Just the Two of Us

Who Needs Blue Bell?

2012-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Oh dear me, was my sweet tooth in hyper mode last night. Typically, when I'm craving something sweet, it is NOT chocolate. It's either ice cream or something fruity...usually lemon or strawberry flavored. And we didn't have a thing to satisfy it in this house. Bummer.

But then the Lord heard my cry and whaddya know? He sent down manna from heaven! Just kidding =) But seriously, we did get about 10 inches of this...

Snow!!

So what do you do with 10 inches of snow all around you? You make snow cream of course!

So I went outside and gathered up a bowl of pure, WHITE snow! No yellow stuff for this girl, ha!

See? Told you it was white.

Bring in the other key players...milk, sugar, & vanilla.

Mix 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, & 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until the sugar dissolves.

Then slowly add the snow to your mixture while constantly stirring. (About 4-5 cups of snow total). Stir until it thickens up just like ice cream.

Sprinkle...

...and enjoy!

Yum!! Better than good ol' Blue Bell...almost. =)

I loved it so much that I went right back outside and gathered up another large bowl of snow to put in the freezer for later on tonight when I'm sure that sweet tooth will return. =)

Blessed

2012-01-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

My family has never really been into the whole "picture taking" thing. Oh sure, there are tons of pictures of me and my little sister, but we were never really into documenting much in photographs until two things happened...(1) I moved to Washington and (2) Dad got sick.

Now we try to get pictures every time we're together...at least one family photo anyway. =)

I was looking back over our last few shots together and I had alot of thoughts, but the loudest thought of all was thinking about how blessed we are to be together, all of us. I am so very thankful for that - more thankful that I have ever been in my entire life.

Time with my family is so very precious to me and I cherish every single moment, no matter how big or small. That is one blessing that living so far away has brought to us, we cherish each other even more. Although I miss them terribly and there will always be tears at the airport, and I will always wish they were here with me, there is definitely truth to the saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Here are our family pictures from the last couple of years. You will definitely notice how much my Dad has changed and how the cancer aged him so rapidly. I am praying everyday and remaining confident that God is going to heal him, that this disease will be cured and taken away forever. I believe it. It is my heart's greatest desire. It's what I blow out my candles every year wishing. It's what I wish when an eyelash falls out and you hold it between your finger and your thumb. It's what I think about every time I see the clock turn 11:11. Silly, right? Not to this girl. It reminds me to "Pray without ceasing."

I love my family so much. I am blessed to belong to them. Blessed indeed.

Thanksgiving 2009

Summer 2010

Christmas 2010

Summer 2011

Christmas 2011

And yes, my sweet husband is aware that he is wearing the same shirt in both the first photograph and the last, he pointed it out himself. He says he's going to retire it, ha! I guess we'll see in the next photo. :)

A Two-Horse Open Sleigh, Hey!

2011-12-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
On a one horse open sleigh.

I've never really known if it is actually fun to ride on a one horse open sleigh...until yesterday!

My birthday present from my sweetheart was a trip to the Bavarian town of Leavenworth, Washington complete with a sleigh ride and everything!

Our very own sleigh!

One of our beautiful horses, Darlene.

And here's the seat just for us!

Here we go!!

It turned out to be a two-horse open sleigh, but that's okay. I'll just have to sing the lyrics a little bit differently from now on. =)

Not a problem.

So excited!

And we're off!
Dashing through the snow...

It was such fun! When our sleigh ride was over, we went inside this rustic tent to warm up with some hot cider and cocoa and hover around the fire...perfect.

Then we went into the heart of Leavenworth to enjoy the Christmas festivities.

Charming, isn't it?

We went inside this store and sure enough, the name of the store held true - it was "My Favorite Place." We purchased a few of my new favorite things there.

Then it was time to gather around town square for the Christmas tree lighting.

Oooo...look at all the pretty lights!

And it didn't stop there, they lit up the entire town.

And now, here are one of those "new favorite things" we purchased today.

Don't you just love it? I sure do and even more, I love the person that I will always keep falling in love with. I am a blessed girl to be married to Derek Thomas. He sure does make my heart happy. Thanks for making my birthday a super special one - I love you!!

The Best Kind of Ugly

2011-12-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas sweaters! There are a gazillion of them and what one person may see as adorable, there are those of us who see it as the perfect ugly sweater for a party! And that's just the kind of partying we did with our LIFE Group on Monday night. Too much fun!!

**Please don't be offended if you see one of your beloved sweaters in these photos.**

Me & My Handsome, Tacky Husband =)

Our wonderfully tacky friends!

Vance & Molly

Jon & Stephanie

Jason & Rebekah

Eli...such a deep thinker in his pretty snowflake vest.

Justin & Sarah

Mary-Hayden & Isabella

This was Isabella's reaction to "Look at the camera, say cheese." She said, "NOOOOOO!" Love that girl!

And because the back of both mine and Mary-Hayden's sweaters were so much more awesome than the front, we had to get a picture.

Look closely, Mary-Hayden's animals have actual tails...awesome!

And winner of the tackiest outfit of the night...CR! (Here with his lovely wife Tara.)

Check out those red pants! CR found them in the women's section at the Salvation Army and was pretty proud of the fact that he is a women's size 14 - said he even tried them on before purchasing them, bet that turned some heads!

In fact, three of the fellas were wearing women's sweaters. Can't you tell?

First we played the present stealing game, "Dirty Santa," which we learned is called "White Elephant" here in the Northwest...lame. Derek came home with a box of coal. Well, not actual coal but a box of black bubble gum, ha! I got a really neat new dice game called "Pass the Pigs." Fun!

Then we played a rousing game of Pictionary - Christmas Carol Edition.

Isabella got us started.

Here you can see that beautiful smile she was hiding earlier.

Most abstract of the night...this one. Can you guess what it might be?

If you guessed "Santa Clause is Coming To Town" you guessed correctly. Only Vance will know the true interpretation of his artwork.

CR was pretty creative to get the guys to guess "Let It Snow."

See it? Lettuce + Snow = Let it Snow

I didn't get a picture of it, but I had to get my girls to guess "O Come All Ye Faithful." So what did I draw? A geyser shooting up in the middle of Bethlehem. Nice, right? Our new friend Carole guessed it and I was so proud!

Here's a random group shot that I think pretty much sums up the night.

Everyone is smiling and laughing and just having a merry ol' time. That's what life is like with these incredible people. We love our LIFE Group and we're so lucky to have such amazing friends. They are a blessing and we are so thankful for them!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

My little buddy Levi will have his very first birthday on December 19th. On Saturday, we got to celebrate his birthday and it was oh-so-fun! Levi is the son of one of my very best friends, Laura, & I am soooo crazy about this little guy. I just wanted to share with you the highlight of the party (as with all first birthdays) the eating of the cake.

Enjoy!

Adorable.

Thankful

2011-11-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love Thanksgiving! I love setting aside time to give thanks to God for His many, many blessings. I love spending time with family and friends. And of course I love, love, love the food! We were so appreciative to Kyle and Terry for hosting a Thanksgiving celebration in their home and inviting us to come. It was a fantastic day! I sure hope you had a most wonderful day as well and I sure hope your dinner was as yummy as mine...

Okay, so this wasn't exactly my Thanksgiving dinner. But it was an appetizer course prepared just for me by this handsome fellow...

...Chef Ryne! These days if Ryne is happy to see you, you know it right away. He has the gift of making you feel like the most special person in the room and I love him oh-so-much!!

Onto the real grub!

When you get 38 people together, you are sure to have a feast! Yum!!

We even had three kinds of turkey. Here is Kristy's roasted turkey, Kyle did a smoked turkey, and Derek and I brought a fried turkey. I sampled all three and just couldn't pick a winner - they were delicioso!

And who could leave out desserts?? Mmmm, Mmmm....

We even had our choice of where we wanted to enjoy our feast!

In the living room...

In the garage...

You can see who ended up with this prime spot =) All of the sweet kiddos and sweet, sweet Mrs. Sue who is my friend Kristy's Mom and grandmother to four of the kiddos represented.

Avery was so proud of her turkey leg =)

And Joshua really really really wanted his picture taken - he is sooo adorable!

Or you could go with the traditional dining room...

We opted for spot #3 by default since that's where we found two chairs together unclaimed by anyone else =)

Then I went back to check on the kiddos in the garage and Mrs. Sue had them busily working on a Thanksgiving craft.

Here is Kade's finished product - too cute!

Jace was pretty proud of his turkey, too. =)

Before all of our Thanksgiving celebrations were over, Adri rounded everybody up for a group photo. So here are the people we were blessed to spend our Thanksgiving with (minus the fourteen others who had already left). It is so wonderful to get to do life with such amazing people. I think it's just amazing that outside of serving Jesus, we wouldn't know each other. God brought us all to the Northwest in different ways and brought us together through our desire to serve Him. Wow...

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

Now, for one more thing...

Since most stores were opening at midnight on Black Friday, I somehow managed to convince Derek that it would be fun to just go out and see what we could find.

He looks convinced, right? Ha!

No seriously, he was pretty excited about and had no idea what to expect since this was his first Black Friday experience. We decided to try Target first but when we arrived at midnight, we found a line wrapped around the store and the adjoining movie theater...and they were entering the store at a snail's pace. So we teamed up with our friends Vance & Molly and decided to go to Wal-Mart just across town since they opened at 10 p.m. About an hour later we returned to Target and were able to park and walk in without any trouble. We weren't really out for anything in particular but we did come home with a few movies, a couple of card games, a scarf, an air mattress, and...

...the basics, ha! It was the least crowded I have EVER seen the grocery section. =) Hooray for Black Friday success!!

Now I get to spend today just relaxing and enjoying the view.

Perfect.

(And cheering for the Tigers, of course.)

Up to Date...

2011-11-14T23:34:00.000-08:00

Gosh, can you tell school is back in session and I am back in full-time teaching mode?? It's not that I haven't had time to blog, there just really hasn't been much to blog about. Life has been just wonderful and we are truly feeling blessed. We spend our weekdays working and our weekends enjoying each other's company. But I do have a few things to share with you if you're interested. So get ready, it's all so very exciting, ha!

We got to see one of our most favorite bands in concert - The David Crowder Band! They were in Seattle on their "7 Tour."

They've been one of our favorite bands forever and since this was their last tour, it was both exciting and sad at the same time...bittersweet. I was teary as the concert ended, but I am so glad we got to be there.

Fall arrived...and boy is it gorgeous! I got a few pictures of some gorgeous trees before this past weekend's storm blew through and took the majority of the leaves with it.

So far, this fall reminds me of the first fall we spent in Washington (Which was three years ago, can you believe that??) Our first fall wasn't very rainy and this one hasn't been either. We've had some spectacular days and I am once again in love with this state and once again in awe of our amazing Creator! And I must say that having some clear days for kiddos to get to play outside sure makes this preschool teacher happy!

We decided to become hippies and bought a van and are now living down by the river...

Just kidding =) But we did enjoy dressing up as hippies on Halloween and having a fun night with our LIFE Group. We spend every Monday night doing LIFE and Bible study with a group of fabulous people that we love dearly!!

I fell in love with these boots...I'm sure their style will come back around. Until then, I'll just enjoy breaking them out for costume parties. =)

Derek and I hit a big milestone...November 2 marked the anniversary of our very first date...10 years ago!! Yep, 10 years!! I am so blessed that I have been dating my best friend for the last ten years. We are more in love today than ever and I am anxiously looking forward to many, many, many more years of dating. Love you babe!

Well, I think that about does it - that's all the happenings in our world lately. We've had some fun times in between like bowling nights and game nights with friends, but I don't want to scare anyone by taking pictures everywhere we go...they might not invite me anymore if I do that, ha! Looking forward to our next adventure...who knows what it might be?? =)

Getting Crafty With My Friends

2011-10-02T10:43:00.001-07:00

My friend Sarah is a pro at "all things crafty." Seriously, she's amazing and every time I am at her house, I want to channel some of her craftiness! Sarah had an awesome idea to put together a wreath craft night for us girls so that we could get together, have fun, eat (alot), and make some fabulous decorations!

Looks like hot glue heaven, and this was before anyone else arrived to add their glue guns and supplies to the mix.

Lots of hard-working, crafty ladies =)

Here's my finished product - a wreath made of split peas! It took an awful lot of glue to get those little guys stuck on there!

My inspiration for the colors came from my door mat - I really wanted a wreath that I could display all year instead of just fall.

Looks pretty cute hanging on our red door, in my opinion. And I must say that I am a wee bit proud =)

And just look at what my friends made!

Tara's gorgeous fall wreath.

Shelly & MaryAnn's burlap wreaths.

Kristy's cute rosette wreath - she made all of those rosettes herself!

Mary-Hayden and her adorable Halloween wreath.

Rebekah, Emily, and Sarah with their finished wreaths made of coffee filters.

Most of us girls are obsessed with the website, Pinterest, and I think we all brought a Pinterest-inspired recipe to share.

Here's mine - Pumpkin Pie Dip...soooo yummy!

