Courtney's Blog

Saturday Morning Fun

2012-02-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Isaac has quite the active imagination! I had the morning off work and enjoyed spending some quality time with my sweet little brothers.

We've had a lot going! This is a very busy time at work for me and I've been working a full 40 hours/week. We have dear friends flying in from California on Tuesday to visit us for a week, which will be a great time of fun. And tomorrow, Jonathan and I are going to a Newsboys concert. We've been looking forward to it for weeks!

Lollipops

2012-02-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Two YEARS!!!

2012-01-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it's been two years with our little Isaac!! He was 2 and a half years old when we got him, and now he'll be five on his next birthday. He has come miles, and miles, and miles since Gotcha Day two years ago. You can see that from the photos! He didn't speak much, walked unsteadily, was WAY too small for almost three, was terrified of statues, mannequins, carseats, and baked potatoes, screamed through the nights, and wore 18 mo. clothing. Now he is a confident, sassy, amazingly smart and verbal little boy!

February 1, 2010

February 1, 2012

(Isaac is on the right)

(photos taken by Rachel)

WE LOVE YOU ISAAC!!!!!!!!!!

Sick!

2012-01-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

We are all sick! It has been years since we've had this much sickness sweep through our household. First Mom and Dad got the flu a few weeks ago, which is rare. They almost never get that! Then Jonathan and David had it. Then this week the little boys developed colds and coughs. I thought I had escaped the flu, but last night after getting home from work it hit me violently. It was awful! I had to call in sick to work. Fortunately, I am feeling much better after 24 hours and we are hoping that is the end of it.

Trip to the Pool and the Park

2012-01-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

I didn't work today, so I took Isaac and David to the pool for the afternoon. It was very nice and warm; the water was 85 * F! It was fun having a special time with my little Isaac!! I know, swimming in January seems odd, but it's perfectly nice and warm here!

You may be wondering what happened to David's glasses. Last week when he had the flu, he left his glasses on the bathroom floor and never picked them on. So someone stepped on them! Unfortunately, David's vision is so poor that he cannot go without glasses. So the quick fix was a piece of duct tape. However, the timing was fortuitous because David had just recently had an eye appointment and received a new prescription for glasses. So his new ones will be here soon!

The only bad part was that after we got out of the water THEN we were freezing!

After drying off in the clubhouse, we took a walk to the nearby park for Isaac to play a little.

Four years old and already driving! He told me yesterday that he wanted to drive to the pool by himself!!! Oh no!

My Birthday

2012-01-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful 21st birthday!!! Thanks to everyone who left me birthday comments. :) They mean a lot!!

This photo was taken on my birthday....by the way, Isaac is wearing a clown nose. He thought it was really something!

Little Helper

2012-01-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

Is this cute or what?! With lots of help and supervision, Isaac is learning to vacuum and do other little chores around the house. He loves to "help" and always wants a job to do. Long may it last!!!

COURTNEY'S TURNING 21!

2012-01-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

This is Courtney's mom sneaking in on her blog today. Just wanted everyone to know that today is her birthday and she is now 21 years old!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl..........we all love you!

Cuties!

2012-01-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

This little man is getting SO HANDSOME!!! Isaac is looking so grown up.

Cute overdose! Sorry if you're tired of little boy pics, but my grand parents love it and I can't help showing them off. They're my sweeties!!

Sabino Canyon

2012-01-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying the visit of a dear friend, Mr. Calabro from Nebraska! We've known him for years, and he came down to spend the week and take a vacation from the cold and snow. Today, Dad didn't have to work and I had the day off as well, so we decided to go for a hike in Sabino Canyon (part of the Coronado National Forest). The day was beautiful for it, although I have to say I am really not a fan of cacti. :(

I guess some would say it has a rugged beauty all it's own, but it just isn't the same to me as lush green trees, grass, flowers, and rivers.

There were a few creeks and streams, and since they are so rare we really enjoyed seeing those!

We have the flu going through our family right now, and it seems to hit one person a day. Dad got it first, then David, and now Mom has it. So she didn't come, and neither did Rachel and the little boys. We are waiting for the next person to drop!

The one thing I do like about Arizona is the mountains. They are very beautiful and make for great pictures.

David and Jonathan enjoyed exploring the streams.

The Sabino Canyon Dam was also a nice place to see water. We stopped to look at that for awhile and take some pictures.

It was so bright and I was staring right into the sun, which is why I look really worried in this picture, LOL!.

Half-family shot!

The boys climbed to the top of the dam to get a better view.

There's Jonathan at the top!

The lighting was not very good for these photos of me because the sun was starting to go down!!

I *LOVE* the above picture and how it turned out! It just seems kind of cool.

