over the hills & thru the woods to Gramma's house we go...

We recently took a trip up to see my parents house in a small town on the out skirts of Fresno, CA. It was lovely. They have about 26 acres of land that it is cuddled next to the Sierra National Forest. So I got to go hiking around their property. There are a couple of cool things. For instance can you see the natural hidden picture in this rock that my brother showed me?



It is a happy face! Isn't that so cool. And it is totally there by nature. There is also this hidden picture that is a lot easier to spot in the side of manzanita tree. It also was created by nature.



I did make this out of a manzanita tree. But rest assure they were fallen branches that I picked up from the ground. I didn't cut down any of these beautiful trees.

Of course, here are some adorable pictures of the kiddos while on our trip.








It was also really nice to spend time with my family while we were up there. My brother has been living up there to help on the upgrades that my parents are making to the place. I really enjoy having my kids know personally all the close members in the family. I'm trying to think about all the fun things we did, because we did have fun. But I think it was more just hanging out and enjoying each others company. Plus it was the first family trip we have taken since Austyn was born. I think the family clan is back to our traveling selves after this trip.

Happy Valentine Day!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine Day!

round here

Austyn has been rolling over and finding his hands and all sorts of stuff. He started sleeping through the night about a month ago (right before the women's retreat). Meaning he was sleeping from 9-10 pm till 4-6 am. But that stopped a week or so ago. I think it had something to do with him staying in our room in the bassinet. Russell likes to have non-stuffy air, that means that it's freezing. We have a space heater in Nelly's room. So with 2 out of 3 nights in his own crib he slept through the night again. Yay! One time he even slept till 6:30 am from 9:30 pm. Below is a couple of pictures of him that I got from him rolling over.







Nelly's showing how she can roll over too!




the princess and the frog. : ) Nelly is one of her princess dresses and Austyn is in an outfit that says "MOM's prince" and has a little frog on it.

Russell and I are contemplating what to do for Valentine Day. When discussing it he asked what I really wanted to do. I said I wanted to drop off the kids and get a hotel and sleep. He had this wide-eyed look and replied, "Can we do that?". For your information, we can't. So we're still debating what to do. LOL.

Insane?

Am I insane? probably. Why am I asking? Well,.... At this moment I have recently added to my family with our precious baby boy, potty training our sweet daughter, started becoming a big stickler about her eating more variety in foods, am in a Beth Moore bible study, doing daily reading with our church (which I can say are both awesome), creative activities leader at MOPS, and I'm sure a lot of other stuff that I can't remember. (That is part of my problem I don't remember the other stuff I got to do sometime, LOL.)

But in any case, I started another blog. This one is more where I write down some of the things that make me happy. So maybe it's a good outlet. Who knows. I titled it "These are a few of my favorite things". I'm posting some things I like to do like cooking (by trying new recipes), reading (mostly anything I can get my hands on), traveling (if I ever get a chance again with kiddos), crafts (the random stuff I do because I don't have enough to do), art (looking, doing, it's just soft on the eyes), music (oh, my favorite past time), and of course Jesus. Basically a little bit of everything. Hope you enjoy.