And I also made these Salsa Roll-Ups. My trusty taste-testing husband loved them so much I had to make extras for him =)

It was a fun night and one that I think will be repeated in the future. I sure am thankful to be surrounded by such amazing girls - such a HUGE blessing in my life! Thanks, Sarah, for being such a wonderful hostess and a fantastic friend!

Wrapping Up Summer...Sort Of

2011-09-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

I hesitate to say that we are "wrapping up summer" because this very week we are having the warmest weather we have had all year! We might even hit 90 tomorrow! Summer in the Northwest is more pleasant than summer anywhere else...seriously. The skies are clear, the temps are mild, and it is so enjoyable to be outside. And frankly, if summer wants to hang around into what is supposed to be fall, you won't find this southern girl complaining - not one bit.

This has been one of the best summers I can remember. I really don't enjoy looking back over summer break and wondering where it went...feeling like it flew right past me. I can definitely look back on summer 2011 and remember exactly how I spent it, and boy was it fun!

Here are some highlights of Summer Vacation 2011:

- We got to take a little trip to a new place, Las Vegas!!
- I got to fulfill a 20 year old dream...
- G & Zack spent a week with us and we got have lots of adventures!
- We welcomed Tesa & Tyce Lewallen into our lives.
- We had ten wonderful days with Mom.
- Finally made it to Mt. St. Helen's!
- Celebrated Derek's "Halfway to 50" birthday!
- I got to spend a week back home so that I could go to Texas with my parents, share some good times with family, and see Jared play varsity football.

What a fabulous summer!! Now school is back in full swing, but we did get to squeeze in a few more adventures before summer vacation ended...

We made another day trip out to the Northwest Trek and enjoyed a view of some animals we didn't get the last time we were there. The weather was much more cooperative and the animals were out and ready to be seen.

I'll spare you the rest...you've seen it before =)

We gathered with some great friends on the beach for a little celebration...

Okay, it was a BIG celebration! Our friend Steph was baptized!! And how cool that her husband John wanted to be the one to baptize her...awesome!

Hooray for Stephanie!!

We enjoyed a beautiful evening of Tacoma Rainiers baseball.

Some people can't go to a baseball game without Cracker Jacks...

...I can't go without having some garlic fries, yum!

Then we went on a guided walking tour of Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. Fremont is an area of Seattle that we hadn't explored yet - it's famous for having large random pieces of eclectic artwork. People in Fremont call themselves "Fremonsters" or at least that's what we were told.

Since I really can't remember the details of what the tour guides told us, I'll just share the pictures of the artwork...I'm sure it speaks for itself.

Anyone is free to decorate the artwork at any time - it's called an "art attack." Looks like someone has it all decorated for a birthday!

Poor Derek...our tour guide roped him into this, he was a great sport and played along.

The highlight of the tour was getting to check out the famous "Fremont Troll." We knew this guy existed, but just hadn't made it to Fremont to pay him a visit.

Looks like that Volkswagen didn't pay the toll...

But thankfully, we did, ha!

Well, I guess that does wrap up our lovely summer. I really do love being back at Chloe Clark with all of the kiddos, but I sure am thankful to have had such a wonderful summer filled with so many wonderful memories. Now I'm looking forward to beautiful fall and all of the wonderful things it brings with it. I love fall colors, flavors, and scents - they are my favorite! But I have a confession to make and please don't judge me for this...as soon as the weather starts to cool and fall is officially arriving, I am ready to put up the Christmas tree. I just can't help it, ha!

Friday Night Lights

2011-08-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

There really isn't anything like Friday night football in the south. I was pretty excited about getting to go the first game of the season for my Alma Mater, Poplarville High. I was especially excited because my cousin Jared is playing varsity for the first time and I couldn't wait to see him on the field!

It was certainly a beautiful (although VERY hot) night for football.

Go PHS!

Here come the hornets!!

Go #87!! Jared got to start, awesome!!

It was a great game! Wish I could've gotten a picture of the final score, Poplarville 56 Columbia 12. It was an away game, so I can understand the home team wanting to get that number off the board as soon as possible, ha!

I'm so proud of our Jared! Can't believe this guy turned 15 this week!

Love my family!

And because I just can't resist sharing some fabulous news with you, my Dad got a really great report from his oncologist while we were in Texas...his cancer is stable! That means the tumors he has are not growing and they didn't find any new ones either. We praise God for watching over him and being in control through all of this, it certainly helps this girl sleep better at night. I can't say "thanks" enough for all of your prayers - our family is blessed to have such an amazing network of love and support. We love you right back!!

Happy 25th Birthday Derek!

2011-08-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

My sweet husband is now halfway to fifty! Yep, 25 years old he is! I have been blessed to watch Derek blow out birthday candles since his 13th birthday, so this birthday means that I've spent more than half of his birthdays at his side. I know....awww...right? =)

This year he made his usual request for a butter yellow cake with chocolate frosting...

...and so that's just what I made for him. I'd like to buy him a prettier cake at the store, but he really does insist on a Betty Crocker cake/frosting combo. How could I say "no" to that?

And of course there are presents!

But these aren't just any presents, they are presents with a purpose...

...to dress up this handsome fella!

Doesn't he look dashing? He's commented about "skinny ties" before so I thought I'd get him one, but then of course I had to find a shirt to match, and then pants...you get the idea =)

And he was going to need a nice new outfit for what I had planned for him next...

...a nice dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Seattle! He has commented on this place every time we've driven past it so I decided that it would be the perfect spot to bring him to celebrate his 25th birthday - and the best part is, he had no idea! I kept it a secret, yay me!

Derek ordered a garlic crusted halibut and said it was delicious.

And I had a melt-in-your-mouth filet!

Ruth Chris was indeed a perfect place for celebrating my sweetie's birthday - we loved it!

In fact, he loved getting all fancied up so much that he asked if we could do it again very soon, woohoo!! I see a new dress in my future!

Happy, happy birthday my love! I hope you've had the best birthday yet!! You simply become more wonderful every year and I just adore you. I love you Derek Thomas!

Mount St. Helen's - Finally!

2011-07-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Washington, Derek and I have wanted to make a trip to see Mt. St. Helen's. For whatever reason, we just hadn't made it there until now. We were super excited to finally be going!!

And we got to bring Mom with us!

On our first stop to check things out, we discovered that we were just outside the 14 mile wide blast zone.

Then we crossed into the blast zone and it was amazing to see that vegetation still hasn't grown back in some places, 31 years later...

So strange to see a mountain without a peak...

...and this was the "good side" of St. Helen's!

We drove on and stopped at Forest Learning Center to get another view of the mountain.

We drove a little further to get to the Johnston Observatory. It's named for volcanologist David Johnston who was camping on this ridge observing the volcano when it blew. His famous last words were "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!"

We went inside to watch the eruption film. After it ended, the curtains were raised and we had this incredible view!

Then we went out onto the observation deck to take a few more pictures and try to comprehend what happened in 1980.

The Lava Dome

We had a nice picture all framed out until the gentleman whose right hand you will find in the left corner decided to join us, oh well.

So after we got all the pictures we wanted, we set out for a stroll on Eruption Trail.

One of the first things we came to was this memorial to the 57 people who lost their lives in the eruption.

So sad...

We continued down eruption trail and just enjoyed the view.

It eventually erupted us into the parking lot and we headed on our way home.

We decided to stop at this little restaurant just outside of Mt. St. Helen's because it had a sign that said "Homemade Cobblers" - I'm pretty sure you would stop, too. =)

And boy were they yummy!!

I had strawberry rhubarb and Derek had blueberry apple. We'll definitely be stopping by this restaurant every time we go visit St. Helen's.

And just look at the river view we had!

So pretty! What a lovely way to end our most fun-filled day of mountain adventure!

Mom's Vacation in Washington!!

2011-07-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

If my Mom has any length of vacation time, there is one place she wants to be - Washington! Lucky, lucky me!! =)

Since we moved here in October 2008, she has tried her best to come every spring break and every summer and I just love it! And although I know seeing us is her #1 reason for coming, I think escaping the heat of the south is probably #2.

And as much as the weather did not cooperate for G & Zack, it did cooperate for Mom. It has been absolutely gorgeous weather - super sunny and high temps in the 70s...jealous, aren't you?

So since this was Mom's fourth trip out here, we planned some new adventures for her (and for us, too).

One of the first things we did was head to the movie theater...

There was a movie more on the girly side that I wanted to see and I just had to let Mom experience our famous red electric recliners. I think she liked them =)

Then we headed off to Cold Stone for a yummy treat followed by dinner with our friends, Eric, Justine, and Stephanie. Eric and Justine are moving to Texas VERY soon and it was our last chance to hang out with them. We absolutely cherish our friendship with them and will of course forever be thankful that they turned us into Losties.

They also introduced us to something else called Geocaching. I don't know any other way to explain except to say that it's a real life treasure hunt of sorts. We went on our first geocache after dinner...

...and we found it! So we signed our name to the list and put it back for the next geocacher to find. Fun times!!

I almost forgot that we took a little afternoon trip to Point Defiance Zoo. We saw this gorgeous bald eagle.

I took a picture of the reindeer just for Zack, since they were nowhere to be found on his trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago.

On Friday, Mom and I headed into Seattle for a little cruise on Lake Union & Lake Washington. This is the same cruise Derek and I got to take when MawMaw Gen and Aunt Tanya visited us in 2009. It was so much fun, I thought Mom would enjoy it, too.

What a beautiful sunny day! In fact, it was so sunny that Mom got a little sunburn =)

We saw some pretty neat things on our tour.

Like this floating home that was used for filming Jason's season of The Bachelor.

Saw some homes of Seattle's rich & famous...

Here is just a tiny part of billionaire Bill Gates' Estate.

This home belongs to the guy who invented Microsoft Word and Excel and I'm sure other software programs as well.

We were also told he dated Martha Stewart for 15 years - wouldn't you like to see that kitchen??

The CEO of Starbucks has some waterfront property, too.

This is the art studio of Dale Chihuly...

He created the gorgeous chandelier at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Husky Stadium!

We went under I-5...

And watched a drawbridge open up for a sailboat, fun!

The cruise was just as awesome as I remember it and I'm so glad Mom got to enjoy it!

We were all super excited about our Saturday adventure - a trip to Mt. St. Helen's! Derek and I have been waiting to go here for quite some time...I think I'll save that for a post all it's own because I have quite a few pictures I want to share. Moving on...

Mom got to meet some special little people on her trip...

Precious little Tyce...

...and sweet little Tesa =)

Aren't they the absolute most adorable little things you've ever seen? They sure have melted this Lissa's heart!!

We also went on another new adventure and took the Underground Tour of Seattle on Monday. It was definitely one of my favorite things we've done since moving to Washington - I can't believe it's taken us this long to do it. The tour takes you on a walk underneath Pioneer Square where you can see what was left of the buildings after the great Seattle fire in the late 1800s. We learned alot and had a hilarious tour guide. You can read a more about the history here.

Enjoy the pictures!

What Pioneer Square looked like before the fire. The sidewalks today are level with the awnings in this picture. So we were walking around what was the sidewalk then...make sense?

Skylights planted in the sidewalks above provide pretty cool lighting.

Old refrigerator in it's original spot - too heavy to move.

Fun times underground!

We also enjoyed exploring beautiful Pioneer Square.

Smith Tower - used to be Seattle's tallest building. You can visit the observation deck for only $7, way cheaper than the Space Needle.

And the aroma of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory lured us in for some treats.

I'm convinced heaven must smell like this place!

We strolled down to Pike Place Market, but it was closing time, so no fun fish throwing or flowers today.

And then we went on down to 5th Avenue to take Mom to see Aladdin on Broadway.

This was her first time going to the theater and she loved it! I know she'd like to go alot more often, but she's definitely not waiting on Greg Taylor to take her, ha! A Friday night football game is about as close to theater as he's going to get =)

Luckily, yesterday was our local farmer's market so we stopped by and got ourselves some yummy cupcakes!

And some flowers, yay!

I had the BEST time with Mom here, as always. I'll be making a little trip home soon so I thought I would be alot tougher dropping her off at the airport...but I thought wrong. I just can't stand saying goodbye and cried most of the way home (even though Mom said no tears). I'm so thankful to have a Mom that I love and miss so much that it brings me to tears. Can't wait for our next adventures!!

The Smith's Go To Washington - Part Four

2011-07-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

This day started out with a couple of extra little guys...

Introducing Dr. Kade, Peter Pan Ryne, and Pirate Zack!!

Zack went with me early Friday morning over to the Lewallen's house for a little play date. Why were we there??? Well, there's a very good reason...a spectacular reason in fact!

While we were playing with Kade and Ryne, their parents were welcoming their brand new twin siblings into the world!

Meet Tesa Mae Lewallen, 6lbs 8oz, 19in. long born at 10:27 a.m. July 15, 2011

And here's Tyce Duane Lewallen, 5lbs 2oz, 18in. long, born at 10:42 a.m. July 15, 2011

Later that day, the big brothers got to meet their little brother and sister.