Again, I think the mountains are pretty. The rest, not so much!

That's it for today!! It's back to work for me tomorrow. And then Sunday is my birthday!

Thank You, and Joshua's last post placement visit

2012-01-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my previous post!!! I *loved* hearing from all of you. :) I'm so glad to know you all read and enjoy my blog. And you don't have to comment in the future if you're too busy, I am as well! But thanks for taking the time to comment on that one post so I can hear from all my readers!

We had our FINAL plost placement visit for Joshua yesterday! I can't believe it's almost been a year since he came home. It was so strange to feel that chapter of our lives come to a close.....we started our China adoption journey with Isaac in 2008, and here we are in early 2012 just now finished with it all. It feels odd to be done with something that has consumed our lives for over three and a half years, but we're also kind of glad not to have to deal with any more of the hassle. Now we just get to enjoy life with our boys!!!

Two Cuties (and a favor from all my readers)!!!!

2012-01-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

As we begin the new year, I'd love to know that someone still reads my blog besides my grandparents. :) I know you're all out there, you just don't have time to comment! Which is perfectly fine, since I rarely comment on the dozens of blogs I read (don't have time, but I still read them!!)

But just today, if you read my blog, would you come out of the woodwork and comment on this post please? I'd like to know who all reads my blog. And then you don't ever have to comment again if you don't want to. :)

Hope you're having a LOVELY start to your new year!!!

Blast From The Past

2012-01-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Can you guess who these lovely ladies are??

That's right......the lady on the left is my wonderful Mom! She's posing with her best friend, Beth. They've known each other for almost 40 years now!

And this is an even younger photo..........my Mom again on the left.

Mrs. Beth lives just a few hours away, and she comes down every few years for a visit! This Monday she drove down for the morning with her husband to spend a few hours with us.

Here they are today, still good friends!!

We really enjoyed spending time with Mrs. Beth! We had lunch and listened to Mom talk about old times. Mrs. Beth brought a time capsule that she and Mom had written in 1985 to be opened in 1995....it was hilarious!! There were old magazines in there as well that were so funny to look through.

Mrs. Beth and Rachel

I didn't have to go to work until the middle of the afternoon since I was working late that night - I was so glad I was able to be there and see Mrs. Beth. She hadn't visited us since 2006.

Next week will be very exciting................we have a very dear friend coming from Nebraska to visit us for a week!! It's also my 21st birthday, so we will be doing a lot of fun things. :)

Rachel Kicks Off The New Year.....

2012-01-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

..............in relaxing style!!

A New Year

2011-12-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well, another year has passed!! I am also heading into my 4th year of blogging, if you can believe that. This year has been a year full of new experiences and exciting things, although it's had it's share of challenges. I am hoping 2012 will be an even better year!

Some of the highlights of my year included:

- Traveling to China for the 2nd time to adopt Joshua

- Traveling to Los Angeles and Nebraska to visit good friends

- Going to Disneyland for the first time (a lot of travel here!)

- Going to Alabama twice with my family

- Finding a good job in this economy

- Working as Urology Surgery Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries

May God bless you in the New Year!!!!

All Tuckered Out.....

2011-12-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

...............after the Christmas festivities!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T12:46:00.002-07:00

Family Christmas Photo

(left to right: David (12), Courtney (20), Joshua (3), Rachel (18), Isaac (4), Jonathan (17).

Merry Christmas everyone! This was Joshua's first Christmas with us, so it was a special occasion. We don't have any family close by, so we usually just spend a quiet day at home opening presents, eating great food, and watching traditional movies.

We usually start the morning with opening the stockings at the end of our beds, followed by a delicious Christmas breakfast and a reading of the Christmas story. Only then do we begin opening the presents. Anticipation is usually high!

Joshua wasn't quite sure what to make of all this at first! He was pretty excited by some of the toys he got though.

For Isaac, this was old hat. He did this last year, so he knows just how Christmas works this time around!! I can't believe he will be five this spring - he's getting to be so big!

And David James! He got some great gifts including shirts, books, a kit to make a motorized helicopter, hot chocolate, and a few other things.

Joshua enraptured.

Me and my buddy!! David is getting a bit too big to sit on my lap though.

Mom got me a new purse - it's bigger, which it just what I need. I carry a lot of things in my purse. Mrs. Rhoden in California probably remembers how I carried an extra pair of shoes with me to Disneyland last month. :)

David got me a new shade of nail polish!

I gave David this shirt for Christmas. It looks great on him!

Getting ready to eat a delicious dinner! We had a wonderful ham along with mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberries, rolls, and pie. Not as big of a spread as we have done in prior years, but after the large Thanksgiving production we put on last month nobody felt up to more!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas.....

