Cousins

We are on vacation this week at a beach house with the whole family: Joel's sister, Beth, and her husband Keith and 2 kids Jessica and Gunnar. Joel's brother, Tommy, and his wife Kim and 3 kids Anna, Isaiah, and Amaya, and Joel's parents. It's a full house but crazy fun!!! Here are a couple pictures of the cousins!

4th of July and ALS ride/walk

We've had lots of fun this week!
For the 4th, we started the day with a kiddie K run for B, a 5k race for me, and a parade right after!

B posing for the picture

He got to meet the Chick-fil-a Cow

About to start the kiddie K, Joel is on the far left with B

Right before it starts

And after, showing off his medal! He didn't stop the whole time, he just kept running!!!

During my 5k run with the kiddos! It feels so good to be running again!

And after the race!

Watching the local parade in town! She's such a cutie!

B's favorite part of the parade: the race cars

Pnuts favorite part: the "princesses" (city's beauty queens)

Dodger game that night with Joel's family... she is such a ham!

The house gets very noisy with these two... totally worth it because they are having so much fun!

2 times this week at our local amusement park! It's about a 5 minute drive to get there, we just got season passes, I have a parking pass for the whole year, the kiddie land is never crowded in the evening... perfect way to have fun with the kiddos!!!


Joel and I were able to go away for the weekend!!! It's been over a year since just the 2 of us have been away. With the circumstances that we have been given this past year, we just haven't been able to get some time away. There was a Central Coast ALS Century ride and 3 mile walk that Joel had signed us up for. We were able to spend Fri-Sun in the beautiful beach area! My mom was able to watch the kiddos for us at our house. I was a little nervous leaving because it's the first time B has been out of my sight longer than a couple hours since his first surgery in October. But, I have learned many things in the past months, one being that God is in control and I need to "let go." So, I did... I let go of my fears and worries and just trusted that B would be okay!

We arrived Friday afternoon and we were able to hang out in town that night. The 100 mile bike ride started at 7:00am on Sat. Our hotel was only 1 street away so I was able to be with Joel when he took off for his ride! My 3 mile walk didn't start until 1:00pm so I had the whole morning to myself! I got coffee (which is a rare thing for me), read a book by the beach, walked around and looked through some adorable beach stores, read some more on our hotel balcony... it was bliss!

The ALS walk was such an emotional experience. There were a few ALS patients in wheelchairs with their loved ones participating in the walk. There were some women and men with pictures of their loved ones on their shirts. I didn't know any one there and was prepared to walk by myself but ended up next to a wonderful woman named Martha. Someone had asked her if she knew anyone with ALS and I heard her say her dad had passed away 2 years ago from the disease. I walked over to her and told her about my father in law and we held each other and just started crying. God really had our meeting planned!!! She is a believer in Christ and we talked the whole walk... crying and laughing together. She was such an encouragement!

Joel wasn't doing the ride to race for time or speed. He was doing the ride to raise money for the ALS cause and raise awareness of the disease. He finished in around 7 hours. I am so proud of him for completing the ride, especially because I know it was so important for him to do.

We stayed in town one more night and left this afternoon and came home tonight! I really missed our kiddos! It's great to be home as a family of 4 again! I did learn how important little getaway trips are though and can't wait for the next one!

Joel before the ride

Love his jersey!

About to start

A raise of hands for those who know someone who is or was affected with ALS, and a moment of silence (a very emotional moment)

And he's off!

The sign I made for my shirt and my backpack

One of the signs along the course

After the ride/walk

My new friend Martha

Martha's husband did a ride too, here is all 4 of us

This is what I did for a few hours! So wonderful!

One of the gifts we got the kiddos from our trip. Since they love to help me bake, I got them their own aprons and hats!

Update and Summer Fun!

It's been about 3 weeks since my D&C procedure and I feel completely back to normal. It's so weird to feel pregnant and have symptoms one day and then a couple days later it all just went away. I've still got some pregnancy pounds but I am not complaining at all. I feel so thankful that even though we lost the baby I feel confident that it is all part of God's plan, even though I may never truly know why God had us go through it.
We got a call from the doctor yesterday and were given the results of the testing they did to determine what may have happened with the pregnancy. The baby had a syndrome that is common in a lot of miscarriages. I did research on it: It is when the baby has 3 of every chromosome instead of the normal 2, which results in multiple birth defects, and most never make it to full term. The longest a baby has lived after birth, with this syndrome, is 10 months. And, it happens spontaneously, no known cause, and it doesn't affect any chances of it happening again with future pregnancies.
I am sad to know that he/she had such a horrible syndrome, but am thankful we were able to find out the cause of the baby not progressing.
I am also so thankful for all the encouragement and kind words from everyone! We are doing okay. Just trying to keep up with all our fun summer activities!!!...

Brennan at VBS at church!!! It was a great week at church and I got to help out in his class!

B tried out a dance class! He LOVES hip-hop... and boy has he got the moves! I got him in a free trial class to try. Here is a picture of the TV screen to watch the kids during class. The class was a little advanced for him (lots of memorizing moves) and he is more into "free styling". So, I'm on the hunt for another dance class for him.

Playing "mad birds" (angry birds) with Papa on his ipad

We love going to the mall before it opens! The play area is usually empty!

Since Brennan is cleared for water activities... he started swim lessons! And boy does he love it!

So, we decided to get a "mini-pool" for our yard! He LOVES it! Faith...not so sure yet :)

Our friends had free passes to our local amusement park! We just might have to get passes, the kids loved it!

Brennan and his friend Keira

We took the kiddos for a bike ride at the beach and stopped at a nearby park!

I had over 2 months of no exercise at all and was cleared to exercise 2 weeks ago. So, I've been trying to get back into it. Every year I do the local July 4th 5k... so I couldn't pass it up. So, wish me luck as I try and attempt to run it. My goal this year: run while pushing the kiddos and not walk, even if I have to run really slow :)

Have a great and safe 4th of July weekend!