Making it her own...

 After we had decorated the main downstairs, Eden decided to decorate her room for fall.  She watercolored precut leaves to make a garland for her window, pulled out a green blanket for her chair, and put fall flowers out to replace the pink flowers on her bookshelf...

She also put in her pumpkin candle from Trader Joe's:

She loves to create and I love that it means something to her to make her space her own...

Thursday...

 When I walk into our hospital to work, I pass these two areas: Our promise and our values.

Sometimes in the stress and intensity of work, I forget the beauty of what I really get to do and the values that support my job as a ministry.  It is such a gift that I get to serve patients here...

in protest...

This girl is the sweetest snuggler, but will only take photos under protest...  

We call it resting bunny face...😏

We have had our bunnies since 2020 and we are still smitten with them...❤︎

snapshots of a day

Sometimes the most basic and ordinary days are the ones I don't want to forget, so I picked a day and took little snapshots throughout, just to mark it in my mind.

Started with my morning walking loop, and these chalk hearts were still going strong even after the sprinklers.  I listen to Lectio 365 and podcast episodes from the Lazy Genius.

A recent favorite for breakfast has been breakfast sandwiches:

So much of life right now seems to be getting my kids to and from their events, whether it's school or sports, or friends houses. We always pray for our day on the way to school:

After drop off, errands and filling up with gas are necessary:

How is gas $5.55/gallon?

Cleaning the rabbits room is top of the list for the day:

Follow up snuggles and watching a Gilmore Girl episode are a nice way to chill for a bit:

She's fun to hangout with.  Way more chill than our other bunny...

Lunch and pumpkin pancakes for an after school snack and the next day's breakfast:

Then it's on to getting kids to soccer and while Ryder practices, I walk loops around his field.  He loves everything about the game and I love watching him do something that he loves so much!

Usually I walk 5-6 miles while he practices.

The day ends with showering and starting laundry and getting kids set for the next day.  Sometimes there are bowls of cereal consumed after practice.  Sometimes everyone just needs to sit a minute, but we end it together...  This is where life happens.  In the ordinary and seemingly mundane.  I will look back on days like these as the sweetest...

just in time...

 Last week Kit got back just in time for us to have our Friday date day... 

Man did we miss this guy!

It's coming...

 Over the last few years, I have gotten into the habit of pulling out our Fall decorations while Kit is on his hunting trip.  I went pretty minimal this year but it feels like a season change and that makes me so happy!

The fall books are out and we STILL love looking through them each year!

Also, this is my favorite scent for this time of year and I get a new one each year to replace the one I will inevitably go through...  It's the only decoration I buy each year (not including the pumpkins we put on the front porch and carve...)

I really love this time of year, even at this point we are still hanging out in 80 degree weather...

He's coming home...

 Kit is planning to come home today!  We have missed him...

I am so happy that he is coming home to us safe!

morning person

 My absolute favorite thing right now is to take my morning walk in our neighborhood before everyone wakes up! I love getting to catch the sunrise, and then to know that the whole day is ahead of me...

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

~Lamentations 3:22-23

Soccer days...

 Our weekends are filled with days on the field and we are loving the time we get to watch our kids with their friends, getting to watch them do things they love and get to be with community that we have created over the years... It's all so good!

Ryder always help warm her up and cheers her on...

They tied 1-1 while playing down a man and I was so proud of them!

We  had out team pictures on Sunday before Ryder's afternoon game.  Ryder got to be the stand in for Kit...

Ryder had the sweetest cheer section!  They won 7-2.

I love this season of life!

Disneyland...

 Last Friday we got to got to Disneyland.  We haven't been there TOGETHER since 2015. 

We started in Disneyland:

Eden had really wanted to walk through Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Though out the day, we kept talking about when we were there last and things they loved and all the sweet memories.  So fun!

We headed to Star Wars land.

We could not believe how amazing it was!

Our first ride of the day was the Rise of the Resistance:

WE loved it and it was such a fun way to kick off the day.  Then we headed to Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean:

We headed to Tomorrowland for the Astro Blasters and Space Mountain:

We looked at pins, grabbed a pickle and then headed to California Adventure a little bit.  

Eden hadn't been there since she was really little and didn't remember it.  It was so fun to experience it all together!  We walked through Cars Land and Pixar Pier to get to the Incredicoaster:

Then we headed to Little Mermaid:

This is probably the first Disney animated film that I remember seeing in the theater as a 9 year old.  I think that makes this one special to me...

We grabbed dinner then headed to Guardians of the Galaxy.  So many drops and we all handled it like champs!

Then we headed back to Disneyland to go on Matterhorn and see Main Street at night and just walk around for the atmosphere:

Star Wars at night was SO PRETTY at night!

The kids did the Smugglers Run...

        We had a magical time and made so many sweet memories...

 The kids were over the moon grateful and we had great conversations and laughed together and thoroughly enjoyed our time.  Countless times throughout the day, they would thank me for making it happen and tell me how much fun they were having.  It makes it ALL worth it to watch them love it so much AND appreciate it... 

The only thing missing was Kit...

We can't wait to go back with Kit!