Sharing is fun!!

So on many of my friend's blogs they like to share youtube videos that strike their fancy. I have found my new favorite site for Christian satire... God Tube I know it may sound a little cheesy, but it can be very funny. I have two which have been personal favorites latetly....

The First: is for those of us who grew up going on youth retreats with our youth group. If you ever had a crazy youth pastor you would appreciate this...and maybe if you're like me, you are saying "deep down inside I wish I could try it too..."



The Second: can be most appreciated by those of us who are children of the early 90's. I hated this song when it came out....but now I have a renewed appreication for it. You have to listen closely to the lyrics & hopefully you will find this as amusing as I did.

Halloween in a small mountian town

We enjoy living in a small mountian town. Every year for Halloween the entire county, all 18,000 of them, seem to come into town to go trick or treating. It's great, they close off the city streets & the kids wander about trying to get the biggest stashes of candy in town. This year Micah decided to try his hand a trick or treating. The problem is, my son really doesn't like candy too much (I think I know where he gets it). But he does like suckers!! We walked through town with some friends & their kids. At every house Micah would stop, check out the candy & only take it if they had a sucker. At one stop they offered him a small piece of candy & a sucker, he politely returned the piece of candy & kept the sucker :-)


Micah prepares to go out & hit the town


You will notice that the sucker in his hand here is a different color from the one above. Every time he got a new sucker he put his half sucked one in his bucket & requested for the new one to be opened. I don't even want to know what the bottom of his bucket looks like :-)


My favorite stop through town is a local resturant which gives out deep fried bananas covered in carmel sauce!! Ryan tried to look real goofy for the camera.


Our church had a GREAT harvest party! After getting our fill of suckers we headed over there. They had a chili cook-off & a variety of games. Here Ryan tries to go "bobbing for apples" (without water).


Micah really enoyed the make-shift hay slide.


I think I'm going to be pulling hay out of his costume for a while :-)


Micah's favorite game was our version of a dunk tank. Micah loved throwing the balls at the target (and he got pretty close!!).


The pastor after he gets soaked by Micah's throw (with a little bit of help from the adults)

Fall in Yosemite

Well one of my favorite seasons up here is fall. It reminds me so much of living back east. The trees are full of color & create a canopy over the roadway. I was a little disappointed this year because some of my favorite places to drive were closed due to Ryan's consturction job (I'm trying not to hold it against him :-) But Micah and I headed up there last week to catch the tail end of the color. It was beautiful. It was about 75 degrees outside & the leaves were falling like snow. Micah loved kicking the large piles of dry leaves & picking up sticks. It was wonderful & relaxing.



kicking the large piles of leaves


Playing in the "Indian Villiage" at the visitor's center


preparing for a "giant" leap off this "giant" rock

Pumpkin Patch

Well Micah and I just got back from a weeklong visit home to Portland. I had a missions conference up in Seattle which I attended as a TMI representative. It was a great excuse to get home to meet my newest nephew, Cooper. He was born to Ben & Andree. He was a 10lbs!!!


While we were home was also slipped down to the Pumpkin Patch. I remember as a kid going down there in October & hanging out in the animal barn with the cows or riding the hay ride while mom filled the honey shelves. It was exciting to take Micah & Ella down there to relive my experiences. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last there...it's much nicer now, but still just as muddy.




Micah & I on the hay ride. Once we got out to the pumpkin patch we decided that the pumpkins were way too big to carry back & manage the kids at the same time, so we went back to the barn & picked out some small "kid size" pumpkins.




Micah & Ella check out the goats in the animal barn.

Our Little Monkey

As many of you know, Micah is a HUGE Curious George fan. As I type this he is watching the same episode for the 3rd time today. Well while watching the show today he asked to put on his Halloween Costume & I thought I'd share it with you all. Micah is going to be his own little monkey. We'll see how long he stays in the outfit on Halloween, but I sure think he looks cute :-)

Ft. Stevens

Well another summer has come and gone. As things start to get cold down here in CA, I forget that I haven't yet posted pictures from Micah & my most recent trip up to Oregon. Again, Ryan wasn't able to join us :-( but we did have a good time camping on the Oregon Coast. Micah has become quite the camper. He quickly sees the tent going up & his sleeping bag being laid down & he says, "night, night!" We spent 6 days down at the beach. Ella slept with us in our tent, because Andree was having some pretty bad contractions. It was great for the kids to spend the time together, getting dirty & playing around.



















