McKenzie Laughs

Here is McKenzie laughing. Ismael (Bethany's nephew is making her laugh)

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started out extremely eventful. After the kids had opened their Santa present and their stockings, Landon went out to play. About 10 minutes after playing outside we hear the front door open and Landon's voice quivering "Dad!". Once I heard that voice, I knew that something was wrong. It turns out Landon had stepped on a rusty sewing needle, which resulted in a "quick" trip to the ER on Christmas morning.

Here is the needle sticking out of his shoe

The x-ray

Here is my poor boy hooked up to an IV. They had to give him antibiotics through an IV due to the fact that the needle went through his shoe. Apparently it's much worse to step on a needle through your shoe then barefoot due to the bacteria in your shoe.

Prior to the hospital incident, the kids opened their presents from Santa.

After we got home from the hospital my parents, sisters and their families came down for dinner. We had a nice time together. And, look who is sitting up

And, starting to crawl

Unfortunately, I was sick over Christmas and so was Dan. I realized while looking over my Christmas pictures that I don't have any of Allie and Maddie from Christmas Day. In fact, the day ended with Landon and I asleep on the floor. I guess the day was just too much for the both of us.

Christmas Eve

Okay, another two months since I have posted. This is ridiculous! I am going to be flat out honest and say that I don't feel like posting now but I know if I don't get it done, I just won't. I'm trying to be happy and upbeat, but I don't feel it this week. I actually just wish this week would hurry up and be over with. I could go into all that, but I will save that for December 31st. For now, I need to blog about Christmas.

First off was our Christmas Eve service. Can I tell you how proud I am of these two? Dan has been signing quite regularly at church and this time, Matt (Pastor) wanted him to do a duet with Julie (Matt's wife). Only thing is Julie hasn't sung in public and Dan has never done a duet. These two worked so hard and it turned out beautiful. They sung Christmas Offering and it was amazing. Made us all stop and think about the true reason for Christmas.

Ky and I even had a small part in the service. I had to speak (thankfully Matt had it all scripted for me) and Ky got to light a candle. It really was such a nice service with so many people contributing. It was a great reminder that during this time of year, it's not about the gifts, the goodies made or getting everything done. It's about stopping and remembering about that baby that was born to save us all. I really enjoyed the service and the time spent with our awesome church family!

After church we headed over to my mom's house for Christmas Eve to open presents. We had so much fun.

Look what Kyleigh got!

Dan got one too, and I'm loving watching these two figure their guitars out. It's so much fun having music in the house, makes me want to play the piano again, we'll see.

Ms. McKenzie was not impressed by the guitars and went fast to sleep

Apparently this post is mostly about Dan and Ky, but these pics are just too darn cute not to share.

Christmas Eve was a very blessed evening. Christmas Day proved to be interesting, and there were moments where I had to look for the blessings.

Happy Birthday McKenzie!

The kids made this special sign for her :)

Somebody turned 1 on Friday! There are a million things to say, a million feelings to write and so much to think about. I thought I might write about how I feel about this precious child, how the year of her life has affected me. I think at some point, it needs to be said but for today, I think I will just say


Happy Birthday McKenzie Brooke!

I love this photo of my sister. She's trying to keep herself composed after she opened the gift I got for McKenzie's birthday. It was a collage of all the little moments in Kenzie's first year and underneath the pictures it just simply says "miracle". The thing is, when you have a child who isn't supposed to live, nothing is little.

Amy even came by for a visit, which was awesome. She had the touch that night and McKenzie was content to just sleep the evening away. Maddie & Allie even got to open the presents since McKenzie was sleeping :)

I love you McKenzie, to the moon and back, and back to the moon again. I'm so thankful to be your aunt. At some point I will write more about what this year has been like, about how I can look back on the months before you were born and see how we were being prepared for you. You amaze me constantly. I don't know why I was chosen to have a very special nephew and a very special niece and then two more wonderful nieces. My life if filled to the fullest with you four. I love you!

Thank you!

One year ago today, our home caught fire. It was one of the scariest nights of my life. Little did I know the road it would take our family down, the trials we would overcome but most of all we were shown love.

