Life with the Metcalfe's

Hood to Coast Run

2010-10-19T19:12:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know! This post is a long time coming. Sorry, but sometimes life just goes too fast to have time to slow down and rewrite about it:) However, I'm excited to share some fun stories. Last November Travis was asked if he wanted to run the Hood to Coast with some co-workers and after much deliberation he decided he was in. The Hood to Coast run is the largest relay race in the world. There are over 1000 teams and each team has 12 people. They start running at the top of Mount Hood and finishes in Seaside Oregon, and each person has 3 legs anywhere from 4-8 miles. It's intense, crazy, hard on your body, and looks like so much fun:)

We all went down to cheer daddy on and grandma even came to help mommy out with the kids. On Friday morning Travis met the rest of his team for breakfast and they talked about the race and what to expect. Then shortly after, the first half of the team got in a van and drove up to Mount Hood and started the race around 2:00pm. Travis was the second person in the relay so he ran around 3:00. All of his legs were about 5.5 miles each. He was mostly running downhill and was so pumped ran quite quickly. After the 6th person ran their leg, his van went down into Portland and grabbed dinner at a friends and a few hours of sleep. Then at 10:00pm they were up again to start the next leg. Travis ran through downtown Portland at midnight! He said that leg was the hardest because he was already so tired and then his body is screaming at him to go to sleep. After his van finished, they parked at a stopping point and they actually all layed out their sleeping bags in a field and got a few hours of sleep. At around 9:00am Travis ran his last leg and we were there to cheer him in at the end! He was exhausted, but he did the whole thing without stopping and pushed his body more than he thought it could ever go.

We were all so proud of him and inspired by amazing people we saw running the race. We saw a blind man running with a leader, a woman who was in remission from breast cancer, and a man who had a prosthetic leg. We saw skinny runner-built men sprinting their whole legs, and larger women who were walking. It was so inspiring! The race finished in Seaside Oregon and Travis' whole team ran over the finish line. They all ran 197 miles together in a little over 24 hours. It was amazing! Since then, we have been inspired to run more races, why not? They are fun, they are healthy, they push our bodies, the training is a great way to force workouts, and it's such an amazing sense of accomplishment when you cross over that finish line! Way to go Travis!

The kids, grandma and I had a fun time while daddy was running too. We took a trip to the Portland zoo, took the kids swimming and got to cheer daddy on which was definitely the best part. The worst part was when we were on side roads trying to meet up with daddy and Peyton got car sick and threw up all over the car:( It was yucky! Luckily I had grandma there to help me, but I never wish that upon any mom ever! I loved that the kids got to watch daddy do this important feat in his life. Hopefully they'll remember how daddy is able to push himself and do anything he puts his mind to. After he was done with the race, I asked him if he was going to do it again next year and he couldn't answer me. He said he's so glad he did it once and will see if he wants to do it again. Although, last week he asked if I wanted to join him next year....:)

He did it!

His team running over the finish line

Cheering daddy in after his last run

Brayden was so excited to hold this sign for daddy!

Monster Jam

2010-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Friends and cousins watching him open all his cool presents.

I accidentally got fake-out candles. He was so confused as to why they wouldn't go out. Ooops:)

The big moment!

The Monster Truck jam race

The happy birthday boy eating his dinner

The cake!

Brayden just turned 5!!! We can't believe it! Our little man is not so little anymore:( He has been saying for 2 years that he wanted a monster truck birthday party so this time we made it happen. He was so excited about it he could barely handle it. I made a monster jam cake that was one of the easier cakes I've done, but it was so cute and he loved it. We had our friends and family over. The kids decorated cookies that were in the shape tires and used brown frosting and sprinkles to make muddy tires. Then we ate pizza and salad for dinner. After that daddy was in charge of the games and we played throw the ball into the tire, and we actually had a little monster truck course that the kids got to race on. It was really cute. After that we opened presents and had cake. It was a successful party and Brayden felt so special. At one point I was worried because I really didn't have any more planned activities for the kids to do, but then I looked around and realized they were doing awesome. They were all just playing together, racing monsters trucks and just enjoying being outside and running. It was a really fun party and a success I think! Brayden we are so proud to call you our son and feel lucky that God gave us the important job of being your mommy and daddy. You are already showing godly character in many things and for that we are thankful. We hope you know how loved you are because words cannot express. Happy Birthday little man!

Hawaii vacation!

2010-08-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sisters!

The kids already love them, but they love them even more now!

Beautiful Hawaiian baby

THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER!

Date night

Ready to go snorkeling

The kids at Dragon's Teeth (old lava)

At the Fish Market in Paia

Black Rock baby!

Fun night with the Nevils

Hula Grill

Black Rock

The view from our room

Daddy playing in the sand with the kids.

My view reading a book

We all made fruit loop necklaces

We just got back from Maui a few weeks ago and we are all already having withdrawls from it!! We decided to go to Maui this year for a lot of reasons. But the main ones were we wanted a family friendly location, and we wanted to go somewhere where it's easy to relax. Maui fit that perfectly. With Travis having school all June and July, it was such a treat to have August free and he worked extra hard so we could go on vacation, thanks babe. Our Maui vacation in one word= perfect!!
We didn't know what to expect with the kids flying because it had been so long since either of them had flown anywhere, but praise Jesus, they both did amazing on the flights. They slept, and besides Peyton getting a little antsy, they did great. Getting to Maui was so exciting for us because we were excited to see our best friends there! The Nevil family had already been on Maui for 5 days and our trips overlapped by a few days. It was so fun to hang out with them in paradise. We had dinner with them, checked out each other's hotels, and had a full fun day at Black Rock snorkeling, swimming, and hanging on the beach. We realized after that that we are destined to vacation together more in the future because we had so much fun!
The next day my sister Desi and her husband Jimmy joined us (they had gone to Ohau for a few days). We had such a blast with them. We went and checked out the town of Paia and ate at the Fish Market and got some yummy gelato, we went to the beach where they learned how to snorkel and Travis and I got a chance to snorkel together, we went to another beach where we sat and jumped the waves for a long time, and even another beach where we did more snorkeling and played at the beach. We went out for many yummy dinners, sat by the pool every afternoon and relaxed, and played fun games at night. Travis and I got a date night where we went to dinner, did some shopping and went to see a Magic show which was really fun! We went running on the beach, ate breakfast on the beach (white chocolate macadamia nut pancakes were sooooo delicious, easily my favorite meal there!). We also went to check out the town of Kehei and found a hole in the wall Italian restaurant that was amazing and so authentic. Every night we would watch the sunset and sit in awe of God's creation!
The kids LOVED Maui and are still talking about it now. Their favorite parts were going down the water slide at the hotel (Peyton would even go by herself!), going to the beach, Peyton loved to sit in the sand for hours and play, and Brayden loved to play in the waves, they loved hanging out with uncle Jimmy and Titi Desi, and loved anytime they got to go swimming. For the most part they did a great job even after we wore them out everyday.
My favorite parts were hanging out with people we love, and spending hours at the beach. This trip was definitely a full circle moment for us in that the first time we went, we were alone with no children and it was amazing, last time we went Brayden was a year and half and hated the sand, but we still had an amazing time, this time we obviously had the kids and it was amazing. Bottom line I don't know how you can't not have fun in Maui! We're so thankful that God blessed us with this trip. We came back feeling refreshed, rested, relaxed, and so in awe of God's creation. We will have these memories forever!

On a side note: Since we got back Peyton will get her shoes on, get her purse, her baby and her blanket and stand by the door. I ask her "where are you going, " she answers "to Hawaii." :)

Children's Museum

2010-08-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

I think here Travis is having way more fun than the kids:)

The cool ball sucker thing:)

Brayden being a vet

She didn't want to leave this place

She is a nurse taking are of the baby!

We've had a weird summer with daddy being at school so much so we really cherished 4th of July weekend when Travis had time off of school and work. We decided to go to the Olympia Children's museum for the day. We were all VERY impressed with it. A lot more activities to do than the Tacoma one. We had a great time together as a family and I even had to pry daddy away from the toys at times. I think the pictures speak for themselves, we can't wait to go back.

Fun times at the zoo

2010-08-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

This was right before Peyton is screaming "Oh Elephant" song:)

You can't really see the babies, but they are in there

We were all pretty impressed with the Walrus!!

I'll be the first to admit that I was sad when school was done in June. Don't get me wrong I love Brayden but I also love my schedule that I had during school hours and it was very nice to just have Peyton alone sometimes. I wasn't sure if we had anything exciting to do this summer, and was scared of the possibility of getting bored. Once I realized that I'm in charge of our activities this summer, we can all sleep in, and there are plenty of fun things to do around here, I'm sad that school starts again so soon! One of our favorite things we've done this summer is go to the zoo. One day we went with our MOPS group and my mom and nephews joined us, and the second time Travis took the day off and we went with my mom and nephews again. It's been so fun to see the kids love the animals. On our first trip the highlight was hanging out with the Walrus. The trainer was feeding him and had him do a lot of tricks and the kids were right up to the glass to watch the whole 10 minute encounter. They got to ask questions, give some commands, and even got splashed a bit by the Walrus himself. They loved that experience and still talk about it today. The second time we went the highlight was seeing the baby tiger cubs. They were so cute and fluffy!! They were just jumping around, wrestling with each other and practicing pouncing on their mother. The kids just couldn't get enough of the babies and we couldn't either. Going to the zoo is a great reminder of God's amazing creation!

Travis' Birthday Part 2

2010-08-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been meaning to finish this post for a long time, but life has just gotten away from me lately. So, here I am writing about Travis' birthday in August:) To finish his birthday celebrations we had a big family dinner and dessert. I made strawberry pie (which I think turned out yummy:). On the actual day of his birthday I told Travis that we had dinner plans. He had no idea what we had planned for him:) We dropped off the kids and drove up to a random house, he was so confused!!! We walked in and I had planned a cooking class for his birthday. I could tell he wasn't sure at first, but as some of our friends started showing up he realized what a great night it would be. It was a great experience and something we definitely want to do again! There is a business called Kali's Kitchen and she does the cooking classes right out of her house. We all got to handle different parts of the menu I had chosen which was actually 5 different appetizers and a drink. We made peach iced tea with peach vodka in it, guacamole sliders, crunchy chicken bake, polenta rounds served with a bean mixture on top, and even steak pinwheels. One of my favorite recipes was dessert- Mexican fondue chocolate served with coconut donuts!!!! It was such a fun night with our friends. I hope Travis felt loved for his 30th Birthday, I had a great time planning it!!!

Our fun friends!

Avocado sliders (there is avocado in the middle of them!)

Strawberry pie!

Travis' Birthday Part 1

2010-06-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Down by the river

At the "campfire" it was fun watching the stars come out!

Beautiful!

On our treasure hunt

I was mad there was no cake:)

Travis turned 30 on June 21st and I wanted to have a fun celebration for him. I decided with his crazy school schedule, it would be great for us to get away for a night and reconnect. All Travis knew is that he needed to take off work Monday and the rest he was clueless to. On Saturday night I gave him a card that told him what time to be ready, what to pack (even hiking boots), and that was it. He was very curious but had no idea what I had up my sleeve. On Sunday morning grandma arrived at our place and we handed off our kids to her and were off. Still Travis doesn't know where we are going, I'm just telling him where to drive to. Once we get onto highway 18 Travis figured out we were going to Cle Elum to Suncadia Resort!!! We stopped in North Bend for lunch and some shopping at the Nike Outlet and then we were off to the resort. As soon as we drove onto the property I knew this was the best decision I could have made to celebrate his birthday. It was amazingly beautiful!!! We were able to check in early and then we decided to go Geocaching(a GPS treasure hunt) around the resort which was one of the activities they offer. It was really fun and Travis was excited because he found a new hobby to do. We spend the afternoon at the pool because the weather was amazing. We had a fancy dinner out at the resort and had a fun night making smores by the fire pits the hotel puts on for you (they are gas). In the morning we went on a 2 mile hike down to the river and it was beautiful. This place was the perfect get-a-way for us. A little outside adventure for Travis, yet not camping for me:)
After we checked out I had another surprise for Travis. Again he didn't know where we were driving to as I gave directions. We ended up at a horse ranch so we could go riding together. I was nervous because my experience with horses is minimal, but it was the perfect thing to do together and something we will never forget. It was a great weekend away and we can't wait to go back to Suncadia again. Happy Birthday Travis!

I I had the horse that she usually puts the little kids on:)

I'm a big girl!:)

2010-06-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Brayden made me a special order sandwich and Peyton handled the cash register

Putting together a totem pole

Waiting for the train, they are so excited!!!!

At the beginning of June on a Thursday I had a free day, nothing planned, no where to go, nothing to do and the kids were already driving me crazy. I decided I needed to do something spontaneous and fun! I checked out my summer calendar (made by my awesome friend Shari) and choose taking the train to downtown Tacoma, going to the Children's Museum, and then check out the Farmer's Market. I was a little nervous because I had never done any of this before, I didn't really know where I was going, or how the kids would act all day. But, with the help of my friend Shari who does this outing often, I made it on the train, got off on the right exit and even made it to the Children's museum without a hitch!:) I got there right when it opened and the kids had such a fun time exploring. Their favorite thing was the sandwich shop and the "farmer's market" they had set up for them. After we were there for awhile we walked around the real farmer's market and tried samples, we then sat down at the park and ate our picnic lunches. It was a really fun day. I think their favorite part was riding the train. The best part of the day is that it was all free!!!! Will definitely be doing that again soon:)

Randomness from the Metcalfe's

2010-05-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Brayden and me at my special Mother's Day celebration

Brayden in the "ready" position

Hitting the ball

Practicing at home with daddy's homemade T

Ok, the kid LOVES wearing his helmet and insists on wearing all around the house. Here he is watching a movie:) He takes it very seriously!

Yeah yeah, I know it's been awhile since I've done a blog, but that's life. Travis has school 3 nights a week this quarter and that's been really hard on all of us. I hurt my hip a few weeks ago and have been trying to "rest" it while taking care of two kids, and living our busy life. I'm hoping to be back at the gym soon! In the meantime, Brayden started t-ball this spring season and just loves it. Practices have been rough on everyone except Brayden since they are Monday nights (which daddy has class that night), so Peyton and I get to sit out in the cold (remember that freezing cold, windy night last week...) and endure an hour of his practice. He has games every Saturday for awhile and he LOVES it. We're really glad he likes it so much and that makes sitting in the rain a little bit easier:) School is winding down for Brayden :(, but I had a great time at my Mother's Day celebration the kids put on for us last Friday. They sang us songs, made us beautiful presents, and even made and served us cake and punch. It was so cute to see them on their best behavior for mommy.
Peyton has been exploring every limit mommy and daddy have ever given her. It's been a fun last couple of weeks. Mommy is tired but knows soon this too shall pass:) She has been super cute lately carrying around her baby everywhere and especially needing to sleep with it. So cute! When mommy's tired and ready for daddy's school to be on a loooooooooong break, days like yesterday are what keep me going. We had a great mother's day and I felt relaxed loved and appreciated! The kids got up with daddy and make me blueberry pancakes with bacon. Yummy! They all made me cards, and I got a cool immersion blender for the kitchen, and a new book, "Bringing up Girls" (go figure:). Travis helped me teach my baby class at church, and then we had lunch at my mom's house. The guys served us all and Travis made the BEST DESSERT!! White chocolate bread pudding from Nordstroms! It was delicious. It took the poor guy a few hours to make it altogether, but it was worth it. We relaxed in the sun and just enjoyed being with our family. Happy Mother's Day to me!

