Fun with the Simmons

Here's some pictures of us hanging out with our friends, The Simmons. We were there babysitting actually so their Dad could be with mom and baby at the hospital. Their baby, Caleb was born 4 weeks before Easton and has been having lots of trouble eating and gaining weight, among other things. They've been in the hospital for the better part of the last month. If you think of it, say a prayer for Caleb and the Simmons.

Brendan and Noah racing.

Julianne posing with her bike!

Noah doin' tricks

The gang, minus the babies

Wyatt's first date with Isabelle. He drove.

We thought Wyatt and Isabelle were so cute. Rand and I were imagining him a teenager taking a girl out to a movie or something. But when Isabelle got out she said, "Bye Dad." And Wyatt said, "Have a good day at school sweetie." Alright. Let's skip dating and go straight to parenthood! :)

Brendan and Wyatt going off-road.

There's my boy Easton. He just chilled in the stroller.

You Gotta Read This

Most of you know my friend Jessie, but some of you don't. She's over there to the right on my blogroll. I've been waiting and waiting for her to post this particular story, but since she had some blogging difficulties and took 3 days to finish the post, she's not popping up to the top of my blog list. So I'm putting her on the front page here. :)

In case you don't know my lovely friend, our parents went to high school together and so Jess and I have known each other since we were born. Grew up in little ol' Shelton (as did our parents) and graduated in the same high school class. After college, marriage and moving back to Shelton, Jess and I ended up living just blocks from each other. Her daughter Bella was born 10 months after Brendan and I babysat her 4 days a week for the first 2 years of her life. Oh I painfully miss them!
Anyway, Jessie's husband Dale, just about got taken out by the avalanche on Mt. Rainier last weekend. You should read about it.

You can click on her link to the right or check it out here: Dale Is Crazy! (he's really not but this story is)

Love you, Jess. So glad this story has a happy ending!

Baseball=Spring in Arizona

Spring is here! Actually it isn't (I would know because my due date is the first day of spring), but Spring Training is here, and that means Spring for most people. There are lots of people here in Arizona right now just to watch baseball games. Yesterday we went to a Mariner's game with my parents and our friends from Washington (Greg and Linda). It was lots of fun. When we lived in Arizona before we lived right by the Mariner's spring training field, but for some reason we never went to a game. I have no idea why. Guess we didn't think we'd be moving in a year....and then moving back in a year....well, you know the story....
It was kind of funny as we walked through the parking lot because half of the license plates were from Washington, Oregon and California. Obviously a lot of people who had flocked here for a week or so of Spring fun. Rand kept saying, "Go home Snowbirds. Go home Snowbirds, " because that's what people who live here say. I wonder if anyone noticed our car had a Pennsylvania license plate on it? Talk about Snowbirds!
So yes. Lots of fun. Beautiful weather. Good company. Etc... I would have had more fun not being insanely-huge, read-to-burst pregnant, but I still had fun! By the end of the game I'd puffed up like a balloon and asked Rand to roll me into the house when we got home. He actually tried. Turns out I'm about as easy to roll as I am to carry. So I lugged myself in. Thought maybe it would have triggered labor being in the sun all day like that, but here I sit (It's about 2:30am I've been asleep, awake, and back to sleep twice. No action).




There it is again....The belly that never leaves me.
Kids got to run the bases after the game. They took it very seriously and ran as fast as they could.

On The River

A couple friends, from our small group, invited us to go out on their boat last night on the Schuylkill River. It was lots of fun, and great to see the river from a different vantage point. Apparently the river is broken up into sections where you can and can't go...usually due to shallow water and/or dams and waterfalls, so we kind of went back and forth, up and down the river between the buoys. They took us to a spot (past where you are supposed to go) to a little island that usually has some exposed beach. Due to all the rain we've had this summer, the river is pretty high and we only found shallow water....no beach! We got out anyways and the boys went swimming. It was really fun. No people, no cars, no noise.....just a really ugly power plant and a lot of lovely nature. :)

4th of July Fun

Some friends came over yesterday to help us celebrate the 4th (us with no family nearby) and we decided our backyard should be a campground. It worked pretty well. Nothin' like plenty of room!

