2.28.2014

heading out to celebrate a very special lady!

After 35 years, my mom is retiring from being the chief ultrasound technologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center.    She will still be the full-time program director of the ultrasound program at the university.  Yep, she has had both full time jobs for 35 years.  She is a Rockstar!
(Did you know that she has written an Ultrasound textbook?)
We are excited to celebrate this very special woman!
Selfishly, we are thrilled because that means we get way more time with her to make very special memories!

2.27.2014

a short trip to disneyland and a buckle fracture...

Yesterday, we went to Disneyland and California Adventure for about 2 hours.  Astro Blasters, Little Mermaid (Eden loves the BUBBLES!), a walk through Cars Land and Bugs Land,  and we ended with Monster's Inc.  It was a really fun morning:
Oh that hair...
Then we got home and Eden tripped and in trying to break her fall, she tried to brace herself with putting her hands out.  She cried SOLID for almost 35-40 minutes, while holding her arm.  Anyone that knows my daughter, knows that means that something is wrong.  (She is a tough little cookie!)
Here she is waiting for the doctor.
In true Eden fashion, she wanted to sit on THAT chair by HERSELF.
"No Mama. No share the chair!"
 It was a small buckle fracture of the left wrist.
Mild but it did needed to be wrapped.
 She was not too sure about the wrap:
My poor babe...
Well, here we are...
Goodness gracious.
Please pray it heals well and that she isn't too uncomfortable in the process!

2.26.2014

We have some big news!

We are moving!
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There have been some BIG things happening in our home.
Here is the story. (A little timeline...)
(~I started this post on January 10, 2014, and I wrote it so that we would remember the whole story and how the Lord was with us through it all...♥)
January 16, 2003~ We closed on our house in Fullerton, right after our one year wedding anniversary.
We walked in and we loved it and knew it was our home.  Kit was working in the children's department at Yorba Linda Friends Church.
February 2006~ Kit took a two year commitment pastoral position at ROCKHARBOR church in Costa Mesa.
November 2006~ Kit was asked to stay on as the children's pastor.
Over the course of the next few years, Kit became the family pastor of the Costa Mesa Campus then moved into one of the associate pastor roles at the Costa Mesa Campus. 
All during this time, we were remodeling bathrooms, hardscaping our yard, planting fruit trees, bonding more and more with our neighbors, we brought both of our babies home here, and just generally made our home more and more what we wanted for our family.  I was planning where we would be buried in the backyard... You know, the normal thought patterns of someone who adores their home and where they live...
December 6, 2013~ Kit shared part of the message on looking ahead to the vision for the community of our Costa Mesa ROCKHARBOR campus and in that service, the Lord shifted something in both of us, letting us have the sense that it was time to move closer to our church friends and family in Costa Mesa and south Orange County. 
We still can't believe how unified we feel about this experience.  It was the Lord! 
Over the course of the month of December 2013, we got pre-approved, approved, got all of our ducks in a row, looked at houses and scouted neighborhoods, made an offer on a fixer upper that wasn't accepted (we are so thankful now!), we cried with each of our neighbors as we shared that we would be moving and continued to get ready for what it would look like to list our house in early January.
Then, on January 10, 2014, we put our precious house, our home, that we have loved for over a decade, on the market.
I remember meeting with our realtor to sign the papers and crying because I loved this house so much.  Kit cried too.  Then we took a deep breath, remembered that we felt to Lord was moving us, knowing we needed to move to get more family time and to be closer to our community and went full speed ahead into a weekend of showing the house.  We had a lock box and people called me to make appointments.  Realtors were very kind and respectful of our home, but it was not fun to have to be away from home and to have the house always clean and picked up, and the kids not napping, but we knew it was just part of the process.
Over the course of the weekend we had about 11 showings and got amazing feedback...  We were so thankful!
On January 11, 2014~ We went to an open house in Tustin.
We loved it.  It felt like home.  The owners had lived there since 1974, and had decided to do one weekend of open houses, then would see all offers on January 13, in the evening and would then make their decision. 
January 12, 2014~ we sold our house for over asking price in 36 hours (plus the option to rent it back for up to 60 days in case we didn't find a house right away).  Such a HUGE praise!  Again, we just felt the Lord moving before us, writing a story for our family.
January 13, 2014~ We submitted our offer for the house that we had toured on January 11.  We waited and we prayed.
That evening, their listing realtor told ours that the family would be making a decision the following evening (hopefully) after receiving multiple offers.
We waited and prayed.
January 14, 2014~ Our offer was rejected.  
(REJECTED... It felt as harsh as it sounds.)
So we continued to wait and to pray, knowing that we were supposed to make the move.
I had so many hard moments, especially because I am home SO much with the kids.  I felt myself needing to emotionally detach from the house, our home, but I didn't have something that I could get excited about, something that we were moving to.
Truthfully, I felt homeless.  I felt like someone else had bought our house and was kicking us out and we had no where to go.
We know God is faithful and worthy, but it was still really hard in the day to day.
We waited and we prayed.
January 25, 2014~ We went to an open house in the Tustin neighborhood that we love.  We loved it!  We put in an offer. It just felt like it would be a perfect house for us to raise our family in, and though it needed lots of work, we felt up to the challenge.
We waited and prayed.
January 26, 2014~ We were told that we wouldn't hear for a few more days because the realtor needed to present the offer to the owner's daughter as well, since she is in charge of her mother's finances.
We waited and prayed.
January 28, 2014~ Our offer was accepted!!!!! We still can't believe it!  We are so thankful and just know that God was leading the whole thing.  What a gift He has given us in this house!
January 31, 2014~ We drove by the house and there was a sold sign on the for sale sign.  We got so giddy!
We are having so much fun dreaming about the house and all that we would love to do to it, and all that will take place within in it's walls!
February 8, 2014~ We have been through the inspections and termite checks and all the final steps in making our new house ours.
The down side is that we have been running around like crazy trying to finish projects that the new buyer for our house wanted done prior to the close of escrow.  It's hard to put time into our house when we are moving and it's things that have been fine, but we feel like we are leaving the new owner an even better house.  I have been relating these projects to the final stages of pregnancy, when you are so uncomfortable that labor would be a welcomed occurrence ... (Or was that just me...)  A few months ago, the thought of moving from my house was unthinkable, and now, I just can't wait.  That is so the Lord!
February 10, 2014~ We closed escrow on our current house!!! We feel like we are getting closer and closer to moving to our new house! 