Peyton sleeping with her baby, cute!

The big 30

2010-04-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

This is Travis "helping" an actor. This picture will forever make me laugh:)

I know it's scanned, but seriously the best night ever!:)

On March 31st I turned the big 30! It was a day I feel like I've been dreading since I turned 20:) Once you are out of your 20's I thought I would feel old. The crazy part is I feel better as 29 and 30 then I have my whole 20's! I attribute that to more exercise, eating better, and not being pregnant:) In one of my previous posts I mentioned our Olympic trip to celebrate both of us turning 30 this year, and I figured that was plenty of celebrating, but Travis had other ideas.
On the Thursday before my birthday Travis came home from work a whole 1 1/2 early. When he walked in the door I said "you didn't get fired did you?" Hahaha, he told me I had a half an hour to get a dress on for a night out. He completely surprised me! I was expecting to have a quiet night at home with a trip to the YMCA. We dropped the kids off at my mom's who was obviously in on the plot and then we drove to our friends house to meet friends from our Bible study. The whole time I'm in the dark about everything, but got really excited when we picked up our friends, thinking this was going to be a fun night whatever we do! We drove up to Seattle and went into Theatro Zinzanni, which is a play/musical/comedy improv/gourmet dinner/a great show. You sit at tables in this tent thing and the actors are right there around you. There are people singing, some people doing Circ De Soliel stuff, some actors doing comedy, and on top of that you get served a 5 course gourmet meal. I had so much fun!!!!! The best part was when Travis was called up to "help" one of the actors and it was hilarious! I had the time of my life and wouldn't have picked a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday. I was surrounded by great lifetime friends, watched a great show, ate some amazing food, and the best part is I was completely surprised! So Fun! Props to Travis for planning this amazing night, and props to my friends who came, found babysitting, and paid a lot of money to come:) Happy Birthday to me!

We also celebrated my birthday with my family at one of my favorite past times- Azteca. It was a fun night with yummy chocolate cake (compliments of Tiffany), and dulce de leche Cheesecake (compliments of Travis). I definitely felt so loved and celebrated this year for my birthday. I'm excited to see what comes next!

My nephew Roman cheesing it at my birthday

Best friends!

My mom and older sister Selina

Peyton and I cheesing it:)

Gotta love the Azteca hat, I've worn it for every birthday I can remember:)

Makes me smile

2010-03-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

The last few days we have been potty training Peyton. We thought she was ready and are really sick of buying diapers:) So far, it has been really frustrating, but I think we are moving in the right direction. She is slowly getting it and that gives me hope. We've been frustrated a lot these past few days, but we also have been laughing a lot. Today Peyton says "Dear Jesus, please help Peyton go potty, Amen!" :) Another funny comment, I asked "Is Peyton a big girl?" she answered, "No mommy, I'm not a big girl, I'm a Peyton:)" Although we're happy to slowly leave this diaper stage, it makes us sad too. The kids just grow up so fast!
Speaking of kids growing up, I've been dreaming of this day for years! The picture will explain it all...

Olympic Adventures

2010-03-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

Many streets were completely closed to cars. There were street performers everywhere. It was crowded!

Travis carrying the world on his shoulders:)

Travis and I had the privilege of going to the Olympics in Vancouver Canada last weekend! We decided to go last minute and be spontaneous. We left on Friday afternoon and dropped the kids off at grandma's work. Then Travis surprised me with a dinner at Bizarro's in Seattle (if you know anything about the food network, Guy went there on triple D!). We then drove up to our hotel close to Bellingham. It was only 7:30 so we decided to drive over the border and check out the Olympic torch at night. We made it over the border no problems and hopped on the the sky-train. It was a little sketchy at night. A lot of people who had been drinking, but also a lot of Canada spirit. People were singing "O Canada" over and over again:) It was a fun atmosphere. At one point I look around the sky-train and realize that Travis and I are the only people not wearing red and white and not singing "O Canada", I encouraged Travis to lip-sinc so we wouldn't get attacked for being Americans:) That was one thing I was surprised about was how much people talked about hating the Americans (in not such nice language). We definitely felt like foreigners at times.

Seeing the torch at night was just beautiful! No other words to describe it. To know what it represents was just so cool! We drove back to our hotel and got to sleep by 1am. On Saturday we got up and went back over the border (after we waited for 40 minutes), and got downtown around 11:30. We just wanted to walk through the streets and see all the different things. It was crowded and we had to wait in a line to do anything. We shopped at the official Olympics store and we saw people ziplining above the crowd. There was a skating rink set up in the middle of town and just lots of cool things to see. We had lunch and found a cute cupcake shop. It was such a neat experience to see it all. We were slightly disappointed that we didn't go to an actual event. But seriously, $500 for a ticket just seemed a bit high, even for the Olympics. So, maybe next time. This time we were proud of ourselves for going, it's a once in a lifetime experience and really it's 3 1/2 hours away from home. We will always remember this fun little getaway! Yeah for the Olympics!:)

The official Olympic clock

This was the best cupcake ever!! Moist chocolate cupcake with cream caramel buttercream frosting!!! So good!!!

Weekend Couple's Retreat

2010-02-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Out a midnight bowling. Shari has her arm around John who didn't join us:)

Can't help but laugh at Peter in the background:)

Travis and I were able to go away on a couple's retreat in January to Bellevue with some great friends. We are learning to take advantage of the time we get away from the monsters and we enjoyed every minute of it! On Saturday we dropped of the kids at my parents and met our friends at Maggiano's for lunch. We love that place a lot. We did the family style all you can eat food, which was so delicious. Travis and I definitely didn't need to eat the rest of the day, but weren't overly stuffed. Some of our friends though said they couldn't eat there again because they ate too much:) Then we checked into our hotel and hung out. We took advantage of the free happy hour at the hotel along with some snacks and play games with our friends. Some of us went to the hot-tub and enjoyed watching the horde of kids play in the swimming pool (the hotel was so full of kids it was insane:). At about 11 we decided to go bowling at a nearby bowling ally. Good times:) On Sunday we all met for breakfast and relaxed some more. We then went with friends to Bellevue Square and did some shopping and ended our weekend at P.F. Chang's for lunch. We had a great time away, loved reconnecting with friends, and enjoyed all the yummy food:) Gotta love a couple's retreat. The only thing that we wished was that we had just one more night away:)

Brayden's Special Day

2010-02-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

Brayden and his teacher Mrs. Russell

Playing a game with his class.

Wearing his "Special Day" sign

Making cookies

As you all know Brayden is in 4-year old preschool this year and we are so happy with our choice to put him at Puget Sound Christian School. He has grown up and learned so much this year, it's amazing to watch him grow. He loves his teacher and she only ever has good things to say about him. In his class each child gets assigned a "Special Day." On that day the child can bring in their families, a pet, a favorite food, ect. So I asked Brayden what he wanted to do..... Daddy, mommy and Peyton came to class. They had a snack of Krispy Kreme donuts and popcorn. We then decorated cookies that were in the shape of a B. Then we looked at some baby pictures and Brayden's scrap book from his Disneyland trip last year, and his favorite part was when Emma got to come in the classroom to meet all his friends. She was a good doggie and the kids thought it was so funny how much she wagged her tail at them. Brayden got to wear a special award and be the special helper in his class that day. I hope he felt special, because he is!
Also, the cutest part of the day was Peyton. She just made herself at home in the classroom and just loved playing with the other kids. She is already so ready for pre-school. One more year Peyton!

Trip to Atlanta

2010-01-29T13:17:00.000-08:00

Dr. Allen and his wife. This man is the one who inspired me to become a labor and delivery nurse. I will always cherish them!

Do you think we look like twins?

MLK mural

Earlier this fall I found an AMAZING flight deal from Seattle to Atlanta. Since my little sister and her husband moved there in August, it seemed like fate:) So January 14th, I left my daughter on her birthday (luckily she is too little to care:), said goodbye to my boys and headed to Atlanta by myself. I really wished Travis could come with me, but alas, someone has to take care of the monsters. Who, by the way, were very sick the whole time I was gone. Travis was pretty much house-bound with the kids which is not fun for 5 days! Thanks to grandma and Lita who helped him out so he could get out a few times. Anyways, I arrived in Atlanta on Thursday night with my sister ready to pick me up. She had some of my favorite snacks ready in the car in case I was hungry from such a long flight:) Sweet spicy nuts, and peanut butter chip cookies. I could already tell this was going to be a good trip. When I arrived at their cute little apartment, they showed me my "wing" of the house complete with a bathroom stalked with EVERYTHING I could ever imagine. It was better than the luxury hotel we stayed at this summer:)
On Friday my sister had to go to work for the day, so I got to hang out with Jimmy. I forced him to come work out with me which was fun. Then I checked my e-mail and had a great surprise! Desi and Jimmy had scheduled me with an hour long massage at a spa near their house!!! How amazing is that! I was so shocked and surprised! The massage that day was the best one I've ever had:) After we picked up my sister from work, we went to Mary Mac's Tea House which is supposedly some of the best southern cooking in town. It was a fun experience for sure! Saturday we did some sight-seeing. We went to the MLK center which was very humbling especially for that holiday weekend. We also went to the CNN center and got to see the reporters live. That was a fun experience. That night we meet old friends for dinner and that was great to reconnect.
Sunday was full of church and small group, which I loved. And Monday was time to come home:( I had such a great time there! Most of the people there are so friendly and Desi and I were asked numerous times if we were twins, we got a kick out of that! I missed my family here, but it was nice to get away for awhile. We ate yummy food, went to Chick-Fil-A (we really need those up here!), I was able to relax, hang out with my sister and brother-in-law, and just have fun! I can't wait to go back again especially because I miss Desi and Jimmy even more now. So, to Desi and Jimmy, thank you so much for your hospitality! I had a great time and love you guys very much. And to Travis who stayed home with my sicky kids for 5 days so mommy can have a nice break, I love you! And, to Alaska Airlines who upgraded me to first-class for free, I love you even more:)

Peyton turns 2!

2010-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Peyton!

She's clapping her hands!

All the cousins

Peyton leading all the boys on a safari

Twins

Getting ready for the party

The cupcakes!

Tomorrow Peyton turns two:( It went way too fast like it always does! We are so in love with our little girl and it's so fun to have girly stuff (along with all our boy stuff) around the house. It took me a long time to decide what to do for her party, but we finally decided on a zoo party. She loves animals so that seemed perfect. I had a good friend, Adeliz come over and help me make some fondant cupcakes for the party. It was really fun to learn how to work with fondant and I'm sure I'll be using it again. The cupcakes were my favorite part:)
We made chicken nuggets and french fries for the kids and food for the adults. Peyton LOVES french fries so it seemed fitting. After dinner the kids went on a safari around our house to find different groups of animals we had hidden. It was a huge success and the kids loved it. At the end of the safari was their goody bags to take home. Then we opened presents and ate cupcakes. Peyton loved her cupcakes and I let her have two because it was her special day. She was so cute telling everyone "Happy Birthday, Thank you!" She was so excited about her birthday party. We love our little girl and couldn't imagine our lives without her. Peyton we pray that you become a strong-willed woman of God who knows how to have fun! We love you!

Christmas!

2010-01-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

My family on Christmas Day

Playing with their new toys:)

Peyton "sleeping" on her new pillow. She was so excited to get a pillow that matched brothers.

Christmas morning in our PJ's

Ok just cute:)

Brayden showing off his new golf clubs. He can't wait to go with daddy!

Peyton on Christmas eve

Ok, ok, we all know that I LOVE Christmas! So I really don't need to say how much we enjoyed Christmas eve and day. Christmas eve we spent with Travis' family at his mom's house. It was a nice relaxing time that the kids loved so much! Grandma and Grandpa spoiled the kids like they always do with a trampoline (to stay at their house:), and real golf clubs for Brayden. We had a nice time being together. Christmas eve always ends with us opening one present for each of us that just happens to be pajamas. The kids loved their pajamas and continue to want to wear them every night:)
Christmas morning was great! The kids got up at a decent hour and we had a lovely breakfast with cinnabon cinnamon rolls! Then Travis read the Christmas story and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and talked a lot about Jesus is the only reason that we celebrate Christmas so much. The kids were so cute this year opening presents. Peyton loved everything she got and said "whoa, wow," every time she opened anything. Brayden was so excited it was hard to get him to slow down to give other people a turn. After we did Christmas at our house, we went over to my mom's for brunch and more presents. That was so fun and relaxing. After presents we just hung out, played games, kids too naps, and checked out our new stuff. We are so thankful because we know we are blessed not just with material things but with our families and friends!

Christmas festivities

2010-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Peyton and Roman out at the cabin

My little man and I out to dinner at Maggianos

Peyton with daddy ready to watch the parade

My dad and I

All of the sisters out on our date!:)

Christmas is always a fun, but busy time of year at our house. We usually have family come from out of town and lots of traditions to keep, and we love them all. Our first official Christmas celebration happened the Sunday before Christmas. We went out to the cabin with all of my extended family and did a big celebration out there. We had such a great time and my favorite part was the delicious Puerto Rican food!! So good! The kids are getting older now and LOVE to see and play with all their cousins and second cousins. Good times!

This year my dad asked if he could take my sisters and I out on a special date. We met on Tuesday night before Christmas and had no idea what he had planned. We just got into the car and started driving. He gave us all cards that explained he wanted to do something special with his girls and he was taking us out to dinner and on a shopping spree!! How fun for us. We ended up eating at the Nordstroms cafe and shopping at Macy's! We all bought things we wouldn't normally buy for ourselves which was a blast. We even all got pictures with the black santa at Nordstroms. That was a really special night that we will all always remember!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions happens the day before Christmas eve. We meet my family up at Maggiano's in Bellevue for an amazing dinner and the Christmas parade. If you have ever eaten there you know how fun this restaurant is. They serve you family style, all you can eat and the food is delicious. It's so fun for all our family to be together! Afterwards we hang out at the coolest mall around and then get ready to watch the Drummer Boy parade outside. This year it was soooo crowded we all had a hard time watching the show because we were afraid we would get trampled, but the kids still loved it. My parents are sweet enough to treat us all to that very special night! I just love Christmas time!:)

Brayden's first Christmas program

2010-01-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

There is Brayden holding up his flower:)

My handsome little man before his program

In December, Brayden had his first school Christmas program. He was so excited for it and even had a little dancing part in it. They practice with the little ones for months and every time a song would come on the radio Brayden would say "mommy, that's my song," and proceed to belt out the words:) It was very cute and made me love Christmas music even more. On the actual night I was a bit nervous because he had to stand out in front of everyone and dance and Brayden can be shy at times. He did amazing! He was confident, cute, and smiley the whole time. One thing I remembered about Brayden was that he takes his jobs VERY seriously, and to him, this program was another job to be done:) We know we'll have many more programs to attend as the kids grow up, but we feel so lucky that he was able to sing about Jesus with all his little heart!