These are pictures of Micah "walking" the Cheek's dog. He was VERY gentle with the kids & put up with thier obsession with him.

Morro Bay Camping Trip

As I mentioned earlier, last week was our annual camping trip at Morro Bay. This year our group was much larger than last year. This year we had over 60 people with us (including adults & kids). It was a great group. I was in charge of the kitchen. This was right up my alley after two summers with TMI. Micah enjoyed hanging out with the other children & the youth group was great at keeping an eye on him.


Micah sneaks a snack.



I find Micah again trying to sneak a snack...he was just so cute, it was hard to tell him NO!


View from the beach, our campground is about a 100 yards from the beach.


Cleaning up after a long week playing on the beach.

Big Sur, CA

Well we just got back from another great weekend representing TMI at Spirit West Coast in Monterey, CA. Micah and I were there for the full three day festival & Ryan joined us for the last two days. I was fortunate enough this year to bring two girls from our church to help watch Micah while I was at the booth. It was an amazing blessing to have them there with me. We enjoyed meeting FTM's & telling new people about the opportunities that TMI has for them.

After we were done at Spirit West Coast Ryan returned home to work & the girls & I (and Micah too ;-) Headed south along HWY 1 towards Morro Bay for our annual youth group camping trip. Along the way we stopped off at many beautiful spots to enjoy God's beautiful creation. One of the stops was at a remote beach in Big Sur, CA. Micah loved walking on the beach & playing in the sand. He still is not too sure about the water.

The Happiest Place on Earth.....Lake Retreat!!

This year I received a special birthday present complements of my mom & dad...a trip to Lake Retreat for Family Camp. As many of you know my family has been going to Family Camp at Lake Retreat for over 20 years now. But in the last 8 yrs I have only been able to go one time because we live so far away. This year Micah & I were able to trave up there to enjoy it with my parents, Isaiah, Ben, Andree, Ella, Jonathan & Christina (the only person we were missing was Ryan :-( Micah had a great time exploring Lake Retreat. He even left with quite a big skinned knee from falling running down the hill to the dinning hall. He and Ella were the best of friends & it still amazes me at how well they get along. Here are just a few shots from our trip.

Micah enjoys his first smore.

The cousins.

Micah shows Grandma his shot...

...Grandma shows him her shot.


Micah did really well around the waterfront. He only went in the water when he had his lifejacket on, thankfully!


Uncle Ben took the whole family, and Micah, out on a boat...Micah enjoyed sticking his hand overboard to touch the water.



Overall, I really enjoyed my time up at camp. My life has been really busy & hectic lately & there I had a chance to sit back and relax a little. The speakers were great. I enjoyed my time with my sister-in-laws & I look forward to returning again next year (hopefully!!).

Summer Camping Trip

As many of you know it is often difficult for us to get away as a family during the summertime. So we decided a couple weekends ago to run away for one night of camping. Although to maximize our time we decided to camp close to home in Yosemite. We were wise enough to avoid the chaos of the valley this time of year, instead we choose a little known campground three miles off the road to tioga pass. This campground was about 45 min. from Ryan's work, so Micah and I went up, set up camp & then drove back down to pick up Ryan after work. Micah LOVED camping...especially the dirt!

The dirt didn't seem to bother him, though. He willingly ate his snack...dirty hands and all.

This was a meadow nearby our campground.

We were blessed to find a campground that was surrounded on three sides by large boulders. This allowed me to try to keep a reasonable eye on Micah.



My boys sure love their popcorn!!

The following morning I was able to talk Ryan into going up to Tuolumme Meadows for a short hike through the valley. Micah enjoyed getting up in the backpack & smiles as we walked through the meadow. We walked along the river & went to Soda Springs where the carbonated water naturally bubbles up out of the ground. It was AMAZING!! Ryan & I even snuck a little taste of it.


All that hiking wore Micah out!!