Birthday Palooza

Brynne turned 5 in December! She had a blast with her buddies at an indoor bounce house!



Then Beau and I celebrated our birthdays in January and Madelyn celebrated her 2nd birthday with an Elmo party in February!




A 5 year old and a 2 year old...really? How is this possible if we're still 29?

Closing down 2011

We are not quite settled in Temple yet. The girls and I ended up living with my dad for most of the past month and a half while the girls finished school, Brynne had her school Christmas and birthday party, Brynne had an adenoidectomy surgery, then Christmas, and I had a partial hysterectomy. Whew...we made it! Crazy times. Meanwhile Beau is working hard in Temple getting his territory up and rolling.

For Brynne, she caught croup in September, which inflammed her adenoids to the point of no return causing sleep apnea. Beau and I experienced some scary few weeks as we sat up listening to her horrible snoring and gasping for air. It got better a few weeks later, but the Dr said it would come back with each cold. Talk about night and day difference from after surgery and before. Before croup, she had none of the signs of large adenoids, (besides her genetics), but the Dr. said they were the largest he had ever seen. Now she can breathe well and sleeps so soundly...and quitely!

Patient Number One...she was so brave...and boy did she give us a laugh once the laughing gas started to work! Proud of my big 5 year old!

Patient Number Two

I still can't believe I have had two children and a hysterectomy all before turning 32. Then again, I have felt "young" for many of my life experiences thus far. Everyone asks if they found cancer because of my family history-nope, just a prolapsed uterus from big babies...guess I kinda signed up for that when I married a 6'6 man!

Now for Maddy. Sweet girl's hair is in pig tails every day...and will be for awhile until the mullet grows enough to where we can cut it! This child is hilarious...she has such a funny personality and keeps us rolling all the time! She does silly dances around the house and makes it her goal at dinner to make Brynne laugh. Can't believe she is almost 2!

I know...a mini-Beau

This year has definitely been a year of travel and flexibility! Brynne's teacher told me at her year-end review that she was the most flexible student she has had in regards to change...Ha! I would hope so after living in frisco, then hawaii, then frisco, then temple, then with Dad, all in one year! We have enjoyed our experiences but are ready to get settled all together again.
Here's our family pic at Christmas, (attempt 427. we have given up on Maddy smiling upon cueing).

Happy New Year and new adventures!

December Whirlwind

We moved everything to Belton, mid November...but we have barely been home! Life is nothing short of CRAZY this month. We have continued back and forth between Dallas and Belton for Thanksgiving and for the girls to finish out the semester at their school. I also ran the White Rock Half Marathon Dec. 4th, (in the cold, pouring rain and wind..but the sis-in-law and I had trained for 3 months and were determined to finish). Coming up we have Brynne's Christmas party, Brynne's Birthday and party, and Brynne's surgery (adenoidectomy) on the 16th. Then it's Christmas and my partial hysterectomy on the 27th. Like I said..crazy. We covet your prayers this month and look forward to the time when we can actually settle down in Belton and make it more of a home.

Temple It Is!

For the past year Beau has been "in training" for becoming a territory manager for his company. Many places were "tossed" at us...Tampa, Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tulsa to name a few. We prayed that God would get us ready for the next step; knowing He was already there and had a perfect plan. As things have unfolded, the plan for us has turned out to be Temple, Texas.
Where? Yep. Between Dallas and Austin if you're not from here. We move there mid November.
These past 2 months of being home have been great to see family and friends, yet weird in that we never "settled." We knew our time here was short, we have been waiting for an answer, and constantly cleaning or packing.
We know one person in Temple...however, we have heard story after story of friends of friends who love it there and say it's a neat family town. We will be living in Belton, which is known for great schools and having a young family population.
There have definitely been a few "you turned down Hawaii to live in Temple...you have to be kidding me, " kind of responses.
But what has overridden those has ironically come from our church family. 6 different friends from church have said one comment separate from knowing others had said the same thing: "I can't wait to see what God is going to do with you guys there, because He IS already there." When this city girl is driving down country roads, that statement will never leave me. God in His sovereign providence has prepared us for this step...in so many ways. He showed us in Hawaii how He always goes before us, and we're resting in Him, knowing He is in control. Doesn't mean it will be easy. I am excited that it's only 2 hrs, 15 min from our family and friends,(considering it could have been 12 hours, or an ocean away). We have recently had dinner with different sets of friends who have told us stories of their friends that love it there...and we're settling into the idea of being a Belton, TX kind of family :o)
Here's a pic of the girls on the first day of school in September

