Alive and Kicking

We are having a fun summer so far! Craig got out of school on Friday so we are sleeping in a little bit and getting some projects finished. We are looking forward to camping, playing at the park, Roaring Springs, Vacation Bible school and a trip to Alaska (just the 2 of us!). Here are a few snapshots of the last few months...

Father's Day is coming soon, so Rylie decided that Craig needed a "Dad" hat. Craig was very impressed and plans on wearing it a lot this summer.


Rylie graduated from preschool a few weeks ago. She had a wonderful year and we just registered her for kindergarten today at Compass. She is very ready, but I still can't believe our little girl is growing up and going to school.



Rylie learned how to ride a two wheel bike and she is so excited to show everyone her mad skills. She is on her bike everyday with the kids in the neighborhood and we are planning on taking some bike rides this summer.


Ella's training wheel broke on her "big girl bike" so she has resorted to riding the trike. She still looks like she is enjoying herself.


Craig is learning how to ride a two wheel bike also!


Happy Easter! We are so thankful that Christ died for our sins and made a way for us to be with Him for eternity. I can't imagine my life without Christ!



My prayer this summer is from a song from church called Give Me Faith- Elevation Worship (it is on my song list):

I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you to open my eyes
To see that you're shaping my life

All I am, I surrender

Chorus
Give me faith to trust what you say
That you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside I give you my life

I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you to pierce through the dark
And cleanse every part of me

I may be weak
Your spirit strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will

Happy President's Day!

So I wouldn't really say that we celebrate President's Day every year, except for the fact that Craig gets a day off from school. Now that Rylie is in preschool she comes home with all sorts of fun projects and knowledge. It was fun to hear her recite the Pledge of Allegiance and tell us all about the American flag. They also made these hilarious hats and wore star sunglasses. In our opinion, Mrs. Berge is the best preschool teacher ever!!!! So after learning all about America, Rylie decided that she wanted to make her own flag and of course Ella does whatever Rylie does. They turned out so cute! Just remember to pray for our country and our leaders right now with all the turmoil we are in- the economy, education, health care etc. It gives me peace to know that God is in complete control!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas 2010 and a New Year

Merry Christmas! Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas with friends and family. We are so thankful that God loves us enough to send his son to be born and then die for our sin!!!! We have had an eventful Christmas Break this year! Rylie had her first dance recital and loved every minute of it! Thanks to those of you that came and supported her! She was tapping away and she acted so grown up!!! Once we made it through preschool programs and parties it was time for a break. Craig has three weeks off at Christmas and we had a really fun time together just relaxing. We enjoyed the three days of Christmas with our families. Ella's favorite gift was her Zhu Zhu pet, Rylie loved her dress that had a matching dress for her doll (http://www.alilfluff.blogspot.com/) and of course they loved their pillow pets. My big gift this year from various members of my extended family (and my husband) was a new sewing machine!!! I am working on my first project- a pair of pajama pants. It is fun and challenging at the same time, but I am looking forward to making some fun things for the girls and for friends and family. Rylie and I had the privilege of going to see the Rockettes. Some kind people gave us tickets to go and we had a really fun girl's day!!!! Craig's brother Matt was in town for Christmas so we did a murder mystery dinner with Craig's siblings. It was fun to dress up, hang out together and to hear everyone's new accents. Usually for New Year's Eve we are at the cabin, but we decided to stay home this year. We have some good friends that had moved to McCall and came back. So we had a blast playing games with them and our kids enjoyed having a slumber party!!! We also got to go on a date and at the end of the week, we went to a Stampede game (Craig's team played earlier in the day at the Qwest Arena). Craig is coaching the JV and Varsity this year at Compass. It has been fun to see how much they have improved from last year. I am so proud of him as a coach, but most of all for always having a positive attitude and teaching his guys how to have good character. Happy 2011! We have already seen God provide for us this year and we are waiting in anticipation for all he is going to do in our lives to teach us, grow us closer to Him and use us in other people's lives!

The Funny Things They Say...

So we laugh a lot at Ella when she tries to learn new words like cutetips (for her ears). But lately Rylie has been cracking us up with her explanations of things. I just put the song Stuck Like Glue on the blog and Rylie loved it. She snaps, dances and sings the song. Yesterday she was trying to figure out what stuck like glue actually meant. "So mom when you are stuck like glue that means you are married forever right. So you and daddy are stuck like glue. Mimi and Boppa are stuck like glue." And then she came to the people we know that aren't married yet and said that they are not stuck like glue to anyone yet. I love her philosophy on love!

Then this morning she was explaining to Ella what guts are. She told her that they are in mommies tummy and that when she was in mommies tummy she was in their with my guts.

It is fun to see them try and figure out life's mysteries.

The Blur of the Last few Months

I am having to do posts in 2 month chunks because I am so behind! Well let's see...Rylie turned 5 in September and we decided to take her to Chuckie Cheese. Both Craig and I had grown up going there and Rylie loved it! Now when we ask her where she wants to go on a date or to do something special she always chooses Chuckie Cheese! For her birthday we gave her ballet lessons. She has been asking to be in ballet for the last year, so we thought she could give it a try. She is very serious and practices a lot at home. One morning when Craig was on fall break we had a leaping contest. Rylie chose Craig as the winner because his leg was the straightest. I disagree but I am going to be the bigger woman. We are praying that God will use these opportunities for Rylie to reach out to people and show them who He is in whatever talents He gives her! My mom, sister, and sister-in-law all went to Spokane over Halloween weekend for the Beth Moore conference. It was an awesome time of worship and teaching about unity. Then we raced back so I could go trick or treating with the girls. For Rylie's preschool Halloween party they dressed up in BSU colors and for actual Halloween they dressed up like Ballerinas (no camera-sorry). Last weekend we went up to the cabin so that Craig could do a little bit of hunt'in (as he calls it). He didn't get an elk this year, but he is hoping to get a deer in the next couple weekends. It has been a crazy couple months, but Rylie loves being in preschool and Ella has been busy wearing my make-up and talking up a storm. It all goes by so fast, sometimes you just need to stop and thank the Lord for all you have!!!!

August Happenings (with a little bit of September)

Wow, I will try to get better at blogging as the year goes on. We went with our Bible Study to a cabin in Donnelly and had a blast! We played on the water, sat on the back patio and just had a great time with friends! Our group has grown so much and we have two more little babies on the way (no not us)!!! Speaking of babies, my very best friend in the whole world that has moved to greener pastures (who I miss sooo much) just had a sweet little boy! We are so excited for them and know that the kids will continue to be friends even with a little distance between us! Over Labor Day we all went to the cabin in Lowman for a Dayton Family get together. It was fun to have everyone there. This is very rare and cozy! We wish Matt well on his newest adventure, at a camp on the Oregon Coast. And yes we of course watched the BSU game over Labor Day weekend! I found these awesome BSU pants at the thrifty store!!! Go Broncos(and Vandals, yes I have been a traitor and I will admit that I watch more Broncos games than Vandals games...)! So one of our biggest changes is that little Miss Rylie started preschool! She has five kids in her class and she has really enjoyed getting to know the other kids and loves her teacher!!!! They have gone on bear hunts, learned a lot of fun songs (that we sing over and over in the car) and she is becoming more independent (getting ready and packing her own backpack)! My little girl is growing up and I am not quite ready for it!