2011-12-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

......from me to you! Thanks for dropping by my blog!!

And remember the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior!

So Cute

2011-12-21T07:58:00.001-07:00

The quality of this photo is really terrible, but it was WAY too cute not to post!!! Love you Isaac!

Ci Ci's Pizza and Winterhaven

2011-12-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

This year, our family went with some friends to have pizza and then go look at a local Christmas light display. Winterhaven is a large neighborhood here that really decorates for the season. It's really fun! I had to work this year so I didn't get to go, but everyone else had a great time!

Isaac is ready for pizza!!

The little boys got to meet Santa Claus for the first time! We don't really make a huge deal of Santa in our house and Isaac and Josh know he is just pretend, but they enjoyed seeing Santa up close.

No, it's not real snow. I think one of the houses had pretend snow blowing around.

Mr. Doughty poses with a Christmas display!

Trampoline!

2011-12-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

An early Christmas present from Mom and Dad. We spent the morning setting it up and jumping around! The little boys were especially thrilled.

Joshua was scared at first!

Oops!

2011-12-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger! This is not my usual pattern, I typically try to post several times a week! I am so incredibly sorry! There just hasn't been a lot going on, and I've been so busy at work. But! Now that we're coming into Christmas, we have a lot of things going on so hopefully I'll post more. Plus a very dear friend is coming to visit us in January, and some more dear friends are coming to visit us in February! So, I will try to update you all with some photos later on this week.

Joshua Is Getting Ready for Christmas!

2011-12-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

1,000 Words

2011-11-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Day Celebration

2011-11-24T23:04:00.001-07:00

We got together with a lot of families from our church this year for Thanksgiving. We had over thirty people and it was a great time of fellowship and feasting!

The turkey! We also had a honey glazed ham too, which is really yummy.

Mom and I! As many of you know, Mom recently had a kidney stone removed. She's been in a lot of pain over the past few weeks, which has been part of the reason for my abscence here on the blog. Rachel and I have been trying to pick up the slack around the house while she was resting, so between that and my job I'm swamped right now. We're so glad she's feeling better!

Rachel!

Sweet Joshua loved playing with all the toys Amanda brought for him!

After the meal, most everyone went to a park to work off the meal. The weather was great!

Hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Isaac wants to know if you are READY for Thanksgiving!! He also says that noodles make a great pre-feast snack.

Hope your day is a special one filled with lots of good friend, family, and lots of thanks.

Santa Monica Beach Pictures!

2011-11-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

It is so late, and we are getting up very early for our flight home! So I am not going to spend a ton of time on this post. So bear with me! We spent most of the day at Santa Monica beach. The sand was gorgeous, the water was a bit chilly, and we got some amazing photos!

Group shot!!

Silly group shot!

First we went on a carousel there at the pier. It brought back such fond memories! The little children also really enjoyed it.

Okay, the big kids did too!

Then we enjoyed milkshakes at a little soda shop called "Soda Jerks". Yes, funny name! It was great.

Then we enjoyed some time on the beach! The water was cold, but it was SO much fun!

We got to go on a Ferris Wheel, which afforded us a great view of the beach and the coastline!

Up really high!

Santa Monica

2011-11-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

More pictures soon!

LAX Day 3

2011-11-13T22:05:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a day of relaxation!! The Rhodens are going to add a room onto their house, so they were ripping out their vegetable garden in the front of the house. So we spent the morning cleaning and drying vegetables that were harvested from the garden.

Cora loved "washing" potatoes in her bowl of water.

Theresa sings along with Conner and Cassie using her Braille hymnal!

Coffee House

2011-11-12T22:15:00.001-07:00

We have been having so much fun this week, but I'm so tired that I'm just stealing Cassie's photos for this blog post! Yesterday we stayed up late to watch The Princess Bride since my sister had never seen it! It's one of my favorites. Anyway, I'm too tired to do anything else right now!

We had coffee at a local coffee house owned by some of the Rhoden's friends. I had an iced blended mocha, very yummy!

Little Elizabeth is SO cute!!!

My beautiful sister!

Disney Christmas Show

2011-11-12T14:11:00.010-07:00

This was a perfect ending to our day!! My video doesn't capture it the way it was, but you get the idea! I hope my family enjoys this. Watch the whole thing, you can see the snow at the end and hear the beautiful music along with the fireworks. They did a beautiful montage of classic Christmas music, Nutcracker, Disney music, etc... all in perfect time with the music. Make it full screen when you watch it Mom, and turn up your speakers.

