I really didn't want to go higher, yet I knew if I turned around I still had to go down as far as I had come and I knew I'd be disappointed that I hadn't made it to the top. Eventually I got up enough courage and started climbing. I'm not sure exactly how many more flights we did but when we got to the top I saw the solid wood floor and I felt so relieved. Then I looked out the windows and I sat down and started crying. Darryl asked me what I was so scared of...I told him falling. Oh poor Darryl,he didn't know what to do with me. He was thinking seriously this lighthouse is how old, how many people climb it everyday and is my wife really going to refuse to go down these stairs? He was awesome though. He stood with me and gave a good tight hug and looked out the window with me. I couldn't have done it without him. Eventually we made it outside to look around. I just didn't look down too long. But I sure was proud of myself for doing it! I'm not exactly proud of how scared I was, but I'm so glad that I made it to the top (& the bottom again) and I'm so thankful Darryl was there to walk through it with me! Darryl learned something about me that day...I get scared, really scared sometimes, I have trouble taking things one step at a time, I see a whole picture, yet I'm so detail oriented that I get overwhelmed when I see the whole picture because I also so all the details and even when I'm really scared-even if I cry because I'm really scared- I truly don't want to quit! We had really great rest of the day on the beach and in the evening headed down to Atlantic City to walk the boardwalk! We tried one slot machine...lost our five bucks, got some amazing pizza and had a beautiful evening together! Sunday morning we headed out, made a quick stop at a little historic town called Smithville and walked around a little then, headed home! So thankful to have gotten away for a few days with my man! I love you Darryl! Thanks for staying by my side babe!