Our Thanksgiving

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent this year with Mackenzie's family, due to my family living in two other completely different states. Its just easier to stay here. We had a good time but I definitely miss Thanksgiving with my family. I realized and told Mackenzie that since I moved to Oregon, over 5 years ago, I haven't been able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. It's weird but its never really hit me until this year. We talked about trying to visit either my Dad or Mom next Thanksgiving.

We are however, going to spend Christmas with my Dad and the rest of my family in California which will be wonderful! I can't wait! 

Anyway, on to this year's Thanksgiving. We had a great time! 

We celebrated and feasted at Mackenzie's aunt's house. This was the place near "Happy Lane" that I posted about yesterday. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain and we were unable to get a picture underneath the "Happy Lane" sign. 

Here's Sharon and I! And I can't believe I'm posting this picture below but it's the result of my husband just snapping the camera before we were ready. I cracked up when I saw the look on my face!

How does this happen? Sharon looks fine but I don't know what's going on with me! It gave us a great laugh!

Finally, here's a picture of the 4 brothers. I'll tell ya, it was like pulling teeth to try to get them to scoot closer together to take one, just one picture!! They look great though! 

Today, my husband is planning to hang our Christmas lights and I'm going to start decorating! We may even get a tree! 

Have a blessed day!

Thank you!

Ladies, thank you so much for all of the encouragement and support you gave me on my last post! It was so comforting to know that I'm not the only one going through a dry spot or who has gone through a dry spot in their walk. In the back of my mind, I knew I wasn't the only one, but it helps to hear it!

God is truly working my life. I've been able to meet with him almost every day this week! Praise Him! Also, I've notice He's helped me at my job. I have a job that can be extremely emotionally tiring and frustrating. He's helped me to have a calmness at work and also has helped me to "leave work at work"! How awesome!


I also wanted to share with you about a concert that my husband and I recently put on. Over a year ago, my husband and I created an electronic-style worship CD.I wrote a post about it that you can read, here. Some of the songs were remixes of contemporary worship songs. The others, were ones that we wrote together. My husband does the amazing work with all the instrumentals and some vocals and I do the main vocals. Since we got married last October, we haven't been able to play much. This past summer, we played at a youth event and at the end of October, we played a concert at our church with another band.

I've got to say, Mackenzie and I work ourselves up for every event! We do a lot of practicing before the event, but we are always nervous! Once the show is over, we have so much energy and want to do it again! Its funny how things work that way. We truly enjoy playing music together. Especially music that praises God. Its just hard, in our busy schedules, to find time to play!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our concert that Sharon took.

If you would like to hear snippets of our music, we're on itunes. Our band is called Voice to Spirit (the idea behind this is our "voices" are singing praises to God)and our CD title is "Songs for a Broken City."

Here we are before the concert

Mackenzie's Grandpa Leonard, myself, Mackenzie, and Mackenzie's brother Hayden.

Grandpa Leonard, myself, Sharon, Mackenzie!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Father's Day

Today is such a special day to thank the men in our lives who have been with some of us from the beginning. Being a father is such an important and challenging job. I know my dad and Mackenzie's dad worked so hard for their families. To keep them warm, safe, and loved.

Since I'm using Mackenzie's computer, the pictures I have of my dad and I are limited. However, I really do love this picture of my dad and I.

Dad, I want to say thank you so much for everything you've done for me and now for Mackenzie and I. You've done and given more than enough for our family over the years, and I am so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for your love. Dad, you are loved not by just your family but by your friends as well. You have integrity and a giving heart. I hope you know that you are so important to me and I wish I could be close to you today, to celebrate YOU! I am however, so excited that we will see you in a few weeks! I hope you know how cherished you are to us. Love you!

Eric, you have been a wonderful, loving father to Mackenzie and have raised him up into the amazing man that he is today and I am so thankful for that! Recently, you have been a great father-in-law to me and I thank you for helping me to feel welcomed into the family! I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day today!



I hope the rest of you enjoy your day with your Fathers, if you get a chance to do so!

Seeds to Herbs Part 1

A few weeks ago, I received a special gift in the mail from my Mom.

This sweet little herb garden kit! I was so excited! I hope to have a large garden when we buy a stick built home and I possibly may get to have a small garden at the home we are living in now. This herb kit will get me started in the right direction.

The kit comes with 8 different herbs. Basil, parsley, chives, cilantro, oregano, dill, thyme, and sage. It also comes with a wooden labeling stick for each herb, a chart that shows what food each herb goes well with and another charting stating some facts about gardening with the herbs - sunlight, etc.

Here are the seeds up close.

I went and bought a rectangular pot, six smaller pots, and potting soil. I planted the seeds and watered them! Now, it's just time to wait. I hope I did everything right. If you have any tips, I'd be willing to hear!!
I love cooking with fresh herbs. So I'm anxious to see how these seeds will do. I'm planning on doing a "part 2" of this to show you when the herbs have grown or are growing! :)

Have a blessed day!

