Mobile Baby

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

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

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...

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

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:)

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!

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!