How sweet! I just love this family of six!!

So that's why we were there...I told you it was a spectacular reason!

But that's all the details I am going to spill. I certainly don't want to spoil it all before their sweet mama gets a chance to share on their family's blog =)

After leaving our play date, we headed up to Seattle. But first we made a stop at the only place where G requested to eat on the whole trip.

The Cheesecake Factory!! And it certainly did not disappoint!

We had planned a little Seattle adventure that I had not done yet - a tour on Ride the Ducks of Seattle.

Here's our "duck" for the tour, captained by Captain Mike Apton...read that name slowly...did you get it? Captain Mi-kapton...Captain My Captain. Cheesy, but fun!

We stopped for quick photo at the Space Needle before boarding for our tour.

This was as close as we got...you remember the whole scared of heights thing, right? =)

The duck took us on a tour of the famous parts of Seattle...the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, etc. I didn't take a ton of pictures since you've already seen a bazillion pictures of it all, but I did take this picture of the first ever automated car wash in America and the second most photographed sign in Seattle...

I've passed by it so many times, but never knew there was a history to it. Now I do =)

My favorite part of the tour happened when our duck left land and went into Lake Union, literally. Here we are going in...

How do you like those goggles?

We had some really great views all around Lake Union.

This is Seattle's Gasworks Park

You might remember it from movies like "Singles" or "10 Things I Hate About You." Or...you might have seen it on The Amazing Race - it was the starting line for season 3 and the finish line for season 10.

Recognize this houseboat??

It was used in filming "Sleepless In Seattle"

Seattle's floating homes

The smallest floating home on Lake Union. Interested?

This home is 200 square feet, $850/month, and there's a waiting list!!

Zack had a fun time with his quacker...although I had to temporarily confiscate it when we got back in the car, ha!

Here I am with my non-English speaking, seat buddy from Japan. Her daughter was sitting in the seat in front of us and would turn around occasionally to translate for her. Funny story...

I had not planned on taking very many pictures on this trip, since I've seen most of it. However, I noticed that every time I held my camera up to take a picture, this lady would take one too and then smile at me and give me a laugh or a thumbs up. So I realized that if she was going to get pictures of the best parts of Seattle, I was going to have to get pictures. So what did I do? Whenever we passed by something picture worthy, I held up my camera and pretended to take a picture. I didn't want her to miss anything! And every single time I did, she did too. Hope she likes her pictures!

What a fun time!

I saw this boat on our way out of the water and I had an idea...

I'm thinking that the next church plant on the Surround the Sound church plant vision should be a houseboat church! Seriously, wouldn't it be awesome? After looking at this boat setup, what else could you possible ask for?

And this little guy was all tuckered out again. I think he took a nap on every car ride we made. Looks like Spot is napping, too.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Red Robin and headed home so they could get all packed up for their very early flight Saturday morning. I am so so so happy G & Zack finally got to visit us in Washington. I love living here. I love being a part of what God is doing in the Northwest. But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss "home." My heart is always sad to say goodbye. I am so very thankful for precious time with my family. I think living so far away just makes it all the more valuable and sweet. We are so very blessed to have family that will take the time out of their lives and money out of their pockets just to come see us. Thanks for coming to visit G & Zack - we love you!!!

The Smith's Go To Washington - Part Three

2011-07-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

So just what were these BIG plans I mentioned earlier??

Well, apparently it's the whole reason Zack came to Washington.

To see this...

Cars 2!! This fella right here is the ultimate Cars fan. I mean it, there isn't a bigger fan out there than Zachary Taylor Smith. He's been quoting the movie word for word since he was three, seriously. I couldn't wait to take him to see the sequel. My sister asked Zack when she dropped him off at the airport if he had seen Cars 2 yet and he told her that's why he was going to Washington...maybe he thought we had the only theater showing it, ha!

Zack got all comfy with his snacks in our amazing theater seats...red electric recliners...ahhhh...so wonderful!

G got her giant Diet Coke and settled in quite nicely.

And we all loved it! It was a super cute movie and I'm so glad I was able to be with Zack for his first viewing.(I'm sure there will be several more to come!)

After the movie I took them on a driving tour of Olympia...driving only because it was such a rainy day. We stopped for lunch at one of my favorite places, Tugboat Annie's on the Olympia waterfront...great food, great view, what more could you ask for?

Then we all went home and had naps. When we were all awake again, no one was really hungry, so we decided to go to another of my favorite places, Black Bear Yogurt, for dinner/dessert.

Zack by the black bear with his frozen yogurt creation.

Yum! Nice job, Zack!

Only in the Northwest can you enjoy frozen yogurt by the fireplace in July...sheesh.

I hope you're not too tired yet...we've still got one more day of adventures ahead!

The Smith's Go To Washington - Part Two

2011-07-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

So our next adventure was going to visit the Northwest Trek park in Eatonville, Washington. It's sort of like the Global Wildlife of the Northwest for all of you who know what I'm talking about. You ride a tram around a 500+ acre property, checking out all sorts of animals that are native to this area. There are also come walking trails and indoor activities, too. It was our first time to visit this park, and we had been looking forward to it for quite sometime.

Riding the tram

Our first animal sighting, black-tailed deer

Caribou

Bison...did you know the head of a bison can weigh 250 pounds???

Mountain Goat

Field full of elk

Look closely...

...can you see all of those antlers??

Pictures of this gorgeous park...

Then we were off to check out the animals on the walking trails.

We had a great time hanging out with this crazy beaver...he really seemed to like my pink rain jacket because he kept coming right up to the glass and hanging around for a while.

This wolverine was quite the busy guy today, he was never ever still.

Cute little sleeping fisher

This river otter was quite entertaining, too.

Couldn't believe there was a skunk!! We snapped a picture very quickly and took off!

Adorable badger...he was so bashful...awww...

The wolves were just gorgeous!

That is one LARGE grizzly bear!

Seems like the bears are enjoying a lazy day...

Although Zack had no idea why I wanted a picture of trees, I really did want a picture of this beautiful canopy to share with you =)

Isn't he the cutest?? Really made me want to watch "The Fox & The Hound."

Yep...

...he is.

I think G & Zack enjoyed our adventure at Northwest Trek. We headed home to get some needed rest because the next day we had some BIG plans...

The Smith's Go To Washington - Part One

2011-07-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is a trip nearly three years in the making! G & Zack came to visit us in Washington! This was a huge deal, especially seeing how it was the first time either of them had been on an airplane and G is scared to death of heights...but they braved it and came anyway, way to go G & Zack!!!

We got to have them with us from Monday afternoon until early this morning and we had such a fabulous time with them. We love having family come to visit us. Don't get me wrong, we love going home - but when we do, we are pulled in a million different directions...so many people to see...not nearly enough time...and we are exhausted by the time we get back to WA. However, when someone comes to visit us, we get to give them our undivided attention for the entire duration of their stay which results in some pretty amazing quality time.

We were so glad to have G & Zack in our home and we made sure to take them on some Washington adventures!

We started off with a picnic at our local beach. Zack loved picking out all sorts of snacks to bring with us.

I think he loved eating them, too =)

Spot also came along on this Washington trip...

I took Zack to Build-A-Bear in Memphis, Tennessee, to make Spot before we moved to Washington...he was just three at the time. Spot is his best buddy and goes just about anywhere Zack goes.

He would like to be a brave tree climber, he just needs a little help getting started.

Then it was time for some rock exploration on the beach.

Did I mention this beach is called "Sunnyside?" Not too much sun going on today...or for most of their trip to Washington. I was bummed that the weather didn't cooperate, but G & Zack didn't mind one bit. I think they were enjoying a break from the triple digit heat and humidity in Mississippi.

We took an afternoon trip to the zoo.

We brought Derek along with us, too.

Checked out the shark tank...

Including the "catfish shark" as Zack called it.

And I found a new love - tiny little seahorses called Quarterhorses.

So tiny, so cute!

Zack got to ride a camel...

...and he asked us to pretend like we didn't know him, lol.

Then we went into a cute bird exhibit where you could buy a feeding stick and feed them.

This is what happened when Zack held out the stick...

Ha, ha, ha!! He totally freaked out, but it didn't seem to bother the bird, lol. Then he dropped the stick...poor bird.

But Derek picked it up so the sweet little bird could snack.

Our little monkey sure loved the other little monkey today.

Brothers?? Twins???

We also enjoyed the other zoo animals...

Like the cute little penguins, Mr. Popper's of course.

And the elephants...

We did get to watch them being fed and getting their feet all hosed off, quite fun!

And the lone tiger out for the day...

This one is just a year old and had just woken up from his nap. I must admit, his intense stare at Zack made me quite thankful for the fence.

But the walruses were the show-stopper for the day.

We watched them for the longest time and really enjoyed their playfulness.

This guy was pretty worn out from his first day of adventure.

And it's a good thing he got some rest because we had more fun in store for the next day!

A Dream 20 Years in the Making...

2011-07-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

So, I told you about my confession....

And in that confession, I told you about my dream. But it's no longer a dream...it's a reality! Finally, finally, finally after twenty years, I saw the New Kids On The Block, LIVE in concert, woohoo!!!

It was surreal...and I kept thinking "Oh my gosh, it's really them...Joey, Jordan, Jonathan, Danny, & Donnie!! It's really them!"

Here are some pictures from the night...

Waiting for them to start!

Tif & me having a GREAT time! Derek was quite anxious to "share" his ticket, ha!

My first glimpse of NKOTB

Holy moly! There they are!!!

Jordan

Joey

My childhood favorite, Jonathan

Lots of boy band choreography - I love it!

Step.By.Step

And I guess I should mention that the Backstreet Boys were there, too =)

And there was a really great opener...Matthew Morrison from the tv show, Glee.

It was such a fun night and I'm so very happy that I was able to go. I would say it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I have a feeling that these fellas will tour again and I'm quite hopeful that I'll get another chance to see them. Maybe this time they won't have to share the stage =) Thanks NKOTB, you did not disappoint this fan!!

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-05T08:50:00.001-07:00

Celebrating our nation's birthday and independence on the fourth of July is my favorite holiday...I love everything about it. I especially love the see of red, white, & blue variations everywhere - beautiful! Growing up, July 4th usually meant going to our small town parade, grilling out, and swimming either in a pool or in the river and ending the day with fireworks. Such fun memories...I just love this special day!

Our first fourth of July in Washington was a toasty one (and we had been told it doesn't get "hot" in WA, ha!). Our second fourth of July was freezing! We were outside and it was almost miserable. But this year, our third fourth of July, was absolutely perfect! Sunny, breezy and the 70 degree temperature range, aaaahhhh.....

We started our day of celebration in DuPont for their annual July 4th festivities. It is my favorite DuPont community event of the year - so much fun, so much to do...

Lots of booths with fun treats and things

Giant inflatables for the kiddos...I must admit that I wanted to try this one out myself!

Fun tanks and trucks to touch and explore....

...and even an Elvis impersonator! We took this just for you, Mrs. Joanna! =)

Kyle and Terry were kind enough to have us over for a little grilling fun, so we spent a good bit of our afternoon just hanging out...just might be the last hanging out we get to do before Tesa and Tyce arrive! They could be here ANY day now...soooo exciting!!

On our way home, we stopped in Steilacoom to check out the celebration. They were having more of the same kind of stuff that DuPont was having...but Steilacoom did have quite the gorgeous view...

Love our town!!

We took it easy...really easy for the remainder of the afternoon and then we got ready for some fireworks!

Getting ready to head down to the waterfront for Steilacoom's fireworks show.

By this point, my eyes were starting to puff, I was starting to sound all nasal-y and my sweet husband told me, "You're going downhill fast." Ha! Allergies are something I have developed in the last couple of months or so of living in Washington. I've been told that it's pretty common to live here a couple of years with no symptoms and then discover you have an allergy problem. Ugh....

But it 's pretty hard to stay inside when you have a view like this waiting for you outside...

Wow!! Our friends Justin and Sarah picked this spot out for watching fireworks.

As if this day couldn't get any better, even the moon was gorgeous!

Got to watch the fireworks show with lap full of Lewallen boys =)

They make my heart so happy!
(this is Ryne's best "cheeeeeese")

Ryne wanted his picture taken again, so I complied...

...here he is saying "It's too bright Lissa!"

And here is Ryne saying "Do it again, Lissa! Do it again!"

Love this little guy!

It was a grand fireworks show! With a lap full of little fellas, I didn't focus on trying to take a ton of pictures, so just enjoy this one and trust me when I tell you that it was awesome!

Happy 4th of July!!

The X-Factor Comes to Seattle!

2011-06-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

So you might not have heard of this show just yet....

...but the X-Factor is a new (to the U.S., anyway) singing competition created by Simon Cowell. It has no age limits and even allows groups to audition as well. The prize at the end - 5 million dollars!! So we are talking serious talent...only the best of the best of the best....

Wouldn't you know it? The show came to Seattle for auditions and we scored some free tickets, woohoo! We had friends with tickets, too, so yesterday Rebekah, Liz, Derek, and myself loaded up and headed for Seattle.

