Happy Father's Day!

Although Kyle was in Brazil over Father's Day we couldn't just skip it all together... He is way to good of a dad not to get a bit of attention for it! Here are just a few highlights from our late Father's Day celebration.

When daddy got home he was handed 8 tickets. Each ticket had one of the following words/phrases on it: family movie, movie with mom, dinner, dessert , devotions, tuck in time, bath time and presentation for you! He was told to put them in the order he would like the evening to go in, sit on the couch and be prepared to do nothing.

Here are some pictures of the fun...

He picked bath time first, followed by a family movie.

Next was dinner.

Presentation:

(which was Adison singing You belong with me and the big 3 doing a little Father's Day rap)

Dessert:

They are capable of being so much cuter but I feel like a bad mom if I don't let the kids help.

Adia made this plate for him about 5 years ago and we still put it to good use.

Next was devotions, tuck in time and then we fell asleep nice and cozy on the couch during the redemption of his movie with mom ticket.

It was a fun night for an awesome dad who our family is beyond blessed to be led by!

For discussion box that night the question was tell us your top 3 things you love about your dad... to end this I think I will list as many of them as I can remember.

Adia - He takes good care of us, He taught me to snow board and he is a very kind person.

Avery - He works hard, he loves me and he plays with me.

Kenyon - He fights me, he is funny and he loves me.

Adison - I am a princess, daddy is a prince and I love daddy!

Kaden - Daddy's truck

Mom - He is truly a good person and such a great example to our children.

He loves Jesus and follows him well.

He is very patient which serves the children and I well!

He's Back!

5 very excited children waiting to find daddy!!!

Stupid mom was waiting at the wrong escalator and so daddy found us instead... but Adia was the first to see him so she won the first hug. Mom on the other hand stayed busy taking pictures to help keep the flow of tears under control!!!

I love how Kyle parents (most of the time).

You will notice in both the above and below picture he has a flat/gentle hand on his girls

and a tight squeeze on the boys!

wait in line Avery... he's a very popular guy!

I know it's blurry but you have to love the facial hair.

It's already gone and he looks like a clean CA boy again!

I love my big family!

And I really LOVE when we are ALL together!

More to come on the trip later...

for now our reunion is enough!

So Busy...

Although I feel like I have blogged a ton lately there a quite a few things I don't want to leave out... after all this blog has become my journal. So here are a few fun things we have been up to.

While Kristen and Mike were getting to know Baby Mike at the hospital we got to hang out with big sister Taylor. We had a lot of fun with her and she fit right into our crazy household.

If you give a Kenyon a paint brush, he will invite Adison to join him, who will then invite Kaden and a baby to finger paint and a simple art project for Kenyon and Adison turned into finger painting for the little ones.
and of course that turned into water play for all! Oh and it was actually really cold outside - the kids were purple by the time I forced clean up/bath time.

We poisoned 3 bunnies who we watched slowly die - very traumatizing (except for Kenyon who was begging to cut into one to see it's heart and brains). Thankfully we found a new little bunny and nice bunny hutch so this one can't get out and eat the poisonous flowers in our backyard. This new little one is super sweet!

Avery is turning into quite the little helper these days and a bit like Jeckel and Hyde (sp???). She can be the sweetest big sister ever and in an instant she can be so vicious with her words and expressions. But in pictures I will focus on the positive side of who she is!

It's pretty cool that Kaden has been able to ride a razor scooter well since about 18 months. But the night before Kyle left for Brazil his tricks ended with an ER trip.

taken on Kyle's blackberry while waiting for the stitches. He was in such a good mood and being so goofy while he waited. Of course that all ended with they wrapped him like a burrito and sewed him up!

6 stitches and a few days later...

Aunt Stacey is here right now babysitting me. We are having a great time chatting into the wee hours of the night (as in I only got 3 hours of sleep last night) and managing our crazy kids during the day. It's fun to see how close they are getting. DJ, Adison and Kenyon get along so well while Gavin and Kaden just hurt eachother and cause problems when let in a room at the same time - total seperation for them!

a rare moment of peace for these two... food really helps that.

Summer Sun means lots of nakedness, outside time and of course sticky kids covered in juicy watermelon! Yum!

My flash is broken right now and you can see by the awful lighting that this was taken in the evening. I had actually put both of these trouble makers to bed and after hearing a few giggles around 10:30 I go upstairs to find this!

Today was Day 1 for our church's annual Arts Camp. Adia is now officially a shepard rather than a sheep... meaning she is a leader instead of a kid participating. She was an amazing little leader at camp!

Grandma and Papa came to take Adia to the Western States Horse Show.

Adia and Ashley cowgirled up!

Papa & Kaden
And of course she talked Papa into taking her to Joe's Crab Shack for a nice/nasty dinner. Daddy will be so proud!

