Pasadena Road Trip Part 2

On our trip we were able to go to church with our family.  They attend Grace Community Church where John McArthur preaches.  Mark's brother also works there.  

Sitting out in the courtyard at Grace Community Church. The Masters Seminary is in the background. 

 Grace Community has a beautiful court yard and they have speakers all around so you can listen to the sermon.  Silas was a bit noisy so I enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Mark came and joined me! 

 After church we went out to lunch with some of our families church friends.  

 We got to walk to the neighborhood park.  It was so nice to play at the park in December!!!!

 We visited the LA Zoo!

Then we got to share a favorite movies with our cousins.  The Runner from Ravenshead

Pasadena Road Trip Part 1

 A few days before Christmas we Skyped with Mark's brothers family down in Pasadena, CA.  We haven't seen them in person since Levi was 10 months old.  They moved, we moved and with school and work and life we just never were able to get together.  Thankfully we have been able to stay in touch through technology.  But still our hearts ached to see them in person after getting off Skype.  So we decided right then that we would go visit them.  So Mark got right back on the phone with his brother and told him we wanted to visit over New Years.  They were thrilled!  So the day after Christmas we loaded in the van and made the trip down there.  It took us 2 days going down, we enjoyed 5 days in Pasadena and spent 3 days coming home.  We were able to stop and enjoy the sights along the way.  

 Lulu with her new doll I made her for Christmas. 

We stopped at all the fun and silly stops along the way. 

 Lovelock, NV was a fun stop. We put a padlock on the chain to lock our love there.  

 We made sure to get a hotel with an indoor pool so the kids could burn some energy.  It was so fun to go swimming in December. 

 Lulu was doing so well she got to take her lifejacket off and practice swimming on her own!

 The city of Hawthorne, NV was a fun stop to see the art that they made from bomb casings.  

Plus the McDonalds you can see in the background was a nice place to use the restrooms! 

 Then we had to stop at the famous Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop, CA.  The place had a line almost out the door when we got there.  We bought some cookies to share with the cousins.  

Finally we got to Pasadena and got to hug our sweet family.  

 Uncle Mike holding Silas for the first time.  Mike is 2 years older then Mark. 

 Kamin and Levi snacking on some chicken nuggets together.  

 Even though we hadn't seen the Tersieff's in about 3.5 years it felt so normal to be there. 

 When I first met the Tersieff family Kamin was just a bit younger then Silas here.  

 Playing on their driveway

 Ila May bugging her oldest cousin Josiah and he doesn't mind it one bit. 

 Josiah (13 yrs) and Silas (7mo.) 

 More to come......

Christmas Recital 2013

Christmas evening we went and celebrated with some families from church.  All the kids that were there got to share in some way by putting on a recital.

Christmas 2013

The kids woke up excited to exchange gifts. 

 Levi was so excited to get this helicopter. 

I made the girls rag dolls and lots of clothes to dress them in.  They also got a double stroller for them to sit in and bunk beds to sleep in.  

 Silas got a bunch of baby toys.  Things he can put in his mouth.