Trout Creek Bible Camp

Saturday we picked Marquez up after a week of camp. He had such a fun week and we had missed him so much! Marquez's favorite part of camp was when they had a mud fight- boys vs. girls. He got to take mud and dump it in the girls' hair and apparently he really enjoyed that. Boys!!!!

But on a more serious note, summer camp is such a neat time of spiritual growth. Thank you to all you relatives who gave him birthday money to go to camp. Thank you for investing in his life like this. He liked the Fireside time every night when all the campers got together for worship and sharing. One of the nights Marquez encouraged his friend to go up there and accept Christ and he did. That is awesome!

Ben tries out the big slide at camp. He really wants to go next year too when he is old enough.

Biruktawit came over after camp! We are so excited for her. She is going to have a new baby brother from Ethiopia soon :) Hopefully by Christmas?!?!

sweeties

Hillbilly Fun

Orin and I took the kids to the fair on Demolition Derby night. It has become one of our favorite traditions!

Makaylee thought Marquez needs one of these for our lawn :)




The kids were afraid the lama would spit on them but the owner explained that he trained his lamas not to spit by squirting them in the face.

"Did you just see that?"

never seen a cow poop before

that was educational

The hay is always better on the other side of the fence.

Makaylee's not so sure about the horns

loves the baby goats

the boys waiting with great anticipation for the Demolition Derby to start

my hillbilly hottie

You know you're a redneck if you think "Start Your Engines!" is the last line of the National Anthem

The house was too quiet...

The other day the house was too quiet and I couldn't find the girls. Last time this happened Nyah was coloring on toy boxes and window sills with a black crayon. To my happy surprise they had snuck outside to play in the sand where we had the pool last year. We don't have a pool this year for that very reason- kids going outside without asking. They were playing together so nicely and it was so cute I grabbed my camera and followed them around for awhile.

Because everything she does is so cute...

Roses are Red

Roses are red

Dresses are blue

I hope you know

How much I love you.

Marquez picked a rose for Nyah yesterday while he was doing yardwork. He is so thoughtful. He sure knows how to make a sister happy.

So much to learn

I love watching these two enjoy each other's company.

Nyah follows Makaylee everywhere, repeating everything Makaylee says. Which can be a good thing... and sometimes a not so good thing :) We are working on Makaylee making sure her actions are pleasing to the Lord because little sister is learning so much from her. No more rolling your eyes at Mom or growling when sent to timeout because we have a parrot. Talk about accountability!

Makaylee pondering the deeper things in life... She took it upon herself to teach Nyah that God made everything and started listing off everything she could think of. Nyah was all ears!


Anything else about God that you wanna know, Ny? (I love how children view God so simply. "Faith like a child" is truly an amazing thing.)

Hair Day

Nyah got her first braids done at 21 months old today. She was such a big girl and sat so still. I saw her wincing a couple of times but she didn't complain. She'd look at me sometimes and say "Hold you?" and after 10 minutes I did have to use the backup plan...

... a sucker- and that was enough to get through the last five minutes! Now how do I keep Nyah entertained the next two hours while Makaylee gets her hair done? That was the hard part.

Time to tame the mane.

Voila!!!! This should last us another 2 months like the last one did.

So pretty!

a view from the back

(I love how the braids curl at the bottom!)

Thank you!

Grandpa and Grandma came over on their way home from the beach. Time to go to Pizza Hut! Grandma starts to feel like a celebrity with all the clamors for attention she gets :)

We used the gift card Uncle Jeff and Aunt Leah gave us for Christmas. What a cool present- the gift of family time! We wish they could have been here to use it with us.

Mommy's tired. Is it time for bed yet?

Nope! I am surrounded by too much cuteness!