grandparents and a cousin

here are a few pictures from our time in colorado - (it is hard getting a good picture when you are dealing with 4 people, two of which do not look at the camera on cue)...
hey there cuz...

pumpkin patch

the pumpkin patch was a little over the top for me. lots of childrens' songs - lots, very high energy; as a new mom i was not prepared. but i could see how the farm would be a young boy or girl's dream come true.

sammy took it all in... on the wagon on the way to the pumpkin patch
with erin (kurt and erin, amy and sean and nikia came too!)

erin, sammy and me
end of the afternoon... sam is ready for a nap
all and all a lovely fall afternoon. and now we have three pumpkins :)

we are officially a young family

we are going to a pumpkin patch this afternoon :)

pictures to come...

pretty girls

spending a week in upland with the mosers was so good. refreshing, encouraging, good. oh my we love them!! isa was incredible with sammy. she showed her such attention and care. isa certainly has a nurturing spirit and samantha ate it up!

sammy loves her auntie b!

dedicated to the Lord

while we were in colorado sweet ellis jane was dedicated to the Lord.
sleeping in papa's arms. a mighty nice place.

we love you dear ellis jane. you are amazing. you have shown us your strength from day one. and i know the Lord will use you in mighty ways for his glory. he certainly has great plans for your life. and it is our delight to commit to loving you and showing you Jesus.

ps

faith also plans to rest all day today. rest or pout - it is hard to say which. she loved her time in bellingham with my parents and tried to sneak back in their house when it was time to leave.

don't worry faith - we wouldn't forget you - much to your dismay.

thanks so much mom and dad for watching and caring for our ball obsessed doggie!! so much so that she is in a deep depression after leaving. :)

goal for today

goal: unpack and do some laundry.

we will see if it happens. sammy and i were asleep at 8:30 last night after waking up at 3:15 am (indiana time). two plane flights and a two hour drive, a birthday celebration (my grandpas) and a 1.5 hour drive and a trip through an international border and lots of awake time later - we arrived at home.

our trip was amazing to say the least. i have a few great pictures that i hope to post in the next few days. we LOVED seeing everyone. LOVED!

samantha did great. she was a wonderful traveler and we believe she really does seem to have a relaxed personality. it was fun to see her take everything in. we already scouted out her room at taylor, and she and hannah b plan to move in year 2027 :)

ok. sammy is ready for nap number 1 of the day and i may just join her.

cousins!

sammy met her cousin ellis on saturday!! these two were so cute together.

here they are checking each other out:
be gentle with your younger cousin ellis :)
two cute little ladies
we all agreed that christmas will be very fun to see these two hang out more. i know they will be great friends!!

hanging out in the airport

sammy did great on her first flight! she ate, took a nap and did some wiggling.

celebrating mom

we traveled to bellingham friday night to celebrate my mom (and spend the night for our flight out of seattle on saturday).

here is sammy taking a snooze on grandma
danielle offering peace and a happy mom and dad
uncle jacob
birthday cake - i made a lemon cake and it turned out pretty well
happy birthday mom! we love you so much!!

strawberry sweetcake

and so much thanks to marilyn for the super cute hat!! we get compliments everywhere we go :)

samantha's photo shoot

this is one of the many amazing images mark schulz, our dear family friend, took of samantha on her two month birthday. mark takes pictures as a ministry to families in ministry. we feel completely blessed by both mark and marilyn, his wife. sammy now has three of the cutest hats knit by marilyn, and i hope to post some pictures of sammy in those hats soon.

check out a few more of the pictures here.

we love you mark and marilyn and are incredibily thankful for you!!

sammy jean is 3 months old and loves her daddy

these pictures were taken on oct 4, samantha's three month birthday. it is so fun to watch sammy grow and see her change before our eyes. she can track people from across the room, turn her head to the sound of my voice and is regularly putting her hands in her mouth. she loves to talk and smile at everyone. she does, however, need her alone time and enjoys laying on the ground and wiggling in circles on her back. she wakes up once or twice a night to eat but goes quickly back to bed. she is beginning to laugh more and more - her favorite time to laugh is when her clothes are being changed.

sammy is going on her first airplane ride on saturday. we would appreciate all of your prayers for this first travel experience! :)

fall festival

this outfit of sammys reminded me of our dear friend keri. keri loves the fall and while we lived in aurora we would have a fall festival with her and charlie, which really meant keri would cook all kinds of ymmy fall foods for us all to eat and we would watch football. such good memories!!