Freak Flag

I am so happy that my mom purchased this makeup kit for Blynn (do you hear the sarcasm, because it is really thick so I'm hoping it translates). It is, of course, only the brightest colors of blue, purple, red, and hot pink. Every once in awhile, she will come out of the bathroom with this on. She gets nothing but praise and compliments for it though as I don't want to squash her artistic expression. I told her that she really captured rule number one to makeup application which is making it look so natural that someone can hardly tell you are wearing it, all while enhancing your features. Sadly enough, this picture does not show how bright it really was, the flash took some of that away. I am a firm believer in allowing someones freak flag to fly every once in awhile, ex: bright makeup, costumes to public places not in the month of October, mismatched shoes, crazy unmatched outfits, bright pink streak in your hair, etc.

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I look just like Jesus." -Blynn

Farm Livin' is the Life For Me

This is my view right this moment. Freshly mowed grass. Sunset. Open corn field. White fence. Coastal mountains which you can't see in the background. I love this house.

That Can't Be Easy

More from our Denver Trip

I forgot I had these pictures of a mall in Colorado. It has these open fountains that you may run through if you like and the kids loved it. It was a little chilly and it took them awhile to warm up to the idea of getting their clothes soaking wet, but they caught on and had a great time.

All Her Ducks in a Row

Blynn has quiet time during Rusty's nap time, where she usually likes to do a "project" or read. But sometimes I can talk her into watching a movie, which means I get quiet time too! I absolutely do not have any problems or guilt by telling you that I do use the tv as a babysitter. But when I walked into her room she had all of her nesting dolls with her. I guess some people don't like total solitude.

He is Faithful, Even in the "Little" Things

I have always felt silly praying for the "little" things in my life when I know that God has much bigger things He is working on. I just felt like, short of major illnesses, nothing I could present to God was really worth wasting His time. But over the last 3 years, I have seen how He takes great joy in giving us, His children, the desires of our heart. Maybe becoming a parent myself has allowed me to see this better. I can look back now and see how He was answering and giving me the desires of my heart even when I wasn't formally asking Him for these things. He is such a great God. But I have been really humbled these last few months by some really "little" things I have asked Him for and He has granted beyond words. I keep a prayer journal which allows me to see how long I've been praying for something and when it's been answered. On 4/20 I prayed (and have continued to pray) that we as a family would be able to visit family. At one time we all lived so close to one another and now we are pretty spread out. We had a couple of times when we had planned to visit family in Hawaii and for many reasons it did not work out and it seemed like we weren't seeing a possibility in sight. Since that prayer, Todd's grandparents have been out to visit (who just recently moved to AZ), Todd's brother and family came to LA (from Hawaii), and we just got back from a weekend in Denver to see Russ and LouAnn and the Walling side of the family. All of these visits were unexpected and last minute, but I take as an answer to my prayers. And I know that getting on those 3 flights to and from Denver were absolutely His handiwork. Something else I am reminded about is how every once in awhile He gives us the most perfect gift. And that was Guatemala for us. Todd and I really needed some time away just the two of us and we also needed a spiritual retreat, something outside of ourselves. And Guatemala was that perfect gift for us. Other than the gift of Todd, Blynn and Rusty, I don't think I have received a more perfect gift. Thank you Lord for knowing just what we need. This was a step of faith in many ways for Todd and I, but also financially as we did not have the money for a trip like this. But the day after we got home, we went in to sign our tax papers, and our tax returns were for the exact amount of our Guatemala trip. God is good. All the time. Here are some pictures of our recent trip to Denver.

This is the only acceptable way to ride the tram at the Denver airport. I would like to say that my children came up with this one, but one very late night about 7 years ago traveling with some college friends, we discovered the delight of this trick. Thanks Warts and Vieve!

This is our new nephew, Bear. He is small but fierce! Another one of God's perfect gifts.


The Russell's

We got to go to a Rockies game which was a lot of fun. This was Rusty's first baseball game and the usher gave him a ball. Look how proud he is of it. This was also Rusty's first plane rides.

We also got to see some of our Guatemala team members. I love those people!

Digital Short

I have the privilege of coordinating the Sunday School classes at our church, but one of my biggest challenges (as in most churches) is to find volunteers. So I'm constantly trying fun and exciting presentations. But one of my good friends who is extremely talented did a digital short and presented it in front of the church. It is so hilarious and loosely based after the Peyton Manning SNL digital short which is one of my favorites. Please enjoy, and be inspired to teach Sunday School at your own church. I know you have your excuses, and if you have the confidence to say that excuse to Jesus' face than you are off the hook.

Memorial Weekend

My sister's boys, Luke and Sam

We had a great weekend. My whole family went to the coast. The new favorite movie of the kids is Karate Kid, so you will see by the pictures that there is a lot of references to the movie. Most of the time at the beach, I could hear Travis yelling, "Balance Danielson, Balance" of course in his best Japanese accent. Luke took this serious and was frequently practicing his moves. It is very comical to see the kids interacting with one another and how they approach things so differently. We also broke all rules of reason this morning and went to the beach in our pajamas. That's crazy!

Avila Beach has this great farm that the kids can feed the animals, and it's FREE!

San Luis Obispo has a great Children's Museum with all sorts of make believe interactive play areas. It was awesome.

Overall, it was a much needed break for us and fun fellowship with the whole family.

Girly Skirt

I have done minimal sewing in the past but this is my first time sewing something for Blynn to wear. I had heard about this easy skirt and I decided to try it. It's by Pink Fig and it's called the Girly Skirt. It is really easy and it has the great feature of being a great spinning skirt which is priority number one to any 4 year old girl.

This is the little flower I made to make the shirt match the skirt.

Look at those spinning capabilities. Look at the air that skirt gets.