Corona del Mar

When you live in California it is amazing the things you take for granted. We were hoping to go to the tide pools and be able to check things out b/c we had never been. The tide wasn't quite right but we decided to go down to Corona del Mar anyway b/c we had never been there. It was an awesome day and we still got to see tons of sea anemones and even 2 starfish!Getting to the beach and checking everything out...also being careful not to step on any creatures!The seagulls swooped in on our lunch right away so we had to sit down and quick eat it....Gracie wasn't so sure that they weren't going to swoop it right out of her hands ;)

Showing a little love on the beach...we miss it!

Rob was in his glory on the beach and exploring all of the little creatures!

Got ourselves a family picture and a pic for our Christmas card...

The girls had so much fun with Megan running in and out of the water....

...and up and down the beach chasing birds and running out some energy Love the joy and carefree look that she had, she finally let loose and ran with Karys and Megan

Gracie and I found sticks to write our names in the sand...Daddy and Karys joined us not long after we startedLOVE THIS PICTURE! Wind blown beach hair and pure, innocent face....Karys LOVED the beach!

So did Malachi...he was so excited when he found a stick too and could draw and walk around with it! One of the big starfish we found down in the tide pool....

Rob holding up a big pile of seaweed he found floating nearby
Male bonding with Abram....we joke that is how we get our opposite gender fix ;)

A sea anemone that would close in whenever you touched it...don't tell though we weren't supposed touch them.

Getting ready to head back down to the rocks...bucket and shovel in hand
Rachel, Abram, and I....we missed Ryan coming with us but had such a great time at the beach with good friends!

Meg and I....Love this lady and so glad we got to spend so much of our trip with her!

Great Times in Bellflower

Words cannot explain the friendship that we found in the time we lived in California. It was so great to have the VerWys' open their house to us and just have the chance to "do life" with them again for the week! What a 'thankful' blessing to get to celebrate and be blessed with over the Thanksgiving holiday!

All of the kids helping Ryan in their AWESOME garden!Gracie and Karys loving working with the rake and hoe....to bad their mommy has a green thumb!Love this! The VerWys' have chickens, we woke up to them laying their eggs a couple of mornings...Karys wasn't so sure about the chicken. Can't believe how big this beautiful little boy is getting! What a sweetheart!

Tugged on my heartstrings to look at this picture. I have been blessed as has Rachel with husbands so willing to invest in the lives of our kids. The kids loved having Ryan read to them!
Gracie loving standing on the scooter and enjoying the sunshine!Rob getting the kids ready for a game of t-ballKarys was up first and hit it out of the parkMalachi was quite the slugger

Gracie was so focused....but hers went over the fence too ;)

Thanksgiving in Bellflower

Megan picked us up from LAX on Thanksgiving day. The girls had done great on the flights out, but we were so ready to be done traveling for the day. We had left Des Moines at 7:30am, drove to Omaha and then caught 2 flights to land us in LA around 4pm. We got really lucky and Megan drove up right when we got to baggage claim. The luggage came off in a spaced out way that allowed us to stay parked there and look like we were continually packing stuff in and trying to fit everything. We arrived at the VerWys house just in time for an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner! Thanks to all who brought food! And were able to spend the evenight with GREAT fellowship, catching up with Megan and old friends. We then got the girls settled and even went to bed early! It was a long, but very good day! Patiently waiting to eat Thanksgiving dinner...Gave Meg a hard time that this was the "kiddie corner" of the table ;) She replied back with there is nothing greater than the convos that happen there and taking the kiddos to the bathroom 15 times during the meal!
Ryan trying to figure out the best way to carve the turkey...

Rob, Ryan and Dirk discovered that the answer would be to all help out in the effort. Although at times I think they were taste testing more than they were carving ;) The turkey was AMAZING! They deep fried it out in the driveway in a big 30 gal pot. It was so moist and juicy...I usually don't like turkey and I thought it was it was so GREAT!

This is the only picture I took that day of Rachel and Abe...had to put it on ;) We were so happy to be in their home and with family and friends!Love this! Karys picking her nose, Gracie looking to Megan to see what to do and Megan smiling for the camera...Priceless!

Bethel Seminary Friends

While we were down in the Des Moines area we got the chance to connect with some of Rob's friends from seminary. It was so great! I got to meet ppl that I hear tons about and the same ppl my husband spends two weeks with twice a year! What amazing ppl God has connected Rob with...I am definitely looking forward to getting to know them more, and their wives and kids ;) over the course of the next 5 years. It will be so fun to watch our families grow and change in that time!

The whole gang at Palmer's Deli...We had some great food and and great time just chatting and enjoying the kids. Fun to see the Hermansen's with their new little girl Gwenyth and just seeing Gracie and Karys interact with her. Also had a great time chatting with John and Katie at Caribou Coffee before we headed over there. They had a busy weekend ahead of them as well as John was in the states for Thanksgiving. He is living in china right now and doing youth ministry over there so Rob was really excited to get to connect with him outside of seminary intensives.Me and Gracie with little Gwenyth in the background. Quite the adventure getting them to eat ;) Good thing that wasn't the focus of the day!

The Beginning of the Thanksgiving Tour...

We left home on Tuesday afternoon when Gracie was done with preschool and headed down to the Des Moines area to catch some family and friends who were in the area over break. Our journey took us straight to Monroe for some yummy tacos and the ever famous white elephant gift exchange with Rob's family. Greg and Kristen were up from Texas for the week with the boys and it was so good to have them there to celebrate and spend time together as well! The girls did so well on the drive down and had a blast hanging out with Aunties and Uncles and getting to stay up late ;)

Seth got to go first in the gift exchange...I honestly can't remember what he chose for his first gift but I remember that someone surprisingly enough stole it from him and he got to choose again. Nathan was so excited to help him open another present. Seth was showing his excitement over his new scented hand soap that he got!

John Elliot was really excited about his chocolate Monopoly game...he even tried to hide it so ppl would forget he had it and would not steal it from him. He ended up getting to keep it at the end of the game.

Nathan showing off his new CARS wipe board
Matt showing off his new hand towels...there were also really yummy amazing peppermint kisses in the bag. Pretty sure that got stolen ;) Brent showing off his hot item..."the Santa Clause" movie. This was stolen the full three times! Rob with his stamps and Starbucks gift card...He was trying to smile like Karys, I don't think it looks very unnatural...She gets it from him hands down!
Auntie Heather helping Gracie open her present...she was so excited about her Princess wipe board! Grandma Doreen really thought that box of tealights was hilarious ;)Shay with her beano....she also got a gift card for the other kind of gas ;)Not going to lie, I was pretty pumped about my Connect 4 game and the High School Musical candy canes were an added bonus ;)Kristen with her cute little cocoa cup and mini mallowsChad closed the game by choosing the final gift...the Hawkeye hat with the cute little penguin toe socks. Nathan was pretty pumped about the hawkeye hat ;)Gracie giving Uncle Seth a lesson on which princess is whichNathan and Karys showing some couninly love and posing for a picAt this point the girls had had quite a bit of sugar and were beyond tired so everything was so funny! They were having a great time with Kris and John jumping and laughingThe whole gang!!! Not going to lie, I love looking at this picture...I love that we were all together(Missing Grandpa of course)! Wish we could do it more often!