When I look back on that day, I am always amazed at the people who loved us. Don't get me wrong, I always knew my friends and family were amazing, but when you are literally down to nothing, including no home, no clothes and really no belongings, the people who say they love you, are put to the test to show it. The people who I am blessed to have around me did not disappoint. God has blessed me with people that are loving, humble, giving and encouraging. Despite busy schedules some of my best friends (and, you know who you are) allowed us to sleep in their home, did our laundry, drove miles to give our children clothes, spent days going through our smoke filled, damaged home and helped me throw everything away, categorized what we lost, brought us food, meals, called me from thousands of miles every day to check up on us, took my children to movies so I could do what needed to be done, gave us a long term place to live, sent us care packages and above all you lifted us up in prayer. We felt your love, even those that wanted to be with us, but couldn't, we felt you. I knew we were never alone.

I look back during that period of time, I was on auto pilot, I did what had to be done but I look back and I see how at times I was too exhausted to even pray, but God still answered my unasked prayers by the people who we share our lives with. I can barely repay any of the love you guys have shown, but I won't ever forget it and I am so very, very thankful and humbled.

Another thing that amazes me is that some friends of ours let us live in this wonderful little manufactured home during the 3 1/2 months we were out of ours. It was in the country and was surrounded by beautiful cherry trees. It was so quiet and peaceful. Truthfully, I hated it there. I just wanted to be home. It was smaller then our own home and I couldn't sleep. I was thankful for the place to live but I didn't practice being grateful. Yesterday my kids told me how being in that home was their best Christmas memories and that if they had a choice, they would live there. Wow! I need to learn from them. They truly turned that period of time into an adventure and they lived it to the fullest.

Thank you for loving us!!

We spent today making new memories in our remolded home with my nieces and family. Here are just some crazy pics from the day.

There is so much more to add to this story. Including the unexpected birth, 6 weeks early, of our miracle baby..but, that's for a day 5 days from now. I'll be back to expand the story.

First Days of School

Okay, so here's the deal. I really want this blog for my family. I think it is so important because we don't have photo albums, scrapbook or do anything to preserve our memories. I have been telling myself that I have to do all of July and August to get caught up, but reality is that I'm just not getting it done..so, I'm going to move on. I hope that at some point I can go back and write about July & August, because I have some great photos and we did some super fun stuff, but by waiting I'm missing out on writing about what's going on right now.

Kyleigh is now a freshman. Wow! Time flies..so..fast! She is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out. Dan and I are so proud of the person she has become. It's interesting raising a teenager, especially one in high school, but overall we are loving it. She's enjoying school and doing a good job balancing everything she has to deal with. The first day of school was a little scary. She didn't want to get out of the car and at one point even told me she had super glued her butt to my carseat, but eventually she did get out :) I'm sure she loves me telling you this, but I want to remember it!

Here she is on the first day.

Landon started middle school. It was so hard to drop my baby boy off at that school. He did great though. The last two years have been very hard on Landon. Elementary school was starting to be a bad option for him, and if he had to go back there even for one more year, I don't know what we would have done. I have been praying and praying that 6th grade would be a turning point for him, and I believe it has been. He is proud of what he is accomplishing, he is enjoying his teachers and the flexibility middle school has to offer. It's tough, he's had about 1 1/2 hours of homework every night, but he's doing it. I realize it's only been about 2 weeks but he brought home his progress report today and he had an A+, A, B and one grade we won't mention but that will be brought up by tomorrow. :)

Tristyn started 2nd grade. She is doing so well. She is a fantastic student. Last year her teacher told me that if every student was a Tristyn, she would be thrilled :) Tristyn loves her friends, loves being chased by boys and loves everything to do with school. She is so busy now with dance, soccer and her social schedule - I almost need a separate calender just to keep up with her. but she loves it.

Here are Landon & Tristyn on their first day of school

4th of July!

Somebody....Amy...reminded me that I haven't done our July pics yet and it's the end of August. I've been thinking about this alot so decided to start with our 4th of July and hopefully I can keep going every night this week with an update and get myself caught up. We'll see. Maybe if Amy keeps prodding me, I will succumb to the peer pressure and get it done :)


4th of July was awesome! Maddie & Allie had not been to a big fireworks show and normally we would go to Hood River, but I had heard a rumor and talked to more people and learned that Rufus has a decent show without the crazy crowds so we decided to give it a shot. We left around 4 and headed to Le Page park for a picnic. We had a total blast. It was the best decision. We played for several hours in the water and just had a great time.

