Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho....

I went into the boys' room this afternoon to see what they were up to. They had decided to break out their pirate stash. Everly was still down for her nap but when she woke up, Ransom came in dressed in all his pirate glory and greeted her with an "Arg". It didn't take Everly long to decide that she wanted to be a pirate too.

Seconds later, I had all three kids in pirate garb. All shouting "Arg!".

I do wonder if Everly is destine to have a life that is to be full of keeping up with her brothers. Hopefully, baby #4 will give her someone to play dolls with. Don't get me wrong, Everly is definitely all girl. She's only 21 months or so but you can tell that she's not like the boys...she cooks, she plays with dolls, etc. I don't even think playing pirate is a bad thing for girls to do. I just think she needs another girl to play with.

However, till baby #4 comes around, it will be Yo, ho, yo, ho. A pirates life for everybody.

Oh yeah, ignore the fact that the boys are in their skivvies...it's been hot here and we are fighting heat rashes.

Beyond Blessed

We have been down in the city planting a church for almost 2 years now (more if you count the prayer meetings that started before the actual church services). During those 2 years, Justin and I have been blessed so often.

Now there are plenty of times that we feel the love of our congregation but we were recently given something special by our church that really just went beyond anything we would think of and so naturally I'm going to post about it.

Our church knew that we were going up to Whistler for a vacation/Justin teaching at a retreat. They also knew that it was going to be our 7 year anniversary.The night before we left, which so happened to be a Sunday night, Justin was handed a card at the end of church. Inside that card were instructions. We were told that we were to take the gondolas (think ski lift, if you are a native Californian like me...when Justin first told me about the gondolas I pictured Venice and I was totally confused) up to the top of the mountain where we had reservations at a great restaurant. We then got to take the Peak 2 Peak Gondola which goes from Blackcomb mountain to Whistler mountain. All bought and paid for!

On Tuesday (our anniversary) we started on our adventure. We were curious as to how the kids would do on the gondolas. Logan we figured would be fine, we weren't too sure about Ransom, and Everly honestly I thought she'd be terrified. Thankfully all the kids loved it! I was nervous about Everly as she had to sit next to me instead of in my lap however, she did great. She sat totally still and pretty much alternated between saying "whee" and "trees". On our way up we got to see a black bear which everyone thought was pretty cool. That first gondola ride takes a decent while, maybe 20-30 minutes so by the time we got to the top we were ready to eat.

As I mentioned the church had made reservations for us at a great restaurant called Christine's. Food
was yummy and the view was amazing.

Then it was off to the Peak 2 Peak. This thing is totally insane. As I said, it goes from the Blackcomb to Whistler mountains. It's 2.73 miles across! It also breaks some world records, here's some Peak 2 Peak trivia:

• Longest unsupported span of 3.024 kilometres
• Highest lift of its kind at 436 metres above the valley floor
• Completes the longest continuous lift system on the globe

Not a photo of mine. Just one I got off of flickr (see photo source).
Not the same time of year either...but same concept, we just had no/less snow.

Craziest view ever! The boys loved it and decided to talk the ears off of two Canadian grandparents who happened to be in the gondola with us. Everly oddly was more reserved about this ride than the previous smaller, less secure gondola but then maybe it had to do with it being nap time for her as she basically crashed once we got to the other side.

After we got to the end, it was back down the mountain in another set of gondolas. Quite the long adventure but one that we won't soon be forgetting. We were truly blessed by our church.

Up in Whistler

This was a year that we didn't think we would be taking a vacation. It just didn't look like it was going to work out. However, Justin then was asked to teach at our church's high school retreat. Now our high school group can have some pretty swanky retreats. Sure they've done their usual camping trips like many youth groups but this one, their Whistler one, is pretty amazing.

If you've ever been to Whistler, you know that there isn't a single bad looking hotel. They are all over the top, amazing places! We realized that we could easily turn this teaching event into our family vacation (ah the joys of being a pastor's family).

So we loaded all of us up, put all three kids in the middle row for this trip (yay for Diono car seats!) and headed up north.

6 days of mostly relaxing (as much as you can do when Justin taught at night and I was still mom), no cooking breakfast or lunch, dinner was bought I just had to throw it together. Lots of friends. Tons of pool time, and some special highlights (which I'll cover in my next post because it's just that amazing).

We've been trying to get the boys used to the water and "swimming" for awhile now. It's a lot harder of a task in the pacific northwest than it is in sunny California! There's just not many days that are hot enough for swimming. We knew that Whistler would be a perfect time to get them swimming. Last year, we attempted this at our Bible College retreat. The boys have been told that if they want to go out to the floating trampoline then they must first swim all by themselves to a buoy (maybe 15 feet out). They are wearing life jackets and everything so they really aren't in any danger. Last year, Ransom did great. He made it to the buoy...and then freaked out because he realized he couldn't touch the bottom anymore. I had to go rescue him and bring him back. Logan however, would have none of it.

When we got up to Whistler I figured it'd be the same again; Ransom being more daring and Logan sitting in the shallow end. Wrong! Logan was the one who dived right in (ok, not literally dived in) and water wings and all was floating around the pool. Ransom was the one holding on to the edge and terrified to float. Eventually we got Ransom to float...barely. Enough to say he did it once and that was it. Logan was daring enough to want to attempt swimming without water wings...yeah, he quickly realized that it's quite a bit harder that way! He still loved swimming though. I think they'll be ready to touch that buoy when we go to the next Bible College retreat next month. Oh and Everly? Crazy girl didn't want to even touch the water. She preferred to sunbathe.