Gingerbread house

2010-01-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

The finished products

Peyton eating candy...

So my Bible study friends and I have the crazy idea every year to get together and let the kids decorate gingerbread houses:) The hosting house gets so dirty, the kids eat way too much sugar, and most of the houses don't look too great, but the kids love it. This year Shari was brave and offered to do it at her house (Shari, I'm sorry you had to clean up that mess:). Brayden did an amazing job making it look pretty and Peyton did an amazing job eating candy:) She eventually got in trouble because I told her no more candy and every time I turned my back she was sneaking some anyways:) It was cute, fun, and we enjoyed hanging out with friends. I do love this Christmas tradition and look forward to the chaos next year:)

Never say "never!"

2010-01-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

WE DID IT!

So if you read my blog or have been keeping up with the Metcalfe family you know Travis and I have turned into workout maniacs:) Not really, but since last January I have added some type of fitness to my daily routine and Travis has upped his exercise too. This is a big deal because pretty much since high school I haven't exercised very much and I really didn't like it. I have learned to love it because of the results it brings and the positive effects I feel of it afterwards. Anyways, last January I tried to run one night at the Y and could barely make it one lap around the track (6 laps= mile). Eventually by March I ran a mile which was a huge accomplishment. I've been slowly working my way up because running is a great and quick way to burn calories especially if I'm short on time.
Travis and I were invited on December 5th to run our first 5K!!! I was really hesitant, but Travis promised me that we could go my speed (which is jogging VERY slowly), if we ran the whole thing. That morning it was freezing cold and we were both thinking "what did we get ourselves into?" But..... WE DID IT!!!!! It was an amazing experience to do together, not give up and to look and see how in one year our lives and bodies have changed. We're both contemplating another race in the near future, but for now we're still proud of our little accomplishment. Some might say, "A 5K, so what." But, for those of us who have never run that far, it's huge.

Mt. Rainier Tubing Fun!

2009-12-30T14:21:00.001-08:00

Daddy has to walk, but Brayden gets a ride up the big hill

She doesn't look happy but really she was:)

Yummy! Donuts!:)

Our nephew's birthday is in the beginning of December and he wanted a "snow party." So his mom decided we should all go up to the mountains and go tubing as a family. What a great idea! We all got dressed up in our snow attire (you all know what I'm talking about, that attire that takes up so much room and we only wear 2 times a year:), stopped to fuel up at Krispy Kreme, and made the hour drive to Snoqualmie. Although I wasn't a fan of the crazy steep prices for tubing, we paid them anyways and got started. As we were looking down the steep hill I was thinking "there is no way Peyton or I can do this." Travis and Brayden LOVED going down the hill and Brayden didn't ever want a break from it. Eventually I got the guts and went down the hill (screaming the whole way:). It was fun. Peyton's favorite thing to do was ride around in the inter tube but she even went down a few times and thought it was fun. She kept saying "Again, Again!" We had a really good time and finished the afternoon off with lunch and cake at the lodge. We will definitely be doing that again as a family!

Tree hunting

2009-12-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe Peyton didn't "love" seeing Santa. Had to get the picture anyways:)

Ok so this is late, but better late then never!:) On Thanksgiving weekend we went out to find the perfect tree. Every year we say we are going to get a fake tree but we can't seem to give up one of our favorite traditions- Tree hunting. This year we met a few friends at Hunter's Tree Farm and found the perfect tree. The kids loved riding on the tractor, looking at the animals, saying hi to Santa Clause, and eating the treats.
We also had a blast decorating the tree together this year. Brayden was actually able to help out a lot and even Peyton tried to help. (She only broke 2 ornaments:). Great start to Christmas traditions at the Metcalfe's house!

Zoolights

2009-12-10T19:41:00.001-08:00

Grandma and all her grandkids

Momma was getting dizzy quick:)

My MIL's birthday happened to fall on the day after Thanksgiving this year. We asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate and she said "Zoolights!" We thought that sounded like a fun idea and prayed for no rain. Luckily it didn't rain that day, although it was pretty cold for us. We all had a great time. Riding on the carousel, looking at the aquarium, feeding the goats, seeing the camel (you can get a ride on them for $5), drinking hot chocolate in the freezing cold, and just starting out the Christmas season. Good times and good memories!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Travis sitting at the kids table:)

The ladies of our HFG enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner. I love these girls!

Ok, I'm the first to admit that it's been way too long since I've blogged. Life has just gotten busy, but hey, better late than never right? We were luck enough to have 3 Thanksgivings this year and they were all great! We had one with our HFG group which I'm always impressed with how good the food is there. We celebrated with Travis' family the Sunday before Thanksgiving (and of course forgot to take pictures). And on Thanksgiving day we celebrated with my family. I love having a day that requires us to look at our lives and remember what we are thankful. We are so blessed!

October all in a blog

2009-11-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Recycled Chicken

Wow, life has been busy!!! I'm sure you can tell that by my blog not being updated lately. October started out with Brayden's soccer practice and games. He has already learned so much and is gaining more confidence each game. His coach is amazing and is so encouraging (which is what Brayden needs:). A few weeks ago they had to take him out of the game 3 different times because he was crying:( He is just a sensitive little guy and was upset when someone took the ball away from him. He thought they were being mean to him by not sharing:) I finally had to be firm and tell him no more crying during the game and he did better after that. By the next day he had the croup so I'm sure he wasn't feeling 100% during the game either. We all look forward to the games as it is a family event, and Peyton is his biggest cheerleader!

Also in October I hit my 75 pound weight loss goal! It's exciting and I feel so much better about myself. I sleep better, I eat better, and I feel more like Crystal than I have in a long time. I still have 25 pounds to go and I'm pretty sure these are going to be the hardest to get off, but that's ok. Our goal during the holidays is to stay active so we can keep on losing! I thank God for His faithfulness!

This year for Halloween Brayden was a fire fighter and Peyton was a recycled chicken (meaning, the costume has been used before:) Peyton was able to wear her costume 4 days in a row and she loved it. She called it her boc-boc (think chicken sounds here), and keeps asking to wear it even now. On Wednesday we went to toddler gym a the YMCA and did a pumpkin parade. The kids get to play in class, then walk around the Y in their costumes and get candy. She thought that was really fun. Then Thursday we drove up to Grandma's work and visited her there and took her out to lunch. Friday after school we went to Papi and daddy's work and trick-or-treated there. Since Brayden was a baby the kids have been coming dressed up. The kids love it and so do Travis' co-workers.
Saturday was halloween and we started out the day with a soccer game, toddler gym, and 90 minute Zumba (I dressed up as a nurse, very original!). Then we joined Renovo in downtown Puyallup for a carnival. It was so busy, a lot of people, but so much fun. Peyton and I were in charge of the cupcake walk, and Travis and Brayden handled some of the games. That was a blast not to mention all the stores and business' giving out candy and coupons!!! We finished off the night at my sisters for a yummy fall dinner, and the cousins going trick-or-treating. Peyton stayed back with me and helped pass out candy which she thought was so fun.
Even with all the craziness October has brought us, we love it! Now it means I can official start listening to Christmas music and finish my Christmas shopping (I'm already half-way done!:) It's the most wonderful time of the year!:)

Tiffany and I at the Tacoma Dome Christmas festival. 3rd annual!

My sister Selina and I doing Zumba on halloween. She looked great and actually won the contest:)

Fire Fighter "so I can help people"

Boc-Boc

My mom, sister and I getting ready for Zumba!

Boc-Boc at toddler gym

Travis consoling Brayden after he got taken out of the game for crying:(

Firsts for the Metcalfe's

2009-10-03T11:07:00.001-07:00

Peyton loves to climb on the couch and cuddle with her brother. I love it!

Brayden's first soccer practice

Picking his apple

They were "buddies" on the field trip and couldn't let go of each other. They loved that

Brayden and Cooper on their first field trip to the Apple Orchard

This year has a lot of "firsts" for our family. Brayden started pre-school this year and just loves it. I love his teacher, we can tell Brayden is learning so much, and loves to learn about Jesus everyday. He is definitely a child who learns from watching other kids learn so school has been fantastic for him.
Along with school, another first was his first field trip! It was to the Apple Orchard and I was able to go along. How fun to see their excitement about picking apples, and just being somewhere with their new friends. I was glad I was able to go and see things from his eyes. He now feels like he's an expert on picking apples and eating them:)
Another first is a sport! Brayden is signed up to play soccer this fall at the YMCA. He had his first practice last week and loved it. (After he got over his initial cry fest because the ball wouldn't go where he wanted it to:). This is so fun for him as he's been watching his older cousins now for awhile do sports and couldn't wait to get "bigger like daddy" so he could play too. I'm sure more updates on soccer to come as the year progresses.
One other first this season is Travis going back to school. He is going to UW Tacoma to get his MBA. This is something he's wanted to do for a long time and now the timing was right. It's going to be hard on us as we won't see daddy as much, but we are excited for him to start and finish as quickly as he can:) I was able to go to his school orientation a few weeks ago and it was just weird to be back on campus again. A good weird though. I'm sure we'll be taking many trips to downtown Tacoma to visit daddy at school. That's enough firsts for now, but I'm sure are more to come:)

Anniversay weekend away!

2009-09-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

All that is left of our donuts. We were so excited to eat them that we forgot to take a picture before:)

Travis and I celebrate our 7th anniversary on the 21st of September. Since Travis started school yesterday though I decided to surprise him with a weekend away. Surprised he was!! He was so shocked he scared me a little bit:) Travis thought his mom was coming over to take us out to breakfast Saturday morning. She arrived and then I told him he had 5 minutes to get ready to go. It was so funny to see his face. He just stared at me and was like "what are you talking about." He wasn't sure about the idea at first because he had a lot of little things to do considering we had a Saturday with no plans but he warmed up to the idea fast.
Our first stop was Seattle. We are Food Network junkies and are always seeing all these restaurants on there from Seattle and of course we've never been to any of them so I thought it was time to change that. We started with Lola's for breakfast. It was the best breakfast Travis and I have had. We shared these donut bites that come to your table in a paper bag. They serve them with marscapone vanilla bean cheese and a blackberry jam. So good! The rest of the breakfast was delicious too and we can't wait to go back and have it again!
Across the street from Lola's we checked out the Dhalia bakery which has made it on the Food Network as well. Travis grabbed shortbread muffin with jam for later and I got a chocolate cupcake with chocolate malted butter cream. Yummy! We then walked down to Pike Place and it was such a beautiful day to walk around. The sun was out and it was perfect.
After Pike Place we walked to Pacific Place and looked around a bit. I got a new cell phone which I've needed for some time and we had chips and salsa at this little Mexican restaurant there. Let me tell you, some of the best chips and salsa we've had. The chips were flavored with this yummy lime salt that made them delicious! After our snack we went and saw the movie Julie and Julia. It was pretty good and helped round out our Food Network weekend pretty well:)
I surprised Travis by staying at one of his favorite hotels. The Bellevue Club. This hotel is attached to a high end exercise club which is sooooo nice compared to the Y, and we were excited to work out there. Our first workout we went swimming in the pool, relaxed in the hot tub and sat in the sauna (tough workout:). We then got ready for dinner and hit PF Changs. It was our first time and we really liked the food. Fun atmosphere too. We walked around Bellevue Square which is my favorite mall and Travis got a Starbucks. When we got back into our hotel room we had free champagne waiting for us which was a nice touch.
On Sunday morning, we had breakfast in the room (bread from Great Harvest Bread Company and homemade jam), and then we went and worked out for a few hours. The equipment there was so fun because you could watch TV while running on the treadmill:) We finished off our weekend at Cactus, a Mexican restaurant that Rachael Ray recommends. It was yummy. We had a great weekend away, the kids loved staying here with grandma, and we can't wait to try out some more new restaurants in the near future. My favorite part of the weekend was surprising Travis. He didn't know what I had planned next and I think that was fun for him. Happy Anniversary babe! Here's to 7 years, only 70 more to go:) XOXOXOXO

Seaside Oregon trip

2009-09-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Strawberry chocolate twinkie

Chocolate covered twinkies

Flying a kite!

She wasn't sure about the sand at first, but it didn't take long until she was sitting in it playing with her brother.

Since we got back from Mexico I have been dying to take the kids to the ocean. There is something about watching them play in the sand that is so fun to me. We decided that instead of going to the fair this year Travis would take a day off and we would go for a day trip to the ocean. We were planning our usual trip to Long Beach but decided on Seaside since it was the same drive time to get there. We are so glad we did! Seaside was beautiful! We loved the beach. It was huge so you didn't feel crowded and they even had swing sets for the kids. The weather was great, we actually got a little hot during the day. They have a beautiful promenade to walk along the beach and a really fun town.
We got there and had a picnic lunch and let the kids play in the sand. Then we put Peyton in the backpack and Brayden in the stroller and took a long walk along to the promenade and let the kids take a nap. That worked out well and it was a great way to get some exercise in. Then we walked the town and checked out some of the cool shops. Hate to say it but our favorite one was the candy store. Ok, seriously this place had chocolate covered everything. Twinkies, Nutter Butters, Pop Tarts, and even bacon. We had to try a strawberry chocolate Twinkies that was pretty good. We made it back to the beach after nap to play some more. We played baseball, soccer, made a small sand castle, played in the water, flew a kite, and just relaxed. When we got hungry we hit a restaurant in town for a yummy dinner and then decided to head out. On the way out of town we had to stop at the outlet mall where I found some great deals! As we were leaving town we noticed a lot of traffic and the longer we sat in it the more we realized we weren't going anywhere fast. We turned around and got a hotel room in town later to find out that there was a huge accident and traffic was backed up for hours. So, we were stuck, but had a relaxing evening in the hotel. We can't wait to go back to Seaside someday and maybe this time we'll plan on staying for more then the day:)

Metcalfe Life

2009-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Brayden in front of his cubby

This is the last sight I see of Brayden before I leave, he is sitting on the table coloring.

Brayden and Lita ( my mom) on his first day

Brayden at home ready to go on his first day. He kept asking if it was time to go yet. He got up this morning and put his clothes on, brushed his teeth, washed his face and made his bed without me telling him to do it. He was so excited!

All of us in his classroom at the back to school night

It's been awhile since I've done a family update and I think it's time. Life has been busy, but good and it's bitter-sweet that summer is almost gone.
Bryaden started 4-year-old preschool today! It was such a special moment today and it's like my life has done a full circle. Brayden is going to Puget Sound Christian School this year and I went there 4th-7th grade. My mom has been a teacher there for 20+ years and I grew up with Brayden's teacher's children. They were some of my best friends growing up at church. So how weird was it for me today to take him into school and leave him there? He was excited and was happy for me to leave and I can't believe I didn't cry:) I was happy for him, I know he was ready and it's time for this next step in our lives. I think the reason it felt like such a big step was that my normal stay-at-home mommy days will never be the same. No more getting up and planning the day as it goes. But, that's ok too. Peyton and I enjoyed the time together and I got a lot accomplished in 2 1/2 hours. I worked out and did my Costco shopping trip:) Brayden has been talking about starting school for months and says he day at school was fun and can't wait to go back.
A few funny quotes from Brayden: Yesterday I got home from the YMCA and he was already in bed waiting for me to give him a kiss goodnight. He says "Mom, how was your workout?" I say, "It was great Brayden." He says, "I missed you so much while you were gone (I was gone an hour:), can you tuck me up now." Hahaha, instead of tucking into bed he wants to be tucked up:)
- Travis is in the habit of asking me how many calories dinner is since I do the cooking. So yesterday Brayden had to ask too. "Mom, how many calories was my dinner." I told him, and he said "That's pretty good, now I can have a treat:)"
- Peyton is always asking "Where did daddy go." She says it all day until Travis gets home from work. Brayden answered her yesterday and said, "Daddy just got out of an important meeting, ok?" Hahaha, Peyton said "oh."

