Benjamin's 2nd Birthday

We had a family birthday party for Benjamin the day before his real birthday. And he had a Thomas party as he loves Thomas and trains right now.

I made the cakes and mom decorated the Thomas cake. Which was way more work for her! 

Mom's #2 cookies

#2 Birthday pancakes on his actual birthday

He got a train table for his birthday and Michael put it together that afternoon. He was excited!
It's hard to believe that 2 years has already flown by. Happy birthday Buddy!

California

We went to visit our friends in Monterey, CA at the beginning of last month. I wanted to go during Tim's deployment to be there for them and before Benjamin's birthday so he wouldn't have to have a ticket.

Whew! I was up at 4:30AM to head out. 

Thankfully, none of our flights were full and Benjamin got his own seat on all legs of the flights coming and going. The kids traveled well and people were kind along the way. 

Em picked us up and Isabella was thrilled to ride in their van again with a DVD player. Haha! Our first stop was In and Out. Then we went home so the kids could play and nap and get settled. After naps we drove out to a bay where there is a lot of wildlife and watched otters and seals swimming.

For dinner we ate at Phil's fish market. Isabella put a pin in the map for the state we came from.

Phil's is famous for their Cioppiano from beating Bobbi Flay on the food network. It was REALLY good.

We spent a day in Big Sur. The views were incredible!

These cows were grazing on this hill overlooking the ocean that just dropped off. Those cows are so lucky they wake up to that view every day!! :)

We stopped for lunch at Nepenthe. Everything we tried was great!

After lunch we hiked to this waterfall.

(Isabella was totally freaked out that Hannah is holding a roly poly in her hand...)
And then we headed to a beach.

There was a great area on the side of this beach where the water made a little river but there weren't waves. The kids played there the whole time.

Our last full day there we went to a beach in Pacific Grove that has tide pools. We saw sea stars, anemones, and some crabs.

The water was SO cold. But she didn't care.

I wanted to try a few local  coffee shops. The fog breaker at Creama was delicious! A vanilla latte with honey and topped with cinnamon.

We took some pictures for each other our last night.

We had some time before our flight the next day. I tried a new coffee place and we took the kids to a super fun park to play and my kids had their first happy meals. Then we drove to San Jose to begin our trip home.

Isabella sang to Benjamin to try to get him to sleep on the plane. He was super active the whole first flight and I had to work to keep him entertained. And then he fell asleep on the descent in to Phoenix. So I had to carry him off the plane completely dead weight and asleep and get our stroller and carry on bags. But we made it. It was almost 11PM by time we got home and got them to bed. They were exhausted. We had a great trip and did some other fun things I forgot to take pictures of and spent time just at their house and playing at the parks in their neighborhood. We are missing our friends a lot- Isabella talks about the Rolling kids all the time. I'm so grateful we were able to go!

Willis Family

I'm behind in posting lots of things, but I had this session last week the night before we went out of town. The session was for the baby's first birthday, but they also wanted some of all the kids. The kids were awesome and I had a great time. It was cloudy when we first started but then the stars aligned and there was some golden light. Happy birthday Aleigha!

Grief has a way of popping up and reminding you that its there sometimes when you aren't thinking of it. Waves of grief can come on anniversary days, birthdays, or be constant during painful times. And other times it pops up randomly, reminding you that part of your heart feels broken over that person or event that happened. Today I was making bread and setting it out to rise. And that made me think about Jesus and how for the last couple weeks we've been talking a lot about Jesus raising from the dead, and how grateful I am for that sacrifice and gift.
 And as I was thinking about death and resurrection, overwhelming sadness for the death of Valencia came over me. I've cried on and off the last couple of weeks. But not like this. I'm grateful that her pain and suffering has ended. And she now walks in the comfort of our sweet risen Savior. I am grateful that in the sadness there is some peace knowing she is with the Lord.

Valencia, I think about you every day and pray for your Mom and brother every morning that they will have the strength to get through the day. I read the words on the stone from you every day and feel inspired by your courage and unwavering faith as you learned of your diagnosis and bravely walked that journey. You touched so many people with your life and the gifts God gave you. The light of your life shines on even though you are gone. I will join you there.