Do you ever wake up and think "I'm the luckiest person in the world"?

Fall-time Fun!

I love autumn for so many reasons, but this year in addition to the beautiful trees, cool weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and warm scarves, we are having a blast at all sorts of fall activities. First up we had Gladfest. We actually live in a small town within a big city, and so in small town fashion, there is a festival including rides, games, music, and let's not forget deep fried Oreos! We went with a bunch of our friends and had a blast... although it was cut short because we were all freezing! 

The funny thing about this picture is that we know all the kids in it! Grace and Justice had a blast going on rides with their friends.

Rob and Justice on the ferris wheel!

Next up was the Renaissance Festival. Now, I have never been to a renaissance festival, and I probably won't go back, but it was rather entertaining. The kids thought it was cool, especially Grace because there were princesses everywhere. For Rob and I and some of the other adults... well I must say it was GREAT for people watching!

A grumpy knight

The cutest little princesses there!

The girls loved watching this weird skit, and then afterward they were able to meet the weird fairy lady and the dragon. 

Today was the Boo Bash! Our church puts on this amazing Halloween party for the community. They go all out including pictures, a trick-or-treat village, and a haunted house (which is for the older kids!). The coolest part is that it is all free! Anyway the kids were excited to wear their new costumes!

The bikers from our church dressed up like the people from the Wild Hogs movie (big stretch), and then they let all the kids sit on their bikes for pictures!

 

Like I said, ALL the kids!

This is Jon all dressed up for the trick-or-treat village. Why didn't you wear that for Ren Fest? Next year??

After all the fun, we enjoyed just sitting down for a bit and watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on the big screens. 

Last but not least was the train ride outside. Is it just me or do NHCC parties get better and better?!?

A Beautiful Family Outing

Earlier this week we went on a little hike in Parkville. It was a beautiful fall day, and we all had a blast!

Getting ready...

I love this picture! I'm very proud of myself for taking it!

I just tell them to smile and then they both do the little head to the side thing :)

A little mommy-son time

Grace took this picture of us... not bad!

Looking back down after he walked up this grassy hill. I want to go back in a few weeks when more trees have changed colors!

One Year!

One year ago we were saying our goodbyes and packing up the car for a road trip across the country. We didn't know what to expect but we were excited to start a new adventure. This year has blown away any expectations we might have had. Not that everything has been easy and fun, but during the hard parts our new KC family comes to our side to support us. We have enjoyed seeing our parents and even some siblings fly out to see us, and we have appreciated flying back to Oregon twice. I'm beyond excited to see another midwest autumn and enjoy the adventures this next year holds for us!

Here are a few pictures from our latest trip to Portland...

Rob was able to spend his birthday with his dad, his brother, and Portland beer!

You can dress them up but they are still my silly kids!

Portland Love

Grace loves her cousins!

Sanannah! (or Savannah to most people)

Oh the coast! 

Precious friends!

To celebrate our one year anniversary we decided to buy a house in Kansas City! We close next month!

Oh and Grace started Pre-K and loves it! Justice really missed her the first few days but I think he is getting used to having the extra mommy time!

I think that catches you all up for now! More later!