Disneyland Rollercoaster Videos

2011-11-11T22:09:00.003-07:00

This first video is of Thunder Mountain. It's mostly us screaming, so it's not going to be that interesting for anyone but my family. In fact, this is primarily for my family since some of them have never been on a ride before like this.

The second video is of Space Mountain! It's totally black inside so you can't see anything, but you can hear the music and hear our reaction, so I hope my family enjoys it. I'll try to post the fireworks finale tomorrow.

Disneyland Part 3

2011-11-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention, all these photos were taken by a variety of people including Conner, Cassie, Mrs. Rhoden, and myself!! We were so grateful to have this many photographers to capture the day.

Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day! We spent over 12 hours there and didn't leave until the park closed at 10 PM. We were all so sleepy!

Going on the Indiana Jones ride, which was so much fun! This is Mrs. Rhoden's favorite ride.

This is how much water a party of nine drinks.

Disneyland Part 2

2011-11-11T18:26:00.002-07:00

We all stood in line to see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (from the movie Tangled). Well, actually, little Cora wanted to see Rapunzel and the big girls all wanted to get a picture with Flynn Rider. But, when we got there, we found that he was out eating a sandwich!! We were all disappointed, but I guess he has to eat.

This is us on Splash Mountain right before the 50 ft. drop. Conner sat behind us so he could take a picture of all of us! Then we put the cameras away so they didn't get soaking wet! That drop was SO scary!!!

After the 50 ft. drop!!! We got SO wet but it was hilarious.

Curtis in his Indiana Jones hat!

Cora got to meet Rapunzel!!! It was SO cute!!!

My favorite rides were Star Tour, Indiana Jones, and Space Mountain! Space Mountain was unbelievable! We went twice, it was the most fast-paced and scary ride ever. It was a blast.

At the end of the day, there was an amazing fireworks show behind the famous Disney Castle. They turned all the lights down and did an amazing display while they played Christmas music! It was phenomenal and absolutely beautiful. I took video of the whole thing, I'll try to post it.

After the Grand Finale, it started snowing!!! Not real, of course, but it looked just like it and it was just so perfect!! A wonderful end to a wonderful day.

The amazing Disney Christmas tree.....it was the tallest tree I have ever seen.

Disney Part 1

2011-11-11T17:29:00.002-07:00

Well, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get started on these photos, but we collectively took over 600 pictures. Between three cameras, we managed to get some wonderful shots! It's taken forever to go through and edit and pick all the pics for this blog post(s).

We got up very early and headed out to Disneyland for the day, determined to spend the entire day there! Anticipation was very high, especially since Rachel and I hadn't been before!

Miss Cora was super excited to meet a princess, especially Rapunzel from Tangled! She wore her Rapunzel dress most of the day.

Everyone got Mickey/Minnie hats, which is a classic when coming to Disney!

Rhoden family photo!

The beautiful Disney castle (and in fact the entire park) was decorated for Christmas. Christmas music was playing everywhere, it was SO amazing!

Theresa loved all the fast rides! She came along with us on every roller coaster - she had a blast.

Star Tour was the first ride we went on, and it was a fabulous introduction to Disneyland! It was an amazing ride!! It's based off Star Wars, and it was so so so so fast paced and exciting! We all loved it. Rachel says it was her favorite ride of the whole day.

3-D glasses were required for the Star Tours ride. Mr. Rhoden snapped a picture before we got on the ride.

Driving the Autopia cars was so hard!! I was an awful driver, it was so funny!! I had a couple people behind me that "bumped" into me a few times (Curtis was practicing his driving along with Mrs. Rhoden). :)

Disney ice cream!!!! The experience isn't complete with the ice cream.

Disneyland!!!!!!

2011-11-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! Today was an absolutely amazing experience! We spent the entire day at Disneyland and squeezed every last drop of enjoyment out that we possibly could. It's close to midnight here, and it's going to take me awhile to post our photos, so you'll have to wait until I get some sleep. Besides, we all have to go through our cameras and share/trade the photos with each other.

LAX Day 1

2011-11-09T21:55:00.001-07:00

(Rachel and Cassie)

We had a very uneventful flight to Los Angeles this morning! We are spending the week with our dear friends who were so hospitable to us this spring when we missed our flight to China and got stuck in LAX! Even though that wasn't fun at the time, the Lord used the circumstance to introduce us to some very wonderful friends, and we are so thankful for them!

We spent the afternoon chatting with Cassie and two of her friends from church who came over!! We ate pizza for dinner and then went to Wednesday night church. The weather is great and tomorrow we are going to Disneyland!! We couldn't be more excited, although apparently the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which is the one we most anticipated, is closed right now!! Ugh!!!

Rachel and Theresa!!

So now we're going to bed for a good night's sleep before our big day tomorrow!

