Happy Valentine's Day!

We had the best Valentine's Day! We decided to spend our day as a family and we had a blast! We took the kids bowling for the first time and it was so much fun-- they did great! We've been bowling on the Wii for a while, but real life bowling was even better!


We ended our perfect day delivering valentines and eating heart shaped homemade pizza! It was a perfect day!

I love my family so much....

She's home!

I'm happy to report that Tatum came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. She is SO happy to be home (as are her very tired parents!). You can read more about it HERE.

The kids, Grandma, GG and I were at Tatum's house when they got home.... we thought she deserved a big greeting!!

Update on Tatum

So far so good... Tatum is out of surgery!

The doctor said that the surgery went better than expected. They will be at the hospital until Thursday recovering. Please keep praying...

By the way.... I have heard of so many people praying for Tatum and we are so blessed. I know that my sister and brother-in-law appreciate it so much. God is so faithful and so good.

I'll update more later.

Thank you!

To my praying friends....

My 3 year old niece, Tatum, is having surgery tomorrow morning at 8:00 am. She was diagnosed with Renal Reflux at 10 months old and it is being corrected, for good, tomorrow. There was a chance she would outgrow it, but her fantastic doctor has decided surgery is necessary. Click HERE for my sister's explanation of it all.

We have been praying for healing for a long time. God is providing that healing tomorrow via corrective surgery.

Please pray for Tatum, her Mommy, her Daddy, her brother Asher, for the doctors, nurses etc....

I will do my best to update as soon as I know anything tomorrow.

Thank you!

Such a fun day...

We took the kids to D1sney Playhouse Live today. It was SO much fun!!! We've been talking it up all week and therefore when Reagan woke up this morning, she said "Mom! Do we get to go to D1sneyLAND today???" I quickly clarified that it was D1sney LIVE, not LAND. Thankfully she was good with that.

The show featured M1ckey Mouse and his friends, H@ndy Manny (our kid's favorite), the L1ttle Einste1ns and My Friends T1gger and P00h. The kids got to sing along and dance around (in the itty-bitty little space in front of their seats). It was fantastic and worth every penny!

It's how I roll, peeps.

Hi, my name is Ian, and today I'd like to roll like a turtle. With Diego stickers on my face.

Peace out.

Realization.

This is what came home from PreSchool with Reagan the other day:

Now... when, exactly, did I get old enough to have a kid in elementary school?

Random thoughts about today's events

1. I have a lot of opinions about political things. Most of them I will choose to keep to myself, because that's not what this blog is about.

2. One thing that I cannot keep to myself is this: Even though President O. was not my choice, he is now my President. I will pray for him and his administration because I believe that God is in control and I love this country too much not to.

3. I think it is comical how much pressure was put on Mrs. O and her choice of clothing for today (and for the rest of her life). (For the record, I loved her dress)

4. I (obviously) do not know the family personally, but I am consistently impressed with their public face-- the girls seem to be so respectful and kind, and adorable! I will also pray for them as their Dad's new job will forever alter their life and upbringing.

4. I watched a lot of NBC's coverage of today's events and my favorite moment, by far, was when Al R0ker desperately tried to get an "interview" with the new President. It was hysterical--- and the banter between R0ker and Br1an W1lliams was priceless. Thanks for the laughs, guys.

5. I was sad to hear of T. Kennedy's medical emergency during the luncheon. Sounds like he is doing better now, thankfully.

6. I hope that GW Bush breathes in the fresh Texas air tonight and gets the best night's sleep he has had in 8 years. He deserves it.

And here, because I can't help myself, are a few actual quotes from the founders of our country:


"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Benjamin Franklin


"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."Patrick Henry


"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson


"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation


Let's go back to our roots.


But even if we don't, Christ is still on the throne. And He's the only one that can change your life.

Monkey hear, Monkey repeat

It's pretty funny around here these days...

Tonight, it was funny because Ian is SO into everything that Reagan does. Anything she does, he wants to do. Anything she says, he wants to repeat. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Tonight it was a cute thing.

We were in the car on our way home and Reagan decided to count to 100. (She did a darn good job, too!). Then.... after we put Ian to bed, we heard him doing his very best to count to 100 too. He didn't quite make it (he didn't make it too far past 20, actually :) ).

Nonetheless, tonight the monkey repeated what he heard the other monkey say.

Cute, cute monkeys.

Christmas.... a little late

Sean pointed out to me that I hadn't posted about Christmas yet. I know.... I'm totally behind. Christmas really seemed to fly by this year. Maybe because we were hit with "Winter Storm 2008" right before the holidays. We spent Christmas Day at my parents house then travelled to Spokane (with all of their 70 inches of snow. It was nuts) on the 26th to celebrate with Sean's family. I have an enormous amount of pictures, as usual. I'll just include a small sampling...

Every year we are blown away with the love and generosity of our family. We are so thankful. We are so blessed.

And most of all, every day we are blown away by our Savior's grace in our lives. HE really rocks our world. Thanks Jesus for letting us celebrate your birthday.

Happy 2009!

All dressed up for Christmas Eve church... and being silly.

I just really love this picture of Rea... this is genuine Reagan.

The Snyder Family. Aren't they cute?

Mom isn't going to appreciate me posting this picture, but I think it's really cute!

GG getting her new TV!

New guitars from Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bob. They're pretty hilarious!

The looooong awaited Jasmine doll from the Snyders. She was (and still is) SO happy!

The girls and their new babies from Grandma and GG


There is a 28 year old story behind this gift. It deserves a post all of its own. Let's just say it might have been my favorite Christmas 2008 moment.