Babymoon

The devoted Mr. Garland and I got to take a trip to Colorado last weekend... sans kids. Huge kudos to my folks for watching our 3 offspring for 3 days... they are lifesavers I tell you. It's been a long time since we've travelled alone: Italy and Greece in 2004, 5 years ago. It was great to get in a trip before G4 arrives early next year.

Travelling with your husband, on an airplane, minus kids, allowed me to do crazy things like quietly read a book, have wonderful uninterrupted conversation with the love of my life, and not have to worry about snacks for little people. I was a "normal" adult again, for a little while. What a much needed break and change of scenery, that I highly recommend for all!

Our main event for the weekend was Jeff's good friend Lyle's wedding to Bethany. What a fun and beautiful ceremony. It's so wonderful to celebrate a marriage of two people who have waited on the Lord for their spouse. Dating/courting is not an easy feat in this age, and I'm so glad I'll never have to do it again (of course I love dating my own husband), but certainly feel for those who are in the dating world right now, looking for a spouse. It's tough. So yeah, Bethany and Lyle!

We stayed with Jeff's folks and had fun catching up with Jeff's parents and sister Julie, who all live in Denver. Good times.

We also got to visit with my brother, James, and his bride Lauren and their two sweet girls. James and Jeff squeezed in an outdoor game of disc golf Saturday, and it was a good thing because the snow flakes were sure coming down Sunday! I got to spend time with Lauren and the girls, looking through newborn baby girl clothes that I get to borrow... wahoo! Pink, pink, and pink!

Living in San Diego for 2 years now, I'm officially a weather wimp. I'm so very spoiled to have temps in the 80s almost year round. Sure, we have our cold streaks and heat waves, but for the most part it's mild and lovely. Being in Colorado reminded me of my 9 years living there: scraping ice/snow off the windshield, cold days and sunny days to melt the snow in a snap. I was so glad that it snowed while we were there, it was beautiful, but it also really made me appreciate the wonderful weather we have here, year round. I figure I'll find joy in wherever I end up living, just need to have the right attitude.

Snow coming down! Haven't seen the white stuff in quite some time.

Fun times with my sister-in-law Lauren and their sweet girls.

Crazy Uncle James and N rolling down the hill.

Sweet niece N, age 4.

Cutie niece B, age15 months.

We miss living near these gorgeous mountains, and the fall foliage... amazing.

I love this shot of Lauren!

Wedding duds: my 6 month belly.

Fun times with Jeff's fam: Julie, Fred, Louise, Jeff and me.

Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Lyle DeVries! What a beautiful wedding.

Freshly dusted Rocky Mountains, the amazing view from our plane window on our ride home.

Ahhh, time alone with my sweet husband.

Call me refreshed.

Dad's Nemesis

You are about to observe a creature that has wreaked havoc in my dad's life for (at least) the last year.

These dirty rotten scoundrels are just trying to survive, and be comfortable. Sea Lions enjoy the Newport bay, especially now that it's been cleaned up and has plenty of yummy fish. They like to climb onto moored boats and sun themselves, watching sailboats go by. It sounds like a simple and harmless act...

until 6 of them 300-pound beasts climb on YOUR boat and... it sinks.

Yes, it's happened. Not to my dad's boat yet, but it's a definite possibility.

The sea lion population is only increasing with every year.

My dad is a fighter, and he's not giving up. He's trying contraption after contraption to battle the sea lion bulge. This is his boat's latest vice (pvc pipes with metal spikes, fencing and random patio chairs), but unfortunately, it's not working very well in this shot.

Go, Dad, go!

Memory Monday: Baby Girl

June 2004

Round two: Bring on the pink.

It's been over 6 years since we've had a baby girl in our house. (We're expecting our second daughter to be born in February 2010.) Here's our oldest daughter, S, at 1 year old. It's hard to imagine what it'll be like to have not one but two girls in our home. Also, this may sound basic but S is the only daughter I've ever known so we have no idea what a second Garland girl will look like. Our two sons have some definite (wonderful) personality differences that I never would have guessed, and I think they look very different. But then I am their mother and know them really well.

I'm guessing there will be some similarities in our girls, but G4 will be her own person, uniquely designed by God.

We love all our kids, and are so excited to meet our sweet G4.

Goats

Our dear friends recently moved into a new home that has land... and space for goats (and other livestock). How fun is this home?!?! Bike ramps and goats named Clover and Snowball in the backyard. Heaven.

Elliotts

Our good friends, Brian and Jeannine Elliott, came to visit San Diego earlier this month and we got to enjoy a great weekend with them. Jeannine and I are long-time friends so it was great to catch up with them both. Before kids, Brian, Jeannine, Jeff and I would enjoy hiking 14ers and camping together in Colorado. Such good times... that continue now, except with kids, and without 14ers! The Elliotts have two cuties, ages 2 and 4.

Jeannine and me.

The Brian Elliott Family.

Z, R and S.