Uncle Dan did his tradition of swinging the baby! He hadn't done this with McKenzie yet, and she's now big enough, so she went for a little ride.

Of course, Tristyn loves to pose, but she looks so darn cute! :)

They had a great little playground in the middle of the park. The kids loved it. Here's Landon helping Allie up.

Tristyn got to the top...and posed :)

Aunt Bethany saw how much fun it was and she couldn't resist it either :)

After a fun day at the park, we found our way to the Rufus Rock Quarry and waited for the firework show. Dan thought it would be fun for Tristyn to wait up on the suburban.

Dan relaxing on his bike.


Dan and his other biker chick.

Here is a random pic just to show that there were people here besides Tristyn. Man all the pics are of Tristyn.

McKenzie actually slept through the whole thing. I was amazed!

We have decided to do this every year because it's so low key. The show only lasted about 20 minutes, which is perfect for little ones. I was so happy someone told me about going there instead of Hood River. It was a great family night.

June: It's A Long One

So, this could be a long one. I keep promising a few people that I will keep up on the blog only I just can't seem to find the time. I think it's so important for my family though, so I'm going to try and do better. The winter/spring was so hard on us that my goal for the summer is to have as much fun as possible and to play hard. We have been very, very busy. I'm going to do June at a glance and then will do July at a glance and then will hopefully be back on track.

Dan and I have been able to get a few rides in. I love being on the bike!

The first weekend we went to Bend, Oregon. It was our first family vacation in years, maybe ever. We had so much fun!! It was amazing to get away and to just play, play, play! I even got two hikes in. Everyone threw big fits (except Landon, he always loves to hike with me) but in the end, they thanked me for making them do it. The scenery was well worth it.
Dan and the kids enjoyed lots of pool time in Bend
Someone very special got a brand new smile!
Kyleigh graduated from 8th grade!! I officially have a high schooler...how did that happen???!! I can't tell you how proud we are of her. She is full of so much love, compassion and grace, with a little bit of teenage attitude thrown in :) I'm amazed by her. I know that the tough spots she has had to walk have turned her into this beautiful young woman, inside and out. What an absolute blessing she is.

Tristyn had her dance recital which is always so much fun. Her teacher is amazing and Tristyn loves dance! I even stole a few moments away with my favorite boy! I love taking little walks with him. He doesn't complain like his sisters and we have some great talks :)

I would say the best part of June was celebrating Father's Day with this little cutie. 10 months ago we didn't think we would see Father's Day but God has done miraculous things in her life and I think we will see many more to come!

This summer has been interesting so far. This is the first year that it has killed me daily to leave and go to work. I'm sad every day that I leave. I think alot of it has to do with the fire. We are all different then we were. It's a good different, we have grown and changed. We are so much closer now. All I want to do is spend all my time with them. It's a new "normal" but a good one. We have so much to be thankful for and with the addition of McKenze the blessings are multiplying with each grin and giggle.

So, hopefully the end of next week I will put July up. We've had some wonderful things going on this month too! I can't wait to share.

If you made it through all of this, I'm very impressed :)

Mother's Day

I know, I know, I said I was going to blog again and then I have turned into a total flake. I'm obviously very far behind and we've had a lot going on. This was us on Mother's Day. Dan told me to pick what I wanted to do and they would all do it - WITHOUT COMPLAINING! So, of course I picked hiking and it turned out to be the absolute perfect day.

This is Latourell Falls. It's up the Old Highway in the Gortge. It's the perfect hike because it's so easy and no one can complain or whine about it. It's paved and there is a wonderful picnic area at the end of it.

This is a cool little bridge that you stand on as you are looking at the falls.

Here is Dan & I at the picnic area.
We also went to Bridal Veil Falls. I hadn't been there since before Dan and I were married and the path had been destroyed. They have it all restored now and it is a beautiful hike.

It really was such great day and I'm so thankful that the weather held and we were able to have fun together.