Ironically we went up to Whistler during this years Summer Olympics. Logan has been fascinated by this "thing that happens every 4 years" and so it was neat for him to see the Olympics on t.v (we don't' have t.v at home) and see all the leftover paraphernalia from when Whistler hosted the Olympics.

Whistler was a nice vacation and much needed as we are now back into our crazy daily life.

7 Year Itch? I Think Not!

Today I celebrated being married to the most wonderful man for 7 years. 7 years of course is that milestone that comes with the cliche the "7 year itch". Now I still have 364 more days so I suppose I could be jumping the gun a bit but I don't think we'll get that 7 year itch.

Justin and I are still a young couple. We were married when I was 20 and he was 22. However in our 7 years of marriage, I think we've accomplished quite a lot.



3, almost 4 kids

4 different homes

Becoming a SAHM

Going from an intern to youth pastor to pastor.

Moving to the city

Planting a church

Beginning homeschooling

I'm sure there are many more but those are definitely some of the big ones. Definitely some of the most stressful and yet we've gotten through it all.

I feel like despite being so young and despite being married for "just" 7 years (because let's face it, even though I might feel like that sounds like a long time, it's hardly much at all compared to many), I think we've had a rather "accelerated" marriage. In this day and age, it's rather odd for couples to get married young and then have kids right off the bat. Even if they do have kids quickly it's not too likely to find a couple that has more then 2 kids by the time they are married 7 years.

When it comes to that proverbial 7 year itch, I don't think we'll have one. If there is a 7 year itch, I have a feeling we probably passed it a long time ago. With all that we've accomplished and gone through, I think our marriage has stood the test of 7 years. It's not going anywhere.

New To the Blogging World?

If you are new to the blogging world, you might have no idea what a blog is all about. I'm going to try to explain a bit about what this blog is for and how to interact with it.

What this blog is:

Think of this blog as a journal. I will be posting "entries" as they come up and since this is public, you will get to read them. There is no hiding this journal under the bed!

What this blog is not:

This blog is not a place where anyone can type up blog posts or submit photos. I thought about opening it up to other family members but as I have my side and my husband's side of the family reading this blog, that just didn't seem logical since either side doesn't necessarily want to read about the in-laws family. I may however, open it up for my husband to write (if he wants to) and as my kids get older I will occasionally let them write. I can only imagine what Logan would have to write about! It could be quite entertaining.

What is that stuff on the sidebar?

The sidebar refers to anything to the (in this blog's case) right of the blog post text. The sidebar is an area for all the stuff that I'd like readers to see all the time and have easy access to. At the top of the sidebar, you'll see some "buttons". Currently I have an "About", "Subscribe", "Pinterest", and "Shop" button. You can click on any of these buttons and they will take you to their related sites.
For instance:
"About" takes you to a blog post that I wrote that gives you my family's basic bio.
"Subscribe" is how you can follow the blog via RSS or email. For a tutorial on subscribing click here.
"Pinterest" will take you to my personal Pinterest site because who doesn't love Pinterest.
"Shop" will take you to Amazon.com via my affiliate link. There's nothing special about the amazon link except that if you go to Amazon via my affiliate link (in this case the "Shop" button) I get a commission. I'll write more about my affiliate links later.

Below those buttons there are pictures of my family and then a Blog Archive. You can use the Blog Archive to find old posts if you missed some or are searching for a specific post.

There may eventually be more items added to the side bar but I'll clue you in on those as they are added.

How to interact with this blog:

Unlike a journal, you can comment on a blog. It's a bit like commenting on someones Facebook status; it will notify the writer and will let them know what you think. I am going to show you how to comment on a blog, just in case you've never commented on one before.

First click on the specific blog post (you can click on a specific post by clicking on the post's title). This will make sure that you are commenting on the correct post. At the bottom of the post, after all the text and my signature, you will see "Post a Comment" and under it a big white text box. This is where you get to write your comments. (see the photo to the left)

In order to have your name published with the comment, you will need to choose one of the options in the "Comment as" section. The first 6 selections all have to do with ways people follow blogs. If you already use these services then you will probably know what they are so I won't bother explaining them.

If you have no clue what those first 6 mean, then odds are good that you don't use them and so we won't bother with them. Instead you can choose the bottom 2 options. Name/URL will allow you to comment and leave your name (just click on Name/URL and it will pop up a screen for you to enter your info. I recommend just leaving the URL blank) If for some reason, you would rather be anonymous then just click anonymous and no body will know who you are when you comment.



Does that make sense? Is there anything else you would like to know?

Mommy Made Me Eat Cat Food

“Mommy made me eat cat food.”

I just recently found out that Ransom said this to someone. 

What?!!! Why in the world would this kid tell someone I made him eat cat food? I obviously have not made him eat cat food or anything resembling cat food. I have not made some sort of crazy kid snack and called it cat food even!

After hearing about this, I decided to grill him. My kids say some weird things and honestly if I don’t ask them why, I could never come to the proper reason myself.

Me: “Ransom, did you say that I made you eat cat food?”

Ransom: “Yes.”

Me: “Why? I’ve never made you eat cat food.”

Ransom: “You made me eat cat food when I was a baby.”

Me: …thinking and finally remembering. “You ate cat food when you were a baby but I didn’t make you. You decided to eat it.”

Ransom: “Oh. And I liked it?”

Me: “No, I don’t think you liked it.”

Ah ha! Mystery solved. I told the boys once that Ransom ate cat food when he was little. As most little kids do, he was crawling around and found some old cat food. Before I knew it the kid had eaten it. Yuck!

Now the odd thing is that it’s not like I told them that story recently. It’s probably been months since I told them about the cat food incident. How is it that my kids can have such an amazing memory and yet get the details so flawed? You’ve got to wonder what other horror stories they’ve told people!