celebrating defense

thursday was defense's birthday and we had the chance to celebrate here in vancouver on saturday!

here we are after lunch - it was a little bright and pretty windy...
grandpa and sammy hanging out, watching d open gifts
i made a chocolate cake and it turned out pretty good if you ask me :)
happy birthday danielle - we love you so much!!

like mother, like daughter

as a previous thumb sucker (up until the age.... i don't know... like 10 - old enough where i was bribed with a barbie doll and stopped sucking my thumb...) i am proud to announce sammy has officially become a thumb sucker. my heart is full :)

rolling like a river... well kind of...

before church sammy had some business to take care of and we captured her third roll on video. enjoy! we are so proud!

another wedding

yesterday we were down with my family for another wedding - Sarah and Carl were married at a park right by the US-Canada border. Jenn and Defense are best friends; Carl is Jenn's older brother. here are some pictures from the afternoon:

Sammy smiling at her daddy -
weddings are very serious and so sammy has her game face on.
grandma anne and sam
papa geoff and samantha - he is helping her blow bubbles as the couple leaves
a great day!

the day after

and the celebration continued... at my parents' house. opening gifts
i took notes
beautiful
and faith was there
happy groom
it was an incredible weekend - danielle did an amazing job planning everything and it was very cool to see her vision come to fruition. and now they are married!!

reception

i currently don't have very many good pics of the reception... here is what i have...
toasts!cake, yum. and the little cupcake looking things were cheesecake, d's fav

worth it

(sammy and her doll taking a nap together).

samantha jean, you are worth it -
worth not fitting into most of my clothes the way i would like to
worth not sleeping through the night
worth having to perfectly time when i leave the house
worth not being able to form a clear sentence
worth having a slight lack in bladder control
worth the chance my bellybutton will never return to normal
worth not being able to remember simple words like ... well i can't think of any at the moment...
worth giving up counseling in the community

worth it. i love our days together. and i am trying to savor it all.

wedding day!

daddy and daughter ready for the big day.
stunning, she looked stunning
listening to tim share about marriage and the commitment they are making
latimers
rings
tim telling funny jokes, even he thought so :)
mr and mrs jacob kysar
serving the bride with smiles
knipp family
it was an incredible day! reception photos to come...

two hands and a mouth

sammy has discovered she has two hands and she can bring them together! and if she really concentrates, or just gets really lucky, she can put them both in her mouth. such a big girl :)

(picture is from the day of the wedding).

night before the big day

sammy had her 2 month photos taken by our dear family friend, mark. i can't wait to see the final photos - he did an amazing job!! thank you so much mark for capturing samantha!!
samantha captivated by her auntie defense. one of samantha's favorite pastimes is staring at her auntie. here sammy is looking across the table to her aunt. (the girls all went out to dinner and then back to the hotel to hang out friday night).


best friends!i love my sammy
sammy and averi (d's friend hailey's daughter) snuggling - samantha's first friend :)
sammy's new neighbor came home today - finely christopher. finely and his mom and dad are doing great. samantha is a giant next to sweet 8 pound fin. afterall, sammy now weighs 11.5 lbs!

nothing about shots are easy

from hearing her cry to seeing her more fussy than usual, nothing about shots are easy. she slept like a champ last night after having some trouble going to sleep. and she woke up with a bit of a fever, so we gave her some medicine. right now she seems in better spirits, but still not herself. i imagine she will sleep more than usual today. the worst is her cry - knowing her cry, and knowing this cry is different -like no other cry she has, the cry when she is in distress.

and more and more i get a taste for the Lord's heart towards me, towards all of us. how His heart must break when we cry out to Him in distress. and oh the comfort the truth is that He hears us when we call out to him, that He is near to the brokenhearted.

thank you Lord for hearing our cry.

rehersal evening

sammy and grandpa hanging out before the night began
father and sister
the happy couple
the three of us
sweet sam and her dad

today samantha got her 2 month shots. she seems ok but we will see how the night goes... i was glad tim came with us - he held her and i got to comfort her when it was all over.

please pray

for our neighbors. one way or another they will be having their baby very soon. they are at the hospital right now and will come home as a family of three.

thank you for your prayers for joyce, calum, and baby poppy.

when i saw these i just had to post them - way to go tim!

a taste