Memorial Day Memories

I hope you all had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend! Ours was fairly busy but we had some time to relax when we joined Mackenzie's parents and brothers for camping Sunday night to Monday.

We left after we did worship at church...here we are excited to get to the campsite. One of the most amazing things about Oregon is that camping is a short drive away and you have many options to choose from. We drove about an hour or so to our campground.

When we arrived, Mackenzie's grandparents Jim and Alice were at the campsite for the day. Alice and Sharon were in the camper, Jim and Eric were out fishing and the other guys were just having a good time relaxing or carving things out of wood.

It was so nice to just take time to sit by the campfire and catch up.

Even Bailey (Eric and Sharon's dog) came along for the fun. Grayson set up this really neat dog run from one tree to another, so she wasn't just stuck in one spot. I think she really enjoyed being able to move around more.

Sharon and Eric...they looked so sweet holding hands that I wanted to capture the moment...however when asked to hold hands again, Eric felt like having a bit of fun! hmm I wonder where my husband gets his comedian-style from?

Eric later took Alice, Sharon, and I around the lake for a short ride.

Here's Jim and Mackenzie watching us off. My husband cracks me up! He makes me laugh just about every day. It's so fun!

The weather was so ideal for camping. It was so beautiful. Sunny, warm, and not very much wind. We went to this same location about 2 years ago and the weather was much colder.

Here's Sharon enjoying the boat ride.

I love this man!

Grayson and Grandma Alice.

Hayden caring some wet pine. He carved a neat totem pole. I wish I got a picture of it!

Sharon and I...I was having a little too much fun. I wish the trip went longer!

Grayson working with the fire and Hayden carving his totem pole.

Grayson and Mackenzie having a great time together.

Here is our cozy little sleeping arrangement. Since we were only spending one night at the campsite, we decided to put the seats down in the back of Mackenzie's 4Runner, lay down a cozy mattress pad and spend the night in there! It actually wasn't too bad! Mackenzie was a little cramped due to his height but we both felt that it was pretty comfortable all in all.

Well, there you have it! A short but fun camping trip! I can't wait to go on more this summer. We plan to go on a 3 day long river float with Mackenzie's family this summer as well. I just love all this time we get to be outside and enjoy God's beautiful pictures that He paints for us!

Have a blessed day!

Baby Silas

Here are the pictures! I'm sorry I'm late in getting around to posting these...I said I would get them posted by Wednesday but I failed in that! :( I'm trying to get used to this new work schedule, taking an independent study class (can you say procrastination? haha), trying to be a good wife, and keep the house clean. Oh yeah and have somewhat of a social life! I know it can be done! I'm just trying to get organized with it all!

Anyway, presenting Baby Silas!


I love this picture of the sweet family.
He was born on Sunday (Mother's Day)! Baby, Momma and Daddy are all doing so well! Due to the c-section, Alisha is still in the recovery process but she's making so much great progress and got to go home with Silas on Wednesday! I've been trying to see them as much as I can!

Here's Erick with his mom coming out to tell us all "It's a Boy!" He was beaming with joy!

Getting swaddled and ready to hold, 6 pounds 5 ounces.

Here's Grandma getting to know her new grandson.


The happy family! Can you believe how much hair he has? So cute! Hope you all have a great day! I'm planning on visiting them after work today...gotta get my baby fix!

Happy Mother's Day!

***Please scroll down for the Worship and Praise Sunday post***

Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful mothers out there! I hope you have a day full of relaxation! You deserve it!

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mom. Our relationship has grown so much over these last few years. We've always been close but I just love to see it change and get even better! Thank you so much Mom for everything you've done. You've been my number one supporter for so many years and I am so blessed to call you my mom! I love you so much and wish we could be with each other today!

Here are a few pictures of us together over the years...

Isn't she so cute? I love this picture!

This was taken just last summer when she came out
for one of my bridal showers.

I'm also blessed to have Sharon as a wonderful mother-in-love! Happy Mother's day Sharon! I hope you feel so special today! You are an amazing mom and have done a great job with your 4 boys! Thank you so much for treating me like a daughter! Love you!

Here is Sharon with Mackenzie on the right (of course he's the goof ball!) and Cameron on the left.

Mackenzie and Mom on Christmas Eve.

I also wanted to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my sister Sarina who has been such a great mother to Alyssa and Michael. I hope you have a wonderful day, Sis! I love you!


Also, a quick update on my best friend who was induced yesterday. Unfortunately, the potossin wasn't helping the labor progress as much as they would have hoped. She was only 1.5 centimeters dilated as of 4pm and they started the potossin at 6am. They took her off of it at 4 and decided they would start it again at 6:00 am this morning. I'll keep you all updated! Maybe she'll be a mother today! Perfect for Mother's day!

Have a wonderful day ladies!