For many years (before kids) we would meet the Elliotts for New Years Eve dinner in downtown Denver at the OSF (Old Spaghetti Factory), followed by fireworks on the 16th Street Mall. Since we moved 2 years ago, we decided to re-enact the annual event, a few months early for 2010. Our "party of 4" has grown to a "party of 9" - God is so good!

Fun Videos

Found these 2 videos recently on the blogosphere... enjoy!

Crazy Jumpers... I got my cardio workout today by just watching this video.

or, go here.

Also, here's a fun improv set-up:

Airport Tour

A few weeks ago, we set up a tour of our local, newly remodeled airport terminal. Our group consisted of about 20 people, family friends and Jeff's co-workers. It was a great tour, lots of good questions from kids and adults alike, about airport TSA baggage and security issues, etc.

The Operations Manager points out features on the tarmac.

Even "big kids" (Jeff's engineering co-workers) enjoyed checking out the airport firetruck.

Heading to make the climb up the traffic control tower (in the distance) for a tour. Very very cool. The controllers were hard at work, monitoring helicopters lifting off, airplanes landing. No photos allowed up there. Security was t-i-g-h-t. Overall a wonderful tour for all.

Memory Monday: Halloween 2006

Halloween 2006 (S-4yrs, J-2yrs, Z wasn't born yet): In Colorado, you have to basically plan your costumes around the weather, which can be warm but is typically cold, sometimes even snowing. I think I remember it was cold this year, so we lasted maybe 10 minutes knocking on neighbor's doors before our fingers were too cold to hold our candy bags, and we turned in for the night.

We didn't want to have too much candy, anyway...

Surf Bowl

Living near the ocean, of course the bowling alley near us is called "Surf Bowl." We had a coupon from the kids' summer reading programs, so we used it today for some free bowling. Amazingly, we didn't smash any fingers in the ball return, and had a great time.

We did have one "dead ball" episode. One of Z's (our 2 yr old) balls actually came to a complete stop mid-lane (now that's slow) and started rolling back towards us. Now that's talent, sheer bowling prowess.

Each kid (S, J, and Z) each got one spare!

Oh, and hooray for whoever designed bumper rails. Except leave it to Z to actually put the bowling ball outside the bumper, in the gutter. Check out this video:

Happiness

The devoted Mr. Garland and I enjoyed some In-n-Out on a recent date night. Shakes and burgers (animal style, of course) make us happy.

Pumpkins

We were having a little too much fun playing with the camera, and, well, trying on our pumpkin costume this morning.

Pumpkin boy Z.

Baby girl G4 is 5 months along! Got to hear her strong heartbeat this morning at my OB appt. Best sound in the whole. wide. world. Z is doing something goofy with his shorts here. Not sure what.

Pumpkin boy J. All pumpkins need a magnifying glass, don't you know.

And while we're doing pumpkin photos, here's one more...

Pillow Steps

Hemming Away...

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.--Anonymous

AWANA

We love Awana at our church! Awana stands for "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed." This year is a first for us... we have 3 kids in 3 different groups. S is in Sparks (K-2), J is in Cubbies (age 3-4) and Z is in Puggles (age 2). Not many programs include the Puggles group (fyi a puggle is a baby platypus), so it's a huge treat for Z to be included this year.

The devoted Mr. Garland helps out in Sparks and I'm a Cubbies leader in J's class. We love memorizing scripture, and you know how it goes... kids' brains are like sponges, they soak this stuff up! (I wish my brain was still sponge-like.)

Recently.

Random photos from every day life...

S is in a traditional 1st grade classroom two days a week now, so I'm trying to figure out how to pack a lunch. Not that it's rocket science or anything, but I want to pack foods S will enjoy and also make it healthy and easy for me. She's in charge of snacky foods such as carrot sticks, fruit cups and trail mix. I assemble her main meal which is usually leftover spaghetti pie (our current family favorite meal) heated up and placed in her hello kitty thermos. S is not a huge fan of PBJ right now (hopefully that will change) but we're figuring this out together. I recently started filling a sippy full of milk, and am longing for the days of 10 cent cold pints of milk, what I had as a kid. Oh how nice that would be. If you want to see some amazing colorful kid lunches, go check out Lunch Nugget. She put's together some pretty amazing meals for her little one. I'm always on the lookout with ways to keep sack lunches new and fresh.

Check out these beauties. This was the last of our tomato crop this year. I think I might make a big batch of pasta e fagioli with our remaining tomatoes and basil.

I'm not a huge soda fan, I drink maybe one soda per week. But when I'm el prego, every once in a while (who are we kidding... every day) I get an urge for some hard core sugar, and these two drinks are my favs right now. I'm supposed to stay away from caffiene, so these two fit the bill. I know, probably too much information.

Loving my CBS Bible study (Genesis) this year so far. Love that they have a great bible-based homeschooling program for S, and she's also studying Genesis in her class. We're memorizing the same scriptures together, and even have similar weekly homework. J and Z also really enjoy their classes. It's so good to be in God's word on a regular basis.

These are two books (along with others) on my nightstand right now. Checked out from the library, of course. Good stuff.