"We kiss the sweetest of Snickerdoodles, and teach the fragile Butterflies how to fly..."

"We kiss the sweetest of Snickerdoodles, and teach the fragile Butterflies how to fly..."

Monday, September 29, 2008

Our Road Trip~Day Three












Date: Saturday, September 20th

States Passed Through: Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri

Location of lodging for the night: Days Inn, Columbia, Missouri

Thoughts on the trip so far: We woke up so early, packed up the camping stuff, and drove as far as possible so we could make it to the Omaha Zoo before lunch...we did!!! It was so nice to have that time, stretching our legs and seeing so many animals that we had never seen before!! The pictures are just some of the better ones taken...we had so much fun! The rest of the day was productive driving-wise, but the kids didn't do that wonderful. The scenery was pretty though :)

Dinner: Wendy's, Columbia, Missouri

Our Road Trip~Day Two






Date: Friday, September 19th

States Passed Through: Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska

Location of Lodging for the night: Camping in a tent, at a campground next to the Sutherland Reservoir, Nebraska

Thoughts on the trip so far: Utah is nasty. We didn't stop once inside the state! :) Once we got into Wyoming, it was pretty much same-old-same-old...flat, dry, not very pretty for most the state. It made me tired :P The boys do really good when we first get in the car...then their first nap is good, and then we eat lunch at Bear River Park...with a playground...yes!! When we get back in the car, its AWFUL! About 2 hours of dreadful children, and its pretty nice when they finally have their second nap! :) I am really missing that DVD charger cord!! We went through a car wash...it was awesome! I don't think any of us could have had more fun..better than any ride at the fair! Nebraska is nicer, a bit more green.

Dinner: Burger King, in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Our Road Trip~Day One





Date: Thursday, September 18th

States passed through: Washington, Oregon, Idaho

Location of lodging for the night: Budget Inn, Rupert, Idaho

Thoughts on the trip so far: Things are flat, dry-looking, and pretty much boring. We realized that the wrong cord was brought for the DVD player, and we can only watch 1 hour worth of dvd's (not good when little kids need some distraction). We stopped a couple times for gas, and got pretty far considering we didn't leave North Bend until 11am! :) The sunset was beautiful!!

Dinner: Pizza with dad, Izzy, Sam, and us. We ate on the road :P

Sunday, August 3, 2008


Ella & Jason

Peekaboo! Jason & Tyler


Tyler standing up


Best buddies...Jason & cousin Nicholas

Thursday, July 24, 2008

An Update!

Well, things are going well! We are living a my parents house (in that ol' familiar trailer), and continuing to wait on the Lord to work everything out for us moving.

Unfortunately we are not able to have daily access to a computer, hence my not updating with pictures and blogs.

Jason is loving it up here, but we have been needing to regulate his excursions on motor vehicles...meaning quads and motorcycles. Poor Jonathan is constantly in demand for a ride, but I can't really take him during the day, so that is just what needs to be done!

Jonathan has been having quite the time of his life down at the lake. After fishing down there off of logs, and losing tons of lures, the boys (meaning my cousins Micah & Josh, brother Sam, Jonathan and his brother Timothy) decided to go scuba diving to find lures..and they have made quite alot of conquests! I had the opportunity with Izzy to snag one of their masks and snorkels, and it was so cool!! This lake is littered with hundreds of fallen logs, and apparently 3 people have died, and the local rumor is that the bodies were never recovered....oohh...scary! I can understand why though. Getting snagged on a log is always a posibility...which is why I stayed on the surface except for once, when I found my first fishing lure!!! YAAY!

Tyler is almost walking now :) He stands up straight from the floor and it is so funny to watch him do it! He walks around furniture, and crawls SO fast, but so far he just doesn't deem walking a necessary action.
He waves "Bye" and "Hi", and says "Bye" too! He says "Momma", and "Dadda", but it is few and far between when you can get him to say them. His favorite noise to make is this low-chest grunt that is SO funny! Jason said the other day, "Mommy, I heard Tyler, and he said, 'Uhh.' ", to which he did an exact immitation of Tyler's grunt...so cute!!!

I spend my days doing motherly things, such as cleaning, dishes, laundry, and keeping my cuties out of grandma's hair :) We usually stay in the trailer until lunch when daddy comes home for a bit...then we play outside, then take naps, then visit grandma and all the kids until daddy come home from work.
My latest venture is doing cloth-diapers for Tyler. It is SO much fun!!! They are a new fangled thing called "all-in-one pockets", these ones are specifically called fuzzi-bunz. They have fleece that goes against baby's bottom, and poly-urethane laminat (PUL) on the outside which is soft too. You put an insert in the pocket between the two fabrics. Its not all lumpy like the classic cloth-diapers...and they are so easy to snap closed! Saving money has never felt so good! ;)

I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but its dificult these days because of computers. I'll make it work soon though!

An Update!

Well, things are going well! We are living a my parents house (in that ol' familiar trailer), and continuing to wait on the Lord to work everything out for us moving.

Unfortunately we are not able to have daily access to a computer, hence my not updating with pictures and blogs.

Jason is loving it up here, but we have been needing to regulate his excursions on motor vehicles...meaning quads and motorcycles. Poor Jonathan is constantly in demand for a ride, but I can't really take him during the day, so that is just what needs to be done!