Our princess is in full bloom and this is her official response to "Adiosn smile for the picture". IT always icludes putting her hands together, blinking non-stop and if she is standing one leg always has a pointed little foot. Funny side note on that picture... when Avery saw it she says "Mom, why does she always do that when you take her picture?" me -"well, she thinks she is a princess" Avery - "why, her moms not a queen and her dads not a king".... avery is always so to the point.

Daddy may be gone but I NEVER sleep alone! Not that I am opposed to sleeping alone - I'm just not given the luxury and to be honest I kind of like it! I love waking up to a bed full of cute and clean little monsters. It makes me smile when I am getting ready to see all of them hurled all over my bed. Plus if it were empty then I would be all the more thinking who is supposed to be there and I miss Kyle enough without that. :)

Both of the next 2 pictures are taken the same day... they are just on opposite sides of the bed. I was somewhere in the middle.

Volleyball season is over... we made these treats for the team's last game. Adia really LOVED her team this year and is going to miss the girls a bunch. They are all older than her and will be moving up to an older team next year.

There are a few more things I want to put on here but for now these will do because the othe stuff deserves a whole post.

My Hero...

Have I ever told you that Kyle is truly my HERO!

He has the hugest heart and I love that about him! Right now he is leading a group from our church down to Sao Paulo, Brazil where they will meet up with our church families ministry partners, Restoration Ministries, and take a large group of kids from the slums out to a rural area for a weekend getaway (and do a mini vbs program), then during the week they are going to teach some great lessons to kids in different neighborhoods, visit peoples homes who need prayer and to end they are taking the ministry leaders (who are much overworked) to a beach retreat and do some leadership building as well as teachings on spiritual disciplines and things of that nature.

This year the trip has been especially hard for us timing wise and Kyle really didn't want to go. He didn't feel like it would be good for his newly moved business or our family. But after much prayer and discusion he/we (and Stpeh) knew God would handle the details and he had to go (or the trip wouldn't happen). It's been cute to hear him keep asking me to please show Kaden his picture while he's gone (as if he might forget him). He seemed a bit stressed leading up to it and has encountered a few difficulties on the way (including his wife injuring her back badly and his baby boy injuring his face - just what he needed was trip to the ER the night before he leaves - next post will update you on that) but he never wavers and I love that. I know this team is going to be a HUGE blessing to the ministry and I am so proud of Kyle and all of them for doing this. This is the first year he isn't the only guy on the trip and actually there are moy boys than girls. Kyle seemed to feel it was a very strong goup and they each bring something really huge to offer the children and staff.

Here is a video from his last trip... skip about a minute or two and you will see more of what they do. The begining is a church service and there is a lot of them singing and then it's a game they played where they had to eat a cracker and the first to whistle wins!

And I thought I would share a few pictures of our first missions trip - to Honduras. This was such an awesome trip and where God really opened our eyes for the first time to the reality of the world we live in. I'm so grateful for opportunities like this and I can't wait to see what else God brings our way! Although I can get a bit scared. :) And even though I have only been on one of these with Kyle I feel like I learn so much just by processing with him each time he returns.

Where is little Adia?

Please keep Kyle and the whole team in your prayers.

Also me and the kids... we won't be seeing him for another 15 days!

Last PCS Field Trip :(

I got to join Adia's class on the last field trip for the year. They went to a park in Folsom that had a great bike trail and also a large grassy area where they could fly the new kites they had just made at school. Although she won't be going back to the school again in the fall (i think) it was a huge blessing for us to have her there this past semester and we will miss these wonderful and super fun kids for sure!

Ready for the ride!

Adia & Kylee getting ready to ride...

none of the girls wore their helmets until the very last minute!
Adison and I had a great time hanging out and playing at the park while the big kids went on the bike ride. It was so fun to be with her without any of her siblings for most of the day. She was SO GOOD and it encouraged me as a mother to see her obey so well and be so kind!

Plus, who wouldn't enjoy hanging out with this super cutie who thinks she is a real princess and LOVES having her picture taken. I have said it many times that this girl is so pretty on the outside but not so much on the inside - well, not on this trip! She was an angel!

The class had fun flying the kites they made.

They did a fun team building exercise where you get all knoted up with eachother and have to undo the knot without letting go of eachother. Fun to watch for sure! And Adia is always so animated!

Of course my little tomboy started a water fight with a friend!

And she may look like she is getting old but she's still a fun loving little girl who loves to play at the park and get pushed on the tire swing!
5th grade girls RULE!

Thanking God for a safe trip and for the good food one of the moms brought for everyone!

We will miss Providence Christian for sure... Adia's class was so fun and so perfect for what we needed in this crazy season of our life!

Thank you Mrs. Sept for being the best teacher Adia has ever had!