My Cathedral

"Sweetest days of childhood, playing in the deep woods, stomping through the creek and feeling oh so much alive. Camping in the forest, enjoying the crichet chorus, hum my songs of gratitude around the crackling fire. Right here in the stillness I found my house of worship with column trees and canopy of stars...Here in my cathedral."

I love this word picture from this great song by Chris Rice - it resonates so beautifully with my own experiences at Lake Almanor. As a child, I loved all the adventure it offered - motorcylce rides, water skiing, innertubing, wakeboarding, chipmunk-catching...every day was filled with wonder and anticipation. But it wasn't until recent years that I began to see this little piece of forest as a retreat, a place of renewal and rejuvination, an opportunity to experience God like never before... a house of worship. Sitting on a log in the still quiet hours of the morning, skiing on perfect glass at sunset, or slicing through buttery water with the oars of my kayak - it is in these moments that I've never been closer to God. Ahh, only 11 more months until we are back again.

While I did have precious moments of serenity and solitude during our trip, that's really not round-the-clock reality with two small children and a yellow lab! Wow, I sort of think anyone who braves 10 days in a tent with two babies and a dog deserves a ribbon or something. And my husband deserves a gold medal. He worked HARD - cooked all the meals, did the dishes, and watched the kids so I could ski when the water was good. Not to mention set up camp, made comfy little beds for our kiddos, and helped at night when they were not such happy campers. Thank you, babe, for making such a huge effort to make this a "real" vacation for me.

So, here is a summary of our trip in pictures:

Night one: Not so good. Baby had a fever, up most of the night. Woke up Ezekiel. Both were freezing. Kevan and I both up trying to keep the kids from waking up the entire campground. Finally, at 3 a.m. Kevan takes the baby for a drive to get her to sleep. He stays in the car with her until 6, then they both come back to our tent and crash. Completely exhausting for all of us.

Day one: While Kevan catches up on sleep, Ezekiel manages to disclocate his elbow while playing (or maybe while I was "helping" him step over the ledge of our tent. Moms, beware. Don't pull your kids up by their hands!). While I try to decide if he's really hurt, he falls asleep from pain in Uncle Matthew's arms. When he wakes up and still can't move his arm, Kevan and I decide to make a trip to the dinky little hospital in town. On the drive there, we talk about the possibility of 9 more nights like the last and the fun of adding a broken or sprained arm to the mix. We wonder if we should turn right around and drive home. THANKFULLY, his arm is just dislocated, the doctor pops it right back in and we immediately have our happy son back. And then, finally, things started to turn around and the rest of our trip was GREAT. The kids even managed to stay warm and sleep well most of the nights (which makes for happy days!).



And the fun begins! Family boat ride...

After the first few minutes of adjusting, Bekah Jane really didn't seem to mind her life jacket. Both kids loved going on boat rides.

My little skipper.

How fun is this? Andrew and Melissa got this trampoline/slide thing and we spent hours on it every day! Fun for kids and grown-ups alike!

Bekah Jane taking her afternoon nap at the beach. Love that - mama got to read by the water while she slept.

Ezekiel spent all day playing in the sand or in the water with his cousins.

Kevan in the boat my cousin Steve made. I got to take it out, too, and it was simply beautiful. Definitely a highlight.

When Kevan saw these pictures he said "How could I not love hanging out with my kids? They are so great!"

Papa Mark with the "triplets" Autumn, Cami, and Ezekiel



It was sooo wonderful to be back in the water again after a 3-year maternity leave. How beautiful is this?! I skied and wakeboarded to my heart's content. And now that I am older and wiser (but mostly just older!), it is much more about peace than performance for me. And, boy, was it peaceful out there. Love love love it.


Me and my girl.



Bekah Jane was pretty exhausted after watching her mama ski! She kept on sleeping in the tent - life jacket and all!


Maddie, Bekah, and Abby.


Good morning, family!


Doesn't she look warm and cozy?

The Rebekahs at our traditional Pratville breakfast.

All 5 of us kids made it this year!

Saying goodbye to our campsite...

So, we survived. 10 days, 9 cousins, 2 kids, 1 dog, and lots of great memories!

Big Kid

If it wasn't obvious before, today confirmed it. Ezekiel is officially a big kid. Tonight we went to Carl's Jr. to play on the playground, and I could not believe how my son conquered that jungle gym. There were a few other bigger boys playing tag on it and running all around and E just watched them intently for a while. Then he decided he could do it too! And up he went climbing! That little monkey climbed all the way up and ran around through the tunnels and went down the hugest slide all by himself. I was amazed...he wants to be big so badly. He played and played until he was soaked in sweat. He even convinced the older kids to play with him, too (his big grin and easy laugh can have that affect on kids!). I can't believe he is almost 2, but he is certainly ready!