Jonathan has been having quite the time of his life down at the lake. After fishing down there off of logs, and losing tons of lures, the boys (meaning my cousins Micah & Josh, brother Sam, Jonathan and his brother Timothy) decided to go scuba diving to find lures..and they have made quite alot of conquests! I had the opportunity with Izzy to snag one of their masks and snorkels, and it was so cool!! This lake is littered with hundreds of fallen logs, and apparently 3 people have died, and the local rumor is that the bodies were never recovered....oohh...scary! I can understand why though. Getting snagged on a log is always a posibility...which is why I stayed on the surface except for once, when I found my first fishing lure!!! YAAY!

Tyler is almost walking now :) He stands up straight from the floor and it is so funny to watch him do it! He walks around furniture, and crawls SO fast, but so far he just doesn't deem walking a necessary action.
He waves "Bye" and "Hi", and says "Bye" too! He says "Momma", and "Dadda", but it is few and far between when you can get him to say them. His favorite noise to make is this low-chest grunt that is SO funny! Jason said the other day, "Mommy, I heard Tyler, and he said, 'Uhh.' ", to which he did an exact immitation of Tyler's grunt...so cute!!!

I spend my days doing motherly things, such as cleaning, dishes, laundry, and keeping my cuties out of grandma's hair :) We usually stay in the trailer until lunch when daddy comes home for a bit...then we play outside, then take naps, then visit grandma and all the kids until daddy come home from work.
My latest venture is doing cloth-diapers for Tyler. It is SO much fun!!! They are a new fangled thing called "all-in-one pockets", these ones are specifically called fuzzi-bunz. They have fleece that goes against baby's bottom, and poly-urethane laminat (PUL) on the outside which is soft too. You put an insert in the pocket between the two fabrics. Its not all lumpy like the classic cloth-diapers...and they are so easy to snap closed! Saving money has never felt so good! ;)

I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but its dificult these days because of computers. I'll make it work soon though!

Monday, June 2, 2008

As The Lord Directs...






We have felt like we have been in a real fog over the past year, just out of place and fighting to keep our relationship with the Lord alive. Our marriage has been hugely effected lately also...not seriously or anything...just the types of things that show up when you are off track in other areas of your life, and in your relationship with the Lord.

Amidst this struggle, we have really cried out to the Him for wisdom as to why we feel this "Fog" as I put it, between ourselves and Him. Out of the blue, and totally separately from each other, the Lord started bringing up things about North Carolina to us. Burdens to pray for the church, little reminders of things, relevant scriptures regarding being in the right place that God wants you to recieve more of his blessings, a strong desire to run from infuences on our kids from this area, and so much more. I couldn't stand it anymore, so Jonathan & I compared notes, and found that we had both been having our hearts pulled back to North Carolina, the church there, the people, our famly there, and just the spiritual blessings that we recieved when we were there.

So, Jonathan flew back in April, to see if the Lord would open some doors, and did he ever! (by the way, the flight had 1 seat left at a fantastic price, and after prayer and asking for work off, the next day that 1 seat was still available!). While he was there, we were reminded of a prophesy 3 years ago, that one of our elders gave...that we would drive back to North Carolina from here, in a mini-van. We laughed it off then, because we had both sworn to never EVER get a mini van (yeah...we have a white mini van now).
After a week of seeking the Lord, and recieving words from him and clear direction to move back, we decided to go ahead and go wherever the Lord wanted us...even if it has definite negatives such as being away from immediate family, and a church we really like, and a good job.
So, off we go! We knew it would probably be at the end of summer, but the definite date has only just recently been considered. We are taking this one really seriously and slowly, but definitely moving forward as the Lord directs.

We are moving onto my mom and dad's property, and will live there to save on rent until we leave! Quite the adventure :)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Another Trip to the Zoo


Wow, Zoo passes are amazing. We have had a wonderful time using it the past 2 years, and getting some really great photos and experiences with the animals.





This trip, we took the two youngest of Jon's sisters, Naomi & Faith, and Timothy, one of Jonathan's younger brothers with us. We got to see the newest baby Gorilla...and she was so tiny! I didn't realize how small they are. She is 1 week younger than Tyler, which means she was about 6 months old when we saw her, and she was still itty-bitty!! Here's some pictures of Her:



Fishing Trip, May 2008























It was fun having so many people there, Steven & Andrea and their kids, Mom and dad and their kids, Us, Micah Collins (my cousin), Grandpa Mayfield, and Daniel Hawkins (my brother-in-law). The fishing wasn't that great, but there were a couple fish caught!



Special memories:

1) Jason Throwing his hat in the water, and watching it sink to an untimely death

2) Jason falling in the water, and being totally submerged as Jonathan grabbed his shirt and pulled him from the depths....of 1 ft. of water.

3) Caleb's face as he reeled in his first fish

4) Using the bathroom with Andrea & Izzy behind the inflatable boat, between my car and Andrea's car, which Jonathan and Steven were "sleeping" in with the kids. Hmm...somehow I have a memory from years ago, of mooning a car at Dusty lake....

5) As always, sitting around the campfire roasting things, and telling old stories and memories

6) Singing hymns with mom, dad, and Izzy late at night around the burning coals, while almost everyone was asleep

7) Jason waking up in the morning, shouting, "I'm Awake!! Hey Everyone, I'm awake! I'm gonna throw my hat in the water."

8) Doing the quiz game on the shore with everyone while fishing

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Jonathan's Trip to North Carolina

The Band
Jon & Blake
Jon & Andy
Jon & Micah
Sweet Tea & Mellow Yellow