Update on drugs

I just wanted to give you an update about the last few weeks. This may or may not make sense because I'm on several pain killers and I feel a little loopy. Anyway here goes.... About a week and a half ago I went in to the doctor for a prenatal appointment. I was very excited to see and hear the little booger because I was about 12 weeks along. As the doc scanned my belly with the little ultrasound thingy I saw her face get a little too serious. She said that the baby wasn't measuring large enough and that she couldn't find a heart beat. Right away I knew what she was saying. She left and grabbed another doctor and they continued to look at the baby (in more than one way). The lights were out because they wanted to see the screen better, and then they began to explain to me that the baby didn't have a heart beat, that I had miscarried but my body just didn't know it yet. It all felt like a bad dream. I just kept thinking this couldn't be happening. I'm young, healthy, I've had two healthy kids, I'm 12 weeks I should be past that kinda thing. The doctor gave me a few options but I said I just wanted to go home and let my body deal with it. Luckily (or because of God!) my mom was already scheduled to fly in the next day. It was great to have her around helping me out. The next few days my body started to figure things out and I lost a lot of blood (this next part may be a little too much so to make it sound better I will refer to blood as apple juice [I told you I was on drugs]). I lost so much apple juice that I actually passed out for my mom. I kinda find it funny but it scared my mom so freaking bad. After I came to, I felt much better so it didn't really occur to us that we should go to the hospital. I figured I was past the worse part, and that I would be doing better very soon. The next few days I tried to walk around more, and although I was still loosing apple juice, I felt better. Monday came around, and I had a follow up appointment. Once the doctors finally came in, they gave me an exam and again I saw that serious face and they began talking Dr. talk to each other. Without getting to gory, they found lots of "treasures" that needed to be removed. They did their job and then let me rest for a bit. They still didn't like all the apple juice I had lost (about half my apple juice was lost over the weekend). But they sent me home with some meds and told me the worse was over... but if I lost much more apple juice I needed to head straight to the ER. Tuesday was fine, Wednesday was not. I called Rob at work and told him that I needed some help. We went in to the ER and despite all the people sitting, waiting to be admitted, they let me right in. (I'm thinking I didn't look to good). Nurses continued to check my vitals and doctors came in to ask me questions, but mostly I just laid there and watched TV. Finally someone from OB came in gave me an exam and told me I needed a D&C. At this point I was pretty upset because I had just gone to hell and back and back to hell and then I STILL needed a D & C. The rest went by pretty fast. I signed my life away just in case they killed me (which I told them not to). And soon I was wheeled into the OR. Now I have never been put all the way under, I haven't even spent much time in hospitals other than having my kids. I do, however, love watching Scrubs, ER back in the day, and Grey's is my favorite show. Yeah not the stuff to be thinking about when you are wheeled into the OR. I even told the Dr. about Meredith's step mom dying because of the hiccups. She assured me that was TV and that I would be fine. Yeah I know I wasn't very rational but hey, I was scared. Anyway, they drugged me up, cleaned me out, and that was that. I woke up to see Rob's concerned face, (I think I was acting pretty weird as the anesthesia wore off). I could tell that I already felt better, mostly because during the operation they gave me two bags of apple juice. Anyway they kept me over night gave me drugs and sent me home. Everything went well and (as I knock on wood) I will again say, "the worse part has passed." Now I just need to rest for a week or so and I should be doing much better! Thanks for all your prayers, because while this was extremely difficult physically, it was also very hard emotionally. And THANKS to my church family! I cannot believe how blessed we are to have so many friends around here that dropped everything to feed us, talk to us, pray for us, and just love us. YOU ROCK.

Sorry if this was too much info... again blame the drugs... wooo I feel gooooood!

Father's Day Weekend!

Our weekend started off with an awesome Friday night! We hosted a house concert in our cozy little home! About 40 or so of our friends came (with 10 or more kids) to hear Rob play some of his new music, Sarah Swenson bless us with her beautiful voice, and Aaron Strumpel blow our socks off! They all have very different sounds and it was awesome to watch them play together!

Warming up...

Rob is the tall one :)

Sunday Rob had church in the morning and then we went for a swim with our Friends. We had a blast hanging out with good company, eating good food, and laughing at conversations that don't need to be repeated...

David, you take a picture this awesome and it will get posted!

Ice cream!

We were all so goofy that day!

Yes thats the ice cream scoop...

Monday Rob had the day off so we were really able to get in some quality Father's Day activities. We started off with a breakfast at I-Hop and then went shopping for Rob's BBQ. While we were out we also found a slip n slide... and I think Rob was just as excited for that as he was for his new grill. 

Pretending that playing on a slip n slide is as cool as surfing...

awesome.

Rob and his new Weber... it might look small but this thing is PERFECT! Rob cooked up some chicken on it, and it was AWESOME! Yay for summers when the men do the cooking! 

Camping

A few weekends ago we went camping with a bunch of people from church. It was the first camping trip with both kids, and we had a blast! I'm sure there will be many more trips to come! By the time we got to the lake (only 30 minutes away) Justice was asleep... so we let him sleep and sleep and sleep! Seriously he slept like this for two hours!

While her brother slept, Grace was ready to camp!

Not a bad view!

Finally we woke him up and he was ready to play!

The guys playing "hillbilly golf" or "ladders" I don't know if this is a midwest thing or what, but we've already played it several times this summer.

Campfire time!

This picture is a little fuzzy, but I love how proper Grace looks!

We had a great time, and I think the highlight was seeing all the fireflies! I haven't see them since I was in Europe 10 years ago, and Rob had never seen them! I love it!