You should check out this dress code requirement printed on our tickets...
(not the tickets in the previous picture, but the tickets we printed off the Internet)

DRESS CODE IS STRICTLY ENFORCED FOR OUR INTERNET TICKET HOLDERS! Hip, uspcale attire is mandatory. Colorful, spring colors are requested. ABSOLUTELY no apparel with logos of any kind on the front or back are allowed in the studio audience. ABSOLUTELY no t-shirts, sweatshirts, white tops, shorts, or flip flops! We'd prefer you don't wear jeans. Please dress hip and upscale as if going to a nice club or restaurant. You will be on camera so it is very important that you dress nicely! When you look great, the show looks great!

IF YOU DO NOT DRESS ACCORDING TO THE DRESS CODE YOU WILL NOT BE ADMITTED.

I was freaking out. I definitely don't count my clothes as either hip or upscale. I settled on a dress with leggings that followed all the rules and just prayed that I would get in...I did. But so did all of the other people that I don't think even looked in the mirror before they left home. I saw every single rule broken, bummer for me. I would've been much more comfortable in my jeans and top, but oh well - I am definitely NOT a rule breaker =)

How do we look?

Okay, so all you can really see are our happy faces, but trust me, we fit the dress code perfectly =)

We arrived at 12:00 for our 1:00 auditions just as we were told...and we waited...and waited...and waited...finally getting to our seats at 1:30. But we had such a great view of the stage!!

2nd row up from the floor!

We could only have our cell phones for taking pictures, so this is extremely blurry, but it's the best I could do.

Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and L.A. Reid

It was a really fun experience. We saw about 10 contestants, heard only two "Yes" answers and one "come back tomorrow." Simon was brutally honest as always, although not as rude as I had expected. Paula was a much more honest and constructively critical judge and not as much of the "everyone is just so wonderfully talented" judge as she was on American Idol. Nicole was great. She loved it when a contestant belted out "My Redeemer Lives" by Nicole C. Mullen and said it was one of her favorite songs. L.A. - still not sure who he was, but at least he didn't say "dawg" or "yo, yo, yo" a million times. We can't wait to watch the show! Well, the Seattle auditions episode that is. We had a blast!

What Happens In Vegas...

2011-06-25T22:11:00.001-07:00

...goes on the blog!!

Derek and I decided to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary with a little trip...

...to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada!

We spent our first anniversary chaperoning kiddos at Bogg Springs Kids Camp.
We spent our second anniversary in Portland.
We spent our third anniversary overnight in Seattle.
It was time for something a little bigger =)

We got an incredible deal on our trip a few months ago and we just couldn't pass it up. It totally worked in our budget, so we booked it and have been counting down the days until our little getaway. We left Tuesday morning and just flew back home last night. We had a blast!

The first signs from the air that we were in the desert

In the airport! We made it!!

We arrived at our hotel, Excalibur.

After checking in, we set out to do a little sight-seeing...

The Tropicana - where we hope to stay next time.

The Monte Carlo

New York, New York!

Then we stopped for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We shared some yummy nachos...

...and a delicious "Anti-Cobb" salad with craisins, apples, strawberries, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, avacado, and mango...mmmmm....

We went inside the world of Coca-Cola and saw this on the menu - 16 samples of sodas from around the world.

So we ordered one! We tried every single soda on our trays.

Derek's favorite was the Vegiabeta from Japan

And I loved the Smart Apple from China - it was like drinking a melted sour apple Jolly Rancher =)

We hadn't really planned on doing anything special on our first night, but on the plane ride I noticed in the Southwest magazine that there was an advertisement for Penn & Teller and it said to present the ad to get 2 tickets for the price of 1 - so I ripped out the ad and we decided at the very last minute to check it out.

It was a really cool show, lots of fun tricks and stunts of sorts.

We even got to meet Penn...

...and Teller, too.

After the show, we were exploring inside the Rio and we discovered this little event happening...

The World Series of Poker

So we decided to take a peek and this is what we found at 11:30p.m. - hundreds and hundreds of poker players! There were some pretty serious looking ones...wearing hats and sunglasses, listening to music through their headphones, and even some with their own personal massage therapist...intense.

Then we moved on to go see the Bellagio because we wanted to catch their evening fountain show.

It was beautiful indeed!

Then we went inside to check it out - this gorgeous chandelier was in the lobby!

They had beautiful botanical gardens and it just smelled soooo good.

And then we saw some Lovebirds...awww....

We could have stayed in those gardens all night, but it was time (about 1 a.m. by now) to start walking back to our hotel, but not before taking some night time pictures on Las Vegas Blvd!

Day two started off strong. We knew we were in for a roaster of a day, but didn't think much more about it. We did a little walking and more sight-seeing on the strip.

Found a Statue of Liberty made of Jelly Bellies!

Checked out the Grand Canyon, ha ha!

Snapped a picture in front of our hotel, Excalibur

Overlooking Las Vegas Blvd

Went inside the MGM to check things out

and found some lions inside =)

Love these palm trees!

We were told that the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign wasn't far at all from where we were so we decided to take a stroll to check it out. Every tourist needs a picture under that sign, right? After a bit of walking and no sign in sight, we realized that we had been misinformed, but we thought it was too late to turn back.

So we walked all the way down to the sign to get a picture, sheesh. Definitely should have taken a cab.

Then things took a rather scary turn. Since we didn't realize how far the walk actually was, we didn't bring our water with us and it was 110 degrees! I was starting to feel light headed and my lips were tingling...uh-oh... So we took the picture and started walking back when out of nowhere, we saw a cab, an empty cab. Hallelujah! We climbed right in and rode back to our hotel where I drank lots and lots of water and then took a nap. Whew! I know just Who sent us that cab ;)

We had tickets that night (that came with our vacation package) to see Cirque Du Soleil, KA' at the MGM Grand. It's no secret that we are huge cirque fans and we were really looking forward to our night.

And once again, Cirque did not disappoint! I have to say it was really amazing to see a show that wasn't just a traveling show, but in a venue that was built specifically for it...definitely added a whole new level of amazement!

Incredible show, incredible date, love this guy!!

I wish we could tell you that we had an incredible dinner after our show because that's what we were expecting...but that is NOT what we got. We had reservations at a Brazilian Churrascaria at Planet Hollywood that was highly recommended and supposedly had high ratings, but we give it two great big thumbs down. Terrible, slow service and mediocre food. We were sad, but it certainly didn't ruin our night!

Then it was back to the hotel to rest up and get ready for day three...

...and then we saw the forecast for Thursday - HOT, HOT, HOT!

After surviving the heat of day two, we were much smarter on day three. We stayed in our hotel until the sun started to set and just spent the day relaxing by the pool and hanging out indoors. Did I mention our hotel had a Cold Stone in it? Yum!!

Once we got to late afternoon, we decided to head out and see what kind of deals we could find on an evening show. Never ever book your show tickets ahead of time and certainly don't pay full price for them. There are so many places to get discounted tickets WITHOUT having to take a time-share tour, ha!

So we went down to one such vendor (we had booked our dinner through them last night), and got a super great deal on tickets to see Blue Man Group.

I had really wanted to surprise Derek with tickets even before we got to Vegas, but the cheapest tickets I could find were over $100 each, yikes! I was so glad I waited...

We had plenty of time to grab some dinner before the show, so we decided to try out the Harley Davidson Cafe, because it came very highly recommended by Mr. Darron & Mrs. Joanna and they were right, it was yummy!

Inside the cafe, very cool flag made of chain links and motorcycles constantly rotating around dining area.

Onto the show...

So excited!

The Beautiful Venetian

Inside, just gorgeous!

We were so lucky and landed seats in the poncho section, third row back! We were disappointed that we didn't get any paint on us, but we sure did have great seats. It was such an incredible, incredible show - we loved it!!

Got a picture with one of the blue fellas after the show.

Thought we'd take a gondola ride while we were there...but apparently, they are having some issues...so we just headed back to our hotel for the night.

But we did take a few pictures on the way...

And then came our fourth and final day in Vegas. We had to check out of our hotel by noon and catch an airport shuttle around 5:00, so we had a little time to kill. First, we took a tram to go check out the Luxor Hotel, pretty nice!

Love the sphinx in front of the giant pyramid

Check out the guards =)

Inside the front lobby

Then, since we were tired of walking and were so over the heat, we decided to use our bus pass to board the Las Vegas Strip bus and just ride it all the way to the North end and back. So we hopped on and got lucky enough to sit on the upper deck in the front row...much like being on a double decker tour bus but without the corny tour guide, ha!

The bus took us into "Downtown" Las Vegas

The last stop was at the Fremont Street Experience, so we hopped off for a few minutes just to look around. I hear it's pretty incredible at night, but we'll have to save that for next time.

We got back on the bus to head south back to our hotel and were pretty excited to catch a Glimpse of the pawn shop featured on History Channel's "Pawn Stars."

We also saw a few famous wedding chapels but the bus was too quick for me to take any pictures and we didn't want to get off since we had some pretty exciting plans for our afternoon....

...we just couldn't leave without seeing our friends Kevin and Ashley!

As you can see, they drove us back to the sign so we could get another picture...this one with happier memories =)

They also took us to a local shopping center and into a coffee shop where I got to have one of these delicious treats, an ice blended pom-blueberry drink!

And after chatting in the coffee shop, it was time to head for the airport.

Viva Las Vegas! Don't know about coming back "soon" but we will be back =)

First Day of Summer Break 2011!!

2011-06-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

The last kiddo loaded the bus for summer on Friday, woohoo!! I love summer break. I also love having a job that really makes me appreciate summer break. School ending on Friday meant that the first official day of this marvelous break was Saturday. Here's how we spent it...

10:30 - Wake up (no more alarm clock, yay!!!)
11:30 - Check out the yard sales in DuPont...we just drove around, too wet to get out and look.
12:30 - Try to have a late breakfast at McNamara's - find out they have turned the griddle off early and breakfast isn't an option...boo...so we head home to get cleaned up
1:30 - All clean and still hungry - Denny's is our best option so that's where we go.
2:30 - Finished with breakfast and on our way to the outlet mall in Auburn, Washington
3:30 - Shopping
4:30 - Shopping
5:30 - Done! And finally on our way home.
6:30 - Stop at the Lakewood Movie Theater to see about tickets for The Green Lantern...all sold out until 9:40. Buy 9:40 tickets and head home.
7:30 - Napping...ahhhh...
8:30 - Quick supper of leftover pizza
9:30 - Back to the movies to see The Green Lantern in 3D
12:30 - Home from the movies and having a superhero debate
1:30 - Still debating, ha! (and very much awake because of the late nap)
2:30 - Finally read to fall asleep

What a great start to summer!! Today I am catching up on laundry and tomorrow I am packing because on Tuesday we are headed for....

Happy Summer everyone!

Celebrating Four Years...

2011-06-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! Is it seriously time for another anniversary blog post? You bet it is! June 9th is our oh-so-special day and this June 9th, we are celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary!

Not to sound too cliche', but four years ago was the happiest day of my life! What I remember most about that day was being absolutely giddy. That's right, giddy. Marrying my very best friend made me that way. And today, I'm still giddy. I love my husband more than I know how to put into words. He is everything you read about in Hallmark cards and more - I love him! He is everything I need when I need it. He loves me. He loves the Lord. He leads me. I couldn't be more thankful for getting to spend my life with him. I can't imagine life without Derek Matthew Thomas! I love you so much sweet husband of mine!

Derek always goes out of his way to make sure I feel as special on our anniversary as I did on our wedding day. Here's a bit of the spoiling he did today...

I came home from work to find this awesome chalkboard hanging in the kitchen...

Derek has noticed me admiring my friend Sarah's, so he decided to get me one of my very own, yay!

I also found these...

...beautiful!

And since I lost one of my favorite hoop earrings at school a couple of weeks ago, I also got this special treat...

And in keeping with an accidental anniversary tradition Derek started on our second anniversary, we had this for dinner...

Olive Garden takeout, yum =)

Complete with these tiny little delicious treasures!

Happy 4th Anniversary My Love!!

One Summer's Eve...

2011-06-05T11:15:00.001-07:00

Woohoo!! Summer arrived in Washington this weekend...I think.

We had a gorgeous weekend and our warmest day in nine months - a toasty 79 degrees! And a gorgeous day means a gorgeous sunset...

We sure did enjoy such a beautiful day. When suppertime came around, we both had a craving for steak and baked potatoes, but since we can't grill our own at the apartment we thought of Applebee's. And since it was such a gorgeous evening we thought of a picnic at our local beach. Then we put the two together and decided on Applebee's Carside to Go so we could take it to the beach - perfect!

What a lovely end to a lovely day =)

Here's to 100!!

2011-06-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Oh.my.goodness.

It's our 100th blog post!

