Happy 9th Birthday to our sweet Logan!

Nine years ago today I became a mother for the first time with the birth of my precious Logan.  Little did I know that day that I would only spend 6 years, nine months with her on this earth.  I'm praising God today that because of what His Son did for us on the cross, I know I will get to be with her in eternity. Oh, how we miss her, everything about her, from her amazing smile, contagious giggle, and love for Jesus and life.  It's hard to imagine her as a nine year old.  I often look at her friends that are now nine and just imagine her like they are now.  Tori is now the same age Logan was when she went to heaven.  They definitely have similarities, yet so many differences.  Sometimes I try to picture the two of them playing together, giggling away as they dance around the house.  Brae is now 4, so the two of them are the age of Logan and Tori at the time of Logan's home going.  Watching Tori and Brae play now is like watching Tori and Logan play just in reverse time (hope that makes sense).  

It's so cute how Brae and Tori think of Logan's birthday.  Tori asked me the other day, "Mommy, how old is Logan?"  I said, "Well she would be 8."  and she replied, "oh, ok, so she will be nine on her birthday."  as if she is continuing to age in heaven.  For now we don't need to clarify all of that for her.  Then when discussing what we should do as a family for Logan's birthday, Tori said, "Why don't we let Logan decide what she wants to do, since it's her birthday?"  I replied, "that would be nice, but Logan can't tell us what she wants to do, but really I'm pretty sure she has all she wants being with Jesus."  Tori or Brae then said, "Yup, that's all she has with her for her party, Jesus, Papou (her grandfather), and baby Reese (our friends precious girl in heaven too) with her for her birthday.  I then reminded them that there are lots of other people in heaven that most likely will be with her too!  Oh, to have that child like view!

I've probably said this before, but it's weird to think we will just always remember her as our little Logan at six years of age.  Tori will be 7 in August and eventually, Lord willing, we will get passed that age with Brae.  Life will go on, yet our memories of our precious blessing of six years with her will always be there.  Today we are just relaxing at home for the day and then we will go to one of Logan's favorite restaurants to celebrate her birthday and the blessing she was and is in our life.  She love Panda Express and Soup Plantation, so we choose Soup Plantation.  I know it's nothing glamorous, but it was definitely one of her favs!     

We love you and miss you sweetie, yet long for the day we can be reunited with our you and our Savior!  Happy Birthday!

A Mother's Day tradition started!

We had a wonderful relaxing Mother's day this year.  We carried on a tradition that Daniel's family always did growing up.  After church, we got KFC and had a picnic at the park.  I think it will now be a tradition for our family as well.  I know restaurants are nice and all, but it was such a beautiful day and so fun to be outside.  Plus we could eat and then the kiddos went straight to the playground while I relaxed and read the Sunday paper.  It was special to have Yiayia with us.  Below are a few pics to document our great day!  

Cubbie and Awana Graduation

Another year of Awana has quickly gone by!  It's amazing how fast my munchkins are growing up.  Awana is a Wednesday night program at our church where the kids play games, have a bible story, have snacks and memorize verses.  It's such a great program and we are so thankful our girls can be hiding God's Word in their hearts and having fun all at the same time.  Braelyn finished her first year of Cubbies and Tori finished her second year of Sparks!   Good job girlies, we are so proud of you!

Braelyn is beside herself with excitement!

Tori with her 2nd book award

Kate Penberthy and Braelyn showing off their awards

Dan's 34th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad!  You are the best!
Braelyn and I
Mother and Son

We love crazy faces!

We had a great time celebrating my husband's 34th birthday on April 30th, with a nice dinner at Wood Ranch BBQ.  My mom n' law was in town to celebrate with us, which was a special treat.  We are so thankful for an amazing husband and dad who loves us, leads us, and works so hard to provide for us!  We are truly blessed!  Here's to 34 plus more baby!  

Resurrection Sunday at the Labat's

It's becoming a tradition for our family to spend Easter lunch with the Labat family.  We have known them for 6 years now and we are so thankful for them.  My girls adore Lauren and whenever they see her they are ready to play!  We had a great time this year eating yummy food and playing some fun games.  Thanks Labats!  We love you guys! 

Brae and maybe her 6th chocolate covered strawberry!
My family!
The girls on their scooters!
Most of the gang!
Lauren,Brae and Tori

Our 5th Annual Neighborhood and Friends Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter, our faithful neighbor Donna held our annual egg hunt at the park down the street.  It's a highlight for our kids every year!  

Brae, Abby and Ashlyn

All the little hunters!
Kaylee and Tori
Little ones got to go first!
Ellie Sue and Dayton Richard
Checkin' out all their goodies!
A parent pic.  We always have pics of the kids, we needed one of the parents!
The Quincy St. Dads.... John, Dan and Bryan!