It's so great to spend this time with such great friends!

On a more somber note, please pray for my Mom as she is suffering from a very painful kidney stone right now.

The Many Faces of Joshua

2011-11-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

We did indeed make it home from Alabama!! Sorry for not posting, but everyone was so tired and we've been busy!! It was great to see the little guys again. We missed them!! Rachel and I leave for Los Angeles on Wednesday to visit some friends, so our time at home has been short though.

Check out the high heels!!!

Last Couple Trip Pics

2011-11-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

We had such a great time with the Scroggin family and we're so grateful for their hospitality on our way back home!!!

Halfway Home - Dallas

2011-10-31T18:16:00.002-07:00

We drove pretty much all through the night yesterday, only stopping for about four hours to doze a little. We arrived at our friend's house around lunchtime and have been enjoying a nice break from our little road trip!

It was great seeing old friends again! We haven't seen Heather and her family since they moved to Texas three years ago.

We went downtown and visited a cute little antique store. It was so quaint! I got some great photos.

This popcorn bucket was in one of the stores we visited.

We are going to get a good night's sleep and then continue on our journey tomorrow!

Computer time!!! :)

Quick Post - Last Day in Alabama

2011-10-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

We have made some absolutely wonderful friends here! This is our hiking group from this morning.

Tomorrow is the last day of our trip! We've had a busy few days, sorry for the lack of posts! I actually didn't take many photos today, so this will be a short post. We went for a hike in Monte Sano State Park with a bunch of friends! It was a blast! Then we all had lunch together and played some football in the afternoon.

Gorgeous, gorgeous views!

So after church tomorrow, we will probably start driving home! Boohoo!!! Oh well, all good things come to an end! I won't have internet access until we get home. We do plan to stop along the way and spend an afternoon with some good friends in Texas, so I'll have some catch-up posts to do once we get home!

Alabama Pics Day Six

2011-10-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

More Pics From Today

2011-10-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Portraits

2011-10-26T19:58:00.001-07:00

We had a slower day today! It was great just relaxing outdoors in the gorgeous fall air. We went to a great Chinese buffet for dinner and filled ourselves completely up! Rachel and I took some portraits as well.

Jonathan exploring the fields.

Hang Ten!! (kinda)

2011-10-25T10:09:00.001-07:00

Alabama Trip Day Four - Guntersville State Park!

2011-10-25T10:01:00.002-07:00

We got up yesterday morning and drove down to Honeycomb Camp ground near Guntersville State Park to rent a boat for the afternoon! Dad used to do a lot of sailing, and we both enjoyed our little river excursion during our last trip. So we had to get a boat this time to take everyone else! Since we had so many people, we had to get a pontoon boat which didn't go as fast, but it was still pretty good! The weather was absolutely perfect.

Heading out to find our boat!

There it is! This boat was significantly more plush than our last boat, if anyone remembers that blog post!

Rachel enjoying herself! We were glad we brought jackets and sweaters. It wasn't cold, but once we started moving fast, the wind made it a little chilly!

My blog tells me I uploaded 55 photos to this post - that's a lot! Hope you enjoy!

Captain Krause! Dad loves sailing. :)

Jonathan hanging around! The boat had a little walkway around it, and Jonathan liked sitting there and hanging on while we went fast!

I, of course, loved the experience!!!

The little depth meter on our boat was broken, so it kept telling us we were in shallow water (2 ft). We didn't believe that, so the boys lowered the anchor to find out. It was significantly deeper then 2 ft, LOL!

Looks like a mutiny! Jonathan is taking over the ship!

Me again! I'm so glad I came instead of staying home! And I got some studying done anyway!

Working on the old suntan!

This is the life!!!

If you've hung in this far, I'm impressed! This was a long post! There is another post on the next page, so click older posts.

Fall Scenery in Alabama

2011-10-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

These are some of my favorite photos from yesterday! I love photography and there were so many wonderful opportunities for gorgeous pictures. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but we didn't get back to the hotel until about midnight! I was just too tired!

Alabama Trip Day Three

2011-10-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

We spent our Sunday at a local church and had a wonderful time! Dad and I made some great friends during our last trip and we enjoyed seeing them again. After church, we went to lunch at Jason's Deli and then walked around Research Park for a couple hours before going to the mall for Starbucks. Then we all piled into various cars and went to the evening service. Afterwards, we stayed talking until 9 PM. Great times!

The fall colors were gorgeous! Research Park was such a great area for an afternoon walk.

Garrett and Joanna took us on a little walking tour over to the mall - everyone else decided to drive.

Alabama Trip - Arriving in Alabama

2011-10-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous fall colors!!!

Jonathan says STOP taking pictures!!!