After the last post was finished, I noticed that we were on post #99, which meant the very next one would be #100. Talk about pressure - the 100th one has to be super special, right? I couldn't possibly use my 100th post to talk about just anything, so my first thought was to wait until our upcoming anniversary and let our 100th post be all about that. But then I started looking back over all of the posts we've done over the last 2 1/2 years and I couldn't help but think about how incredibly good God has been to us and how incredibly thankful we are for His blessings in our life. And then I decided to let post #100 be all about the things we are thankful for....the things in life that make us smile...some of them serious, and others...not so much =)

So here goes...

1. the love, grace, and mercy of our incredible Father
2. my amazing husband - and I do mean A-maz-ing!
3. family - it doesn't get any better than them!!
4. friendships - the new ones, the old ones, & most importantly, the lifelong ones
5. LIFE Church of DuPont - what a place to worship!
6. the Word of God
7. the U.S.A. - our freedoms and those who fight for them
8. a job that I absolutely LOVE at a school that I absolutely ADORE!
9. Dad's cancer being STABLE at this present moment - woohoo!!!
10. listening to Derek preach
11. praying for others and with others
12. airplanes that get us to our family in a jiffy
13. kiddos that call me "Lissa" & kiddos that call me "Kitty" =)
14. birthdays
15. luscious lemon frozen yogurt
16. flavored lemonades
17. rain jackets
18. a place to call home
19. sunshine
20. fresh flowers from the farmer's market
21. social networking
22. getting handwritten notes in the mail
23. flip-flops
24. feeling organized
25. gas that doesn't cost $4
26. date nights
27. not having to set an alarm clock
28. seasons
29. getting dressed up
30. pajama days
31. fresh, clean sheets
32. the crock pot
33. things that are colorful
34. walks with the hubby
35. playing games with friends
36. sunsets at 9:30 p.m.
37. laughing
38. hugs
39. rainboots
40. bubble baths
41. sunglasses
42. naps
43. celebrations
44. traveling & exploring
45. my pampered chef pineapple wedger
46. cupcakes
47. singing in the car
48. just about anything that's FREE =)
49. the blessings of a full pantry
50. little packages from home
51. photo albums
52. finding a parking spot near the store entrance
53. the cute little black grocery carts at Albertson's (ridiculous, I know)
54. moments of nostalgia
55. pedicures
56. babies, babies, babies =)
57. hanging out on the patio
58. cooking on the grill - well, eating what's been cooked on the grill, ha!
59. discovering new things
60. pictures
61. the beach
62. picnics
63. trips to the zoo
64. the bay window in our home that blesses us with the most beautiful views
65. our first church family at EMBC in Louisiana
66. thrift stores
67. being on time - sure makes a girl feel accomplished!
68. sno-balls
69. fun community events
70. cooking with my Granny's old pots and spoons
71. pearls
72. letters from our Compassion child in Ghana
73. lunch with my girlfriends
74. surprises
75. finding the perfect gift
76. cards - I love cards more than presents!
77. flat irons
78. encouragement
79. blogging
80. texts & phone calls from friends & family
81. smiles
82. adventures
83. grocery shopping - I really do enjoy it =)
84. happy tears
85. reading a great book
86. exit row seats on an airplane
87. weekends
88. pleasant dreams
89. southern thunderstorms
90. opportunities to serve & love
91. vacation
92. falling asleep quickly
93. thoughtfulness
94. remembering special dates
95. being surrounded by love
96. road trips
97. learning something new
98. memories
99. time spent with the people I love
100. Finishing our 100th blog post, whew!

Love & blessings to all of you! =)

Baby Love...

2011-05-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

There's a baby boom going on here in Washington! But don't read into this too much, because Derek and I are NOT a part of that boom just yet =)

We do, however have many friends who are welcoming sweet little ones and it has been baby shower central around here. In the last 6 months, we've helped throw four baby showers, two of them being within the last month, wow! And we celebrated three other new arrivals in addition to those four showers! I love it all!! Baby parties are the best kind of parties - everyone oohing and aahing over all the tiny little things, love it!

We started the month out with a baby shower for our sweet friend Jaclyn, who is expecting baby #2, Mason, NEXT Friday! Then yesterday, we had a fun party for the twins (Tyce & Tesa), who will be joining the Lewallen family in July.

Here are my two pregnant friends exchanging a hug...from the side, since that's the only way they can actually hug each other because of their tummies, ha!

Love you Jaclyn & Terry! =)

Our talented friend Kristy has been quite the busy baker lately...

Here's the cute cake she made for Jaclyn...

...and the adorable cake for Terry to match our "Perfect Pair" theme.

Two table spreads...

One for Jaclyn...

...and one for Terry!

Two adorable diaper cakes made by our talented friend, Laura!

For Jaclyn...

...and for Terry!

And an amazing group of friends who love baby showers, too!

Playing games at Jaclyn's party...

...and just hanging out at Terry's after stuffing ourselves!

I love the girls God has put in my life here in the Northwest so so much - they are incredible!!

Our friend Sarah put together this amazing candy table for Terry's shower. Everyone was invited to fill up a cello bag full of the pink and green colored candy, yum!

And although the candy was fabulous, I got to bring home the best party favor of all...

Levi!! (whose baby shower last November was the first of all of these to come). We got to have Levi for a little while so his Mom and Dad could enjoy a date night.

Love this little guy...

...don't you?

A Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Day!!

2011-05-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a treat for me! I took half the day off of work because we had plans...big plans...wonderful plans...supercalifragilisticexpialidocious plans! Guess what's happening in Seattle right now??

And we had tickets!! I was sooo excited!

And I had the most handsome and charming date for the evening. Love him!

It was an amazing show! I absolutely loved it - and I don't think it was too torturous for Derek either, ha! I felt like an eight year old girl again and couldn't stop smiling...especially when they performed "Step in Time" - my absolute favorite! You can never outgrow Mary Poppins...she's practically perfect...in every way =)

There's just one word for this show...

Yep, you guessed it!

But before the show began, we had a great time hanging out in Seattle.

We stopped for lunch at one of our most favorite places!

Chipotle, yum!

Then we had some dessert at Coldstone, did a little (very little) shopping in the area, and headed on for stop at another of our favorite places...

It was a gorgeous day for strolling through the market, but I was mainly there for one thing...

Fresh, beautiful, and cheap flowers...lovely!

And wouldn't you know it?? We landed in Seattle on "Free Museum Day." Just a block from the Market is the Seattle Art Museum, so of course we had to check it out.

I've honestly never been to an art museum and I wish we would've had more time to really read some of the art descriptions and histories, but we just didn't have time for too much reading...so we mostly looked...

And took pictures...here are a few for you =)

Let's call this one "Plastic Bottle Man"

...since he's made of plastic bottles.

And we'll name this one "Dog Tag Armour Coat"

...because it's made with over 100,000 dog tags.

Need a war mask, anyone?

They've got plenty - really cool!

Or maybe you'd prefer a wooden coffin designed for you based on your profession...

This must've belonged to a limo driver. Apparently, this used to be pretty common - I'm guessing mine would be a desk (for a teacher) or maybe an apple or an overhead projector, ha!

How about a copper St. Luke??

I thought this was pretty neat.

Like interpreting wall art??

Try figuring out the one on the far left...yikes!

But my favorite thing of all was in a special exhibit called "Meet Me At The Center Of The Earth" by Nick Cave. It was a giant bear made entirely of Gap style sweaters. I wanted to take a picture of my beloved "Sweater Bear" so badly, but photography was not allowed inside the exhibit. Lucky for me, someone broke that rule and I found a picture online to share with you.

Isn't he cute??

It was a fun museum trip and maybe the next time admission is free, we'll have more time to read about the things we were scratching our heads over.

I didn't want our day to end, but it had to...work was calling, and boy did it call loudly today. But I found myself singing a little song in my head...

A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

I love my job but I can't help but be excited that there are only twenty more school days until summer vacation!! That's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!

After the farm...

2011-04-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

So the field trip to the farm wasn't the only adventure I got to have with Zack while I was home...

I got to watch my little all-star play some serious baseball =)

Just look at that face...told you this was serious, ha!

But before we could play ball, we had to have a new pair of "special" batting gloves (for confidence, of course ;)

And Zack asked me to label them with an "R" and an "L" - too cute!

He aims for the fence...

He rounds first...

He slides into home...

...it was a home run, a grand slam!

Way to go #9 - love you with all of my heart!!

And how lucky am I to get to ride home in the backseat with these two all-stars?? We played rock-paper-scissors the entire way home =)

Sweet Jakeob and Zack

And silly Jakeob and Zack....

And there was one more adventure that I got to have...in fact, I loved this adventure so much I had to do it four times...

Sno-balls with cream! Authentic, true blue sno-balls...not "sno-cones" or "shaved ice" - the real deal...yum!! And yes, out of the six days I was home, I had a sno-ball on four of them =

But after all of my southern adventures, I sure was happy to come home to this handsome guy...

...and I think he was pretty happy to see me, too. =)

Down on the Farm

2011-04-08T15:41:00.001-07:00

On Friday, my favorite kindergartener in the whole wide world asked me to go on a little field trip with him to a dairy farm just outside our hometown of Poplarville, Mississippi. I couldn't resist his request and so we spent the day down on the farm.

Isn't he precious? How could I possibly say no??

But before we saw any cows, this guy was there to greet us as we parked...

My Dad told me it was definitely a Black Racer (or Black Runner) and will both chase and attack, yikes! This was the last we saw of him.

We went on to do some farm exploring...

This adorable little calf was born that very morning, aww....

Then we went on a tour and saw the equipment used for pasteurizing the milk and learned a little about the process.

That's alot of milk!

Got to witness the milking of a cow...

We learned that each cow is good for about 5 gallons of milk each day...wow!

They loved watching the farmer milk the cow...can't you tell?

Got to pet and feed a calf, how sweet...

And then we got to visit the little store and bring home some treats, made right there on the farm.

I love this silly fella! So glad I got to spend a day at the farm with him =)

Counting Down!

2011-03-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes having something to look forward to can be the saving grace in getting through a tough day or week. I mean, who doesn't look forward to Fridays or celebrate hump day during a week? I have a few fun things that I'm looking forward to myself and I am counting down the days!

5: Mornings left to wake up and go to work before Spring Break officially begins!

10: Number of days until I board a plane to go see my family!!

29: Days until Easter Sunday!!

53: Nights until I get to see Mary Poppins!

75: Beautiful days left in our third year of marriage - come on #4!!

83: Summer officially begins! See you in the fall (I hope), Chloe Clark Elementary!

87: Days until we head for Las Vegas to celebrate our anniversary!

104: Oh, you know that's happening in 104 days, don't you? I've already dedicated an entire blog post to this one...read all about it here.

And add in between all of that friends and family who have promised to come visit and the birth of some very special babies and goodness gracious - I've got alot to look forward to!!

Hope you have some special things you're counting down for, too!

A Fishy Kind of Day

2011-03-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

We caught a glimpse of spring today =)

It was BEAUTIFUL outside today, which was perfect because Derek had already told me earlier this week not to plan anything for today because he had something in mind for us...I love it when he says that!

So we slept in this morning and then headed for Seattle. We stopped for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory (yum-o) and then continued on into the city and made a stop at the Seattle Aquarium. Here are a few memories from our day...

One of the first things we saw when we walked in was a huge touch pool of starfish and anemones.

And I just couldn't resist =) But I made sure to follow the instructions and touch gently with only ONE finger.

We caught a glimpse of a scuba diver putting on a little show

And then we spotted some clown fish...which I know I never paid attention to before "Finding Nemo." I took this picture so I could share it with my class because they will love it!

And then it was onto my favorite - the sea horses!

We watched this little guy spit rocks out of his mouth for a few minutes...weird.

And got up close and personal with this strange swimming creature.

Here's my favorite fish of the day - I just love how he's smiling at us =)

We watched this cute little guy relaxing in the pool.

Then we spotted these two very BIG guys!

Sweet little Sea Otter

It's hard to see, but the giant clump at the bottom of the tank is an Octopus.

We had a great time at the aquarium...it was so nice to just have some down time together outside of the hustle and bustle of the week.

What a perfect day =)

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Guinea Pig

2011-03-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hmmm....let's see...the last time I blogged, I was wearing pajamas to school. Okay, let's pick up from there =)

Going back to work full time had been great! It's definitely an adjustment, but one that is welcome. I love my new job, but I have to say it is physically and mentally exhausting, more than I anticipated. I work in the special needs class of children with behavioral disorders (some very severe), and everyday brings with it new challenges and rewards. I am so thankful for the love that God has given me for these children, HIS children. I adore them and my heart is just threaded with theirs.

I definitely believe that the term "March Madness" has nothing to do with basketball, at least not for this girl! It's been a really busy month...and thank goodness it's the good kind of busy, as in the things you like to be busy doing. It makes me thankful for the saying "March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb." Speaking of...our kindergarten classes at school have created their own version of that saying and they are too cute. One of my favorites that I read the other day was "March comes in like a lion, and out like a guinea pig." Doesn't that just make you smile?

Here's what March looks like outside for us.