Peyton is 19 months and is full of energy and fun. She is very adventurous and strong-willed. I spend a lot of time on my knees praying about being her mommy:) She is talking up a storm and loves helping mommy or daddy more than anything (well except for her blankie). She also loves a lot of attention and making people laugh. I'm hoping we can bond a little more with brother being in school 3 days a week.

Travis and I are still trying to loose weight and that in itself keeps us busy. That just means we spend a lot of time working out at the Y and we love it. I've noticed that our family outings have definitely gotten more active. Instead of driving to the park, we are walking or running to it. Instead of a night here at the house, we are going to the local school and running around the track. It's fun and obviously a lot more healthy for us:) This September we are going to be celebrating 7 years of marriage! Travis also starts school in a few weeks. He is going to the UW Tacoma to get his MBA. We're excited for him but also know that will keep us busier than ever. We are still at Renovo church and are loving what God is doing there. We feel lucky to be apart of it. I think that's about it in the Metcalfe house for now....

Big boy bed...

2009-08-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

We talked a lot about what to get Brayden for his birthday and finally decided he needed a new bed and soon. He was currently in a toddler bed, which was quickly getting small for our growing boy. We decided to get him a bunk bed with a full size on the bottom and a twin on top. That way he can grow into the full size bed and we hopefully won't have to get him another bed until he moves out:). I researched different websites and stores and we found a reasonable bed and mattresses. We also changed the theme in his room to sports. Which is one I figured he can have for a long time. He LOVES his bed! He loves for Travis and I to lay down with him and read because now we fit. He's already had a slumber party with his friend. I think one of his favorite things was to help us set up the bunk bed. He had a Home Depot apron on and was actually a big help. He loved it!

Happy Birthday Brayden!

2009-08-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

We can't believe our little man turned 4 this week! I know we all say that, but time flies when we're having fun. 4 years ago on his birthday I was screaming in a birthing tub asking for an epidural. Hahaha, it's funny because I was at a birthing center and knew full well that I obviously couldn't get that there. I was determined to go natural and I did mainly because at the time I didn't have a choice:) You imagine the birth of your first child to go a certain way. I especially did being a labor and delivery nurse and seeing multiple births every day. It didn't go quite like I thought it would, but it was beautiful and the end result was perfect. Beautiful, healthy baby and happy/tired mom. I remember looking at Travis after we had Brayden and he had tears in his eyes. He just said, "my son." It was a special moment.
Brayden has been a gift to us since the moment he was born. He is laid back, loving and lovable, encouraging, sensitive, and a very sweet little boy. He even told me today "Mom, thanks so much for doing my laundry, you did a good job." :) That doesn't mean that he doesn't have bad days, but luckily they are few and far between. He loves his family and friends, loves helping daddy do anything, and loves playing with his sister. He is still learning his letters, colors and numbers, but can do a 100 piece puzzle by himself and is great at sports. We are excited/nervous for him to start school this year but know it's time and he's ready.
To celebrate Brayden's 4th birthday he decided he wants a Curious George birthday party. That's very fitting because he watches his show almost everyday and loves reading his books. We had over his best friend Cooper and his 3 cousins. The kids painted, played a Curious George game, I read a book about George making pizza and then the kids made "pizza" cookies to take home, we ate pizza and of course cake. I think the thing they enjoyed the most was just playing out in the backyard, (thank God for the nice weather). I talked to Brayden before his party about being thankful for every present he opened. It was so funny. Every present, whether it was clothes, or some cool toy he exclaimed, "WOW!!!!" That was cute. Brayden, you are a joy to have as a son and we can't wait to see what God has planned for your life. Happy Birthday Mr. B!

Making "pizza" cookies

This was the hardest cake I've made yet because I had to free-hand the picture onto the cake, but it was a lot of fun and I didn't want to cut it up:)

Brayden at Azteca. He's been there every birthday since his first. Kind of a family tradition:)

I love Puyallup!

2009-08-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

Peyton hanging out with her balloon

The library sets out chalk for families to use outside

I was impressed with the artwork

Brayden playing in a little tent set up next to the booth

Poor Travis had to be there at 7:30 and didn't get home until 2:30, but of course he did it with a happy heart. What t good man!

We've lived in Puyallup now for 3 years and just love it here. It seems this city tries hard to be family friendly wherever we go. One of my new favorite things here is the Farmer's Market. It's so fun to go and look around at all the pretty produce, yummy treats, and get all the free samples:) This year Renovo has had a booth at the market and our HFG has manned it twice this summer. It's been fun, the kids love it and we've met a lot of new people. We pass out balloons, do a root beer taste test, face paint for the kids, and just talk to people. I know our family has enjoyed our time hanging out. Looking forward to next year!

Bitter-Sweet

2009-07-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

Titi Desi and Uncle Jimmy. The kids LOVE them!

Desi and me. People have asked us if we are twins before. Seriously?

Today my sister and her husband Jimmy left Washington to make the long drive to their new home- Atlanta:( They are moving there from California so Jimmy can get his PHD from Emory University. We are very proud of Jimmy and his schooling and are behind him 100%. However, we wish they didn't have to live so far away:( They came home in early June for 10 days and then left to do a 6 week mission trip to Africa. They've been home for 2 weeks before they left this morning. I love having them in town, we had a lot of fun. We played at the lake, went out to Indochine for Desi's birthday, we went for walks, we had a pizza and game night, we got to hear stories about their Africa trip, they made my whole family a fun dinner, they came and babysat the kids for me, and we had a fun goodbye dinner for them last night at BJ's. The kids LOVE their Titi Desi and uncle Jimmy!! They will be sad when they realize they won't be around for awhile:( They plan to at least be in Atlanta for 3 years so we'll get used to this hello/goodbye thing again. Desi and Jimmy we love you and miss you already! You'll be in our prayers as you start your new life in Georgia. Can't wait to see you soon!

Our summer camping trip

2009-07-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Peyton coloring at the beach

In the water!

Brayden and his cousin Tanner

Daddy and Peyton hanging out

All the boys shooting their bows

Peyton playing with the trucks

Our cool new tent!

This last weekend we went up to mountains to Travis' parents property and went camping for one night. I got Travis a large tent for Father's day (because we only had a small 4 person tent from when we first got married:). Along with his tent I told him we could go camping anywhere he wanted sometime this summer. He picked this spot with his parents and Brayden's cousin Tanner. Their property is beautiful with a pretty creek running through it. They have a little trailer there with electricity and an outhouse and that's about it. So no showers, or running water:( We got there on Friday around 1:30 and set up the tent, which was a really nice 2 room one. Peyton took a nap and the rest of us relaxed in the sun. We had turkey tacos for dinner which were yummy! Travis was scheduled to talk a Pleasant Valley Camp to the 4th-6th graders that night so we took a little drive 5 minutes down the road for his talk.
We went to bed and were all really tired. The night started out great with the kids falling immediately asleep. However from there, it just got worse! Brayden had to pee three times during the night which is tough when it's freezing and you have to put on your shoes. Then I think he got an allergy attack so he was sneezing all night. Peyton woke up a few times and was cold so I had to get out of my warm sleeping bag to wrap her up again. To make matters worse Emma kept barking and growling at something through the night and Travis had to keep yelling at her to stop:) Needless to say we all didn't sleep that good! Hahaha...
Saturday was a nice day. The weather was beautiful. We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then the guys went and shot their bows while us ladies read. We then went to Riffe Lake and had a picnic lunch and went swimming, which was so refreshing in the heat. We went back to the property and gave the kids naps and then packed up and came home. The biggest complaint of the weekend were the bugs. The black flies were ruthless!! By the time we left Saturday they were just swarming over you wherever you went. Gross! Travis had a great time camping, and I actually enjoyed it (but just a little bit:). Stay tuned to see where the Metcalfe's go next:)

Cacun Mexico

2009-07-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

The view from my lounge chair

The view from our balcony

Out to dinner at the fancy Italian Restaurant

Me on the zip line. I did it!

Travis driving the golf cart

Travis swimming in the bathtub

Seriously this is our view!

Couple shot!

Travis and I returned this last week from Cancun, Mexico. We had a great time!!!! This was a special trip for us because for once (since Brayden's been born) we were alone on a vacation. The hotel we stayed at- The Sun Palace- has one of the most beautiful beaches in Cancun. The sand is so soft and white and the water aqua blue just can't be beat. We were pampered at our all-inclusive hotel. You step out on the beach and immediately someone comes to set up lounge chairs and an umbrella. Then a waitress comes and takes our drink orders and any food we want. We could pretty much eat and drink all day if we wanted. Room service was included and even free calls to the USA. There were four restaurants at the hotel plus numerous bars and snack bars. We LOVED the Mexican restaurant (go figure), and The Steak where you could order any steak you wanted (Travis loved this!).
Also included in this hotel was free tours. One day we took a trip to the Isla Mujeres which is a small island about a 45 minute boat ride from Cancun. The boat ride was fun, but our favorite part was renting the golf cart on the island and checking out all the sites. That was fun, relaxing and adventurous! We finished off the day shopping in the market and bought presents to bring home for the kids. Another tour we did was a Zip line tour! That was so fun and something I'm so proud of myself for doing. We were up very high with a jungle scenery down below. The swamp even had crocodiles in it:)
Our favorite thing to do was sit on the beach and read and relax. Travis always had a Pina Colada in his hand, and I couldn't get enough chips and salsa. When we got hot we just jumped in to the ocean (which felt like a bathtub) and cooled off. This was definitely a trip we will never forget. We were able to relax, spend some time bonding with God, and reconnect as a couple too. We are so thankful to our parents for taking the kids while we were gone. We missed the kids like crazy, but it was so good to get away. I've really appreciated them a lot more since we've been home. Although we loved Mexico, we can't wait to see where life will take us next!

Trip to Montana

2009-06-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

The beautiful view of Flathead Lake

Us, Travis' mom, sister, boyfriend and son Tanner

Playing at the playground

On of the many rivers we passed in the car

Travis is happy driving as long as he has a Starbucks and some music

Peyton almost asleep!

Brayden loving the new DVD player, it was great!

This last weekend we took a road trip to Montana with Travis' family. We went to pay our last respects to Travis' grandma who passed away in January (she was 92!). We decided to break up the trip by stopping in Couer d' Alene on the way there and back which made it an easier drive for everyone. The drive there was quite uneventful (which is a good thing). We stopped at a rest stop and had a picnic and made it to Couer d' Alene in time for nap. Our hotel there was beautiful and right on the river. We were able to take a run along the river, let the kids play at the park, and walked across the street to dinner (Azteca!!!!). We had a good time hanging out with family and swimming with the kids.
Saturday we got up and drove the rest of the way to Montana. Beautiful drive! Lots of pretty rivers, lakes, and wildlife to see. We checked into our hotel and went to the memorial service. It wasn't what we were expecting, but I think it meant a lot to his mom that we were there. We finished the evening up with dinner at Travis' uncle's ranch. We were so tired that day and excited to go to bed. We were sleeping soundly when at 12:30 Brayden woke up crying in his bed. He had thrown up all over the bed!!! Yucky! That was a big hassle to clean up poor kid. Travis went and got him some medicine and he said he felt better. 5 minutes after he said that he threw up again. This time at least he made it to the bathroom. So not fun cleaning the hotel's dirty bathroom! Thankfully Brayden was fine after that and woke up his normal self. But what a crazy night.
On Sunday we had brunch with all of his family and hit the road again to go back to Couer d' Alene. We checked out the beautiful lake and boardwalk (the largest one in the world), and had a nice dinner. We finished off the night with me getting sick:( It was bound to happen. So, needless to say when we woke up on Monday mommy was ready to come home. I'm still recuperating from the stomach flu, but glad we had a family trip away. We saw how beautiful the northwest is, spent some time with family, paid our respects to grandma, and bonded as a family. Who knows where God will take the Metcalfe's next... Maybe somewhere tropical and hot?

50 pounds!

2009-06-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Praise God, I have gotten to my 50 pound weight loss goal! Most of you know I started with my goal on January 1st to lose 50 pounds by June 1st and I did it! This post is not to brag, but to share with you some of the things I've learned these past five months on this journey.
1. I need God's strength everyday! There were so many days I didn't have self-control or I was too tired to go workout that God filled in for me when I couldn't. Anytime I prayed for strength, He blessed me with it. At first it seems silly to pray about losing weight or my workout goals, but I know God cares about the littlest things in my life. He has truly blessed me!
2. You can burn a lot of calories being a mom! There were many days I hit my calorie burning goals before I even made it to the Y in the evening. Taking care of two kids, making their meals, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping the floors ect. is great exercise. That is my encouragement when I can't fit in my workout for the day.
3. There are so many ways to exercise! I loved Zumba class during these past 5 months, but have also tried a lot of different workouts. Walking, running, exercise machines, circuit class, yoga, and exercise videos from home. Most days I was able to fit in something even if it was just a 20-minute exercise video. I figured it was better than nothing.
4. I can eat whatever I want! (in moderation). People have been asking me what type of diet I'm on and I respond "nothing." I am courting calories, but there is no restrictions in my diet besides that. I love that because it seems more like reality to me. We have eaten out at numerous restaurants, and my family can vouch for me that I've still done a lot of baking, but the difference is instead of me saying "what the heck, I'll eat whatever I want, " I say "Yeah, I can have 3 pieces of pizza." It's been a learning experience, but it's been easy and something I hope to do forever.
5. Your kids are watching your eating and exercising habits. Brayden asks me when I'm going to do my workout for the day everyday. He knows that has become a priority for me. I'm also cooking healthier food for my family and hopefully helping them to make better choices when they are older. They watch and observe our habits more than we give them credit for.
6. I have the most supportive husband ever. The best time for me to workout has been in the evenings (if we weren't busy), so I'm gone 4+ evenings a week. We have dinner together and then I leave to go to the Y. Travis hasn't once complained about watching the kids. He has always been encouraging and happy for me to go. I love that about him so much! Thanks Travis, I couldn't have done this without you.
I hope this has been encouraging to my mommy friends out there who may be struggling to loose weight, or just be healthy. I have a long way to go, but am 50 pounds closer. I'll take it!