Alabama Trip - Day Two, Mississippi River

2011-10-22T18:54:00.001-07:00

We woke up the second day of our trip bright and early and headed across Louisiana. We stopped at the Louisiana/Mississippi border to stretch our legs and see the Mississippi River!

It isn't quite as green at the last time I was in this area, but instead we are getting the gorgeous fall colors!!!!! I can't stop taking pictures; the inner photographer in me sees a photo op everywhere!

Dad and David race up to the top of the stairs....there was a scenic overlook here as well as a historic canon.

Big Kid Photo! Jonathan, me, David, and Rachel.

Get used to more photos of us posing by water. It's a favorite topic of ours.

David loves military history and has about every fact you can imagine memorized! He always wants to stop and see the historical sites and memorials.

Of course, no break would be complete without wrestling from the boys! Especially since there is actually soft grass to wrestle around in.

Back to the truck! Time to head on down the road!

Alabama Trip Day One

2011-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Well, finally I am able to update my blog! I didn't have internet access along the road, so I have a lot of posting to catch up now that we are in Alabama. It is certainly a long drive! We all shared the driving around (except David, of course) so that no one had to do it all. The first day, we drove east of Dallas and stopped in western Louisiana.

Dad bought a lot of food at Costco for our trip so that we didn't have to stop and waste time eating at restaurants on the way. Nuts, fruit, canned meat, Gatorade, etc.. Yum! Although by the time we arrived I was getting a bit sick of all that food though. :)

Our stash!

Dad enjoying himself! This was the first road trip where Dad hasn't had to shoulder all the driving. We haven't gone on a road trip in almost three years.

It took us 12 hours to cross Texas!! We took I-20 east all the way through the westernmost part of the state to the easternmost part....wow Texas is big! The traffic in Dallas horrendous - we happened to get there just at rush hour.

Dallas traffic at 6 PM. The sky was gorgeous, but it was bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Family Vacation - Alabama

2011-10-20T17:42:00.003-07:00

(I apologize for the poorly edited photo above.....the lighting was bad and we didn't have time to retake it!)

Dad has two weeks of paid vacation time off that he has to use up before the end of the year. So we decided to take an impromptu family vacation to just relax and enjoy a change of scenery! It's almost a family vacation....Mom decided that the two little boys aren't quite up for a cross-country expedition yet (we're driving), so they are staying home with Mom. But the rest of us are going.

Dad and I had such fun in Alabama over the summer that we thought it'd be fun to take the others there for our vacation. Enjoy the fall colors, the water, the green, etc! We will have lots of fun. My sister Rachel (above) also needs some driving practice for her permit, so this will give her a lot of chances to drive across endless miles of the USA!

We'll be gone about two weeks! I'll be posting during our trip when I can. We are leaving this evening, Lord willing!

Church BBQ, Fellowship, and Bonfire Part 2

2011-10-16T15:17:00.002-07:00

The cheer-leading team for the football squad. Yay Ormands! :)

I loved these chairs that the Ormand's brought! I've never seen camping chairs that had shades like that. What a cool idea!

Yes, we are a crazy bunch. Slightly.

Except for her, she's just sweet!

And him.....well.....we'll let Lucas speak for himself.

The bonfire was huge!! Plenty of room for all to roast marshmallows. Although I will say that some of the kids thought incinerating the marshmallows was more fun.

My little sweeties......these boys LOVE bonfires, marshmallows, and hot dogs.

I'll spare you the 15 pictures it took to finally get this cute one! Me and my little buddies.

Isaac and his friend, Mr. Doughty. Love the hat!

Way too much sugar and fun was had by all!

Church BBQ, Fellowship, and Bonfire - Part 1

2011-10-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend, a dear family in our church hosted a BBQ get together and bonfire, followed by a camp-out for those who were able to stay. It was a great time of fellowship for everyone in the church.

Dad and Mr. Doughty on the walk that some of the dads and kids took before the meal was served.

The Radtke family has a great set up for children to play on.....a sturdy structure with lots of tires, swings, and ropes to climb/play on! We have a lot of young children in our fellowship and they had a lot of fun with this.

Melonie and I with her sweet baby boy Calvin!

Mrs. Cameron cutting her daughter Kayla's delicious cake! Everyone brought pot-luck style food in addition to the barbecue chicken sandwiches and sloppy joes that were provided. There was a lot of really delicious food!

Melonie brought these really cute "cake pops!" They were definitely the high light of the dessert table - so creative and cute!

Rachel and Isaac - the little boys had great fun on the swings and in the sand.

The Krause boys! As you can see, Isaac and Joshua made a thorough mess of themselves playing in the sand.

