Bounce house, sledding, museum, Oh My!

So, we just had a super fun visit from Peter and Emily and little Scout. We got them for almost a whole week, and we packed it full of all kinds of exciting things! We finally got our upstair loft area all organized so the kids got to play with rice, and play dough and some other little activities up there. It's so cute to see the three of them interact, mainly it's Waylon annoying Scout and Mason trying to defend her, they cracked me up!

We took the kids to this place called Urban Jungle here in town, and they had such a blast. It was very clean, bright, and had so many things for them to do. There was a giant ball pit, a big bounce house and all kinds of toys and craft stuff.

I was super excited about our bounce house find so I thought, why not go to the children's museum? Well, to my disappointment, it wasn't too great. It's just very old and run down, but the kids seemed to have a pretty good time. They got to run around a little and play in the little activity areas and jump on the giant piano. We followed it up with some In-N-Out, and then the boys, minus Waylon, went to HD and Em and I ran into Fresh Ideas to look around, it's such a cute store, I've been wanting to take her in there, but it was a little difficult with the two little ones, it's a tiny store and we had some restless babies so we just ran through there and then headed home for nap time!

Also on our agenda was sledding! It was so much fun! It was a perfect scenario, it was snowing, the kids were happy, a nice hill to go down and not too many people! The kids just kept going down and up, at first we were each taking a little on up with us but then we started sending them down by themselves and they couldn't get enough! So great, I love sledding! Then we went into incline and got dinner at T's, it's a burrito/rotisserie chicken place, it was delish! Really fun day!

We also got to spend some time with just the 4 of us. Mom and dad took the 3 little ones for us and we went up to the Lake and saw a movie (I'm totally drawing a blank on the title...) but it was really funny, and then we went and had dinner at a little pizza/bbqish place, it was really good, so that was a nice evening, it's nice to get a little break from the children. When we got home and went to get them, they were having all kinds of fun at grandma and papa's, it was pretty cute!

It was such a great visit! We spent the nights playing hearts till way too late, ate our way through about 10 boxes of girl scout cookies and just enjoyed being together after way too long ( yes it's only been a month or two...a long time). We always try to talk one another into moving closer to the other, and as much as I would LOVE that, I almost like it more this way because if we lived closer we'd lose the sleep overs and good nights to the kids. It's hard to be so far apart, I tend to go into the fetal position after they leave with sadness, but it's making me appreciate my amazing friend that much more. The kids are growing so quickly, it's such a privilege to see them grow, and I am so excited they're adding another little one to our crazy group, it's just so fun! Now I have June to look forward too, we're going to attempt camping :-)

What's the point?

I read through a book called Feminine Appeal a few weeks ago and I've also been reading through Martha Peace's book The Excellent Wife and have listened to several of Pastor John MacArthur's sermons on God's High Calling for women. What an awesome role I have as not only a wife and mother but as a women in the church. The way that the Lord is working in my life at this time is so amazing and I wanted to take a minute to reflect on what he's doing.

Being a stay at home mom can be very trying at times. There's always laundry to fold, floors to sweep, hungry kids and the list goes on and on. I've been looking at my time at home in all the wrong ways, I let the chores and kids become a burden at times when I just want to read a book or do something for myself. How wrong I've been! God has so opened my eyes to what a true joy and gift it is to be a mom and wife at home. I've realized that I don't clean my house because it's dirty and what will others think, I clean to bring Him glory, I get to raise my kids because they are His children and he has blessed me with the responsibility of bringing them up to be Godly men. With the perspective that ALL that I do is for His glory and honor, how could I not go forth with an excited and willing heart to serve my heavenly Father. He's placed me in a church to be a part of a body of believers, a church that desires the word of God, where the word of God isn't watered down but boldly proclaimed and how great it is to be apart of the body of Christ.

