Filled With Love

I just wanted to take a few moments to express how much I LOVE my wife.

As a guy... it is just something that I don't say enough... and I should. So, I thought that this blog would be a great way to surprise my wife with an 'I LOVE YOU!'

Every day I think about her and all that she does. She is amazing!

Right now we are listening to a great sermon series... "My Marriage Is Dead" at Jordan Creek Family Church http://www.jordancreek.org/ and it is such a great opportunity to continue working on ME.

So all you "GUY'S" out there that read this blog post... tell your wife "I LOVE YOU." It is long over due. So with that I say...

"Sandy... I LOVE YOU! Every Day!"

Your Husband... Paul

Volunteering

I cannot tell everyone how excited I am!! Today, Adele and I took an orientation course for Raccoon Valley Animal Sanctuary and Rescue (website: rvaspets@msn.com). They are a no kill shelter and have been licensed through Ceasar (the dog whisperer).

We will be doing different volunteer things with them but our first one is going to be at the Jordan Creek Petco! Adele will be running a lemonade stand and we will also have Halloween M&M cookies. All proceeds and donations will go directly to this non-profit organization.

Come out and support us!! If you would like to get yourself or your children involved in volunteering (never to early to start plus looks great on college apps) please let me know and we will get you hooked up! Lots of great fun ways for kids to help out!

First Grade Fellowship

Amy and Jen did a fabulous job with providing food for our starving and growing first graders!

I had an awesome time visiting with some moms that I have not had a chance to get to know yet this year. I have heard a lot about their children but it was so much fun to talk to the moms! Especially the moms of the boys. In the picture is Seth's Mom and Brady's mom and then it is Adele's best friend Kendra's mom, Kristy and then me!

I went nervous and thought I would duck out early but stayed to the end because we had some awesome conversation between us at the "singles table" - none of us in the picture had spouses with us! It was great to see the kids run and play!

The best part was that Mr Lambert - the principle - showed up and guess what? Dr. Stouffer - superintendant - was even climbing the playground equipment with the kids. I wish I had my camera but thanks to Amy she brought hers and caught our 3 cutest girls together in matching pink outfits (Adele, Isabella, and Kendra).

How cool is that? Have you ever gone to a school where the Principle and the Superintendent show up and play to a fellowship with kids and parents?!!

Thank you God for providing a wonderful education to our girls!!

Medicine Bow Springs Ranch

Wow! It was wonderful to be in God's creation without the technology. Our family just got back from spending 7 days in a wilderness. It was so amazing. No TV, phone, Internet, etc! Paul's Aunt owns 2 homesteads (160 acres a piece) in the middle of mountains. We had time for mushroom hiking, four wheel riding, horseback riding, reading, talking, and many more activities (including identifying different kinds of scat - bear, elk, deer, cats!).

This is a picture of Adele "steering my horse by myself."

This is Claire (Paul's Mom), Aunt Mary and myself collecting the largest bunch of Honey mushrooms Aunt Mary has seen since they bought the homesteads in 1971. Aunt Mary and I found Satan's mushrooms. They are poisonous and will give you hallucinations. Needless to say we did not cook or eat them!

Adele lost her first tooth there. Which is amazing because you know the fairies there have so many fairy rings where they live among the forest - Adele was sure to score big! Of course, I forgot to mention that Gma and Gpa were there so I am sure the tooth fairy was inclined to leave a larger sum than normal.

On one of the rainy days, we were bored and Adele found a 550 piece puzzle. I don't remember ever doing a big puzzle like this in over 20 yrs. Anyway, come to find out it was only a 547 piece puzzle because we were missing 3 pieces!

This is a picture on one of our hikes. Paul, Aunt Mary, Sandy, Lowkey, Adele, Gma, Gpa (left to right)

On Saturday the 13th, we wanted to leave in the morning. God has blessed the forest with over 3 days of rain. It needed it because it was so dry. Unfortunately it makes the descent very dangerous and slippery. We had to wait until Saturday afternoon to depart. God knew what he was doing because while Paul, Adele, and his cousin Mike went exploring again on the four wheelers, Aunt Mary, Paul's Mom (Claire) and I hiked up to this most amazing Panarama view. We stopped to sit on the chairs God provided (wonderful rocks covered in moss) and we all prayed together for what God has given us. It was a wonderful woman moment where we each took time to pray for each other as well as our country, church, work, people who impact our lives. It was amazing. Thank you God for the precious time that we had at Medicine Bow Springs Ranch and for the wonderful precious world you have given us until we are able to be with you in a better place!

The above pics are Adele and her friend Rayann (we only saw her for a day but they had fun hiking and using their imaginations as they played together in nature!) The second is one in which we rode four wheelers for some amazing views of the mountains around us.

The Best Bed Ever

So as parents, Paul and I try to teach Adele chores to help around the house. For example, when she is done eating, bring your plate and load it into the dishwasher. She still needs to work on that as her items are very creatively arranged in the dishwasher. I think my husband thinks I need lessons on this because he likes to rearrange things that I put in there too!

This picture is of Adele's bed that she made by herself for the very first time! Usually Paul and I (actually I mean I haha) help her with this task but as you can see our artist is at work!

Fun at Adventurland

Adele is an awesome person to take to riding parks. Paul got her on 2 of the big "adult rollercoasters". I think she was a little afraid but with big daddy beside her to keep her safe from harm she did amazing. Adele and I did the spinny rides which daddy does not like to do (or maybe I should say his tummy does not like to do!)