"To Life, to life, L'chai-im, L'chai-im, l'chai-im, to life!

It gives you something to think about, something to drink about (with lemonade, of course, :),

Drink l'chai-im, to life! God would like us to be joyful. Even though our hearts lie panting on the floor; How much more can we be joyful, when there's really something To be joyful for. "

~ Fiddler On The Roof ~

To Life

Some of the guys were planning a push up contest several weeks in advance. However, I don't think the results were really fair or accurate since they were all going at different rates and taking longer/faster to do a pushup than their neighbor.

More photos later as soon as I get them from Mr. Doughty! I forgot my camera so he let me use his for the evening. :)

Fall is Here!

2011-10-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

Little Daddy

2011-10-05T12:44:00.001-07:00

Isaac has this adorable little fatherly instinct. He is so wonderful with his doll. Actually, this baby doll was MINE as a toddler, and for some reason Isaac has latched onto it fiercely. He calls it "baby Isaac". I'm not sure why. He rocks it, feeds it, kisses it, and hugs it. He's done this for months! He is very good with his baby and carries it around in a little wicker basket. If "baby Isaac" is lost he is VERY upset!

Here baby Isaac is getting a dinner of weed clippings!

Black and White

2011-10-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

Self Portraits

2011-09-30T15:39:00.001-07:00

Seriously................

2011-09-27T16:58:00.002-07:00

Do we have anything at all to complain about?

Farm Sunset

2011-09-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love these shots! I took them last weekend just as the sun was setting behind the horizon.

Little Mustaches

2011-09-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

We enjoy a lot of fruit smoothies in our house, and Isaac and Joshua are no exception!!! A smoothie is one of their favorite snacks and something they really look forward to. The whole family gets a laugh out of their "smoothie mustaches" every time they have one!

Plane Over The Farm

2011-09-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

The quarter section just to the north of our property is agricultural......this year they grew corn (which is my favorite crop by the way, it's so photogenic). Every few weeks the spray plane flies over the crops, and the plane usually goes just over our house! It's so low I could almost throw a stone and hit the bottom of the plane!

I just thought these were pretty pictures. :)

Trip to the Park

2011-09-21T20:29:00.001-07:00

Both boys LOVE the park!! It's one of their favorite activities. Unfortunately, on this outing, Joshua had to stay home due to some very.....shall we say, unruly behavior (not Joshua, right?). Yes. Anyway, only Isaac got to come this time.

Rachel and Isaac.....he is becoming such a grown up little guy!

Self portrait!

My Mom

2011-09-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

I have the greatest mom in the world!

Horses

2011-09-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

My creativity abounds today with the naming of my post. :) But you're all just here for the pictures anyway, so it's okay.

Rachel and Isaac

2011-09-17T19:32:00.001-07:00

Isaac

2011-09-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Weekend On the Farm

2011-09-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

Alas, while some parts of the country are experiencing the beginnings of fall, we are still roasting down here at 95*F +!!!! We're still hitting the pool on a regular basis.....it's just too hot!

No Trespassing. In case you didn't get that the first time. Not that we don't like company and all that.........just not the trespassing kind of company.

While this may look like a gorgeous scene, don't be fooled. It's actually a field full of weeds. One weed in particular called pigweed. If you happen to be allergic to said pigweed (as a few male members of our family are)......let's just say being outside is not fun right now.

See, we don't have real grass or foliage.....we just have to settle for weeds. We even MOW these weeds to make it look like a semi-manicured "lawn". If that's even possible out here.

Dad getting some work done on the truck. We planted those trees about two years ago.....we have peach and apple. They are really growing well! Notice the profusely growing pigweed everywhere. Our Labor Day was full of sneezing. And more sneezing. And more sneezing!

The guys!

I actually got in the picture too! Rachel didn't want her picture taken, so she was the photographer.

Portraits - Virtual Twins

2011-09-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

They don't always get along perfectly - they bite each other sometimes, hit, and steal toys. They like to poke on each other, and delight in trying to look like the "perfect" child when the other gets in trouble. But I think they're going to be great friends as they grow.

Water Park

2011-09-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died just about half an hour into our outing, so I missed out on a ton of good pictures! I was so bummed! I didn't get pictures of myself, or that many of Rachel and Jonathan! Ugh! Oh well, maybe next time! I at least got some really cute photos of our little pumpkins. :)

Joshua is the timid one around the water.....he'd rather just sit with on the edge, or walk around the edge without getting more than his knees wet. Isaac, however, is the FISH! You can see he's trying to "encourage" Joshua to come play. This is the kiddie pool, it's only about 18 inches deep. Perfect for them!

Blowing kisses to me! Such a sweetheart!