Trip to the Zoo

2009-05-26T21:34:00.001-07:00

"Doggie, woof, woof"

It was impossible to get all the kids in the picture but we tried

Bryaden had to bring his "raffe" so he could see all the animals too:)

Wow, so it's been awhile since I've made time for my blog. That doesn't mean the Metcalfe's haven't been busy though. Last Friday the HFG girls decided to head to the zoo for a day of fun. The weather was perfect for it. Unfortunately all the schools thought it would be a great day for field trips too:) We met around 10 and headed immediately to the play area so some of the mommies could feed the little babies. After that we saw the elephants, monkey's, fishes, birds, and the rest of the animals. Brayden was being silly and was actually afraid of most of the animals. He wanted to look at them, but not too closely. Peyton on the other hand LOVED looking at the animals and called every one a "doggie, woof woof." It was so cute! We packed a lunch and had a picnic out on the lawn, it was perfect. I think the highlight of the day was seeing the Polar bears. One was in the water playing with a ball and was so cute! Brayden was so excited to see him swimming. It was a little chaotic considering there were 12 children and 5 mommies, but we had a good time and are thankful to Shari for getting us free passes:)

Loving the Sun

2009-04-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Brayden playing soccer after our picnic

Peyton really wanting to play too

The view from our blanket

In the middle our our walk.

Last weekend Travis had a 4-day weekend and went camping for a few days with Brayden (more to come on that on another post). So on Monday we decided to go for walk at Chambers Bay Golf Course. What a beautiful day for it! Travis had never been and really enjoyed the view- both of the water and the golf course. The walk is 3+ miles and it VERY hard because of the huge hills. I'm talking big hills that are almost scary to walk up and down because they are so steep. But, we figured what a great workout. Peyton was in the backpack and I pushed Brayden in the stroller ( I made him get out and walk the hills:) Then at the bottom there is a huge park that looks over the water. It's gorgeous! We had a nice picnic lunch, played soccer, and just enjoyed in the sun. It was one of those times with my family that I wished the day could have lasted forever. I highly encourage you to go check out Chambers Bay if you haven't. It's beautiful!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Peyton and Brayden in their Easter clothes

My two handsome boys

Easter basket

Had to eat the ears off first:)

Checking our her Easter basket at Lita and Papi's House

This year we had the fun of celebrating Easter twice. On Saturday before Easter we went to Travis' parents house and had a great Easter brunch. Linde (T's mom) had an Easter egg hunt set up for the kids (one for Peyton and one for the older boys:). The kids were spoiled with their Easter baskets (Linde actually made Peyton's basket. It's a baby carrying case now:). We had the traditional Easter ham, potatoes, apple pancakes, egg casserole and homemade bread, not to mention all the yummy desserts. The kids are so loved by their grandma and grandpa, it's great. On Sunday morning we opened our Easter baskets, got ready to church, and headed to Renovo. It was a great service and a great reminder of what Easter is all about. We rushed out of church and headed to my parents for another brunch. We also had ham, homemade bread, cheesy grits, stuffed french toast, asparagus, sausages, cream cheese rolls, and strawberry pie. Oh my goodness the food was so good!!:) The kids also got Easter baskets from Lita and Papi, the favorite being a photo book of Brayden's DisneyLand adventures. He looks at that thing everyday. My mom also makes Easter baskets for all of us big kids:) You gotta love that! Because of the rain we did the Easter egg hunt on the back porch for the older kids. They were cute. We still have an Easter basket on the counter with endless amounts of goodies. Brayden can have 2 things from there each day. I'm sure it will last until Halloween. Hahaha. We tried to teach the kids about why we celebrate Easter and Brayden was asking "when does the Easter bunny come for Jesus?" Hallelujah Christ Arose!

TV stars:)

2009-04-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the cameraman taping Peyton and I. He was standing there so long I didn't know how to act. Should I smile or be serious....

The kids waiting patiently for the parade to start

Brayden and Peyton

Here is the cameraman taping Peyton and I. He was standing there so long I didn't know how to act. Should I smile or be serious....

Metcalfe Family

Here's our cool coffee stand

Peyton enjoying the parade

This year the Metcalfe's made their first appearance at the Daffodil Parade. We were talking and wondering why we hadn't been before because we all thought it was great. We decided to go with our Bible Study group and hand out coffee, donuts and cookies for no other reason then to be nice. We got a huge carafe of Forza coffee and set up shop early downtown. We thought at first we weren't going to get many takers on the coffee, but by the end of the parade the coffee was gone and we had met some interesting people. We had a great time and look forward to next year! Brayden loved it all except for the pirate ship (which shoots a cannon and is REALLY loud). Peyton enjoyed it too and actually slept most of the time on mommy. We also all made a TV debut on the TV Tacoma channel!!! The guy was there taping all the kids lined up having fun and they even got mommy holding Peyton sleeping. We DVR it and that is now Brayden's favorite "show" to watch. Fun times with the Metcalfe family:)

Random Pictures

2009-04-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

We have proof that Peyton has very curly hair. It's getting curlier the older she gets, but it's most curly after her bath. Poor girl, she is cursed:)

Brayden's favorite thing to do is puzzles. This is 100 piece puzzle he did all by himself!!

When Brayden was gone at Disney Land his sister would hang out in his room because she missed him.

And, here is Peyton showing me her tongue. Love those blue eyes.

Almost 30 but not quite...

2009-04-03T13:55:00.001-07:00

Travis and I and the yummy cheesecake!

Peyton and mommy

Best friends!

Travis standing in front of the fish market

On March 31st I turned 29. I still have one more year until the big 3-0 and I'll take it:) This last year was a great year and I'm hoping this next one will be even better. Travis took me to Seattle for an overnight getaway last weekend. It was so nice. We stayed at a really fancy hotel, Hotel 1000 and felt pampered staying there. Travis' mom came to our house to watch the kids which was great. We left Friday afternoon and drove up to Southcenter and had dinner at BJ's. The main reason we went is because they give free Pzookie's (an awesome cookie doughish dessert served in a pizza pan with ice cream. My favorite!) if you are celebrating your birthday. It was so nice to enjoy dinner without talking with a 3 and 1 year old:) We drove up to Seattle and checked into our hotel. We worked out at the nice workout room and then sat in the hot sauna. I felt so relaxed, it was awesome. We started Saturday morning getting breakfast from Pike Place Market (which was just a few blocks from our hotel). I love walking around the market. So fun and so much culture. We finished off the day shopping at some of the malls and eating dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Nice weekend. We finished celebrating my birthday with family and friends on Tuesday. Travis made the best Dulce de Leche cheesecake that is to die for. I was spoiled as always and felt loved. Happy Birthday to Me!:)

Cabin fun again...

2009-04-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Mr. Jeremy reading to Peyton and Cooper

Doing the army boot camp workout

We trained the guys right!:)

Singing Happy Birthday. Look at that Chocolate Cake!

A few weekends ago we had a little HFG retreat at our cabin on Anderson Island. The majority of us left kids at home (except for the babies), which was a nice change of pace for sure! We left Brayden at grandma and grandpa's house and Peyton came with us. We started out the weekend going out to eat at the one island restaurant (no one had to cook!). We went back to the cabin and relaxed. The guys played Wii all night and the ladies just talked. We also celebrated Tiffany's 30th birthday with an awesome chocolate cake:) The next day we started out the morning with all the guys (except John but in his defense he was holding a baby), making breakfast. We had blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs. Travis and I got sucked in somehow to Jeremy's army boot camp workout. We went on a little jog and then Jeremy made us do a small army workout:) We had a good time and can't wait to go to the cabin again!

DisneyLand Trip for Mr. B

2009-03-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Brayden and Titi Desi

Brayden, Pedro and Roman

Lita, Papi, Titi Desi and Bradyen (more pictures hopefully coming soon:)

Brayden had the privilege to go to Disneyland a few weeks ago with my parents and his cousin Pedro. My mom and dad decided to surprise them with a trip together. My younger sister Desi and her husband Jimmy live down in Cali so they were going to meet up with them too. From what I hear Brayden had a great time! He loved meeting all the characters, loved the plane rides, loved most of the rides (a few were a bit scary for him), and loved hanging out with the family. We were so happy that he had a chance to go, but sad that we couldn't go with him. My sister was so sad she couldn't go with Pedro that her husband and her decided at the last minute to drive down to Cali!! So, the Metcalfe's were the only ones missing out on the family reunion:) I'm so thankful that Brayden has cool grandparents. What a special trip he will always remember. He is still talking about it everyday and can't wait to go back!

My Bugg

2009-03-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well it's been awhile since I've blogged and I really have no excuse. Sometimes I feel that I don't have anything to blog about, but then again we've been so busy. Travis just took his GMAT on Monday and got a great score. He is planning on going back to school in the fall to get his Masters in Business. Although I'm not excited to have him gone more, I am excited for him because this is a goal he's had since he graduated college. We're going to have to rearrange our lives so daddy will have time to go to class and do his homework. I've been busy planning a special day at my MOPS group which is coming up next Tuesday. I have also been learning a lot of new recipes and trying to cook healthy for the family more. It's been fun and so far we've been impressed with this "healthy" food:)
For Christmas Travis got me a Body Bugg. What's that you say? Have you ever seen the Biggest Loser? They wear these bugs on their arms on the show. It's a device that tells me how many calories I'm burning during the day. I have a goal of how much weight I would like to loose, and then it gives me a goal of how many calories I should burn a day and how many I should eat. You log in your food and it downloads your calories burned. I LOVE THIS THING! I've been working out a lot because I want to hit my goals everyday. So far I've lost 29 pounds and counting since January 1st!! It's a great way to teach you to get active and eat less calories too.
I loved it so much I bought one for Travis for Valentines Day (so romantic huh:). Now we have matching Buggs on all the time:) He is doing well on the program too and has so far lost 16 pounds. What we love most about the program is it's not a special diet or workout regime that is promising us weight loss. It's the simple fact that if you burn more calories than you eat, you will loose weight! I think this is a great life lesson we are learning on this program.
The kids are learning a lot too. Brayden almost did a whole Yoga session with Travis and I the other night. He was saying "I have to do my exercise today." Cute. Speaking of Brayden, he is on a plane right now on his way to Disneyland with my parents. I'm a little sad I can't be there with him, but I am so excited for him and can't wait to see the pictures.
Peyton is growing so fast as they all do at this age. She is talking more and more. Right now her favorite word is "hi." She walks around the house saying it to everyone and everything:) She loves to "help" mommy exercise too and thinks it's pretty funny. Well more to come soon about life with the Metcalfe's...

Saying "Yes" to God...

2009-02-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to women's conference with some of my Renovo friends. It was held at my old church in Seattle, Northwest Church of Christ. Honestly, I wasn't that excited to go. I was excited to hang out with the girls and get to know them better, but I usually don't enjoy women's conferences that much. I'll tell you why... I have a very short attention span and it takes a REALLY good speaker to keep my attention for more than 10 minutes. I'm not sure why I'm that way, but I am. Not once on Saturday did I look at my watch while the speaker was talking. Actually, every time she was done with a session I was amazed at how much time had passed and was sad because I wanted to hear her speak more. Her name is Lysa TerKeust. Amazing woman of God. She is a nationally known speaker who I was meant to hear on Saturday. God put me in that place because He knew that's exactly where I needed to be.
Lysa just stood up there and shared her story. That was it, yet it was profound. I actually saw Lysa a few years ago on the Oprah show. They did a story about her community. Lysa had gone to see a Liberian boys choir sing at a nearby church with her 3 little girls. During the concert she heard God speaking to her "Two of those boys are yours." Her response was, "Yeah right, I don't think so." To make a beautiful long story short, she did adopt 2 of those boys and her friends adopted the rest of the choir and so far 45 children have been adopted from the same orphanage in Liberia. It's amazing because obviously these children are black and have been adopted into white families, it didn't matter. I encourage you to go watch the segment of the Oprah show on her website www.LysaTerKeurst.com
One of the things she said has me really thinking. She said that she could have told God "no" that day he talked to her about her boys. She could have told him no and no one but her and God would have ever known. However, she would have missed out on the tremendous blessings God had planned for her. Instead, she said "Yes!" Is there somewhere in your life where you need to say "Yes" to God?

Zumba Maniac

2009-01-31T19:36:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've written a post and it just seems like life is busier these days. On January 1st (with the rest of the country:) I became of member of the YMCA along with working on eating healthier. Since that day, I have worked out every day except for one. I always used to say that I hated working out, but I'm loving it! I feel better about myself, I'm sleeping better, and my clothes are already getting loose (lost 16 pounds and counting). I think one reason I'm enjoying my workouts so much is because I've found Zumba. Zumba is a salsa dance aerobic class that is so fun. They play really loud salsa type music and we just do the moves to follow the teacher. What I love about it is in the hour class, I burn 750 calories! I know I don't always look like I know what I'm doing, but I just keep moving. If you want to check it out, come join me as a guest at the YMCA. Thanks to Travis being so supportive, my workouts at the YMCA have become a great mommy break. I think God designed our bodies to get exercise on a regular basis (please remind me of that when I get burnt out:) Seriously, come check it out with me....

Peyton's Pink Party

2009-01-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

Peyton eating her cake:)

The fam

Sitting on her new rocking chair

She loved the leopard print shoes! (Thanks Titi Selina)

The cake!

We celebrated Peyton's 1st birthday yesterday with family and friends. At first I didn't know what theme to use for her party and decided that pink would be it. Then I started thinking about how to incorporate some of her favorite things. As I stated in the last post, she loves her teddy bear, her blankie, and her bo-bo (pacifier). So, I saw this cake on-line and knew I had to copy it. It was so much fun! So, I turned the party into a pink bear party and had all of the cousins bring their favorite bear. Later in the party, each bear got a prize for being different. We had a nice dinner and watched Peyton open up her presents. She was spoiled as usual and got a lot of cute clothes. Her favorite things were probably her big purple hippo chair and the rocking chair she got from Papi. My dad re-did the rocking chair he had as a child, which is really special to us. We are going to put it in her room so when she wants to relax and read books she can:) We then sang her Happy Birthday and she dug into the cake. She was very curious at first, but finally when mommy convinced her to take a bite, she loved it! She was mad when it was time to be done. We love our little girl and are so thankful to have her in our lives. Till the next birthday...

Peyton turns 1 today!

2009-01-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

Azteca for your birthday is a family tradition. So, here she is in the sombrero, she's not so sure about it.

She is clapping after they sang to her.

And then she got to have a few bites of chocolate mousse. She wasn't that impressed:)

Wow, I can't believe that our baby is turning one today. It is very bitter-sweet for us knowing that she is probably our last baby, but she is so much fun to watch grow up too. Peyton has a really fun personality, and she knows what she wants:) She can take command of a whole room if she really wants something or if mommy and daddy tell her "no." But, she is easy to calm down and for the most part she is a very happy, content baby. She is already walking, although crawling is still her preferred method of transportation. She says "momma", "dadda", "baby", "Bo-bo", "bye-bye", and "ba-ba" (for her brother). Some of her favorite things:
1. Peyton LOVES her teddy bear. She calls it her "baby" and we can tell she is going to be a great mommy some day. She rocks the baby, pats the baby, and gives it a lot of kisses.
2. Peyton loves her bo-bo (pacifier) and one of her favorite games to play is where mommy steals her bo-bo and she has to get it back.
3. She loves singing and music and really gets into dancing. I mean really! It's cute!
4. Peyton loves the water and swimming. She is completely relaxed in the water and didn't mind when daddy dunked her under. She just looked at him and smiled:)
5. Her favorite snack is Ritz Crackers and her all-time favorite thing would be her blanket (especially the tags, just like brother).
6. Peyton loves to give hugs. We pick her up and she pats us on the back. However, she is pretty stingy with her kisses. They are very few and far between and even less for daddy. For some reason she will almost always give a kiss to Mr. Jeremy and Brayden though, no fair!