We're back!

Just a quick post with a teaser photo from our trip to the lake. After a little bit of a rough start, we had a GREAT time! Not much time to post right now, so more to come!

Going Camping!

Just a quick note to let you know that we are heading out for our annual trip to Lake Almanor! SO excited!! I really do need a vacation after attempting to pack all week with 2 small children underfoot! It has been a busy week, but we are finally all ready to go! (And, wow, do I have a new appreciation for my parents - who packed for all FIVE of their children every summer of my childhood!).

I leave you with this - Ezekiel getting ready to go, too. By pumping, of course. Oh, that boy is funny.

See you in two weeks!

Washington!

"The girls", Caden, and Bekah Jane hanging out at the park.

Finally, the post you've been waiting for! I just got these great pictures from Kristen from our trip to visit her in Washington (thank you, Kris, for your beautiful photography!). So, a couple weeks ago, Jen, her baby Caden, me, and Bekah Jane took a plane ride up to visit our dear friend Kristen. When Kris moved to WA a couple years ago, us three former roommates/friends vowed that we would do whatever we could to stay close. Kris has made many trips down to CA to be with us, and this time it was our turn to go visit her! (Both of my babies' first plane rides have been to visit their auntie Kristen - Ezekiel at 8 weeks old when Jen and I flew up to surprise Kris when she got engaged!).

Anyway, we had the BEST time! 4 days of hanging out at the park, eating mud pies (delicious ice cream treat from Starbucks!), talking, lauging, crying, sipping coffee... you get the idea. It was incredible. Such a sweet time of renewal, encouragement, and bonding. It is the stuff that deep and abiding friendships are made of, and I am so grateful for these girls. And, I am so proud of us for sticking to our vow to strengthen our friendships come what may! (Special thanks to our awesome husbands for supporting that too! They all made big sacrifices to allow us that precious time together. Aren't we lucky?).

Bekah Jane taking good care of Caden

"Washington Face". Bekah made this face for the first time the minute we stepped off the plane and saw Kristen. And she wouldn't stop the whole trip. It was hilarious. And you know what? She's stopped doing it since we've been home!

The babies having a blast with grandma/auntie Sue (Kristen's mom). She was sweet enough to watch them for a bit while us girls got a pedicure!

Girls Night Out. A definite highlight of the trip. Kristen's awesome brother, sis-in-law, and husband took the kids for the night and we got to go to a fancy dinner by the water. Such wonderful conversation and great food... we will always cherish that time!

And, as an added bonus, I loved all the one-on-one time I had with my daughter. Even thought I missed Ezekiel, it was nice to give all my attention to Rebekah for a few days. Some of the great pics Kristen got of my darling girl:

Saying goodbye...


And one last Washington face before we hit the road!

I love you girls! Can't wait to do it again!

How do you?!?

My kids are so weird. I left the baby alone for one minute, and this happens:




Someone please tell me how in the world my 6-month old managed this little trick?! Great, now I have Mr. Conehead and Miss Toy Foot living in my house. Just keeps getting better.

Poor Mr.Conehead

Dear Ezekiel: For your birthday, we were going to get you an awesome party with a pony and everything, but instead we decided to save your dog's life. Love, Mom and Dad.

It's true, poor little Elway had a very tough weekend. After discovering a terrifically nasty sore below his ear on Saturday night, we were pretty worried about him but knew the vet was closed until Monday. But, when we came home from church on Sunday and saw that it had spread and gotten nastier (I'll spare you the details) we knew we had take him the doggy emergency room. And good thing we did! It turns out he has a staph infection, which can apparently rapidly spread and become fatal. And because the sores were on his head, the vet said it could have gotten "in his system" and killed him pretty quickly if left untreated. Thankfully, the treatment was affordable and we could help him. I know it's kind of a controversial thing... how much do you spend on medical bills for a pet? Before we had kids, we probably would have said a whole lot more than what we said yesterday. We love Elway, but our kids and family come first. We figured if we could pay for it pretty easily, then we would do whatever we could to save him. So glad that was the case!

But... it is also true that we are shifting money from Ezekiel's upcoming birthday to cover "Operation Save Your Dog". Sorry, son. No more party with a rent-a-pony. We got you a dog instead. Yeah, it's the same dog you always had, just, uh... repackaged.

