Lilly is Here!

Lilly Grace West

6/4/09

6lbs. 7oz. 18.5 inches

Peyton meeting his sister for the first time. He was sweet and gave her kisses.

Grammy with Lilly. She looks quite a bit different than Peyton did at birth.

She slept the entire time we were there to visit. So far she is a good eater and seems pretty mellow.

Proud daddy.

Just a little dark fuzz for hair. So tiny! Journey was interested for the first few minutes, and was very gentle with her.

Charity is doing great and already recovering well. She had a fast labor and should be released later today, less than 24 hours after birth.

Thank You God

I've had so many blog post ideas running around in my head lately, but no time to write them down. I want to do an update on Aspen, Journey and the pregnancy, not to mention, all the other things we have been doing lately.

But today, I just want to keep it simple. I have realized that what I love most about going to church is how I am reminded of how deeply, deeply thankful I am to God for his love and grace on my family and marriage. Honestly, as I worship, all I can think about is how thankful I am, and am brought to tears each week. Five years ago we were at a cross-road point in our marriage and things could have easily gone so much differently.

I am so thankful for God's faithfulness. At that point, I could never have imagined how happy I could be again. It has been a lot of work, but God has truly done a deep healing in our lives and marriage. God has given us our kids and so much joy in just parenting and watching them grow. Yes, they can be frustrating and there are bad, stressful days, but over all, what we keep coming back to is the joy they bring and how much fun we have spending time together as a family.

So, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you God.

Adrian & Rachel's Beautiful Wedding

Our whole family

Rachel wore the same dress her mom and grandmther wore at their weddings. Beautiful.




Journey, not the flower girl, but just as cute!

Justin, Charity and Peyton

This may be their last family picture before Lilly comes...

Tyler, Mark, Troy and Brett - looking good guys!

Troy & Kirstyn

Me: 28 weeks Charity: 39 weeks

Can you believe Charity is ready to give birth any day? She barely looks pregnant in this picture!

Happy 10 Years To Us!

Okay, so I'm a month and a half early on that. Our real 10 year anniversary is June 19th, but we celebrated our anniversary a little early since I won't be able to travel in June. We spent a week in Oahu, Hawaii just the two of us and had a blast. It came at the perfect time before I'm super huge, and it was a very needed brake for us to just relax and enjoy some free time together. Especially since it will be at least another 18 months before we can get away again :)

We stayed in the heart of downtown Waikiki at the Sheraton Princess. It was nice and right across the street from the beach. We walked pretty much everywhere since we didn't rent a car. A totally different kind of vacation for us, but it was fun. And when we didn't walk, we rode the super crowded city bus system. It was an adventure!

One of our most memorable lunches was when we took the bus to Chinatown and walked through their supermarkets to try the craziest things we could find. I don't think there was one thing we tried that we didn't like. We tried everything from fish balls wrapped in tofu to fried rice donuts to 'to die' for tuna sushi (yes, I know, bad me!). And lots of other stuff I wouldn't even know how to describe.

24 weeks pregnant! I got so many stares on the beach with my big belly...

This was so much fun. I'm not sure what they call it, but it was basically a big surf board that you paddled around. I couldn't believe I could actually balance :)

Riding the paddle surf board. Next time Mark will take it in the surf, but he didn't have enough time to do so since he had to share it with me, ha ha.

Relaxing on the beautiful, white sand beach. But, being the whities that we are, we didn't spend too much time laying on the beach. We spent more time laying around our hotel pool. Two reasons - poolside Mai Ties for Mark, shade and comfy lounge chairs :)

We rented this dune buggy for a day and took it all over the island. It was so much fun to drive and see the rest of the island.


First stop, Hanuma Bay. Our plan was to do some snorkeling, but we ended up just relaxing on the beach. From there we drove around the perimeter of the island, stopping to get coconut shrimp from a roadside shrimp cart (popular on the North side of the island). They were amazing. We drove to North Shore with the big waves and explored the tiny town's shops. After hours in the sun and driving in the bumpy dune buggy, I was totally exhausted.