Rain and Rainbows, Rain and Rainbows, Repeat...you get the idea.

We got to start out March with a baby shower for a special friend who is expecting baby #2 literally any day now.

Here's the proud Mommy, Alesha!

Another amazing cake by Kristy!

Sweet baby Levi came to party!

Seems like just yesterday we were having a baby shower for him!

He's hiding away in the tummy of the pink sweater =)

Baby showers are always fun...it's great to "oooh" and "aaah" over all the tiny little things. Speaking of baby showers, I am working on planning another one as we speak. But this one is super special - it's a twin baby shower! My dearest friend Terry is expecting twins in July and they found out last week that they are having a boy AND a girl! This will make three little boys and one baby girl for their family and this "Lissa" is soooo excited!!

After this baby shower weekend, I hit a little bump in the road...my first sinus infection. I went into school one day only to be sent home early since I was not feeling well (and apparently not looking too well either, ha!) I treated myself for a cold and just felt worse and worse as the day went on. It finally occurred to me that I was treating the wrong thing and I knew I would have to go to the doctor, ugh. So the next day I went in and the infection was confirmed. I was put on antibiotics and steroids and within a couple of days, I was feeling much better. For the record, I would take a cold over a sinus infection any day! My face has never hurt so much and I've never gotten so little sleep, boo!

Derek took such wonderful care of me and thank goodness I had this to survive on...

Lemon Frozen Yogurt from my favorite place, Black Bear!

Alright, moving on. Last weekend had a couple of events that I was really looking forward to. A little conference was coming to Tacoma...

Featuring this lady...

Ms. Beth Moore, LIVE! We were sitting just 5 or 6 rows back from the stage and had such an amazing time!

We kicked off the conference with a pastor's wives dinner...

Me, Terry, and Kristy - I can't even begin to express how much I LOVE these girls! I thank God everyday for them!!

Then we met up with the rest of our friends and just had an incredible weekend of teaching and worship. I'm still trying to digest it all.

Maria, Lucy, Me, Terry, Kristy, and Dawn!

Just after the conference ended, it was time for another party! This time, the guest of honor was this little beauty...

Miss Ella Grace McCain =)

Our friends Brad and Shelly have been in the process of adopting this sweet little angel and finally made it home from China just a couple of weeks ago. So we had a "Welcome Home Ella Grace" party and it just melted my heart!!

And before that day was over, we got to celebrate our friend Arin's birthday, too! So, you see what I mean by a "good kind of busy?" We are so blessed to be so busy and so surrounded by people we love! March still holds a few more special things for us but we'll see if the saying holds true and if it really will "go out like a guinea pig." =)

My New Favorite Product!

2011-03-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

I really have been blessed.

I have super thick hair and have never had to be an everyday hair washer. I usually get to do the every-other-day thing and occasionally can stretch it out to every third day.

But I have a confession.

I hate washing my hair. I love the outcome, hate the process. After washing, comes drying (because my hair would take 15 hours to dry on its own!), and then I have to go ahead and straighten it out or it's a wild curly mess, ugh. It's at least an hour and half ordeal. And morning washes aren't really an option either. Morning washes only lead to hair weirdness that ultimately results in a ponytail. So that means most of the time, I'm washing late at night and am just not happy about it.

I realize that this is not a big deal to you - and not even a deal at all in general. But there is a point.

About two weeks ago, I saw a commercial for this product....

The ad claimed that you could spray this on your hair, brush it out, and it would look as good as freshly washed. I was quite skeptical, but when I saw it on the shelf at the store the other day, I decided to try it. This week at work has been absolutely exhausting. I really needed to wash my hair last night, but I just didn't have the energy. The beginning of my week is the busiest part (busy in a good way, of course) - Sunday night church, work Monday (crazy), Monday night LIFE group, work Tuesday (crazier), Tuesday night youth group. When we finally got home last night, I just didn't have the energy. So I decided to try out my new "Dry Shampoo."

Let me tell you, it's amazing!! I was seriously shocked at how well it worked. It did just what it claimed it could do - remove the oil. My hair was so soft and I was so happy! Now honestly, I don't plan to make this a regularly used product - but boy, am I sure glad to have an alternative for those days when I just don't feel like going through the ordeal.

Whew, glad I got that off of my chest! =)

On a totally different note, who needs dry shampoo when it's Dr. Seuss' birthday and you get to go to school looking like this...

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Thanks for the pajama day!!

I've Seen Them All...

2011-02-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

I am on Day 2 of no school because of snow, woohoo! Looking out of our bay window right now, it looks like someone just shook up a snow globe - seriously! Snow is flying in all sorts of crazy directions. It is just beautiful! We've had a few snow days before, but there is something extra special about having a snow day when you are really supposed to be working =)

Derek has been out of town a couple of days this week at a leadership conference, so I spent yesterday's snow day all by myself...I say "Boo to that!" So I occupied my time by cleaning up my poor, neglected home and catching up on some movies I had recorded on our dvr, like "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Can you believe I've never seen it?

We've also been enjoying the instant streaming of Netflix. I think it's just amazing how many tv shows are available to watch either on dvd or through Netflix instantly. You can watch an entire series! I'm thinking that will be nice to have around this summer when all of the good tv shows go into tv purgatory. We're trying to work our way up to canceling our cable altogether - we'll see if we can actually do it =)

So I started thinking about shows that I have seen in their entirety - shows that are no longer current that I have seen every single episode of. And I came up with these...

1. I Love Lucy

I'm honestly not sure how, when, or why I started watching this show, but I can't really remember not watching it. I've loved it forever, and I never, ever get tired of Lucy's crazy antics. Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in her shoes. It's hard to pick a favorite episode, but I do love when she's working in the chocolate factory =)

2. The Cosby Show

If I could pick any other family to grow up in besides my own, it would be this one. I can quote nearly every line of this show! This was one of few shows that my family and I watched religiously on a weekly basis. Derek didn't grow up watching it, so I've been able to introduce him to the Huxtables and I really enjoy getting to see him watch it for the first time. My favorite episode is the one when the family decides to give Theo a taste of the "real world" and they transform their entire house into a restaurant, apartment building, furniture store, and bank. Love it!

3. Who's the Boss?

I'm pretty sure I wanted to be Samantha Micelli when I was little - either her or Punky Brewster. And I just loved that the actress' real name was Alyssa because she was the only other Alissa I had even heard of. Now all of the Alissa's I know are under the age of 10 or so - I even have an Alyssa in my new class =)

4. 24

I'm so thankful this country has Jack Bauer - he's the reason we can all lay our heads down and sleep well at night, ha! This was the first tv series we watched together after we were married, thanks to a friend who dumped seasons 1-6 in our lap. We were addicted from the very beginning!

5. Lost

Wow - what to say about this one? I'm glad we didn't start this show until it was available on dvd because I could never remember all of the things that happened from week to week. We both think this show is pretty amazing and wish we had just one more season. Definitely the most unpredictable show ever!

I'm not sure what our next series to catch up on will be - we're happy to take suggestions =) For now hot chocolate and the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's are calling my name!

Back to Work!

2011-02-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I am not a fan of rejection. I don't like it one bit. In all honesty, if I ever thought I might be rejected from something, I probably wouldn't even go for it. It's definitely one of my biggest fears. And boy, did I get my fill of it this summer. And this was the lesson I learned...

It goes right along with this verse:

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28

And although I know it, sometimes I forget =)

It has truly been the desire of my heart to get back in the classroom in a full-time position, but it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Education cuts mean fewer jobs, which leads to very highly qualified, but unemployed, teachers. And for every job opening, there are literally at least 100 applicants, many of whom are those highly qualified teachers. Of those applicants, maybe 6 or 7 actually get interviews. It's a tough place to be in, especially for someone like me, who is still considered a "newbie" in the education world.

But last summer, I was called to interview for a 4th grade position at a local elementary school in Steilacoom. I really thought I nailed it, only to receive that dreaded news of "You were a very strong candidate, but we decided to go with someone else." BAM! Rejection. I cried...and cried...and cried some more, but then I picked myself up and accepted the fact that it was not the job God had in mind for me.

Same summer, different school, different interview. Same story. Twice-rejected. And the cycle would be repeated once more in the fall. Oh well - each opportunity seemed like the perfect one, but obviously, they were not. And I just kept thinking that something better must be waiting.

Then I started substitute teaching and I landed at this school...

Chloe Clark Elementary in DuPont

You probably recognize this place because it looks like this on Sunday nights...

From my very first day subbing at Chloe Clark, I fell in love with the school. It's seriously amazing! I told Derek on that first day that I would rather scrub toilets at Chloe Clark than teach at any other school. I loved it that much!

Then, just a few weeks ago, I saw an open position for a Para Educator (like an assistant) in the special needs class. I applied right away and prayed that I would be called for an interview. Well, I got that call and went in for my interview. And then I waited...I interviewed on Monday and by Thursday I had resolved it in my mind that I would probably open the mailbox on Friday and see that dreaded letter. But Friday came and no letter - hope was still alive. Later Friday afternoon, I received a phone call and honestly thought that this was going to be it, they were letting me know they were going with someone else. But it was a different kind of phone call this time - this phone call came with a job offer!! Woohoo!! I couldn't be more thrilled to accept. I started the very next week (February 15) and was instantly crazy about my job, my students, and my co-workers. And though I am exhausted, both physically and mentally, I am as happy as a clam!

Can't you tell? Well, maybe you see more tired than happy in this picture, but I promise the happy outweighs the tired by alot, ha!

And now I can honestly say that I am thankful for all of the previous rejections. If I were locked into one of the other jobs, I wouldn't be able to be where I am now. I am thankful that what seemed like a "good" thing fell apart so that something better could fall together. And I know it wasn't by accident - it was His plan all along =)

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Look What I Found...

2011-02-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

Derek and I were in Tacoma the other day and went into World Market where something caught my eye...

Yum! Zapp's Spicy Cajun Crawtators are my FAVORITE!!

I came home with two, yes two, bags of my very own. I sure hope this is not just a display for Mardi Gras season and that I now have a spot to find my favorite chips. Then, just around the corner, I spotted this...

Can you see that there is a make-your-own king cake batter on that shelf? I really thought about it, I mean REALLY thought about it, but wasn't sure if I was feeling up to the challenge, so I decided not to make the purchase, which turned out to be a really great idea because the very next day, this arrived...

A Strawberry Cream Cheese filled King Cake all the way from Paul's Pastry in Mississippi, hooray!!

And it came with a very special note from two very special people

Thank you so much Mr. Darron and Mrs. Joanna!! You made my day!!

And yep, you read that note right...I have a new job!

But I'll save those details for my next post =)

Fighting back...

2011-01-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

We all get them...the Monday blahs.

Typically the score is Monday: 344,644,836,983,295,738 Alissa: 0

Poor Monday, the stereotypically worst day of the week, and we have to suffer through 52 of them every year. I've never ever heard someone say that Monday was their favorite day of the week...unless of course, Monday happens to be the first day of a vacation or special event, then it's "Hooray for Monday!"

I have been a victim of the Monday blahs myself...often. But I've been working on turning that around this year. It wasn't really a resolution, but just something I really wanted to do, make Monday magnificent - or at least tolerable, ha!

So here are a few of the things I like to do on Monday to perk up my day:

1. I have TWO quiet times on Monday.

By quiet time, I am referring to spending time with God for just a few minutes either through reading in my Bible, journaling, praying, listening to some of my favorite worship songs (lately I am really into Audrey Assad), or reading another special book. I've been a great fan of journaling my prayers lately. I am much more focused that way.

I typically have a late afternoon/evening quiet time and there's a good reason for that. No matter how hard I try or how much I really want to be, I am so NOT a morning person...not even with Jesus, lol. He knows all about it...He created me, right? =) However, Monday requires both an a.m. and a p.m. quiet time and it does help brighten my day.

2. Open the blinds.

It's no secret that the Northwest is a cloudy, rainy place. But no matter what it looks like outside, I always open or raise the blinds on Monday. There's just something about being able to look outside that lifts my spirits.

3. Get dressed.

I love a pajama day as much as the next gal, but that day is not for Monday. Mondays are the hardest days to force myself out of my p.j.'s and into presentable clothing...especially when I have nothing on my agenda. But it works! Putting myself together on a Monday morning makes for a much happier me and at least I can say I accomplished one thing, right??

4. Paint my toenails

Sounds crazy, I know. But every Monday I give my tootsies a fresh coat of paint...they typically need it by this point anyway. Being from the South, I am a barefoot queen when I'm inside my own home and it's so nice to look down and have something pretty looking back at me. I am usually fairly neutral when it comes to polish. But lately, I have been having lots of fun with crazy colors. After all, these toes have to stay hidden inside a warm shoe for most of the year so no one else is going to see them anyway. I've discovered the $0.97 polish section at Target and so right now I am wearing the brightest shade of hot pink you've ever seen! Fun!!