We always have a lot of fun here...........the slides are amazing!! The blue one is my favorite.

Joshua and Dad just hanging out!

Waiting with Dad for the big bucket of water to dump!

Mr. David James enjoyed swimming as well!

Jonathan working on his tan. This is the only picture I got of him!

Evening Silhouettes On the Farm

2011-09-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

End of Summer Pool Fun!

2011-08-30T04:18:00.001-07:00

The last day before Mom came back from Florida I took the boys to the pool. They ADORE the water and have a great time splashing in the 1.5 ft. kiddie pool. Of course, David and Jonathan spent most of their time on the diving board.

Krause Boys

2011-08-28T10:11:00.002-07:00

Trip to the Park

2011-08-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

A trip to the park yesterday was a welcome distraction for the little boys! Isaac is working on potty training, and he has been wearing big boy underwear for three days successfully, so this was a little reward for him as well. These photos were SO cute I had to post them all!

Isaac has been home 18+ months, which is amazing! I can't believe it's been that long. Anyway, he clearly has a wonderful attachment to both Mom and Dad. He has been very upset and distressed this week that Mommy is gone! Which is a good sign, he is very attached.

However, we clearly have some more work to do with Joshua! Which is understandable, he's only been with us six months. But he hasn't mentioned Mom once since her departure or shown any distress that she isn't here! LOL! He just carries on with life in his own laid back way. Doesn't seem to matter to him one way or the other.

A look of pure bliss!!!

Techno Cowboy

2011-08-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Texting on the back of a horse.

Can anyone say best of both worlds?

Day 2

2011-08-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Joshua is doing just fine.......he hasn't asked about Mom or Dad once. Of course, that could also mean we have some more attachment work to do with this little guy! Although his general personality is so laid back, I imagine that's part of it too.

Isaac has been very fussy today.....he was up late last night crying for Mom, and then woke up promptly at 4 AM and decided he was D.O.N.E. sleeping. Nice.

Mr. Sad Face

2011-08-21T20:32:00.001-07:00

This is the face of a little boy who is missing his mama a LOT!!!!! Isaac has been wearing this face all day long. Mom and Rachel left for Florida today, and we have one little Mr. Sad on our hands. I made a paper chain for the boys so they could see how many days until Mom gets home. He just wanted to hold it and sit on the bed. We had a lot of sobbing and crying for Mama tonight at bedtime.....he wants Mama to come home! He finally fell asleep in my lap with his teddy bear. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better for him!

August On the Farm

2011-08-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, a lot to say! We have been thoroughly and completely enjoying our rainy season (at least for Arizona). All the weeds are growing in nice and tall, giving us the illusion of some green for a few months! We've had a few really wonderful storms! The only problem is that when it rains, it pours - and our house turns into an island surrounded by a lake of water!

Jonathan continues to enjoy his horse business quite a bit!

Dad going around checking on the electric fence. The charger gave out a few weeks ago and so some repair work on the fence is currently being done. We have around nine acres fenced in, so that can take awhile!

The farmer across the street is growing corn this year! YAY! It's my favorite crop to have across the street - it's the prettiest and greenest. :) Last year it was red chilies, and that wasn't near as nice.

David and Dad having fun together!

My "little" brother isn't so little anymore!

Another entry in the "do-not-try-this-at-home" category!

The home place.

Rachel and Mom are not in this blog post because they are getting ready for a big trip this weekend! They are flying to visit my Mom's parents for a week. They are both really excited. So I will be holding down the fort until they get back. I know Rachel will send us lots of pictures, and perhaps she will let me share some with you all here on the family blog.

No Words Needed

2011-08-14T06:53:00.006-07:00

Mini Maestro

2011-08-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

Isaac cannot WAIT to play the violin just like Rachel. Rachel has said he can start lessons when he is five, which is next year. In the mean time, he has a little cardboard violin that Rachel cut out for him about a year ago. He uses a wooden spoon as his bow. He is thrilled with it and it's so cute!

Five Minutes of Fame

2011-08-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Since we are having monsoon rains right now, the weeds are growing mighty and fast! So David is getting some excellent driving practice opportunities. He's pretty excited. :) So he gets to have his little spot of fame on the blog!

Seems like just a few minutes ago that David was about this size and stepping off the plane from Seoul, South Korea! Wow, time flies!

Joshua has been a bit....umm....CRANKY recently. He must be having a growth spurt or something! We've been having him take a little nap in the afternoon since I know he needs more sleep. He's not been the greatest about taking naps.

Still SO CUTE! This kid can put on a pathetic show when he doesn't get something.....He squeezes his eyes shut, tips his head back as far as it can go, and just sits there hoping someone will look at him!! It's so funny.