I've also been studying about being Salt and Light to this dark and decaying world and it has been really moving. I know that it's easier for me to be subtle as salt but I struggle with being blatant as light. Often people think of Christians as quiet, kind, loving people. But if we truly love someone then the most loving thing we can do for them is to proclaim the gospel, plant the seed of faith and pray that the Lord lets it grow into salvation. I pray that I can leave the aroma of Christ when I walk away from the unbeliever, that they know what I stand for in Christ at any cost that it may come. Influence, am I an influence on this lost world? I don't mean just a positive make people feel good influence but an influence that this world depends on, a Godly, Christ bearing, gospel proclaiming influence. Is my life different from my unbelieving neighbor?

I struggle, sin, get frustrated and overwhelmed, I complain, cry and get angry, I get jealous, anxious and scared. I'm no better than anyone else, but I am set apart as God's chosen people, I have Him who strengthens me, Him to cast my burdens on, Him to guide me and lean on and turn to. I have His word to comfort me and teach me. Christ, my Lord and Savior has graciously made me different in Him and how overwhelmingly thankful I am that He has. As I've been learning, the more I know the greater the responsibility and what a privilege that is, what a privilege to be at home with my kids teaching them of the Lord, what a privilege to be a wife to my husband who also loves the Lord and what a privilege to be able to glorify God in my role as wife and mother! Just when I began to question what's the point of doing what I do everyday, the Lord opened my heart to know that I might not get a gold star at the end of everyday, but my reward is in heaven and it's far greater than anything here, how marvelous is that? With that in mind such joy can flow from changing a diaper, because even that is a gift from God! How undeserving I am, and yet He still gives abundantly to me!

I'm so thankful that He's been placing all these books and sermons and Godly leaders in my life to help me grow and strengthen my faith and encourage me in my walk, nothing excites me more than reading God's word and spending time with Him in prayer and being in fellowship with other's who love the Lord as I do. What an awesome God I serve! I know the Lord is growing me and stretching me and I'm so excited for all that He has in store for me! Praise God, He is so good!

Snow!

This past weekend we got about a foot or so of snow! It's so beautiful! I just love the snow. Saturday we all got out there and had a fun little snow day! Waylon isn't the biggest fan of the snow but I think even he had a good time. Both boys we able to help papa on the tractor shoveling snow and ride around on the quad :)

Ed making a snow angel

Mason and Papa on the tractor

My little snow bunny

Mom, Simon and I looking as great as ever :-)

Snow mountain!

Little Way

Getting ready to slide down

Mason Boy!

Go Way go!

Where Oh Where Has The Time Gone?

So here I am, it's been quite awhile since I've blogged. So long that just thinking about blogging makes my head hurt! Ha! No, there's been so much happening that I wouldn't even know where to begin, so we're going to bypass the past 6 months or so and start fresh with the latest news here on the mason and waylon show...

Last week we ventured down to LA to visit Pete and Emily! What a fun time it is to be with our dear friends. The kids are getting older so the challenges are changing with them but they are so cute together, and I just adore little Scout and can't get enough of her ;-) We seemed to stay pretty busy this trip, we took the kids to the park, a trip to the zoo and of course got to visit the "big church" as Mason refers to it. We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a nice drive down, only stopping once, my potty trained boy did so well, and we just got settled and hung out the rest of the day. Sunday we were off to church. When we pulled into the parking lot Mason was already concerned and asked "where am I?" He's used to our small homey church and if you know Grace Church in Sun Valley you know that it's MASSIVE! We put the kids in their different Sunday school rooms and despite my nerves and fears of leaving them for the first time they did great, in fact Mason wasn't even ready to leave. While they were in their lessons we got to hear Pastor John MacArthur teach on the Necessities for Effective Prayer. After church we had to call Papa and tell him about the "big church" experience, we all couldn't help but laugh at mason as he just kept repeating big church, big church! Monday we packed a picnic and went to the park and Monday night Pete's parents came over to watch the kiddos while the 4 of us went out. We went to this yummy restaurant called Fogo De Chao's, it was like a fancy meat on a stick place, really good, we had a fun night out! Tuesday, or Zoosday as we referred to it, was our day at the Zoo! So fun! I really enjoyed it, and so did the kids! We saw it all, and the weather was perfect! Waylon came down with a cold so we didn't want to do too much out with him, so Emily and I went shopping wed morning and then Pete and Ed went out to work on doors for our entertainment center when we got back and then we met up with Josh and Michelle at The Cheesecake Factory! Thursday I came down with the cold but we were heading home anyway so I got to be sick here instead :0) The time always flies when we're together but we're so thankful our friends and the time we do get together. We're trying to talk them into moving here and they try talking us into moving there... we'll see what the Lord does there :-) Right before we went down we were able to video chat with them and they told us they're expecting baby number two!!! I'm so excited, but it does seem like with each baby we have it gets that much harder to be so far away from one another! So that was our trip, we're home battling colds still and the freezing weather but it's nice to be back ;-)