5. Change the sheets

Who doesn't love clean, fresh sheets? I adore them. I go to bed with a smile on my face when it's clean sheet day. This is actually a habit I've had for a long time...pretty much since Derek and I got married. Monday is always, always, always clean sheet day in the Thomas house! (And I use double fabric softener so it's extra nice). And what better way to end a Monday than on a bed of freshly laundered sheets?

Happy Monday everyone!!

It wasn't as boring as it seemed....

2011-01-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

I realize that as far as blogging goes, this one didn't have much to say in January. But I promise you that January was not at all a boring month for us...in fact, I would say it was the opposite!! Nearly every day on my calendar had something on it, often two somethings - one during the day and another that evening. I would definitely say we were busy...but not the kind of "pull your hair out" busy you might be thinking of, it was a fantastic kind of busy - the kind of busy where you are surrounded by new and old friends and lots of people that you love. I love that kind of busy!!

If you remember back to December, Life Church moved out of Forza and into a new gathering place...

And we didn't just get a larger space...we got a larger church family, too! We are absolutely loving getting to know so many new friends and every week God has sent brand new faces our way...it really is incredible. So I would say January has definitely been the month for building relationships!

A lot of chairs for a lot of friends

We've been learning all month at Life Church about "it." How to want it, how to open it, how to find it, how to give it, and how to share it. So I'm sure you're wondering...what is "it"?

"It" is...
-a passion for the presence of God
-a deep craving to reach the lost
-sincere integrity
-a spirit filled faith
-down to earth humility
-brokenness

It's been an incredible teaching series...one that really makes you do some serious self-reflecting. And in my self-reflection, I have to be honest and say that I don't always have "it." I may have parts or pieces, but not the whole "it." But I want "it" and I'm working on "it" because I want others to have "it" too...and I will get "it" because I won't stop until I do =)

If you've missed out on this series at all, you should really jump over to the website and listen...you did know the sermons were online, didn't you? ;) Well, they are...just click here and you'll go right to them.

Happy January to you!

Wrapping Up 2010

2011-01-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

All right, the truth is that I blog for mainly two reasons:

1. To help our families back home in the south feel more connected to us and know what is going on in our lives.
2. To have a little something to look back on in a few years.

But mainly, I blog for reason number one.

However, today I am blogging for reason number two because we wrapped up 2010 by spending it with our families, so they already know everything I am about to write =)

I left off with celebrating my 27th birthday and getting no so favorable news about Daddy's cancer. So I'll pick up with that...

Dad has started his new chemo and so far is not having any too terrible side effects. In fact, he feels better because his last treatment left him swollen, tired, and achy all of the time. When I talked to him last week, he was downright chipper compared to how he has sounded these last several months. So I am very happy that he is feeling better and hope he continues to feel better, but just continue to pray that his new chemotherapy will do what it's supposed to do and shrink those tumors!!

While I was in Texas with my parents, Derek had flown in and was waiting for me back in Louisiana. One of the first things we got to do when I got home was have a little lunch with some of our most favorite people!

Our friends Kevin and Ashley, who were also in for the holidays all the way from Las Vegas! We laughed about how we all live on the west coast now, but it took coming back to good ol' Bogalusa to get to see each other.

I was so happy to see Ashley! We were bridesmaids in each other's weddings and it was just so good to spend some time with her!

Then it was on to our first Christmas celebration with Derek's family in Denham Springs. Just look what his Aunt Donna made:

The most adorable penguin appetizers! Too adorable to eat =)

And after taking that picture, my camera battery went kaput, and I'm so sad I don't have any pictures from the rest of the day, but trust me, it was the most wonderful day and we absolutely LOVED getting to have a Christmas celebration with our family. We had more food than we'd like to admit and played a fun Stealing Santa game, in which I walked away with my very own LSU Snuggie, and a large can of popcorn, yay! What more could you ask for?

So I charged my battery up to get ready for Christmas celebration number two with my family.

Helped my sweet baby cousin Jax open up some presents (He celebrated his first birthday while we were home!)

He's the most squeezable baby I know =)

Here's Our Taylor Family Snapshot =)

And of course we did lots more eating...and then some napping, too.

Christmas with our families was just wonderful! I am so thankful we got to be home with them =)

And here's our Thomas family picture. Derek and I had arranged to have a photographer come out to take a portrait, but she became ill and couldn't make it, so we set up the tripod and took it ourselves...and I think it turned out perfect!

We got to spend some time with more of our favorite people while we were home, too.

Michael (not pictured), Kimberly, and Noah!! They are dear friends and we just can't get enough time with them when we are home. They are expecting baby #2 in March so we can't wait to meet Luke the next time we are home. And isn't Noah the cutest? I tried to get a picture of him by himself, but when I pulled out the camera and said "Say Cheese," this is what I got...

Now that's a cheesy face! So cute!!

And I also got to see another of my very best friends and meet her sweet baby girl, Eden, who live in Arkansas now.

A million "hoorays" for getting to see these beautiful girls! I love and miss them so much!! Hopefully, they will be making their first trip to Washington this summer...another hooray!!

Took Zack to see his first 3D movie, Yogi Bear!

He was not a fan of the much too large glasses, but he loved the movie. It was cute to watch him reach out toward the screen and try to grab the things that were popping out.

Loved spending some time with three of my favorite fellas!

Aren't Zack and Jared getting so big? They are growing up faster than I'd like them to.

And I loved spending time with my G =)

We really did have such a great time and look forward to our next visit, though it just can't come fast enough. We're so blessed to have such wonderful families.

There's one special lady that I can't help but think about every time we're home because I miss her so much...my Granny. One of my very special Christmas presents was a Willow Tree figurine called "With my Grandmother." As soon as I got home, I found the perfect spot for it.

And I just love seeing it everyday.

So that's how we wrapped up 2010 in a nutshell. We flew back to Washington on New Year's Eve and slept the night away...didn't even make it to midnight, guess that means I'm already "old" at 27, ha! =)

Here's to 27!

2010-12-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it's been a decade since I was 17 years old...but it's true. I think 17 was my favorite birthday year...I fell in love that year, perhaps that's why ;) And the guy I fell in love with at 17 is now my husband and he is still making me feel special 10 years later. I am reminded every single day how blessed I am to be his. Just look at what a fun, birthday surprise he had planned...

A birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant!

Then, we were off for another birthday surprise...

A visit to see ZooLights at Point Defiance Zoo!

I sure do love this fella!

They were so pretty =)

My favorite little spot of the night

Then we got to this little spot where there was a bench for sitting and admiring and we started to walk past it, when I noticed my husband was smiling from ear to ear. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was going to get down on one knee and pop the question! So I asked him what was up and we sat down on the bench, when he gave me the most beautiful Christmas present...

Now, the picture I took didn't come out well, so I borrowed this one, but I just love it! It's so beautiful and I'm so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband =)

Then a very nice stranger offered to take our picture...a nice variation from the self-portrait =)

After we said goodbye to the zoolights, it was time to go home so I could finish packing for my trip home. After spending most of the day in airports and on airplanes, I was so happy to have a little welcoming committee meet me in New Orleans. Mom, G, Jared, and Zack were all smiles when I finally arrived. And I was also thankful to have a little help with my luggage.

Zack excitedly grabbed my first bag and said "I got this one Kitty. I'm driving this one." And he took off with it =)

And Jared grabbed the other one!

But this suitcase came with a special label...or should I say a special warning sign!

Zack even tried to load it into the car for me =)

So we all loaded up, stopped for dinner, and then went on to good ol' Mississippi. The next was a special day for me because I got to celebrate my birthday with my family (minus my sweet hubby). I spent the day shopping and having lunch with my Mom and little sis. Then, Dad had suggested we go out to eat at a place called Swamp Bottom for dinner...so we did and boy, was it de-lic-ious! And of course, no birthday is complete without one of these...

My 27th Birthday Cake!

Yay for 27! I've always preferred the odd numbered years anyway...not sure why, they just seem like more fun =)

Blowing out my candles and making my wish!

Now, I know you aren't supposed to tell your wishes, but I am going to break that rule. As I blew out my candles, I wished for my Dad to get his health back and for his cancer to go away. The day after my birthday, I left with Mom and Dad for Dad's next checkup at M.D. Anderson. Unfortunately, my wish has not yet come true because we found out today that Dad's cancer is no longer stable and his chemotherapy has stopped working. This means his tumors have grown and he will start a new chemotherapy in January. It was definitely not the news we wanted, but it's the news we were given. I am still trusting God with my Dad, I always will, but it's still difficult to process. No little girl, no matter how old, wants to see her Daddy weakened or anything less than the strongest man in the world. So I will continue to hope...continue to pray...and continue to trust in the One who is forever in control. And of course, I'll spend every birthday wish I have hoping for a miracle.

My 20 Year Old Confession

2010-12-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

I once was a mega-fan.

I had the albums (cassette tapes at the time). I had the VHS concert tapes. I had the apparel. I was even in the official fan club.

All for these guys...

I think it's the only time in my life when I was a mega fan of any kind of band...but I was serious...and I was also 7 years old.

In fact, when I started 1st grade in 1990, this was my lunch box...

However, I didn't get to keep it very long because it quickly became the talk of my conservative, private, Christian school and they made me cover the front of it with stickers...still a sore subject with my Mom to this day, ha!

My cousins and I would get together for sleepovers to watch this tape over and over

And here's my dorky confession (but remember, I was a mega fan)...each of us had our favorite NKOTB...and we would sit so close to the tv watching this tape, just waiting for our favorite to have a close up shot so we could make kissy faces at the screen. I told you we were serioius =)

I wanted so desperately to see NKOTB in concert, I could hardly stand it. But tour after tour, they didn't come close to south Mississippi...until on year, they were going to be in Baton Rouge and my aunt was going to take her daughters and had invited me!! I'm not sure I've ever wanted anything so bad in my life...all 7 years of it. But ultimately, I wasn't allowed to go because the concert was on a Saturday and they would spending the night, meaning I would miss church on Sunday, which was definitely not allowed in my house. I cried...and cried...and cried.

But thank goodness dreams never die, because on July 8, 2011, 20 years after being denied the chance to see my favorite band, I'll be seeing these fellas at the Tacoma Dome!

Now to be honest, I could really care less about the BSB...they are my sister's favorites and the boy band of her generation, but they are definitely not the reason why I'm going. I just can't wait and am already feeling like the seven year old mega fan again!

And don't worry...this concert is on a Friday...and I won't be missing church =)

Moving On...

2010-11-29T14:23:00.001-08:00

It seems like only yesterday that we celebrated our first monthly Life Church service at Forza. But it wasn't yesterday...it was September 13, 2009.

And it also seems like only yesterday that we had our first baptism service...but it was actually May 2, 2010.

However, it was only yesterday that we celebrated our last meeting in Forza.

Forza will forever be special to us. It will always be our beginning place, our starting point for publicly reaching out to the people of DuPont for Christ. We miss it already, but are so very excited about what God already has planned for our next chapter. This coming Sunday we will have our first service in our new location, Chloe Clark Elementary School. It will also be our first service with our expanded church family and I just can't wait!!

Here are a few images of our last Sunday gathering in Forza...

The last song...

The last welcome...

The last sermon...

The last Forza crowd...

And of course, I can't forget our last setup for Life Kids at the Rubber Room.

But all of this just means that next week, we'll have a lot of new "firsts" and that makes me excited!

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

Thanksgiving in Portland

2010-11-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving this year, we opted for an adventure in Portland! We went to Portland to celebrate our second anniversary in 2009 and loved it...so much that we decided to go back for another adventure. So Thursday morning, we headed for Oregon with our friends Mark and Tifaney.

Here we are in Portland!

But our first stop was for a Thanksgiving Dinner at Denny's. It felt just like we were in a holiday movie...the one where the turkey gets all burned up and the entire family has to go out to dinner instead =)

New York isn't the only place with a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade...

Portland Macy's has their own little version.

Enjoying the parade

Even Santa made it the parade!

And just for Mr. Darron, I took this picture...

That's a lot of Ralphie's! =)

After the parade, we did a little walking to Chinatown.

But it wasn't very exciting, so Derek started looking for a new place to check out.

Where to next, hon?

So we did a little walking and found this cool mural

It is a weird place, fun, but definitely strange...hmmm...maybe that's saying something about why we love it so much!

We jumped in line with some others for a delicious treat...

Portland's famous VooDoo Donuts!

The motto here is..."Good things come in pink boxes"

Look at all those crazy toppings!

And here's our very own VooDoo Dozen...when you order a VooDoo Dozen, they pick them for you, and we were quite pleased with their selection.

Once we had our donuts, we enjoyed a little Black Friday shopping around town. I especially enjoyed the shopping because Oregon is completely TAX-FREE! That's right, no tax on any purchase, yay! In the midst of our day we opted for a movie matinee and then onto a little more shopping.

Once night fell, we headed to Pioneer Square, along with 10,000 other people for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Beautiful Christmas Tree

Here we are with the tree, although you can't see it very well.