We are so in love with our little girl and can't wait to see the great things that God has planned for her. She is so precious. More to come on her birthday party...

Time for another recipe

2009-01-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I threw a shower yesterday for my friend Tiffany, which I think was a success! One of my favorite things about it? The chocolate chip cheese ball! It fakes everyone out thinking it's a savory cheese ball (like the hundreds we all see at Christmas parties), but it's a sweet one and oh so good. I thought this might be a fun one to share. My guess is you'll want to eat the whole thing yourself:)

INGREDIENTS:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1.In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioners' sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
2.Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball. Wrap with plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3.Roll the cheese ball in finely chopped pecans before serving (I rolled it in more mini chocolate chips instead).
4. Serve with regular or chocolate graham cracker sticks.

Christmas Day

2009-01-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

The cousins

Christmas morning at my parents

Brayden playing in his new tent!

Peyton in her Christmas pajamas

Brayden thinking "will she hurry up these pictures so I can open up some presents"

Our Christmas eve ended well as we got the house ready for the morning. We went to bed excited for the next day. In the meantime, I realized that I pulled my back out(yet again) a few days before and it was pretty sore. I woke up around 2am to excruciating pain in my back. I couldn't move and needed to use the bathroom. I had to wake up Travis and have him help me get out of bed and still it took 20 minutes to walk to the bathroom (which happens to be about 5 feet away, seriously). I tried to take a hot bath, take ibuprofen, ect... and no relief. I finally fell asleep because I was so tired. We woke up Christmas morning and I tried my best to be excited for the kids. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with cinnamon rolls, we opened our stockings, and then opened our presents. It was a nice and relaxing morning. Peyton loved playing with the paper and Brayden loved everything he got. I think his favorite was his tent, and Peyton's was her gold bracelet (a Puerto Rican tradition). Travis and I realized later that we forgot to read the Christmas story in the Bible (which we've done every year), but I think we were both so tired from the night before, we just forgot. Then we got ready and went to my parents house for an amazing brunch! I'm telling you, this is probably one of my favorite meals of the year. Ham, homemade bread, cinnamon roll pull-aparts, bacon, strawberry french toast, quiche, and of course an assortment of yummy desserts. We opened presents with the family and had such a nice day over there. We are all so blessed and Christmas is always a good reminder of that. We finished off the night in the ER because of my back. Nothing too exciting, just some muscle relaxers and pain medicine, but it really helped. At one point Travis and I looked at each other sitting there in the ER and smiled as we said "Merry Christmas." The funny thing is, even with the ER visit, it still was a great Christmas. Peyton and Brayden had a lot of fun on Jesus' birthday. We finished off the week with a visit with Travis' extended family down in Longview and a trip out to the cabin on Saturday with my extended family. Needless to say we were tired after our Christmas week, but reminded how much God loves us. Isn't that the point...

Christmas Eve

2009-01-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

Grandpa showing Peyton how to use her walker

Peyton wearing the dress grandma made for her

Handsome Brayden!

Our Christmas week was packed this year, but it was fun! Christmas Eve we went over to Travis' parent's house. We had dinner, dessert, and of course opened presents. One thing I love about Linde's house is she always has cool things set up for the kids. For example, the place settings. Brayden had a Christmas table mat, some color crayons and paper, a cool cup that lit up when you put liquids in it, and not to mention the toddler friendly food she has for him. The kids had so much fun. On Peyton's highchair (yes she has her own highchair there), she had baby food and snacks to keep her busy. That always makes dinner a bit more enjoyable. We were spoiled as always. I think my favorite gift was my new set of dishes! They're pretty and I love them! Peyton got a baby stroller that is a walker that she loves and Brayden got a whole bunch of little supplies to help me in the kitchen. Travis' favorite were hunting clothes:) We missed going to church, but had a fun time with family. As soon as we got home though, the drama began. More to come in the next post....

Christmas Family Tradition

2008-12-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

Our family outside getting ready for the show

Peyton and cousin Roman all bundled up

Mommy, Brayden and Frosty:)

Brayden and cousin Pedro with a drummer girl

We started a new family tradition last year that we love. My dad made a deal with my youngest sister Desi and her husband Jimmy. If they come home for Christmas (they live in California) and we can all be together, my parents will take us out to a family style meal at Maggiano's in Bellevue for dinner. Then after dinner we will catch the show on Snowflake Lane at Bellevue Square. We did it tonight and it was a blast! Dinner was amazing. They serve us family style and it's all you can eat. We had stuffed mushrooms, mozzarella marinara, house salad, caesar salad, spaghetti with meatballs, gnocchi with vodka cream sauce, chicken piccatta, chicken Parmesan, bread, and of course dessert with cheesecake and an apple tart:) So yummy! Then off to the free show we went. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. It's outside and they have a whole bunch of real drummer boys who play to different Christmas music. It's so cool to hear all the drummer boys together. They also have Frosty, Rudolph, winter princess, and more drummer boys walking around giving candy to the kids. Then at the end the show it snows! The kids just loved it and we had a blast. Till next year...

Life in the snow

2008-12-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

This table has been our snowmeter. We think it's about 10 inches!

Beautiful trees... It's like we live in the woods:)

Frosty

Well all of us in Washington are probably amazed at how much snow we have gotten the past few days. I love it! I think it's beautiful and I hope we have a white Christmas! There are of course a few negatives as well. Travis has to take my car to work (for the 4-wheel drive) and that means I'm stranded. No fun, but I'm trying to make the best of it by keeping the kids busy. Yesterday we all took a walk in the snow, did a little sledding and Travis and Brayden made a snowman. Fun times! Well hope you enjoy the pictures and have a Merry Christmas!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

2008-12-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

We just had a fun time playing outside in the beautiful snow! Thankfully both children are feeling heaps better today, so I thought Brayden and I could go outside for a few minutes. I asked him if he wanted to build a snowman or ride around in his wagon. He said "no I want to play with my shovel." So, just like at the beach, he shoveled snow into a pail for 30 minutes and was quite content. Cute! I love the beautiful snow, but I'm feeling a little cabin fever lately. I've pretty much been in the house with sick kids for 5 days:) Thankfully they are getting better and we have a whole weekend full of Christmas festivities! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

There is nothing worse than a sick kiddo

2008-12-15T16:35:00.001-08:00

...except two sick kiddos:( Yes, both of my kiddos have been sick since Friday and not doing well. It has progressively gotten worse over the weekend and I went into the doctors this morning. Bronchitis and ear infections for both:( We have medicine now though and I'm hoping they will progressively get better. They have so many medicines and breathing treatments I had to make myself a schedule (my inner nurse coming out). Seriously I have to medicate them 12 times during the day. Not fun! I'm hoping and praying that Travis and I don't get it. I'm not even sure how that is possible though. The kids are coughing in our faces, wiping their snotty noses, and are up all night. How is a mommy not supposed to get sick with no sleep? This is the first time they have both been sick together and wow, no fun. We're hoping everyone will feel 100% by the weekend because that is when our Christmas festivities start. We would love your prayers if you think about it. Hopefully your family will stay healthy and happy during this holiday season!

The making of a gingerbread house

2008-12-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I was so proud of Brayden, he did all of the candy decorations!

Here's our crazy bunch!

The finished product. Brayden keeps asking when we are going to eat it:)

Yesterday we got together with our HFG buddies and decorated gingerbread houses. It was pure chaos, but a lot of fun. The kids loved it, and they did such a good job! We bought a gingerbread house set from Costco, which I highly recommend if you aren't into making your own gingerbread. It came with the house, 5 trees to decorate, 2 different colors of frosting, a piping bag and tip, and a lot of candy. Not bad for $9.99. Thanks to Tiffany for hosting this crazy event. My only regret is that daddy wasn't here to help us. Maybe next year...

The perfect Christmas tree

2008-12-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Bryaden cutting down the Christmas tree

Peyton was here last year but in my tummy, weird...

On the tractor ride out to get the trees

Growing up we went Christmas tree hunting every year. It was a big deal and I have a lot of good memories from those experiences. Since then my parents and both of my sisters have gotten fake trees, and I'm sure we'll follow suit soon. Until then, we've really enjoyed passing this tradition on to our children. This year we went to Hunter's Tree farm with a whole bunch of friends. It was fun, we found our tree, visited Santa Claus, and went out to pizza for lunch. We decorated the tree the next day which was really fun, especially for Brayden. Our tree doesn't look like a department store tree, but most of the ornaments have special meaning to us. We all love our tree. Even Peyton who keeps wanting to check it out:)

Brayden putting on the star

Peyton putting on the star

He loved hanging up the unbreakable ornaments:)

The finished product

Finally some pictures

2008-12-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our family pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy...

Travis and Brayden were able to walk through Fantasy Lights. They had a blast! (Mommy wasn't feeling good:)
This is Thanksgiving at Travis' parents house. Peyton was obviously exhausted because she never falls asleep on anybody:) Grandpa didn't mind.

Peyton with Lita (my mom). She fell in love with this bear on Thanksgiving and kept laying her head on it. Since then my dad has got her her own bear and it's her lovey. She sees it and immediately puts her head down on it and rocks the bear. She will also pat it and give it kisses. So cute. She is ready for her baby doll which will be under the tree Christmas morning.

Thanksgiving Day

Brayden enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with his cousin Pedro

Cute!

Time to share

2008-12-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've blogged thanks to our computer crashing. Hopefully Travis can fix it, but while I'm waiting to upload some pictures to blog about I thought I would share a few of my favorite things:)

1. The Buttered Biscuit- It's a fairly new restaurant in Sumner, and OH MY GOODNESS!!! If you love home cooking, this is the place to go. We have been floored by the food there. The first time I went I had the "Bacon-Bacon", which is a huge waffle with four pieces of bacon cooked in the batter!! So yummy. They have awesome breakfast food, and it looks like dinner is so good too. We've been looking around for a good breakfast place, and finally we found one! Everything is made from scratch and fresh daily. If you go, you have to try a piece of cornbread (you'll see what I mean when you have a bite:)

2. The Megablocks and Roseart Warehouse clearance sale. Travis and I checked it out last weekend thanks to Sarabeth for the heads-up. I couldn't believe some of the prices. For example, remember those Lincoln Logs we used to have growing up? They had a new version of those, with magnets in them. A huge set for $8. A Curious George Puzzle for $1 (I've seen it in the stores for $10), ect... The sale is only for a few days and is done now, but I highly recommend keeping it on your list for shopping next year.

3. Oreo Truffles. My sister Desi introduced me to these and they are so yummy. I packaged them up and gave them as gifts to friends. They are easy, cheap, yummy, and freeze well.

1 package of oreo cookies (Try different variations for different flavors. I did the mint oreos)
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon of vanilla or mint extract (optional)
Melted chocolate to dip truffles in (I used almond bark)
Sprinkles or toppings (Optional)

Crush the whole package of oreo cookies in the food processor until a fine crumb.
In a mixer mix crumbs, cream cheese, and extract until mixed well.
Form small balls from mixture and put on a pan lined with a silpat or wax paper.
Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours or until balls harden.
Dip balls into melted chocolate to cover.
Sprinkle with whatever toppings you desire. (I used crushed peppermint sprinkles).
Enjoy!

These turned out so pretty and package well. I just made some more tonight for presents for my neighbors. Let me know if you try them!

That's all for now. Hopefully we'll get our computer fixed and I'll be back with more pictures soon.

2 down, 1 to go...

2008-11-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is what I'm talking about. We have already had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and still have one coming on the actually day:) We celebrated Thanksgiving with our HFG (Bible Study) this last week and we put together a pretty good spread! I made homemade bread and pumpkin pie for that one. On Saturday, we had Thanksgiving with Travis' family. I made bread again and pumpkin cheesecake. We've enjoyed our dinners so far and can't wait for another one. On Thanksgiving day we will be going to my mom's house and bringing pumpkin cheesecake again and some sweet potatoes. This year will be an interesting one because it's the first turkey day without my grandma. I know she's not worrying about us down here, so I should try not to worry about her up there:) She's happy and I can be thankful for that!
With Thanksgiving comes of course the Christmas holidays, which I LOVE! I love everything about Christmas (except the shopping:). The music, the cookies, the beautiful tree, the lights, the Christmas story, the snow, the food, and the decorations. This year I am behind:( Usually by now I have all my presents bought, wrapped, and waiting to go under the tree. I do have my Christmas cards ready to go and my cookies all done in the freezer, but not all my shopping is done (thanks to a car repair that cost us almost $2000). And you know what, it's OK... I'll get my shopping and wrapping done eventually and this is helping me take a step back and think about what's really important. We are so enormously well blessed and most of us don't even know it. We have a house to live in, 2 cars to drive, heat, food, clean water, healthy children, clothes to wear, ect. The list can go on. So this year I'm taking a deep breath and remembering what the holidays are all about... It's not about the presents, the decorations, or even the Christmas parties, it's about Jesus. That's it. So I encourage you to take a deep breath too. Don't get all stressed out, or be one of those crazy shoppers at the mall. It will be Ok:)

Braided Bread

2008-11-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

Since I was a little girl, I've been watching my mom make homemade bread. That is probably my one favorite thing to eat: fresh homemade bread with butter on it. I do love to bake, but bread in my mind is in a league of it's own. It's very temperamental. My mom has always made this beautiful braided bread, and I finally thought I could tackle it. I wanted to bring it Thanksgiving with Travis' family and had to practice making it yesterday. It was time consuming, but really fun and so good! I thought I would share a picture because I'm proud of it! Although it doesn't look as good as my moms, it was a good first try:)
Since we are talking about food, how about a good crockpot recipe?

Sour Cream Crockpot Chicken
4 frozen chicken breast
1 package of taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups salsa (not pace picante, but real salsa)
Sour cream

Put the frozen chicken breast on the bottom of the crockpot. Add taco seasoning. Cover with salsa. Put on low and cook for 7-8 hours. That's it!!! When it's time to eat the chicken is so tender it just shreds on it's own. You can serve it on rice with sour cream on top. Or, serve it as tacos in tortillas with all the trimmings. So good and so easy! Let me know if you give it a try.

Halloween Pictures

2008-11-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, one of these pictures is of Brayden in 2006, and one is of Peyton this year. Who's who?
Brayden was an astronaut (even though he doesn't know what that is, but hey it was free:) and Peyton was a recycled lion.
We went to go visit daddy at work...
And Papi at work (just across the street)...
We went to Lita and Papi's for dinner and some treats with the hulk (Pedro) and the chicken (Roman)...

