Shamrock Farm

My boys together at Shamrock Farms - waiting for the tour bus

Pretending to be cows - they all kind of have a look on their face like "why is the lady making up do this?"

Grayson, Davis and their friend Isaiah.

The boys and I went to Shamrock Farm today for a tour of their dairy. It was very interesting and I think the boys thought it was pretty cool to see how they get milk from cows. I asked Davis what he liked best and he said that he liked seeing the tractors working by the barn and eating lunch with his friends . . . so obviously the fascinating dairy part didn't leave a huge impression. One of the sweetest parts of the day, for me, was watching Davis play with friends he doesn't get to see very often. Davis usually only feels bold if he is in the comfort zone of Eli or other buddies he is used to being around. He has become good friends with Isaiah at BSF this year and they palled around together for most of the day. He even lined up and got on the tour bus on his own with is friends without insisting I be in the same place with him (average for most kids maybe, but a BIG deal for Davis). He seemed very old, but it made me glad to see him growing in confidence and being a good friend to the other kids. I guess he IS ready for school next year . . sniff, sniff :)

Finally Home

Uncle Andy and I in 2005

Uncle Andy and I at his 90th Birthday party last year

A couple days after Easter my Uncle Andy died and went home to be with Jesus. I loved him very much and will miss him very much. While I will be sad that he is gone, it has been amazing to me over this past week to imagine what it must be like to be where he is and to be able to see Jesus with his eyes and be in God's presence. When I have been listening to my favorite worship songs my mind has reflected on what joy there is for him to be able to praise God in heaven right now at this very moment. I'm so grateful for the hope and expectation God's gives us as believers of our future in heaven and knowing my uncle is experiencing that this instant grows a desire for that in my own heart.

My Uncle Andy loved Jesus very much and sharing the gospel was very important to him. What I love about being at the funeral of believers is to hear about the ways that their ministries touched the lives of so many people - things I never even knew about them when they were here. One of the things that was said at his funeral that has stayed on my mind was the pastor's comments on our perspective about heaven. He said that you usually hear it said that when one dies they have gone from the land of living into land of death. He explained that this is really backwards. Because of sin, we are all now in the land of the dying, all moving toward an eventual death. Because my Uncle Andy knew Jesus, he has left this land of the dying and is NOW in the land of living. What a great check on my perspective. Thank you Jesus for the precious gift of a heritage of faith that You have allowed in my family.

Easter Celebrations

Our family all dressed up for Easter

Evie and I at our worship service outside at Tempe Town lake - such a beautiful time of praising God with the Body

Cousins at Mike and Jo Ann's house for brunch

The boys together with Buzz and Billie in the afternoon

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!

Time to die Easter eggs. The boys were super excited but after breaking three and them getting tired of the idea - we only got eight colored eggs, but that is okay.

Davis

Parker

Grayson with a banana to keep him occupied. There is no way I was letting this crazy monkey get his hands on eggs or colored dye!! He is quite the busy, mess maker these days. . . into EVERYTHING!!

We are very excited to celebrate Jesus tomorrow with our church for a morning service outside and then several stops to be with all of our families.

Disneyland

Our family on the ferris wheel

A highlight for Parker - meeting Buzz Lightyear - His costume really was very cool and real looking

Grayson absolute faves were the carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride

The only picture Mark and I took together - copied from the ride on the roller coaster at CA Adventure - lame - why do we not take more pictures together?? Thank you to Aunt April for keeping track of all three boys so we could ride this together!!

Our family with Buzz and Billie

Family Picture at the main gate

Parker in Toon Town

Davis in Toon Town

We spent this past weekend in Disneyland celebrating my mother-in-law's 60th birthday with most of Mark's extended family. The boys remembered a lot and anticipated certain things because they were there for the first time last fall so it was super fun to see them so excited to go back. Davis loved the Matterhorn again. Parker said that the Matterhorn was his favorite but you should have seen how opposed he was to going on before we road. Glad he left it with good memories. In reality - I think his fave was Dumbo (he repeated asked for that ride and the line was SO SO long) and meeting some of his favorite characters - Buzz, Woody, Chip and Dale. Grayson didn't love the characters as much this visit. He was much more afraid of them but he LOVED the carousel. We definitely go our money's worth on that ride. He seriously probably rode it more than 50 times in the course of the trip. He also started saying a new word. (He only has about 6 consistent words - they are reserved for things he really loves - "mom, dad, eli, papa, davis and all done"). I didn't realize what he was saying at first but then the sign language helped me interpret . . "RO RO-O-O" was begging for another churro. Ah yes, a child after his father's own heart for sure. My husband brings cash specifically designated for his churro consumption. Another particularly great treat of the trip was the amount of time we got to spend with April. She flew in to surprise Billie and was without kiddos in toe so she spent most of the time trooping around with us. My boys loved the undivided attention from Aunt April :) In a group that size we didn't get to really see other family members as much as we had hoped but I think everyone had a really great time. Our little crew definitely did!!

Papa

watching Papa work on his taxes :)

Grayson had some pretty sweet bonding time with my dad this week in CA. He has been super attached to me as of late (even more than usual:) so it can be a little difficult to pull him away sometimes. My dad was persistent and won him over. He even started saying Papa really well - he says something more like "BaaPoh" which sounds really cute to me. He doesn't say too many words so I like hearing him start to say things that people other than me can understand. We are so blessed to have times like this to spend with my mom and dad.

Who could say no to that face :)

This is a stance I see about fifty times a day - he wants to be held :) And I couldn't possibly love him more than I do so I hold him - most of the time. So what would one try when they think that their crying baby is keeping everyone up: (I didn't realize what I was setting myself up for on the last post because nursing him didn't cross my mind - obviously it crossed most of your minds - some how I managed to peg myself as the woman who nurses forever . . not too sure how that happened, but I don't really care - I did love to nurse my babies:)

- I gave him multiple cups of warm milk (back fire on the throwing up issue)

- I jammed myself in the closet that he was sleeping in to rub his back and sing to him

- I tried to get him to lay down on the twin bed I was sleeping in but he was only willing to lay on my head not on the bed - so that was awkward and uncomfortable

- I paced around the room holding him

- I read him books

- I finally put him in his bed and when he started to cry again, I resorted to telling him that crying was disobeying mommy

See - and you guys had it worked up as something so much worse :) I guess I was feeling like a push over for letting him attempt to sleep smashed against my face. It was a mixture of pressure to get him to stop crying and love for my sweet boy AND he was kind of sick.