A little Easter recap...

Hi there! We are back.  It was really nice to unplug this last week and we had a very fun, very FULL easter weekend.  I think we are still catching up!

Here were some little highlights of our family time:

Holy week lent itself to some very fun family discussions at dinner time:

 Kit made some amazing dinners:

Ryder has been asking more and more questions about Jesus and it has led to some really precious conversations about God's love.  Easter is such an incredible redemption story!

We are also loving the Jesus Action Bible.  A current favorite:

Good friday The kids had runny noses so we weren't able to go to church, but Kit said there were such cool moments as a church family of small group time and connection:

Saturday we had a birthday party for my cousin's little girl, and my mom, dad, and niece came to hang for the day.  We got to practice our Easter egg hunting skills and we got to all have dinner together:

( I wish that I had gotten more photos.  The kids had so much fun!)

Easter morning was spent at the Verizon amphitheater:

 We had the PRIVILEGE to help baptize people at the end of service.  I was welled up the ENTIRE time...  what an honor it was!

Then we headed home to spend Easter with Kit's family!

The whole family was able to be together.

it was so fun!

We died eggs, had an easter egg hunt, ate lots of food, took lots of pictures, and celebrated Kit's mom's birthday:

It was such a fun day of being all together!

On Monday, after all the festivities, we headed with Kit's parents to a quiet beach in Laguna.  It's 20 minutes from our house and we and so much fun exploring tide pools and watching Ryder running in the waves and watching Eden eat a ton of snacks and sand.

 We saw lots of sea anemones, a small star fish, sea urchins, tiny fish and lots of sea snails and crabs.

Ryder was in heaven!

It was a weekend filled with family and lots of memories...

We are so thankful!

a little bit of this and that...

Some highlights of a very full weekend:

Friday:

Time with this kiddo is craziness:

His sister may or may not be even crazier...♥

After a long work day, I got to go home early and Kit brought me some local tacos.  We are still trying to figure out our surroundings and little "hot spots":

It's not El Camino, but it was tasty.

We got some extra chairs for our dining room, since we have room to leave all five leaves in:

(Gotta love ikea directions, especially when you have a four year old helper):

We picked up a chair for our bedroom from Craigslist:

(I think that our bedroom is my favorite room in our house)

A lamp will make it the perfect reading nook!

Decorated the playroom:

Got burgers and watched Planes for the first time:

(Ryder really liked it, and yes, we are very behind the times...)

In preparation for Easter, and entering Holy Week, as a church family we are doing a daily devotional and have decided to fast from all social, non-work related media. I will not lie, it is going to be REALLY hard for me, but such a good discipline in thinking toward all that Easter means, and such a good exercise that I should be doing on a regular basis.  I am excited for what God is doing and what He is going to do this week!  

If you are interested in doing the family devotional or Easter services, check it out at www.rockharbor.org or at costamesa.rockharbor.org

Have a wonderful week!

~~~~~~~~

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Before and After: the office and odds and ends...

Here is our little office nook.  It used to be the laundry room and the previous owner turned it into an office.  We decided to leave it as an office:

Before:

After:

The hallway outside of the office nook:

Before:

After:

We had a hard time figuring out where our family board should go, but I think that we found the best spot for it.  I'm excited to get to use it for special messages and verses...

We have lots of little and big projects that are in the works.  The room that we haven't touched is the downstairs bathroom.  

Before:

It currently has a toilet and new floors.  It's on the back burner, especially since we have two other full bathrooms.

I think the thing that I love the most about our renovations is our floors.

Eden captured it really well with her photo skills:

Oh those chubby little feet...

Before and After: Our Dining Room and Family Room

Here is our dining room before:

Here is our after:

(I am researching ideas for a new pendant light...)

Here is the before of our family room:

Here is our after:

 We are planning to build some shelving units for both sides of the tv.  I can't wait!

A view from the stairs:

We are loving the space and are already making such sweet memories as a family here...♥

Before and After: Our Kitchen and Other Family Room

Ok, here is our kitchen before:

Here was the view from the kitchen into our fireplace room:

Here is our after:

(Just new floor and appliances...)

The new view:

(We have some very fun plans involving some stack stone for that fireplace...)

It's fun to have things in the works and projects that we are excited to tackle!