February 14, 2014~ We got the word that everything had checked off with our current house, and the buyer did her walk through and signed off on the purchase of the house.
February 16, 2014~ We got the word that all the contingencies had been met/dropped on our new house and that we should plan to close on March 17 and have access to the house on March 19.
We are so excited about all that this means for our family.
It feels like I can finally share all the exciting news with you!
So we are waiting and praying that all goes as planned!
Guess what the best part is?
Kit timed his drive from his work parking lot to the new house, and on a thursday afternoon, taking a side street, this is how long it took him:
  This move is so going to dramatically change our life in so many amazing ways!
Please pray that it continues to go through and closes as smoothly as possible!

2.25.2014

celebrating our Eden Marie!

This last saturday we had a little birthday party for Eden Marie turning two years old!  The day was filled with so much joy in celebrating her little life!  Our friend Alex made this video.  It captured it perfectly!
The day of, I was sick so we just laid low...
(With birthday doughnuts of course!)
I still can't believe my baby is two.
Eden Marie~
Your name means delight and it truly could not be a more appropriate or fitting name.  You are a fierce little bundle of passion and determination and joy.  Your laugh is contagious, you could not be more relational and no one has to wonder how you feel about something...  We are so proud of who you are and we are so honored to be your parents! We are confident that the story that God is writing for your life will be filled with BIG things, little lady...
We couldn't love you more!

2.24.2014

Happy birthday little miss...

Happy birthday to our beautiful baby girl.
 You are so wanted, and waited for and loved...
 Our life is better because you are in our lives and our family!
Happy birthday Eden Marie!
Now lets go eat some birthday doughnuts...♥

2.21.2014

We are getting ready to party!

On the 24th of this month, Eden Marie will be two.  I just can't believe it.  Time goes so fast and i can only imagine it's going to go faster and faster!
We  are in full party prep mode.  Kit has been out of town for a conference so things happen quite a bit slower, but hey, it's getting done!
Here are some sneak peaks:
Organizing some "games"/activities:
 Getting our menu planned:
(I love miss Ina... In my mind, she can do no wrong.)
Decorations:
I stamped and colored these butterflies to use around the party:
 I collected the lichen and wood from the Shaver Lake cabin:
 And I have been working on updating her scrapbook and baby books:
I am so excited to get to celebrate our girl this weekend:

2.20.2014

creating: an updated kids table

We have had this table since Kit lived in Newport Beach before we got married.  I am not going to lie, it was just yuck!
 So it got a nice coat of Kilz and some white paint:
 Then I used oil cloth left over from Eden's first birthday to cover the top:
 Just wrapped like a present and stapled in place:
 And now it goes with the chairs that I painted too:
I have the perfect place in mind for them...

2.19.2014

creating: crafting while Kit was gone...

It's funny, but when Kit travels, I pull out my Pinterest boards and start trying different projects.
While Kit was gone over the last few days, here are the ones that I was inspired to do/try:
I found these doilies in the 99 cent bin at Michaels and made a runner for birthday party I have in mind: 
I hemmed burlap for a runner:
(The key is the zig zag stitch)
 Painted the kids chairs that were mine when I was little:
And I repainted our coffee table legs and it looks so much cleaner to me...
I refinished a table for the Littles and I can't wait to show you tomorrow!

2.18.2014

Ryder and Eden's book club

My mom got these books for the kiddos for valentines day and they are too great not to share!
I'd Know you Anywhere, My Love 
by Nancy Tillman
(We have so many of her books, she is a favorite in our house!)
 And 
When I Was Small 
by Sara O'Leary
 They are such sweet stories... 

2.17.2014

a little valentines weekend recap!

I worked on Valentines Day, so we decided to celebrate over the weekend.
On Saturday, my parents came out so that we could go to this:
 So while we were at this little conference, the Littles did this:
They love to read together!
Getting very spoiled!
 Visiting great grandma Marie and Uncle Sal!
a trip to the local park near my grandma's house:
They had a ton of fun together and we are so excited to plan more things so that the Kiddos get time like this with their grandparents!
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Then on Sunday, after church, we had our annual King Crab valentines day feast!
The only decoration I did this year:
pan fried scallops...
Some of the best I have ever had.
Kit Rae, thank you for being such a good cook!
I think this is one of our all time favorite family traditions!
We just love that there is a holiday that carves out time to celebrate the people that you love...
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Kit is off to a conference until Wednesday... We miss him already!