You've probably heard about this tree ceremony...as it turns out, this ceremony was the target of a terrorist attack over a year in the making. Thankfully, the FBI caught on to it back in 2009 and had been stringing the plotter along. He had a van of explosives near the ceremony, but they had planted him with a fake detonator, and as soon as he attempted to set off the explosives, they arrested him. We had no idea that anything was going on until we heard it on the news back in our hotel room. Talk about scary! Every time I think about it, I get chills. Praise God that the attack was prevented and 10,000 plus lives were saved, including ours. We are so incredibly thankful!

Saturday morning, we were headed home and decided to take a little detour to stop at Multnomah Falls.

It is gorgeous!

I really wanted to make the short climb to the bridge, but it was freezing and I was getting wet from the wind blowing the falls as it was, so this was as close as I came. Maybe next time I'll get to make that climb.

And here we are with Mark and Tif for one last picture at the waterfall. I'm so glad we got a chance to spend a few days in Portland with such great friends...we have so much to be thankful for!

We Were All Snowed In

2010-11-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

We woke up on Monday morning to this gorgeous winter, or should I say fall, wonderland...

Just look at that beautiful blanket of snow!

Then a sweet family of deer decided to join us

I have to say, I certainly didn't mind being stuck inside. This is what I saw to my left...

This is what I saw right in front of me...

And this is what I saw to my right...

Not a bad day, wouldn't you agree? =)

Veteran's Day from a Veteran's Wife

2010-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

I copied this post that my friend Amanda wrote on her facebook page yesterday. Amanda is one of the very first gals I formed a friendship with after moving to Washington. In the short time that we've been here, we've gotten to experience some huge things in her life, like the birth of her third beautiful baby girl and her husband's deployment (those events happened simultaneously by the way). In fact, in the two years that we have lived here, her husband, Dan, has been gone for more than half of that time. Every single time I see Amanda, I am amazed. She's such an incredible military wife and mom to three beautiful girls. I am so thankful God has put her in my life and am blessed to call her "friend." She has shared her heart and thoughts on Veteran's day so beautifully that I had to share this with you.

In two hours it will be Veterans Day... I have been pondering all day the sacrifices my husband has made while serving our country. It seems like everyone knows someone serving in the military, or someone who has served, and someone's husband, brother, mother, sister, cousin, best friend's uncle, etc etc has been serving here and overseas... Everyone in this country is attached to someone in the military in some way it seems. That is a good thing, I believe. It should help people support the troops easier. It should encourage people to remember that living with the freedoms we have comes at a price.

Here are some of our prices paid... Dan has been serving for somewhere in the ballpark of 12 years now. Maybe 11, but either way, it's more than 10. It seems like some of the biggest moments in our lives have been moments we've had to celebrate apart. In almost seven years of marriage, he has not been home for at least half of it. He missed my college graduation (and my high school graduation, but that's an entirely different story!). Lucky for me, he WAS around for our wedding, but barely :) We had to reschedule it a couple times. He was gone when we found out we were expecting our first child. He missed Brooke's first birthday. He missed Brooke's third birthday. In fact, he missed her 4th and 5th birthday too. He missed Raelyn's first birthday. He missed her standing for the first time. When Raelyn turned two, Daddy was missing.

The sacrifices he's made keep going... When I had a miscarriage, he was over 1000 miles away training for deployment. When I found out I was pregnant with our third child (4th pregnancy for those of you keeping track), he was overseas. He missed Natalie's birth. He missed a lot of her firsts. He missed her first crawls, her first time pulling-up, her first tooth...

There are too many things that he has missed. I share this not to complain--not at all. I share this because he chose to make these sacrifices for me, for his girls, for you...and for every person in this nation. He chose to sacrifice what so many take for granted, to put his life on the line to help protect our country, and to do what so many other men and women in the military are also doing for this country, past and present.

In the heat of the "battle" (no pun intended), I sometimes wonder if the sacrifices are worth it. But...in the aftermath, and in the quiet moments of reflection, I know that yes, they are worth it. I am blessed to have a hard-working, sacrificial husband who provides for his family and allows me to stay home with our girls, even when most months it seems that there are more bills than money. He keeps sacrificing so we can keep living.

I love my veteran. I thank God for him and for all the other veterans and service members, and their families, who have experienced and are experiencing the costs of sacrifice. May we never take it for granted.

-Amanda Stryker Taylor

Our Canadian Road Trip

2010-11-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we took a little road trip....

...to Vancouver, B.C. in Canada!

And we didn't go alone, we went with some great friends.

Let me introduce you to them...
Bottom Row: Jenna, Mykel, Keith, Mollie, Kyle, Terry
Top: Frank, Mark, Brad, Anndi, Bobby, Me, & Derek

One of my favorite things about going to Vancouver is that on the way, there's one of these...

...Chick-Fil-A!

The only Chick-Fil-A in the entire state of Washington is on the campus of Western Washington University, about 3 hours away from us, so I was so excited to get to make this little pit stop. My friend Mollie, who just moved here this summer from West Virginia, was just as happy as I was. Our group was split about 50/50 between Native Northwesterners and Southern transplants, Poor Northwesterners just can't truly appreciate the goodness that is Chick-Fil-A, but they were all good sports, ha! When we got to the food court on campus, it was right at lunch time, but there wasn't a single student in line for a yummy chicken sandwich...sad, I know. Derek and I were the first through the line and we overheard the girl working behind the counter's shock at 13 people being in her line, she couldn't believe it and started to panic a little. If only these students knew what a treasure they have...sigh....

Then we made our way across the border and spent a couple of hours exploring in downtown Vancouver.

It was a bit of a rainy day (surprise, surprise), so I sure was thankful to have brought my rain jacket along.

And I know Terry was glad to have hers, too! We called ourselves the happy rain jacket club since our jackets are so bright =)

But our jackets weren't the only spot of bright colors we got to see...

We spotted a rainbow! One of the things I love about the Northwest is that we see rainbows all the time. Sometimes it seems like the rain will never end, but then one of these little beauties appear and I'm reminded that it won't last forever after all.

Here's the other side of our rainbow =)

We got to see the Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Winter Olympics

It really is much cooler in person. I remember seeing it on television and thinking it was rather unattractive, but now that I've actually seen it, I am much more impressed =)

Now, onto the real reason we went to Vancouver. It was the final stop of the Passion World Tour. Passion is a gathering targeting college-age students in an attempt to awaken a new generation to making the name of Jesus famous. Our night consisted of worship led by Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder and a message from Passion founder Louie Giglio. It was really cool to be in Canada with 10,000+ others worshiping God in a culture that is so very far away from Him.

My favorite, David Crowder!

And here's the shot of our group again. I am so blessed to know each of them and to be able to call them friends, they really are incredible people!

We moved here two years ago with Kyle and Terry...ready to do our best to reach the Northwest for Jesus. We didn't have relationships or really even know anyone else in this state. We are so thankful that God has insulated us with such incredible people to do life together with here in Washington. I seriously cannot imagine being here without them, and these are just a few of the special people God has placed in our lives. I had no idea when we set out to move across the country away from everyone and everything we've known our entire lives that God had such amazing things in store for us. I'm so thankful He's got it all figured out! It makes me so excited to see what else He has planned!

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

Apples and Pumpkins

2010-10-17T09:42:00.001-07:00

Our most adorable town of Steilacoom has an annual apple squeeze every year. The highlight of this event is getting to squeeze your very own jug of apple cider in an old fashioned apple press, yum! Derek and I went down to check it out and met up with our friends, Arin and Kristy and their four kiddos. Though we didn't bring home our own jug of apple cider, we had so much fun watching the Jenkins' crew creating theirs. And I must say, I've never seen so many apples in one place before!

Let the apple squeezing begin!

Jace using his muscle to help cut the apples

Avery, Jace, and Kadence tossing in their apples

Arin tagged Derek in to help =)

The apples are cut and the kids are turning the wheel to start the squeezing, the juice from the apples runs into the bucket below.

From the buckets, through the funnel, to the jug

And the prized trophy...a freshly squeezed jug of apple cider! We even got to taste it and it was oh-so-delicious!!

Now, onto a pumpkin patch adventure! Pumpkin patches are one of my most favorite things about fall and are quite popular around here. If you don't believe me, look at how many people had the same idea we did today...

Just look at this line to get into the pumpkin patch! Can you believe it?? It doesn't even open for 15 minutes and there's already a giant line. But this was no ordinary pumpkin patch...this was....

Roloff Farms!! That's right, the family farm from TLC's Little People, Big World. You might remember that Derek and I went last year and had a super fun time, but I have several friends who've lived in Washington much longer than me and have never been so we planned a girls' trip, fun fun!! And trust me, the boys we left behind were quite content with not tagging along =)

Our first Roloff sighting of the day, Matt! We did get a picture with him, but not with my camera, maybe I can get a copy to share with you next time.

We spotted the Roloff boys working on the farm today

Zach's driving a tractor tour

And so is Jeremy!

Lehua, Tif, Jenna, and me loaded up for our first tour

And we were lucky to get Zach as our chauffeur =)

Very pretty Roloff House, so much bigger in person, too.

Roloff Barn No. 1, home to Matt's office, the spot for tv interviews, and where the crew does the editing.

It is such a beautiful farm =)

Pirate Ship

Molly's Castle

Very cool tree house

Made a pit stop in Western Town for a picture with Honey, Poppa, and Jeremy

Amy was at the start of a very long line of fans waiting for autographs and pictures, and we watched her as she took her time with each and every one. She is so gracious and truly a Mom at heart!

Cutie pie Jacob

A final picture of our day at Roloff Farms.

Seriously, this is the coolest farm I've ever seen! And if I were one of their children, I would NEVER move away from home!! Why would you leave a pirate ship, castle, tree house, western town, petting zoo, soccer field, basketball court, volleyball court, or your pet alligator, just to name a few of the things we saw today?? The Roloffs are a great family, so down-to-earth, and we just loved our time at their farm. And our day didn't even end here, we got to have lunch in Portland and did a little outlet mall shopping in Centralia...what a fun girls' trip! Hoping for many, many more of those to come =)

It's Fair Time In Washington!

2010-09-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Derek and I had a special treat last week...

We went to the fair!

Fall always reminds me of one thing in particular...the fair! Oh how I miss the Washington Parish Fair...just the feel of cool crisp air and I can already smell the aroma....Since we can't get to our hometown fair, we got the chance to go to another local fair...the Puyallup (pronounced Pew-all-up) Fair. Our friends Laura and Moises were going so we decided to join them and my goodness, did we have fun!

And then there was the food...oh boy...the food...

I won't even begin to tell you the junk that we put into our bodies, I will only say that the fair happens once a year and it just smells so temptingly good, that I allowed myself to become weak...very weak. =)

One thing that I heard was a "must try" at the Puyallup Fair were Elephant Ears, yes you heard me, Elephant Ears. What are Elephant Ears, well just look below to find out...

Now, don't you want one too??

Here's my very first Elephant Ear! I have to say that I looked like a four-year-old mess by the time I finished it...Derek looked at me and informed me that I had cinnamon-sugar all in my hair, ha! But when there's sugar on your fingers, and the wind blows your hair in your face, how else are you supposed to move your hair?? =)

Then we found this booth...they had a very interesting menu...

As interesting as it was, I did NOT order anything =)

Now, onto the main reason we were there...

There was a concert with this guy...Jeremy Camp

And this band...Mercy Me!

We had a fabulous time worshiping with Jeremy Camp and Mercy Me!

Laura and Moises had a good time =)

And we sure enjoyed it too!

Here's my favorite picture from the concert...I just love the words on the screen.

Then, this lady came out, you probably don't recognize her face, but I'll bet you'd recognize her voice...

...it's Delilah...you know, from the night time radio show...De-Li-Lah (insert the tune here)
Why was she here? Well she is far more than just a voice on the radio...she's an incredible Christian lady with an incredible mission!

She runs a charity for children in Ghana, West Africa, and also in America called Point Hope. Everything she shared with us that night just blew me away. For example, there are currently 500,000 children in the U.S. Foster Care system, the majority of whom will never, ever have a "forever home."

In Ghana, the United Nations will be closing an orphanage in December of this year that serves as a home to 360 children. These children will have nowhere to go when their orphanage closes. Point Hope is doing everything they can to save these children. Ghana has been close to my heart for a while now...it's where the Compassion International child we sponsor lives. It's just a heartbreaking situation.

This charity is living out James 1:27...

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

Their vision is "to be a voice for forgotten children." I love it! It goes right along with one of my favorite verses:

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." Proverbs 31:8

Since that night, I can feel God stirring in me...stirring me to do what, I'm not quite sure yet, but whatever it is, I'll do it! Maybe it's to get involved with this charity, maybe it's to prepare my heart for something bigger, maybe it's just to be aware or raise awareness for a problem that goes unnoticed by the majority. I've been reading the book of James quite a lot recently, and if there's one thing I know about the teaching of James, it's that faith without action is dead faith, and I want a living faith! For now, until God gives me further direction, I am pleading with Him on behalf of these orphans...because I am quite convinced now that if we don't plead for them...the pleading won't get done.

It was definitely a fair day I'll never forget =)