Hanuma Bay - a beautiful, sheltered bay, but let me tell you, we weren't the only ones who went there that day. There were hoards of people! (On a side note: see my burned belly?)

On a dinner sunset cruise.

On our last day we toured Pearl Harbor and a submarine that served in WWII. The pic was taken inside the sub. Mark found all that much more interesting than I did, but the site where the USS Arizona is still underwater was pretty fascinating. It is still leaking oil and they think it will for the next 100 years!

Boating

Our big 5 year old with his birthday treat - a whole can of pop, haha. He is learning to love the water and boating like his daddy.

He's got a great seat!

As Aspen gets older, we are working on establishing traditions for birthdays and other holidays. For Aspen's 5th birthday, Mark took him out sturgeon fishing for the afternoon the day before his birthday (since it was the weekend), and then out to McDonalds for dinner to get a happy meal.

It was beautiful and there were tons of boats on the water. They had a blast together. Funny thing is that when I turned 5, McDonalds was the restaurant of choice for my birthday.



Another boat trip

There's no place Mark loves more than the water.

Enjoying the ride through downtown.

23 weeks pregnant
We anchored near the St. Johns bridge for dinner and to watch the sunset.

This goose stayed with us the entire time we were anchored for dinner. As you can see, he was rewarded for it :)

This was one brave goose.

Mark and I were able to take the boat out for dinner on the water during one of the 80 degree days we had this last week. It was just beautiful and so relaxing. It really felt like summer, especially with the chicken sausages, cucumber salad and chips we had for dinner. Summer food!

I love taking the kids out on the water with us, but there is something so rejuvenating about listening to the water quietly lap against the boat, watch the sunset and just enjoy the scenery without the chaos of kids in a small enclosed space.

Happy Birthday Aspen!

I can hardly believe that Aspen is five years old already. Times goes too fast! He is a great, protective big brother, smart and questioning just like his dad (worries and drives me crazy at times!), and is incredibly loving and challenging all at the same time. He has recently started an outdoor preschool class, and I heard through the grapevine that his teachers were "impressed with his character". Nothing makes a mom more proud and encouraged! Although I may not always see it at home, others do!

Aspen's birthday fell on a Monday this year so because of that and the fact that I had to work that day, we celebrated his birthday the Saturday before. Aspen was very excited to wake up to the kitchen decorated for his Batman themed birthday complete with blue and black balloons and a Batman table cloth. We started the day off with traditional cinnamon rolls and Saturday morning cartoons.

Later in the afternoon, his party started. We invited 5 of his friends and took them to the Clackamas Aquatic Park for a couple hours, and then back to our house for pizza, pop, ice cream cake and presents.

Aspen showing off his birthday cinnamon roll - our family tradition!

On our way to the Aquatic Park with a car full of excited boys - Aspen and Adam in the back and Isaac and Luke in the front. In the locker room after swimming the boys were telling Mark, "this was the best day of our lives!"

Luke and Isaac getting into the water...still a little timid. By the end, they were both going down the slide (in the shallow area) and playing with Aspen and Adam in the wave pool.

Adam and Aspen, on the other hand, didn't waste any time running into the wave pool and wading out as far as possible.

Luke, Journey and Isaac hanging out in the shallow area. It was quite the challenge keeping track of all 6 kids!

Ahhh, boys. It's impossible to get a good picture without some major bribing (or threats!).

The lone, brave girl, Aspen's friend Sofia.

Aspen got some great gifts, batman toys and Legos! He's been playing with them every day since :)

It was a blast and I think Aspen will have great memories of the day for years to come.

Salmon!

Whoo hoo! Mark's first salmon of the season! I love fresh salmon and was seriously doubting whether we would see any this season. Mark has definitely put the hours in over the past month or two. Way to go sweety!