Our campground!

This was the boys first experience with fireworks. The smoke bombs were a big hit!

And the snakes....which the boys decided didn't look like snakes at all. :)

There were sparklers, too, but I was the one lighting them and making sure no children caught on fire...so no pictures. :(

....................................this picture is totally blurry, but totally cracks me up!

The Hard Part

This is the part I've been dreading. The goodbyes, and this week has been full of them. I don't think I can leave without writing about this part though....even though it's hard. My mind has been flooded with memories and thoughts of the past year and a half....17 months exactly tomorrow. I started this blog originally because I was moving away from home to Arizona. I was mostly not wanting to go. The blog was a way to keep family and hometown friends up to date with pictures and such. Ugh......I could go on and on about what happened next...and then after that...and then after that. All leading to this moment. All I know is that God knew what He was doing all along in bringing me here to Phoenix. I can't help but think this was just a short pitstop on the way to a bigger plan than we had originally thought. A pitstop to repair relationships between Rand and I and other family members. A pitstop to get to spend some time with Rand's family. A pitstop for the boys to totally bond with their grandpa. A pitstop for grieving and a place where friends from the past and a few new ones would help me do that. What are the chances that 3 good friends from college would be here to pick up the pieces of the "me" that would arrive after that dreadful drive from Washington to Phoenix.

I have the greatest friends. If I had to leave my best "sister" friends back home....this was the next best thing. Cody, Ashley and Beth. I met them my first day of my sophomore year at Biola. We all lived on the same floor. And for this last year, we all lived in Phoenix (except Ashley who spent most of it in Scotland, but I'm not counting that). It was the best. Looking back, it seems like every girls night with them turned into a bunch of crying as we relived all those first moments of when my brother died. I was so lucky to have them here. They practically carried me half the time. Always reaching out....even when I was locked in my "cave". I sometimes wonder if I am really ready to leave them. I guess God thinks I am.
Speaking of how great they are.....check out what they got me!
(Thank you Cody, Ashley, Beth and Amy!)

Can you believe that??? I am soo excited...and sooo incredibly grateful for everything. I love you girls so much and after a year like this last one I know for certain that our friendship will stretch to forever. I will never forget how you were there for me over these last 17 months.

Here we are with all our kiddos! (7 plus one on the way)

In addition to these three were several new friends who have also been important to me. Amy, Joann and I met at a mom's group I attended. An interesting mom's group, but ultimately played an important role in my life over the last year and a half. It was one little piece of "normal" that I seemed to have. Something consistent that kept me going. I wish I would have had more time with both these girls!
Amy and I (fellow homebirther, fellow Seattle lover...and fellow pastors wife!)
Joanne and I (Fellow griever..enough said!)

My next best friend, whom I must mention, is Marieelena. Met her at church and to tell you the truth we only went to the same church for just a little bit, but clicked immediately nonetheless. She moved right down the road from me and we quickly hit the pavement together, going for walks nearly everynight. We like to say it was for the exercise, but clearly it was for the hmmm...how should I say it....."venting"? How 'bout a Christian word....fellowship? No, that's not right. I guess it was just for the friendship. All that walking and talking quickly made us just like old friends. Sometimes we'd go a whole extra mile just because there was still too much to talk about. She's an east coast girl, so she has been more than encouraging about our move! She made me a beautiful "Willie"memory box for all my special Willie things that I will truly treasure. (Forgot to take a picture before I packed it! You'll have to see it later)

.
I am really going to miss all my friends here. There are more I know I should mention, but I am afraid that I might bore everyone to tears. These girls, especially, have been my lifeline as I have navigated through the unfamiliar territory of grief. It's weird that I am talking so much about grief. It's not like the day to day involves so much thought about grief or even processing it consciously, but when I look back on this last year and a half...that's about all I see. A process, healing, growing, hurting....and these girls there. Even when it was just a "Hello. How was your week?" To me, it was "grief help". God was so good to bring me here and give me people to fill in holes that I didn't even know I had. I'm so sad to say goodbye, but so thankful to have spent this last year here.

I do not know when I will post again. The computer is getting unplugged and off we go!