And then to Ranierview for Nite Lite with cousin Tanner and Cooper. Brayden had a blast this year. I think he's finally understanding that he gets candy for no reason and likes that.
Peyton didn't seem to mind her lion suit. She was a little concerned it looked boyish so mommy fixed that with some bows. Cute! As we wrapped up the night at church, she fell asleep on daddy in the backpack. It was a long day for the lion. But we had a fun time with the kids:) Happy Harvest!

Fireproof

2008-10-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my mother-in-law Linde, Travis and I were able to go on a date today! We heard good things about this Christian movie and decided to go check it out. Fireproof was one of the best movies we have both seen in a long time. It was great, we laughed, we cried, and we left feeling encouraged. I highly encourage you to go see it! It's not cheesy and it has a great storyline. If you know anyone who is or has had marriage problems, this is the movie for them! Take my word for it and go check it out.

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Seven Quirky Things

2008-10-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was tagged by Laura to say 7 quirky things about myself and then tag 5 more people. Here it goes:

1. I am a clean freak, but only in the areas where people can see. My closets are rarely organized and my drawers are always a mess.
2. I can't stand kids who walk around with snotty noses or even dirty ears. I am constantly checking my kids ears and noses to make sure there aren't things that shouldn't be there. It just so happens that both the kids HATE when I touch their noses...
3. I really don't like shopping that much. This is weird considering that my mom and two sisters LOVE it. I especially can't stand shopping without something in mind to buy or no money.
4. I LOVED high school so much. I'm not sure why but it was a fun, happy time in my life. I would much rather go back to high school than college.
5. One of my favorite shows is "America's Next Top Model." I'm not sure why, but maybe it's my secret desire to be a runway model someday.
6. I can't stand any creepy-crawly things. I will do anything to avoid bugs, which is why I really don't like the outdoors much. That is my biggest nigthtmare, to be covered in bugs and no way out!!!!!!!!
7. I'm a very picky eater. Don't like most fruits or vegetables, no seafood, pork, dark meat chicken, or even coffee. I really don't like church potlucks because you can't see what's in that casserole your eating and you don't know who made the food (maybe their kitchen is dirty). I'm a mess...

Ok, now I tag:
1. Tiffany Nevil, come on girl, I know you hate these things but do it for me?
2. My sister Desi, I know you won't but it's worth a try!
3. Sarah Heymann because I know you will:)
4. Travis, because I'm really curious
5. Ashley Holcombe because it's fun:)

I can't believe it's already time for....

2008-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

Brayden and all his friends

Peyton always a happy little camper in her backpack

A pumpkin house

If you know much about the Chronicles of Narnia, this is the beaver's house

Here is our family's pumpkin

THE PUMPKIN PATCH! I'm still stuck in August so going to the pumpkin patch sounded strange, but I guess it is already the middle of October. We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday with our HFG. It was a last minute planned event (and yes I was able to be spontaneous!), and it was a blast. We went to Spooner Farms out in Orting. I highly recommend it. They had a lot of things going on for the kids, the pumpkin prices are reasonable, and the corn maze was amazing! I just need to point out that we actually beat the Johnson's at the corn maze:) Hahaha. It was a little pricey, but the theme was the Chronicles of Narnia and I was actually really impressed with the set-up of the maze and all decorations they had. I was more impressed that the 2 pregnant ladies, Shari and Tiffany, did the whole corn maze without any complaining. It was 2.1 miles. The kids had so much fun and Brayden keeps asking when we get to go back. We finished off the night at Trackside Pizza. They gave us the whole banquet room to ourselves. We are so thankful for all of our cool friends who are spontaneous too! Love you guys!

Peyton holding her pumpkin

Mobile Baby

2008-10-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

Peyton crawling to mommy

Look mommy I did it!

Ok, how cute is that?

Beautiful brother Brayden

Messy baby!

Peyton started crawling a few days ago! It's so cute because I'll call her and she gets so excited that she can actually come. This is one of the milestones that I look at and know that my life will never be the same:) It sounds silly, but no more just putting the baby on the ground and her staying there. She will soon be into cabinets and trying to climb up the stairs. All the mommies know what I mean!! As she gets older, it's cute to see her and Brayden interact together. They definitely love playing together, I just have to work on Brayden being "the boss." Here's a few pictures. Enjoy!
P.S. On another note, Renovo started last week and we had over 200 people in attendance there. It was awesome! The energy was amazing and there were a lot of people who are thinking about coming back. We of course still have some kinks to work out, but overall it was a huge success. Thanks for the prayers and please continue to pray if you can. Thanks!

Renovites

2008-10-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

October 5th is the launch date for Renovo, a church plant in Puyallup. Travis and I are on the launch team and are excited, nervous, and in awe of what God will do through Renovo. It started for us last winter. Travis had heard about Scottie Christensen's vision to plant a church in Puyallup and was very interested. For some reason he was excited about it and started praying about it immediately. He met Scottie for lunch and got even more excited and couldn't wait to share the ideas with me. I on the other hand was very skeptical for very many reasons. The main one being that we were attending Rainierview Christian Church and we were happy there. We were finally feeling connected with the friends we had made there and were really growing spiritually. Travis agreed, but asked me to pray about Renovo and if we had a place there. The idea continued to settle with Travis as he spent more time praying about it. I was starting to get very nervous. I didn't want to leave my comfort zone, but I prayed. He promised me that the only way he would help with Renovo is if I was on board with him and we both felt God calling us there. As time went on and we did more research about it, God made it very obvious that this is where He wants us right now. So, here we are helping and being stretched in ways we didn't know were possible. When we agreed to help, I said to Travis, "I'll help as long as I don't have to do anything with the children's ministry" (it's not that I don't like kids, but it's just not my favorite ministry to help out with). Guess what I'm doing... I'm in charge of the infant/toddler class and even wrote the curriculum for it:) God has a sense of humor. One of the goals of Renovo is to bring a church that is a mix of Church of Christ and the Christian Church together in one hopefully leaving the legalism out of it. There is nothing like that in Puyallup. Another goal is to do a lot of outreach and share Jesus that way to the community. There are already a few non-Christians coming to Renovo because of the outreach projects that have happened. God is ultimately in charge of Renovo because we have given it over to Him. He can and will do amazing things in Puyallup, hopefully some of them through us as a church.
This is bitter-sweet for us because we are sad to leave Rainierview. Travis pointed out that we don't know how long we are called to hep with Renovo. It could be one year or just a few months. We may be back at Rainierview or may not. We do know that we cherish the friends we have made there and plan to keep in touch. I have heard a few negative comments from people who are very skeptical about Renovo. People are always skeptical when they hear about a church plant, and maybe rightly so. I can say that Travis and I have dug deep and asked hundreds of questions. We've talked to the church plant organization who we are working with, we've even visited our sponsoring church. God is moving in ways that we don't understand, but we want to get on board!
So, if you pray, please pray for Renovo and the launch team this Sunday. Pray that God will be exalted and that our hearts will be prepared to do His work. And to all my Rainierview buddies, I love you guys and thanks for your support! To Tiffany and Jeremy, we are so excited to be doing this with you guys. It makes it that much more exciting!
www.RenovoPuyallup.com

A little Emeril

2008-09-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

Brayden ready to help me in the kitchen

Brayden loves to help in the kitchen. I try to let him help me when possible even though it might slow things down for me. I want him to know his way around the kitchen as he grows up and I know letting him help me is the only way to achieve that. Plus, it's fun! He's actually very patient in the kitchen, so maybe I can learn a few things from him as well:) Today we made cupcakes for the MOPS carnival tomorrow. It was something fun to do together. I've been having a hard time with his energy level lately. It seems like as soon as he turned 3, he turned into crazy man:) I'm finding out that if spend a little one-on-one time with him throughout the day, he doesn't need as much attention. So, this was a great project to do while Peyton was taking her morning nap.

Yummy!

He put all of those sprinkles on one by one:)

6 Years...

2008-09-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Us hanging out at the concert

Travis and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Sunday. We started out the weekend with a fancy dinner at Marzano's. If you have never been there, you need to go! It's the best Italian food around and always yummy. That is our favorite special spot to celebrate life together. Then we drove down to Portland after church on Sunday with the kids and Travis' mom in tow. She came with us so we could go out Sunday night and she could stay with the kids at the hotel (Thanks again Linde). We went to go see the "So you think you can dance" tour! It was so fun! Some may laugh at this, but really it's one of our favorite shows and how cool to see it live. The show was fantastic and we hated for it to finish. That was a great anniversary present to each other, along with See's Candy (because the traditional gift with 6 years is sugar:). We both said we can't believe it's already been 6 years but we are so much more in love today then the day we said "I do." God knew exactly what he was doing when he brought Travis and I together. Travis, I can't wait to see what God has in store another six years. I love you babe!

All of the dancers

Chelsea and Marc holding a briefcase. For those that know this show, this one was awesome!!

Ponies and Monsters

2008-09-14T16:22:00.001-07:00

Peyton's hair is now long enough for two ponies! How cute! She turns 8 months today and is almost crawling. She is a very content and happy baby. Her new likes are cuddling, playing with Brayden's toys, and saying "ma-ma, and da-da."

On another note, I thought I would share this Monster Cookie recipe with you. They are my favorite and every time I make them, people are asking me for the recipe. I just don't think you can go wrong with oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate chips together. They are so yummy!! So, here you go. Oh, the key is to take them out under baked if you want them soft and gooey.

Monster Cookies
Ingredients:
1 stick Butter
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup White sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 teaspoons Baking soda
1 ¾ cup Flour
3 Eggs
1 ½ cup Peanut butter
3 cups Quick cooking oatmeal
1/4 pound Chocolate chips
1/4 pound Plain M&M’s (sometimes I omit the M&M's and just put in peanut butter chips or Reese's pieces baking chips)

Directions:
Mix in bowl in order given. Drop by large tablespoon and flatten. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake.

These ones have no chocolate chips but Reese's pieces baking chips in them!

The Baby has Teeth:)

2008-09-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Peyton finally got 2 teeth! They are on the bottom and are sharp. So far she hasn't bitten mommy, but she loves to get my fingers in there and chomp down. So cute!

On another note, we were invited to the coolest birthday party ever for Brayden's friend Jack. Jack's dad happens to be a pilot for the Army so the party was at the airplane hanger. Brayden got to check out the plane and even sit in the cockpit. Thanks Boren's for a fun party!

We did the Puyallup!

2008-09-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Drinking free chocolate milk

As always, the happy baby in the stroller (notice the ponytail:)

Sporting the double stroller

Brayden and Pedro on the train

Today the kids and I went to the fair with my sister Selina and her two kids. We thought we would take advantage of the free admission today from 10-12. We also parked at a friend's house so we really went cheap. I have been to the Puyallup fair almost every year since I was a baby. I still want to go every year, but sometimes when I get there I think, "why did I want to come again?" I've seen it all and then some, but somehow I still have a good time and look forward to the next year. We have our favorite stops: Earthquake burgers, Seattle Fudge, Famous Fair Scones, and Elephant Ears. I mean you go to the fair to eat, right? The kids had a blast looking at the animals, sampling chocolate milk, eating some of the fair food, riding on a train ride, and just looking around. I look forward to the day that Travis and I can go and just look around without having to push a stroller and worry about potty breaks all the time. For now though this is our life and we love it. This may sound silly but when I took Brayden and Pedro on the train ride around the fair, I got a little teary eyed:) The kids were so excited to go on this little train ride (that lasted like literally 1 minute), it just reminded me to see the world through my children's eyes more often. I know it will be sooner than later that the train ride will not be cool anymore and I'll be dropping the kids off at the fair with friends, but until those times, I will cherish these ones. Thanks for letting me be a sappy mommy. Have fun at the Puyallup!

Just call me Martha Stewart:)

2008-08-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Raspberry jam all lined up in the freezer

I've been saying I want to make home made raspberry jam for years now and I just get to busy and and forget during raspberry season. This year was finally the year! I went to Picha Farms and bought a flat of raspberries. I was able to make 11 jars of jam, and 2 yummy raspberry cobblers with all those raspberries. I was surprised how much jam I was able to make with so little berries. It's yummy and a special treat to have especially when I make home made bread. I highly recommend trying to make freezer jam. It's easy and cheap and so good!
Then I got a little bolder. I made some baby food last night. I've had friends tell me that I'm crazy to buy my baby food and that we could save so much money making our own, but I've never really listened. It sounded like too much work. But, Travis had so many extra green beans from our garden that I decided to give it a try. I made 6 small jars of baby food with a lot of green beans so in the long run I don't think that would be the cheaper way to go. I've heard that some veggies and fruits make more than others. Anyone have any good tips for making home made baby food? Which ones seem worth the money and work to make? The good part is Peyton ate the food and really liked it. The first few bites she made some yucky faces, and then she devoured it. I would love to hear from any mommies on this subject:)

Home made green beans, pretty color!

Happy baby after eating green beans:)

Brayden turns 3!

2008-08-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, we can't believe that Brayden turned 3 this week. These years have gone so fast, but yet we couldn't imagine our family without him. He has a laid back spirit, but is still a 3 year old who loves to play. He has a lot of patience and will work on something until he figures it out (that reminds me of Travis:) He loves playing with his baby sister and of course mommy and daddy and his best friends, Cooper, Pedro, and Tanner. He still loves Elmo, but is really into trains, airplanes, cars, play dough, coloring, books, trucks and especially garbage trucks. One of his favorite things to do is play basketball. He loves watching it on TV and will watch a whole game with Travis (the only other thing he will watch is Sesame Street). So this year we decided to do a basketball birthday party. He loved it! I tried to keep it simple with pizza, games, cake, and of course presents. I really enjoy planning and doing the kids birthday parties. I think it's fun and a special day of the year to celebrate them. I hope that eventually they will look back at their birthday parties and know that mommy and daddy loved them very much. We thank God for Brayden and pray that he will love the Lord the rest of his life! We love you Brayden!

The basketball Cake

Eating pizza with his best friends

Cousin Pedro with a basketball nose:)

"Happy Birthday to you"

The Family... Notice the basketball attire

Peyton hanging out with Lita

Washington DC Trip

2008-08-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

3 Babies hanging out

Angie and I in Baltimore

Travis, Peyton and I just got back from Washington DC last night. We went there mainly to visit one of my best friends, Angie. Angie and her husband Andy live in New Zealand:( They moved there a few years ago and then her parents moved to Washington DC. She came into the states to visit them, and we just had to go visit her since who knows when I'll get a chance to see her again. We had such a great time catching up and letting our babies play together. Angie had twin boys a week before I had Peyton! I miss her so much already and wish that our time together wasn't always rushed.

The National Monument, notice I have my feet in the water

The Lincoln Memorial

The US Capitol

If you know much about Travis this will make you laugh

At the Smithsonian Museum of American Natural History

The White House

The National Monument

While we were there we had to do some sightseeing. How amazing! It was so cool to see all these important buildings that have so much history to our country. We saw the Capitol building, Library of Congress, the White House, National Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and the Smithsonian museums. On the map it looks like all of these things are very close together, but when you start waking you realize that's a joke! Thankfully they have a Metro system that is pretty easy to use (although I don't know how comfortable I would feel using it by myself without Travis). The weather there the first few days of our trip were almost like home, but the last few days I thought we were going to die. Not only was it 95 degrees, but it was so humid! You walk outside and immediately were covered in sweat. Not fun! We also took a day trip to Baltimore and went on a cruise around the water which was really interesting.

