Let me introduce you to...

My darling sister and brother-in-law had their precious and beautiful baby girl yesterday. If they had their own blog, I'd let Leah post the pictures first, but since they don't I'll do the honors. She is absolutely scrumptious, and it certainly doesn't hurt that she might just be one of the cutest newborns I've ever laid eyes on. Jeff and Leah, we are so incredibly excited for you guys and so thankful for the precious life God has created.

P.S. I love the last minute name change. It definitely suits her!





With these three big brothers, Ruby will not lack any love, attention, or protection. She is one lucky girl!









While the birth of this sweet girl has been taking place, we have had the privilege of having the oldest brother (and the boys' cousin) Grant with us. To celebrate his little sister's birth, we did a little of this:



And some of this:



And as if the day hadn't already been awesome enough, we came home to this:



Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

One of the best weeks of my life...

This evening we returned from what was definitely one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. We spent the week camping at the beach, just the 4 of us. I honestly don't think I can express how much joy it brought to my heart to just sit around and enjoy my family and God's creation for a whole week. And since words don't really do it justice anyway, I'll just show you the pictures. I do, however, feel the need to mention, as embarrassing as it is to admit, that I did actually cry when we left. I know we'll be back before too long, but God sure filled my heart to the brim and leaving was harder than I expected. So without further ado, here's a glimpse at our week at Kalaloch:

(prepare yourself, there are far too many pictures here)


















































This is definitely one of my favorites. There's just something about it:





About half way through the week, I asked Owen what his favorite part of being at the beach was. I was expecting him to name one of the many fun activities we had done (bike riding, playing in the sand, roasting marshmallows, climbing the rocks, going on the nature trail, etc.) Instead, he thought about it for a few seconds and replied, "Playing with Silas." Maybe now you can understand why I cried when we left.








And finally I will leave you with a few that I played with a little bit. Hope you enjoyed the endless pictures as much as I do (ok, that's impossible, but still)...

Ok, so I guess it's been a while...

Yeah, sorry about the major blog slacking lately. I guess that's what happens in the summer when the evenings get filled up with a million other things more productive than sitting in front of the computer. But it really has been too long, so I decided to give you all an update on what we've been up to recently. To celebrate Independence Day, we did a whole lot of this:












And we've also been doing a considerable amount of this lately:



And then we had a birthday party for this sixty-year-old:



And finally there is this sweet boy who I absolutely adore:





And to top it all off, we are leaving Saturday for a week of camping at the beach. You have NO idea how excited I am. Just me, my 3 boys, and God's beautiful creation for a whole week! I promise there will be a plethora of pictures to post when we return. So until then...