Sammi is 3 months old!

Our little peanut is growing up! She may be petite, but she is really getting the rolls and filling out. She is finding her hand and beginning to giggle. She is a terribly alert little girl and watches everything that is going on around her. The girls love to carry on conversations with her little babbles. So adorable!

May Day

My mom encouraged the girls to celebrate May Day (May 1st) by making a vase out of a paper cone and delivering flowers to our neighbors. Well the girls really took this to heart and so we went ahead and made our vases and picked flowers from the back yard and the girls delivered them in the rain to our neighbors. They LOVED doing this and wanted to do it again every day for the next week!

Chris Graduates!

After almost 4 long years, 2 children and 6 jobs later, Chris's Masters is done, he finally did it! He graduated on May 9th with a Masters degree in Leadership and Organizational Studies. He walked across stage at Fresno Pacific University and then we celebrated with friends and family at House of Kabob afterwards. Way to go, Chris!

We Planted a Garden

We finally got our garden planted. I've been wanting to experiment with a garden for the girls for a couple of years now, and we finally did it. We have a few different herbs: dill, oregano, rosemary, parsley, basil and mint. We also planted veggies: carrots, lettuce, peas and beans. I'm excited to see if we get anything this year!

Family Weekends

God has blessed us with 2 jobs for Chris to invest in: The Well Missions Dept. as well as the night dean at the Institute of Technology. Though this is a great provision for us, it doesn't leave us with much time as a family during the week. So we decided that we would make our weekends really count for us. Our first getaway was to Bass Lake for an afternoon....a stormy afternoon.

Then we decided to go up to Palo Alto for a service project that a church was holding at a school in Menlo Park. We helped garden, paint and produce artwork for the campus beautifucation project. It was a chilly day, but a wonderful reason to get out of the valley. We all had a great time and the helpers there couldn't believe we came all the way from Fresno to help them with thier serve day. We just needed a place to go and serve.

Chris's hours for both jobs keep him busy from 8am - 11:00pm Mon -Thurs. The only way I can keep sane through this is knowing that we have a weekend family getaway to look forward to. We haven't been able to get away every weekend, but we make them a priority to spend time together.

10th Anniversary Trip to San Francisco

Chris and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on April 17th. Reminiscent of our dating days, Chris had the whole thing planned and wanted to surprise me. He drove me (and Sam) to Dublin where we dropped our car off and hopped on the BART. What a great way to get into the city. We arrived in downtown San Fran and a block from our hotel...the same hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon...and he had arranged for the same room we had 10 years ago as well. What a treat! Then we dined at the Moroccan Restaurant that we fell in love with all those years ago too! What a great evening.

Here is how we set Sammy up for night. She loved her "crib."

The hotel was completely renovated with a total modern feel.

The next day we slept in til 10am and had a nice brunch and started taking a beautiful walk around the city. We climbed many hills and ended up at Pier 39 where we watched street performers and enjoyed people-watching. After a nice dinner and a trolley ride back to our hotel, we headed to the BART and made our way home.

Samantha was with us (as you can see in almost every picture) and did amazingly well. She slept practically the whole time because she was in the sling from morning til night. It was great, but we got some pretty strange looks...people were curious as to what I was carrying.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to go back! We decided to make the San Fran trip, with the hotel and the moroccan food an annual event. Next time...without kids :)

Happy Easter!

We had everyone over for an easter egg hunt. That is Emma and Ty as well as Dylan on the trike.

Sammy is 2 months old

Samatha is 2 months old...

OH, the trials and tribulations of being the youngest of 4!

A Weekend Away

With the help of my parents and a wonderful connection from thier friends, I was able to treat Chris to a weekend away to Carmel. Some friends of my folks offered them thier house on the coast for a weekend and, knowing that I wanted to take Chris away, they invited us along. Chris and I celebrated the completion of his Masters Degree as well as our 10th anniversary...and just, well, a much needed break from the stresses of reality. We had incredible weather and the chance to have an uninterrupted conversation. Mom and Dad watched Sammy while we went for walks and had a nice dinner, it was GREAT!