Peyton was a perfect angel the whole trip. She did great on both flights, slept in her stroller (even in the 95 degree weather), and was happy the other times. That was definitely an answered prayer. If you've never been to our nations capitol, go! It was such a neat experience and we can't wait to take the kids there again some day when they can appreciate it. When you are there standing looking at all these amazing monuments and buildings, you just feel like you are apart of history.

Hot baby in the stroller

Peyton on the airplane

On a side note, Brayden stayed here with the Nevils for a few nights and with my parents the rest of the time. He did a great job, but missed us a lot! We probably missed him more:) We went and got him last night and we both said to each other "he has grown so much!" He's been pretty excited to be home and we're happy to all be together again. Speaking of how much he's grown, Brayden turns 3 tomorrow! More on that later.

Pricesses and Knights

2008-08-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Brayden kept on saying about the costume "I don't like it."

Notice the gold shoes!

We look like we belong in the Medieval times:)

Our friends the Johnson's threw a birthday party for their little girl, Kivi. It just happened to be a dress-up princess party. All the girls had to dress up as a princess, and the boys knights and jesters. Brayden got a knight costume together and daddy was an archer. Mommy got in the spirit with a tiara and Peyton looked like a beautiful princess. The party was complete with a dragon slaying contest and a no-utensil lunch. We had fun and hope that Kivi felt special!

To the cabin again!

2008-08-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Playing some really "fun" game:)

Yummy carrots

"Hahahaha"

Last weekend we went out to the cabin with our HFG (Home fellowship group). A HFG is families from our church who get together weekly and have a Bible study. We also do potlucks and fun things together too. We always say that we "live life together." We take a break from lessons in the summer to have Family Summer Fun Days. Each family gets to plan a week and what we will do. When it was our turn we decided to head out to the cabin! We had a lot of fun. The weather yet again didn't cooperate like we planned, but the kids don't care, they're just happy to play outside. We had a yummy dinner of homemade hamburgers and hot dogs and finished of our night with peanut butter and jelly bars (so good!!!), and smores. Of course we stayed up way passed our bedtimes and payed for it the next day as the kids got up at the crack of dawn:) Either way it was fun and we were reminded of how special our friends are to us. Our lives have been so blessed because of them. Yet again I bring my camera but don't take any pictures. Thankfully Tiff took a few:)

Friends for Life!

2008-08-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Peyton and Jared meet for the first time! (How cute is this kid?)

My friend Heather and I have known each other for a long time! We grew up going to church together and I don't remember a time when she wasn't in my life. We have been through a lot and love each other more for that. She is one of those friends who doesn't get mad at me if we haven't talked for weeks or months at a time, we just start where we left off. She recently moved back to Washington and had her first baby. I'm so glad that she is now in the mommy club with me:) Her son and Peyton are only 2 months apart and he is soooo cute!! Heather, I love you girl!

The kid is funny!

2008-07-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

Brayden has been saying the funniest things lately! I love this age. He turns 3 next month and it seems like a lot of things are just clicking for him all of the sudden. He's putting things together in his mind and sometimes when they come out, they are hilarious! Yesterday we were in the kitchen making lunch. Brayden sneezed twice and neither of us said anything. Then he said to himself "Bless you Brayden," really loud and sarcastic. It was his way of telling us that we forgot to say it. Then Travis and I were moving the refrigerator so I could clean behind it. Brayden yells "Momma, dadda, watch your fingers!" We laughed pretty hard. He is so fun right now and we love to hear what little things he is going to say next. Thought I'd share a smile:)

6th Month Old Baby Peyton

2008-07-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

I know every mom says this but my baby is growing way too fast! I can't believe she turned 6 months already. Time flies when you don't want it to. Peyton is such a blessing to our family, we are all enamored by her. She reminds us a lot like her brother at this age. laid back. very content, and just wants to be around us. The only difference I can see is that she is a bit more ornery than Brayden ever was:) That's ok though, we can handle that. Peyton had an appointment today and is very healthy. She weighs 20 pounds 6 ounces!!! (off the charts), and is 28 inches long (99%). Nothing new really. The doctor says that the acid reflux should be getting better now that she is eating solid food so we can remove the wedge from her bed. I'm a little nervous about it because I know she is so used to sleeping in it, but I guess we'll see if we get any sleep tonight.

Peyton is a very happy 6 month old who is constantly smiling and finding the silliest things to laugh at. She talks all day (ba-ba-ba-ba), and especially loves her brother. She can almost sit up unassisted and can turn over either way. She is experimenting with her diet and deciding which foods she likes and so far she is not too picky. She loves to jump in her jumpy or swing in her swing, but her favorite thing is to just be held and talked to. She has a lot of tickle spots, her toes, legs, arms, belly and neck and loves to be tickled. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks old and is a great nap-taker too. Her favorite thing in the world is mommy's milk and will let you know when she wants some more:) We love having Peyton apart of our family and can't wait to see what she will be up to next.

4th of July at the Cabin

2008-07-06T18:50:00.001-07:00

Peyton's first 4th of July

My Martha Stewart mommy with her fruit tart, so good!

Peyton hanging out with her cute cousin Roman

We spent the last weekend at our cabin on Anderson Island. Good times with the family, and a fun 4th of July. I love going out there for the fact that we don't have any agenda. It's just do whatever we want when we want. Due to the weather, we didn't get any time to swim or even take a walk, so we did a lot of reading (no complaints), and relaxing. My sister did a garage sale/inventory sale for her business- Posh Posada which has some great home decor items (check it out at www.poshposada.com). I enjoyed watching the fireworks from the ferry terminal out there. We can watch the firework show on the island, and all the ones across the water too! We love the cabin and are so grateful that we have somewhere free we can go for mini family vacations. Till next time...

On another note, we've tried some solid food with Peyton. She doesn't really seem to care for the rice cereal or sweet potatoes, but we'll keep trying. With every bite she is making yucky faces and just squirms in her seat:)

Cleaning heaven:)

2008-06-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Ok fellow clean freaks, I found the best cleaning product ever! It's call the Earthstone. It's a bathroom cleaner that looks like a pumice stone and it takes away any hard water stains, mildew, and soap scum. Since we moved into this house 2 years ago, I've had hard water stains in my sinks and toilets and I've tried everything to get them off. It always looked like they were dirty no matter how much I cleaned them. I used the Earthstone and instantly they were gone!! Everything looks so much cleaner now, no rings around the toilets or drains in the sinks. So excited! I bought it at Walmart for only $3.99. Thanks Shari for introducing this product to me. I'm in love:)

P.S. They have a kitchen one too!

Lincoln City Trip

2008-06-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Peyton in her backpack happy as a clam

Brayden getting a ride from Papi

Brayden on the beach

On our balcony

From our room!

We just got back last night from a week in Lincoln City, Oregon. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we didn't want to come home yet. We had such a good time! We shared a two-bedroom suite with my parents, my sister Desi, and my brother-in-law Jimmy. My other sister Selina and her family came and also stayed for a few days in a nearby hotel. We stayed at the Inn at Spanish Head, which is a beautiful resort right on the beach. We had the most amazing view of the water! This was my families first time to the central Oregon Coast even though it's only a 4 1/2 hour drive, but we will definitely be back. This was one of those trips that we really didn't have anything planned and that was the best part. We played on the beach a lot, went for walks, shopped at the outlet mall (really good deals), flew kites, made sandcastles, played games, read a lot, went swimming, watched movies, ate at some really good restaurants, played ping-pong, and just hung out with our family. It was nice to have the family help out with the kids some and Travis and I were able to take little outings alone too.

The kids did great, and I think Brayden had the most fun out of everyone. He would sit in the sand for hours just dumping the sand into the bucket, to the tractor, and back out again. I think he would still be sitting in the sand if we still let him. We also made sure he tried some new things too. He flew a kite, petted some starfish, and really bonded with Titi Desi and Uncle Jimmy. Peyton did a great job and loved being carried around in her little backpack(thanks again Sarah, that thing is awesome). All-in-all it was an amazing trip and we can't wait to go back. It really did remind me of Hawaii and I realize it's the closest we can get without getting on a plane- I'll take it!! It was great to spend so much time with family and I feel like we all bonded on this trip. So to my family, are we up for the beach again next year? Can't wait to see where we are going next:) Maybe next time we can get away without any "bathroom incidents":)

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to the men in our lives! I was lucky enough to grow up with a dad who loves the Lord and second his family. My dad was there for almost every game, concert, ceremony, track meet, and then of course to scare my boyfriends away. He encouraged us, prayed for us and sacrificed a lot. I always hoped and prayed that I would marry someone like my dad and I did. Travis is not only an amazing husband, but an awesome dad!!! I always get so frustrated when I hear people talk about dads being "hands off." I don't understand it. Travis has been hands on since Brayden was born and hasn't stopped. The kids love daddy and can't wait to spend time with him everyday, and vice-versa for Travis. Travis always says that he got his example of how to be a dad from God. There is no other explanation. I think that is the way God intended it. This is an excerpt from the father's day card I bought my dad, I hope it's something my children will say to Travis someday: "They say we call come into this world with nothing... but I had a remarkable father who put food on the table and a roof over my head. He prayed for me, praised and encouraged me, sacrificed his needs for mine, showed me love, acceptance, and self-worth... So really, I came into this world with everything. Your love gave me my first glimpses of God. " How cool! So, Happy Father's Day Travis, I think you are awesome!!

Fun Pics

2008-06-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share some pictures...

Peyton ready for church

Mommy and Peyton

Daddy and Peyton

Brayden and Peyton

Thanks to our friend Shari, we know about all the cool stuff to do in Pierce County for family fun. Travis and Brayden went to the fishing derby at Bradley Lake Park this last Saturday morning. They woke up early, stopped for donuts and milk, and caught 3 fish. Brayden actually reeled the fish in each time and even put the worms on the hook. He was so excited when he got home to show me his fish:) Travis ate them for dinner last night and Brayden actually had a few bites.

Portland, here we come!! (Again:)

2008-06-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

We just returned last night from another trip to Portland. Most of you know that we(especially Travis) go down there often. Travis has work meetings down there anywhere from 1-5 times a week. It's actually a weird week if he is in the Tacoma office every day. He doesn't mind the 3-hour drive usually because he listens to sermons, catches up with people on the phone, and sings to music. However, it does get old after a few days in a row. If he has to be there consecutive days, it's easier for him to stay the night. So I have a few choices, stay at home alone with the kids, or we all go down there together. Somehow, I go down there a lot:) I feel like I know Portland better than I do Puyallup:) The things we like about Portland:
1.Travis and I get to catch up with each other during the drive
2.We get to sing in the car with Brayden
3.Tax-free shopping
4.I don't have any cleaning to do!
5.Travis and Brayden get to go swimming
6.I don't have any cooking to do
7.It's fun to stay in a hotel
8.The kids are learning to be flexible with their schedules and sleeping wherever we put them (Yes, they both take naps in the double-stroller while I walk the mall)
9. We get a lot of family time
10.We get to hang out with friends and family
11.It's like a mini family vacation!
I do enjoy going usually. It's hard when they kick us out of the hotel at 12pm and Travis' meeting isn't done until 4. That means I have to walk the mall for 4 hours during nap time, which is fun at first, but gets old after awhile. Thank God the kids will sleep in the stroller! Anyways, we try to make the most of each trip depending on Travis' schedule. We've eaten at a lot of new restaurants, gone to the zoo, went ice skating, checked out all the local malls, visited friends and family who live down there, and checked out a lot of the local hotels. We try to cherish this time because who knows how long it will last. Yeah for Portland!

We had dinner with Tim and Kristy Sibley at one of my favorite restaurants, BJ's. This is Brayden, Peyton, and Macy, their daughter who is 3 months old. Peyton looked huge compared to Macy, but I'm sure she'll catch up soon.

Why I love Wednesdays

2008-05-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays are garbage days in our neighborhood and we love garbage days! Why? Well Brayden insists on standing at the window all day until the truck comes. He doesn't want to play, or even watch Elmo. So that means mommy can get some things done while he just stands there for hours and waits for the truck. Hahaha, no complaints from me:)

Superstar Children!

2008-05-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well we've been busy in our house the last few days. For one, Brayden is potty training! He's doing pretty well considering it's only day 3. We've had a few accidents today, but for the most part he's getting the hang of it. I followed "Potty training in less than a day" book, which is very old, but has good tips. It worked though. I was drained by the second hour, but luckily Travis was home to take over. I'm very proud of Brayden and know that when he really gets the hang of it, it will be so much easier to only have one child in diapers instead of two. I personal have been able to work on the virtue of patience a lot the last 3 days:)

Peyton had to keep up with her brother too and decided this week she would roll over for the first time. That's pretty good considering she barely gets any tummy time because of her acid reflux. On another note, we finally got her eczema under control and without putting mommy on a special crazy diet. Yeah!!!

Jesus Loves Me

2008-05-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

The other day I was singing some songs with Brayden. We started singing "Jesus Loves Me." When we got to the chorus, Brayden started doing sign language to the words. How cute is that!!! I'm pretty sure he picked that up at church, which I think think is really neat. That's all for now. We are going to attempt potty training on Monday so we would love some prayers about that. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Puerto Rican Baby

2008-05-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

As you can hopefully see from the pictures Peyton got her ears pierced a few days ago! I'm so glad we finally got that done. I was dreading it and I shouldn't have been because she did fine. She cried for 30 seconds and then they haven't bothered her since. For those of you who are gasping:) it's a Puerto Rican tradition for the baby girls to have their ears pierced when they are very little. I actually had mine pierced when I was a day old in the hospital! So, compared to me, Peyton is a little late:) In a way I did this in honor of my grandma. She always bought all the great-granddaughters birthstone earrings when they were born so they could get their ears pierced. My grandma was in the process of getting Peyton's when she passed away, so I wanted to do this for her.

We had a fun day on Saturday in the 91 degree weather!! We went and watched my nephew Pedro play t-ball, checked out he Puyallup Farmer's Market (which was so fun), and had some friends over for a bar-b-que. Brayden had a blast playing in his swimming pool. We put a slide into the swimming pool and he played in that thing for hours. Thank you Lord for the sun!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Me and my two babies

Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends. I hope you all feel special today because frankly, we all deserve it. I was spoiled today with a pancake breakfast from the boys, cards, and a spa day from Gene Juarez!! I can't wait to use that one. I'm trying to decide between a massage and a facial, any ideas? This is my first Mother's Day having two children so it feels extra special. This is also my first Mother's Day without my grandma. I've been thinking a lot about her today, so I guess today has been bitter-sweet. I did enjoy the sermon at church. It was about bringing up our children in Godly ways. I thought it was a great reminder that I need to be teaching and talking to my children about God constantly. I've been wanting to do a devotional type study with Brayden for awhile and just don't know how to go about it. He's two, so things can't be too in depth, but I also know he can learn a lot of things now. To all my mommy friends, anyone have any ideas to teach a 2 year old about God? I would love to hear them.