All dressed up for Halloween. Super Girl and Little Cinderella

Providence

Food for thought from the English Language Dictionary © 1897:
Providence – “God’s Divine care, control and guidance over your life, situations and circumstances… making one ready for future events”
It was A. W. Tozer who said, "What you think about God is the most important thing you think." Knowing God--really knowing Him and who He is--calibrates all of life. He is the ultimate measurement because He is in control. When we see God as Creator, Maker, Redeemer, Judge, Consuming Fire, Sovereign King and the One who knows all things, we begin to practice His presence in our lives.

What comfort knowing He is in control, although sometimes we think we are, He still is.

Homecoming

Our homecoming was sweet. We were greeted much to our surprise by the entire family when we arrived home from the airport. We had a great time hugging on one another and enjoying breakfast.We spent every day with another family for the next 2 weeks.

The cousins reunite! Mimi and Papa were excited to have all their grandkids in one place!

Brynne and her BFF Will

Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye was so tough. We made some really good friends, and we don't have $1500/person money flowing to be able to visit them often. We were very excited to see our friends and family in Texas, but very sad knowing we didn't know when we would see our Hawaii friends again. Julie coordinated a going away party and we were very blessed. The new families that just moved in joined us, which was great so I didn't bawl the entire time. That came later.







Last dinner on the porch. Cloudy, but cool

Kayaking Adventure

Beau, Brynne, Joel, and Justin kayaked out to one of the Mokulua islands from Lanikai beach. They had fun at the island making a "sitting pit", then venturing around to the back where the tide pools are. Beau said the waves were huge. Mommy stayed on the beach with Julie and babies...and it was a good thing I couldn't see when the kayak flipped! All were okay and headed back to shore. Brynne still talks about what fun it was!


The home in the middle with the pointed roofs was on HGTV dream vacation homes!

The Morning Run

Here are a few pictures of what we see on our morning run.

The Mountains

The Lake

The canal


We will miss all the above pictures...but I will NOT miss the hills at the end. These hills are the life of me at the end of every run and quite a test of my endurance. The first two are very steep, and the third is better...but they are the only way in and out of our townhome! The picture doesn't do it justice because Julie is standing on the angle too to take it. My mind is saying #@!$%^#@!$%^!!!!!

Maunawili Falls

Beau and I have had a lot neat dates here, which we are really going to miss! One morning Julie took the kids while we went to breakfast and then for a hike we had wanted to do without kids. The hike was a neat adventure and ended at a waterfall with a pool where people swim.

Fitting it all in

With only 2 weeks left, we're trying to see a few things we haven't, visit our favorite places, and spend time with our friends as much as possible!
These are pictures from the hike up to the Mokapu Lighthouse. It has great views of the beaches and ocean!





We had all the neighbors over on July 4th for a potluck and to watch the fireworks on the lanai


Date night with Julie and Joel. Man we love these guys!


And nothing to do with anything else, I just want you to experience "tenting." It is super common here...they build everything with wood so termites are a major problem (go figure). It is not uncommon to see a house being treated with a tent over it everywhere you drive. This is a picture of the duplex next to ours being treated.

Dolphin Swim

One thing we really wanted for Brynne to experience while we were here was to swim with dolphins. Beau and Brynne headed for a day of fun last weekend where they took a boat through Ko'Olina Ocean Adventures out to sea. There they snorkeled with fish and sea turtles, then got to swim with the spinner dolphins! Definitely one of their favorite memories together!

All ready to go!

Brynne rode on Beau's back most of the time

Spinner dolphins