Steve's New Ink

Steve is turning 28 in a couple of days and for his birthday I surprised him with a much longed for wedding ring tat'd. Steve has always wanted a ring tat'd, but last winter he lost his wedding ring and that kinda sealed the deal. This was the first time in I have no idea how long that I have been able to surprise him. Happy Birthday Honey!

The prep work...

Steve said that it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would, although it hurt pretty bad around the knuckle area- He had to stop and take a couple of deep breathes because he was super dizzy.

Finished product. The picture didn't turn out very well, but it's a cross with forever faithful in Hebrew in the middle with splashes of blue shining out from the sides.

Fall is here

Well it has actually been for awhile I know, but it hasn't felt like it till last night. Steve piled up some leaves for us to play in till we froze to death.

Sorry it's so blurry

Rembrance of last year:

We were talking to our next door neighbors yesterday about not remembering having so many leaves last year and we were all quickly reminded that we don't remember because none of us were here for it. It's hard to think that last year our mountain was in such a state of desperation and much hopelessness. A year later most have forgotten the devastation of the fire. I even sometimes forget it. Most of the little green bushes have grown back and the snow washed away all of the black. Most of the people that we knew who lost their homes have bought a new house or have started to rebuild, most of the rebuilding won't be done till next year. I have learned so much from friends who have lost their homes. They are all so strong and have grown closer as a family though it- funny how tragedies do that. My friend Brita was one who lost her house. She wrote this the other day and I was very blessed by her heart.

one year and the growth that comes with it
One year ago today the house burnt down. It is so weird to think a year has past since our family's life was turned upside down. A few things I have learned from this trial is our family has a great strength based on our Heavenly Father. Also I have a new faith in the Lord, when everything you had and loved is gone you realize what is important in life. The Lord never left us but instead taught me to be humble and trusting He is in control. Friendships, and family is so important, everything else is just stuff. Now we are blessed as our house is in the process of being rebuilt.

Across the street from the camp (actually the property we want to buy!)

Right across from our grass, you can compare with this years pics above.

Pumpkin Carving

Thursday we decided it was time to break into our pumpkins to get out all of those yummy seeds. He was so excited to have a big pumpkin, the one he got from the pumpkin patch was teensy.

Okay who gave him the Sharpie again? (You can still see the remnants of his zebra stripes)

Steve is definitely the artist in our family

Not sure what to think of the insides

My sorry excuse for a Mickey pumpkin

Steve was the spiritual one- good job!
Sammy has a new fascination with pirates-argh!

Don't worry, we didn't leave them lit outside. We didn't want to be the cause of the next big fire.

Zebra Boy

Tuesday morning I had to send out an email super fast so I sat down at the computer to find a link to something to send it to my sister in law Melissa. While I was at the computer, Sammy had found a Sharpie marker that had accidentally found it's way in to the tray of his easel and proceeded to draw ALL over his legs and even decided to throw a few stripes on the couch. UGH! The neatest thing is that he had colored on his right hand so i think we have a left-handed little boy. We called Daddy home and upon Steve asking why he did it Sammy replied "Zebra!". My goodness he is too cute. So that night Daddy scrubbed his legs to try to get it off, it worked for the most part but I think we will have grey stripes for awhile.

Pumpkin Patch

We went over to the Live Oak Pumpkin Patch a few weeks ago. Here are some picks from our super fun day.

Steve's Bee Sting

We had quite the exciting day yesterday. On Tuesday afternoon Steve had gotten stung by a stupid little yellow jacket a work- No big deal right? Well that's what we had thought. Tues. night the sting was a bit swollen but nothing more than normal, I'd say half a baseball, he took some benadryl and went to bed. Wed. he woke up to it about the size of a hot dog bun. I called the Dr and they had said really not a big deal, just take benadryl- so Steve took a double dose around 10 am. Noon: Steve came home for lunch and it had swollen almost to his elbow and up through his hand, so bad that he could not bend his wrist. Of course the whole time Steve thinks it's fine and he will just get over it w/ more benadryl. We went to urgent care and waited for 2 hours (I really dislike urgent care), I started to get a bit worried that it was taking so long as I am watching the swelling creep up past his elbow- scary huh. We finally got called back and saw the DR super fast. Poor Steve had to get a steroid shot in his butt and the doc prescribed some steroids to take for the next 5 days. As of 2:30 today the swelling has gone down a little. He is still quite funny with all the benadryl he's got pumping through his body, his hand and arm are still really swollen, but don't look like they are going to pop anymore.

And to think Steve usually gets stung once a year... I am a little sacred of the next time!

These two were taken as we were loading up into the car to go to Urgent care... Look at the hand.After the shot :)

Date Night

A few weeks ago Steve and I started our Thursday night dates. We decided to picnic up at Big Bear Lake and go fishing. It was so cold, so we only lasted for about an hour and a half. We got some coffee and just sat and caught up with or comings and goings. Unfortunately the past 2 weeks Steve has had to work during the weeknights, but next week is so on, and I can hardly wait.

We would love some great date ideas, so please help us.

Just leave your great ideas as a comment.