Let's do this!

On our way down!

Mason reading to Scout

Mason and Pete having a talk :0)

Scout and Ed

Happy Girl ;-)

Em and I @ Fogo De Chao's

Looking at the Apes

Aren't they precious?

The Gang <3

Camping at Blue Lake

So the last time I went camping was with Ed right before we got married and then before that it had been years back with my grandparents. Well we decided it was time to go again. Mom and dad headed up Thursday morning and got a spot and then Friday we went up along with Melaney and Simon. Sooo much fun! It was a little hard with the boys, but they did pretty well. The first night mom made burritos, not your typical camping food but very good, and we roasted marshmallows by the fire. We put the boys down, waylon in one bed with Mel and Mason in another with us. They were pretty tiered by the end of the day so they went down pretty quick, then mom and dad went in to play cards while the four of us stayed out by the fire and talked. A little before we heard people talking about seeing a bear but we didn't think much of it. So we're talking, laughing have a great time and all of the sudden Simon says "oh wow a bear" I thought he was kidding, we turned our flash lights on and it was RIGHT BEHIND US, I'm talking like 3 feet from where we were sitting, so simon starts making these crazy noises and chasing the bear away! I immediately covered my eyes like some sort of small child and then realized that's not going to do anything for me, so then I just run for the trailer leaving part of my family and dear friend behind. Ha ha! Oh bear, so I was pretty freaked out. Everyone made it alive and came in and we played some 21 with mom and dad and went to bed. Well, the bear seriously ruined my sleep for the night, every five seconds I could have sworn the bear was going to come in and eat me right out of the trailer, at one point Mel got up to use the bathroom and I panicked, woke up Ed asking him "what's that?????" So I didn't sleep much that night :-) The sun finally came up after what seemed like a never ending night and we rolled out of bed at about 6:30. It was pretty cold but kind of nice after all the heat we've here at home. We had breakfast, mom made some ham and eggs and hash browns even and then they packed up their things and headed back home. We didn't know what to do with ourselves with nothing that had to be done, so we took naps and then went for a really awesome quad/gator ride. That was quite the adventure and the boys loved it! After we got back Ed and Simon wanted to go fishing, it was hailing and windy but stopped for a minute so they went down and thought they'd be back in an hour or two, they showed up 20 minutes later due to massive hail and freezingness! Mel and I whipped up some hamburgers and zucchini of course and we just hung out, had way too many 'smore and marshmallows and played cards. I had the funniest experience of my entire life that night thanks to Simon and slept like a baby :-) We packed up Sunday morning and got home around noon, after unpacking (camping is a lot of work) I had a long shower calling my name, it's amazing how wonderful a shower feels after a few days without one! It was a great time, I don't know how soon I'd do it again but it was fun and someday I'd like to do it again, maybe when the boys aren't in diapers...

It doesn't look that bad, but it wasn't pretty

Here's Simon conquering this drop off and not destroying the gator :-) We were all very nervous. Before he even tried he went up and down it twice in his quad and then they moved a few rocks around to try and make it not so bad and then he told Ed to stand there and catch the gator if it tips, not really sure the logic there but it worked out and was quite intense...