A quick visit with Colleen!

In April I had a chance to see Colleen for a few hours.  She was down on the central coast visiting her family, so we met half way in Santa Barbara.  It was a really quick visit and between our 5 children we had many interruptions, but it was so worth it!  Colleen is such a great friend, and even though we can go quite awhile between seeing each other, we always pick us where we left off!  We hung by the beach for a few hours and then had a quick lunch at Chipotle on State street.  It was so fun to watch our kiddos interact and have blast together.  Even though it was quick, I always cherish my times with Colleen!   

It was a bit chilly, but they of course didn't care!
Brae and Harper sharing a snack!
Running from the waves and really cold water!
We loved this pic with our kiddos playing in the background.

We love Chipotle!

Spring Break Slumber Party

We threw a "just for fun" sleep over party for Tori and a few of her friends over Spring Break.  It was a lot of fun, and pretty successful for our first official sleep over.  I survived and wasn't totally sleep deprived so I think that was pretty good.

Eating Mac n' cheese for dinner!  and salad too!
Being silly with the glow sticks!

Had to have a pillow fight!
Dance Party!
Sleep Time!

Kaylee, Maryn, Alyssa, Tori, and Morgyn!

Our Spring Break Hike

This year we just stayed home for Spring Break and did lots of things close to home.  It was so nice and relaxing.  For the first time Tori didn't want to go back to school after a break.  Usually she is so excited to go back.  This time we had so much fun, it had her itching for summer break to come.  Below are pics from our family hike in Towsely Canyon.  It was a lot of fun to be out amongst the green hills (before they turn brown) and looking at some of the wild flowers.  My girls were little troopers, though I did have to carry Brae for some of it.  We finished off the afternoon with a lunch and went home to take naps!  

My silly girls!
A fellow hiker took this family shot for us.
Up high with Santa Clarita behind us.  Brae snapped this one, pretty good huh?
Our dog Kobe was lovin' life!
Checking out the stream

Tori's First Lost Tooth!

We finally ventured into a whole new world of lost teeth....  or tooth so far.  Logan never lost a tooth before she went to heaven, so this was a first for us as parents.  It happened while Daniel was out of town at the Final Four so I had to capture it on video for him.  I really didn't think she would do it, but to my surprise she did!  Enjoy the video! (Remember to scroll down and mute on the playlist so you can hear the audio)

Our little Runner!

Track season is coming to an end here pretty soon, but had to put up a few more pics of our little runner.  Tori absolutely loves running!  We knew the girl had endless energy, but she is blowing us away with her endurance!  Below is a pic of her running and then a video of her winning an 800m race in Simi Valley.  There were 16 kiddos in the race and she got first place, with the second place person 18 seconds behind her.  It was pretty amazing!  Some sentimental value to this race is that it was held at Royal High school is Simi Valley, where I ran when I was in Junior High.  Of course they have a newer tartan track, but nonetheless it was kind of fun to think that I ran in that same place many a years ago! (You can mute the music by scrolling all the way to the bottom and muting the playlist)

Lovin' the new computer!!!

Just want to tell you that we got a new computer that is so much faster then my old one!!!!!!  I did not realize how much time I was wasting.  I only would make updates if I new I had time to sit here for awhile.  Well, with my fast computer, it's so much easier to upload pics, etc.  I know you may all be laughing at me, thinking ,"It's about time!"  Just had to share my joy in the blessing of a fast computer!!

Tori's First Track Meet - March '09

Here we come Olympics 2020 with our little runner! We thought we'd try track out for Tori this Spring. The kiddo has endless energy and loves to run everywhere she goes. So far, so good! She loves it! Of course the social part is the best, playing patty cake while waiting in line seems to top the list. Doing cartwheels on the open infield is a plus, but when it comes to race time she is one focused little munchkin! She is part of the Santa Clarita Storm Track Club. She practices twice a week at a local high school and has meets on Saturdays.
That's her on the left running the 800m (two laps). She followed this girl all the way around 1and3/4 laps and then made her move on the straight away and won the race!

We learned a lot about the "all day" track meet. Need to be prepared.....!

All ready to go for my first meet!

Here she is running the 200m race. She got 1st place in her heat, 2nd overall. She is just so stinkin' cute! She has such a competitive spirit,not sure where she gets it :) must be from her Uncle Steve! (You can mute the music on the playlist if you scroll all the way down to it so you can hear the audio)

First Grade Performance - We Love America!

March 26th was Tori's first grade performance at school. They had a patriotic theme and all the kiddos sang the good 'ol American songs...Yankee Doodle, This Land is your Land, Star Spangled Banner, etc. You know the ones we all learned in school! Tori loves being on stage and showin' her stuff!
Our Little Yankee Doodle!

Her classmates from Room 7

Tori and her teacher Mrs. West