Bates Nut Farm

The day Gunnar left for Mongolia the girls and I were kinda sad. We thought getting out of the house would help and sure enough it did. We took a picnic lunch to Bates Nut Farm to distract us.

We sat out under the trees and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.
After lunch Grace enjoyed feeding the goats.Elizabeth and I watched her and enjoyed hanging out in the shade.
I think sunshine and fresh air, especially in the springtime, are really the best medicine for almost any ailment!

Girls day out on the town

One of the things I have looked forward to about having daughters is the chance to have someone to do girly things with. I am so excited to have two girls now, as I think someday our days out on the town will be even more fun with a group. I love spending time with my mom and sister and I can't wait to start "girl time" traditions with my own girls.

Grace and I got to start out the traditions by going to the "Sound of Music" put on by the Valley Center Community Theatre. We had four friends in the play, which made it even more fun, not to mention the fact that the Sound of Music is always good time.

Gunnar and Elizabeth spent the afternoon together as neither of them (at this point) truly appreciate a great musical (although I am still hopefully for Elizabeth).

We got all dressed up to head out.
I even fixed Grace's "fancy." Not bad considering she was moving all around and jumping and talking while I worked on it.
We got a picture with some of the nun's after the show. They did a great job!
What would any date be without a trip to Starbucks. I love this picture. I especially how the cup says "express your love."
Grace sat still (relatively) and payed good attention. She loved the songs and followed the story line pretty well. Hopefully this will be the first of many musicals Grace and I (and someday Elizabeth too) will go to together.

Red Chair: 8 & 9 months

I think I forgot to post both Elizabeth's 8 and 9 month pictures, so I will post them both now, as her 10 month birthday quickly approaches.

At 9 months, Elizabeth pulls herself up to standing (she has been doing this since 7 months), she "glides" (aka, walks along the edge of stuff while holding on it) a little, still crawls like a mad woman. She says "Da-da," and recently has discovered her scream. She just moved into Grace's room and is still struggling to make the adjustment (did I mentioned she finally learned how to scream?).

She is still a very snuggly baby and likes to pretend to be shy and bury her head in my shoulder when people talk to her. She loves to "flirt" with Bob and Pat, the older couple that sit behind us in church. She loves following her sister around and looks at her with big adoring eyes. She is babbling more and more and we think we might have another talker on our hands.

She has starting eating more foods, she loves finger foods. Avocados, steamed carrots, tofu, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, blueberries, and pretty much any soft fruit are favorites. She has three teeth and two more that looks like they will pop through soon.

She is still always so quick with a smile and brings us all so much joy. When I was little my nickname was "Sunshine girl" and I am thinking I may have to relinquish the title to Elizabeth as it fits her well.

So here we go at 8 months (these were while Gunnar was in Mongolia):

And 9 months:

I think it is amazing how much she grew in this one month. It seems like everyday she is doing or trying something new. I wish she could stay small and cuddly forever, but it is so fun to watch her discover new things.

Ellie Belle

Here are some recent pictures I took of Elizabeth. I think they capture how grown up her face is looking and her sweet personality.

Ummmmm, tofu!

Grandpa Pa time!

While Gunnar was gone we were able to spend a lot of time with my parents. I thought I would compile all the pictures I took of the hanging out time with my dad into one post.

One of Grace's favorite things to do is to go for walks. One of her other favorite things is going to Starbucks for a "special water." If you think combining the two couldn't get any better, we actually had to walk by THREE playground areas to get to Starbucks. Aren't cities wonderful?

Elizabeth and I were excited to join them on a walk as that way she got to try out the big baby swings for the first time. She loved it, and looked adorable at the same time.
Grandpa Pa and Grace took a self portrait, it was a little bright out!
My dad tried to teaching Grace "urban tracking skills" by pointing out the Starbucks litter as we got closer and closer to Starbucks.
Finally, we arrive! Another day they took my dad's dogs for a walk. I went out to take their picture as the last time I took their picture walking the dogs Grace was 2. I found them both pretending to be "dog tired" and walking with their tongues hanging out of their mouths.
That is my little tired out girl!
The last picture was from another day. I walked in to find my dad and Grace having a tea party. I don't ever remember my dad having a tea party with me! But then again, who can resist Grace's charm?

Happy Birthday Sonja!

Flashback Friday: Fun facts

On the 12th of June, he became a big brother.
Exactly 2 days short of 10 years later, on the 10th of June, I became a big sister.
June must be our lucky month.

Happy Birthday Daniel!

It's my little brother Daniel's birthday today! We hope he has a great one!

Rubber Duckie....

.....you're the one, who makes my bath time so much fun.

Almost there....

I am getting closer and closer to actually getting back on track with my blogging.


I am sure you are all excited.

Flashback Firday: Western Days

Last weekend, Valley Center celebrated Western Day's. We celebrated it up again with our church's parade. In honor of that, I thought I would share some "Western" pictures from Gunnar's past.

When I met Gunnar, he told me he "rode horses when he was a kid." I thought. "Big deal, I've ridden a horse before." A few years ago, when visiting my grandparents, we were sitting around having dinner and Gunnar started talking to my grandparents about horses. When he started throwing around terms like "stallion*" and "mare*" I knew he obviously had ridden more horses than I had becuase I don't really know horse terms. I put the * next to those words becuase I doubt those are the actual words he used. I don't really use horse terms and don't really bother to store them in my head, and therefore don't really remember what he really said.

Maybe a year or so ago, my wonderful mother-in-law, Carol, gave me a couple photo albums and a big stack of loose pictures from Gunnar's childhood that she thought we might enjoy. I was so excited. As I looked through the pictures, it became clear to me that when Gunnar casually said he "rode horse" he really meant that he spent years ridding horses and has horse skills.

For the purpose of this post I am only putting in pictures that are specifically western looking. Some other day I will post the pictures that are generic horse ridding pictures or from when he rode "english."

So here he is. The cutest little cowboy you ever did see. He rode in competitions, as did his sister, Sonja. Carol kept them looking sharp.
Up on his horse, who's name I forget, but I am sure Gunnar knows. Maybe Ironman?
I think these last two pictures are from Warner Spring (I think?) where they spent a lot of time and rode horses.
I LOVE this picture. The light, the horses, the cute kids.
Last, but not least, quite possibly one of my very favorite pictures of Gunnar EVER. I love it! Possibly it is my love for John Wayne, possibly it is my love for a great poser, or maybe it is just some recessive cowboy loving gene inherited from my grandparents. Anyways, I love love love his picture.
Obviously, God was already preparing him to pastor at Valley Baptist.