(Don't worry, Ezekiel never even knew about the pony party and, let's be honest, Kevan is waaaay more disappointed about it than Ezekiel ever would be!).

Seriously, Ezekiel loves that dog. He couldn't even stop asking about him while Elway was at the vet's. Now we just have to keep our son and Mr. Conehead from playing together for 5 days... no small task. Ezekiel thinks Elway's new "hat" is awesome.

Celebrate!

One year ago today.

Today marks a big day for our family... one year ago Kevan graduated from the academy, which means he is officially off probation. Hooray! Kevan has breezed through the first year and I am so proud of him. Tomorrow he starts a new shift - with weekends and Wednesdays off. Yay!!

When I came home from a bridal shower today this is how I found my two favorite guys:

Sweet little loves.

Night Two

Two nights down. About a million more to go. So far, so good. Yes, Bekah Jane and Ezekiel are finally sleeping in the same room together. Man, I did not want to do this. I put it off as long as possible. It's understandable, really - I hate to mess with a good thing. I really, really like how well my kids sleep. But my daughter simply cannot sleep in the hall the rest of her life!

So Friday night I mustered up my courage and put Bekah in her crib in their shared room. The outcome: Baby girl woke up at 6:30 a.m (not bad for her)... and so did Ezekiel (really not good for him!). Sure enough, Ezekiel was pretty grumpy most of the morning and took his nap at 11:00 a.m. instead of the afternoon. And night two: Bekah woke up at 5 this morning, I snuck in there to get her, fed her in my room, and Ezekiel just kept right on sleeping until 8. So, I think it's actually better for him if she either wakes up super early (so he's not even tempted to get up) or closer to his actual wake up time. Just say no to 6 o'clock.

We're off to church! Have a great Sunday!

Costco Fun

Our family has started to make a little tradition out of Thursday nights. We all head out to Costco, do our weekly shopping, fill up on gas (they just put a station in at our Costco... 20 cents a gallon cheaper!), grab a quick dinner, and head over to the farmer's market for pony rides and fun. Tonight, we put Bekah Jane in the cart next to her brother for the first time, and it was just too cute not to share:


"Hey, sister, you are going to like this!"

"I will take care of you"

Ezekiel sure loved having his girl by his side along for the ride!

Catching up... Random thoughts before I hit the hay

Here's the latest with our little family:

*Bekah Jane turned 6 months last Friday. I really can't believe it. On one hand, I still feel like I just had a baby, like she should still be a newborn. The novelty has not worn off and she is an absolute wonder to me. On the other hand, I feel so much more comfortable and confident with two kids than I did a few months ago, so I am thankful for the time under my belt. She went in for her check-up and passed with flying colors. 75th percentile in both height and weight (which kind of cracks me up... she seems so teeny to me!). And she is sitting up like a pro, rolling all around, reaching out and playing with toys, and just started to scoot herself backwards across the floor. I love 6 months...but, then again, I think every age is my favorite, just for different reasons.

*We are having so much fun cousin time lately! It has been so, so great. Ezekiel LOVES his cousins and has started to ask about them every morning. Once school gets out and the weather turns warm, we all sort of swarm my parents' house and spend many a summer day by their pool. I especially love being a stay-at-home mom on these days, because I wouldn't want to miss it for the world. The kids (and the grown-ups!) play in the pool all day (with short breaks to build a sand castle, swing, feed the horses, or build a rabbit trap) and we all enjoy root beer floats, BBQs and great conversation. Melissa and her kids (Morgan, Daniel, and Autumn) are in town this week and it's been so fun to play with them! We are looking forward to another great, lazy day by the pool on the 4th of July.

*I am getting ready to head to Washington on Sunday to visit my dear friend Kristen! Jen and I are flying up with our babies, and Ezekiel is staying home with daddy. I can hardly wait! It will be 4 full days with my two college roommates (plus 2 babies added to the mix!).

*This morning I took Ezekiel to the dentist for his first check-up. We made it as far as having the dr. look in his mouth, floss, and declare that he does not have any cavities. And then I decided to end the torture session since he was screaming his head off. As soon as she got her nasty gloved hands out of his mouth, he was once again his happy little self. Can you blame the guy? I hate going to the dentist too. It smells. Anyway, he then sat in my lap and watched intently while she cleaned my teeth. And when we left he waved and said for all to hear "BYE BYE TEETH!"

A few fun pictures from our recent trip to Legoland with cousins Seth and Abby:

Sooo cute!