we are blessed with summer

between grandpa and grandma's pool, neal and cyndie's boat, the beach, our porch and yard.... we are just soooooo overwhelmingly blessed with summer fun!



the gang on Neal and Cyndie's boat



Ems, Tim, Daisy and I on the tube



the girls on our back porch.. it's closed in so they hang out there lots while i am making meals.... Daisy is wearing her tshirt for Gow's softball team... it says 5.2 for the number. Gow is 5 and Sally is 5.1 =)



Daisy swimming in the pool - we probably swim at the pool 3-4 times a week.. it's heated and WONDERFUL.



Grandpa took a break from working to watch a bit of the girls post- lunch movie with them.
you can see how wiped out the girls are... with running around in the summer heat... they are often zonked by movie time. =)

so gow had yesterday and today off from work.
we are attempting to conquer some yard work... BIG job here at our home.

and tomorrow he is expecting a short project from Big Idea- Veggie Tales- to work on over the weekend. fun to have some Veggie Work again! and big blessing as it came at a time that he had off from his Milw. client.

our honda odyssey hunt continues.... haven't found the right one for the right price yet....please keep praying.

k. better go check on the girls in our lil wadding pool in the front... gow is clipping bushes out there and best work on some lunch too. =)

happy summer y'all!
Praising God for sooo many blessings!

disneyland pix

Disneyland! the Happiest Place on Earth! =)
we had such a blast!

we went with buela, buelo, auntie Katy, uncle Greg and Taylor...... and just really enjoyed it all!

i think the girls' favorites were meeting the princesses (HUGE HIT), its a small world (i think they would have been happy to just repeat that OVER AND OVER again. =)) and the parade.

Gow's fave (i think) was the Nemo submarine ride or the Indiana Jones ride

and my fave was for sure the parade! it was phenomenal!



Sally with Jasmine. The girls got to hug, kiss and talk with Jasmine, Snow White, Ariel, Lady Emma (who told them all about going to Princess School AFTER college), Minnie, Mickey and Pluto. They saw a TON more in the parade.. which was EXCEPTIONAL..... more pix on that to come.



the girls in the Princess Land.... =)



waiting to meet minnie was our longest line... but as you can see... the girls were THRILLED to squeeze her.



tea party at Minnie's house



tea cups fam pix... we did the actual ride, but this was a better photo opt.



Story time with Belle.... she was great and the girls were enamored.



the end of a WONDERFUL day... the girls with buela and buelo watching the fireworks.

by the way.... we were driving home from church tonight and Sally said, "mom, i want to go see Buela in California." =) we are blessed by such GREAT fam! we miss you buelos! and auntie katy and uncle greg we can NOT wait till you bring Tay to our place!



zonked. we did disney from about 10am-10:30ish pm to watch the fireworks and then walk back to our hotel (maybe 10-15 min walk). all of us were wishing we could jump in a stroller to be pushed home as well. =) we had a FANTASTIC time and was sooo well worth the $$.

that concludes my photos of our cali trip.... kat and sharon have given me theirs as well... so i will go thru and pick out a few of the best to share... it was just such a fun fun trip!

on the home front....

we had church at camp this morning.... fun to be all together in church as gow wasn't leading worship and there wasn't childcare. then had a small meeting for reg. church with great worship with gow.

we are hot on the trail of a honda odyssey that we are both pretty excited about. please be praying for wisdom and guidance......

we are also looking at how to cut somethings out, better manage time etc for life..... please be praying for that. we have been a bit stressed and just over booked for the last lil bit... please pray for wisdom and determination to make some changes even if it's hard.

a bummer of a note... we came back from vacay to find that our neighbors are moving.
boooo. they have become good friends, with two girls close in age to our girls, and are moving in less than a week! God be blessing them as they go... but big bummer for us.

k. summer is back here.. nice and warm again... with hopes of doing some work in our overgrown yard this week. =)

night!

friday....

ah, it's friday.
we made it thru the week of "post vacay reality". =)

this week was full of laundry, gow having long days in milw., me being tired from the SWEET vacation + growing a baby in my belly and the girls adjusting back to our time zone.

it has been refreshing to have cooler temps, some beautiful rain storms and cloudy days.

gow has finished work and worship... so... let the weekend begin!

here are some pix of our time with the paynes in long beach..



i have missed my sweet elizabeth sooo very much!



felips and nat taking the girls to play in the water. it was coldish and foggy, but we all had a good time and the girls (my fault) ended up soaked to their armpits. =) running and chasing the waves.



e and sal. just so super happy to spend time together.



the payne girls (amber, nat and logan's sammie)with our girls... made me cry just being there together.



can you see how into this story they are with Nat? Nat just graduated with her education degree... she is a NATURAL!

just had a super yummy supper at Neal and Cyndie, complete with a sally and daisy's first family softball game! =) and now headed for a movie night with Gow! halelujah for moments of rest

good night all.

cold front with rain

today was sally's first day of swim lessons at the lake with her buddy Ela.
and it is actually cold-ish... and rainy. =)
needless to say we had a fun time at the beach, sally did actually take her teacher's hand and get wet... but then the tears and body shakes from the cold came. =)
hopefully it will be warm and sunny on monday! =)

we are also suppose to have a youth group pool party tonight... we will see how THAT turns out. =)



Sal on the rock by Alpine offices.



gow and the girls taking a snack break at Alpine while Buelo and Uncle Greg play horse shoes. =)



Buela, Tay and Kat playing some soccer on the Alpine field.
We went to Alpine, the Covey camp i grew up on, one morning to let everyone run around and play. I strolled down memory lane... and just basked in "being home".



Daisy with the flowers at the Village... the Village surprised and disappointed me... maybe 1/6 of the shops were filled and about 1/10th of them even open. what happened?



but Suzanne Malone and her sweet Riley bee-bopped over for a visit. Sally and Riley quickly became buds! we fed the ducks/fish together and had some Mcds' ice cream. =)



a fun fam pix... with a not so cooperative sal. =) at the village by Papagayos.



one naptime, John went out hiking around with me. we did the rocks behind our first house and then went on the indian village/now paintball hiking path. again... memories, memories, memories. bless my inlaws for putting up with my stories and sometimes quiet as i just remembered.



driving from santa ana to san diego to the hill... gave the girls lots of quality car time. daisy is doing "chubby" here. =)


k. more to come.....

please be praying for wisdom as we are now looking for a honda odyssey. =)

loves-

our vacay to cali

hello all- yes, i have fallen off the face of the earth.
and i am back. =)

i was super sick/yucko with gowanito/a #3 for about 3 1/2 weeks, then prepping for our vacation and then we were ON vacation. so... i am gonna attempt to jump back into the world o bloggin as i am now feeling much much better and have TONS o pix to share. =)



the airport... we flew to santa ana, Ca and then drove to san diego for Uncle Cookie and Fancy Nancy (Uncle Caleb and Auntie Nancy's) wedding.



our lil fam with the lady and gent of the weekend! this was after the rehearsal, and just before the Chinese Tea Ceremony and Rehearsal Dinner. Nancy was INCREDIBLY beautiful and relaxed the whole weekend and the two of them made the whole weekend super super fun. it was a joy and an honor to be there!



buela reading to tay tay (Kat and Greg's sweet lady - 4 months younger than dk) and the girls at the hotel.



Sally got to spend some extra time with "fancy nancy" as Nancy and "Auntie Ice Cream" (Nancy's sis, Denise) took the two flower girls out for a manicure and pedicure and then ice cream the day before the wedding!



just a peek at how BEAUTIFUL Nance and the whole wedding was! more pix to come!