A special young lady

turns 5 today!

   5 reasons we are thankful for her:
1.  She is growing in leaps and bounds, learning new things, embracing KG and new friends, and teaching us every day.
2.  She is a wonderful sister, loving and teaching her little sister every step of the way.
3.  She has many questions that make us think, and many reminders of how God shows up in the 'small things'.  "Mommy, I guess God showed us the rainbow 2 times today so we would remember He will never again send a world-wide flood."
4.  She smiles and laughs every day.  Seems simple, but sometimes I'm not sure I've smiled and laughed enough.
5.  She is our firstborn, a reminder to us that God is faithful, and God is trusting us with raising her in His ways.  We're thankful we can count on Him to lead us as we try to do this.
To our dear Chelsie,
Happy 5th birthday!  We love and cherish you and pray you will continue to seek after God and treasure Him in your heart.  With lots of love,
Mommy and Daddy
All pictures taken by Urban Fig Photography

Summer days 2

Not sure where the time has gone, but I never did complete our summer pictures here!  So here are a few more pictures to remind us of the beautiful weather we enjoyed on our family vacation in Osoyoos.

We spent hours at the lake and in the pool

Brian and Chelsie did a Walnut craft challenge like the name of the resort:)

 Snuggle time

 Lots of swimming, jumping and splashing

Brynlie would say "1..2..3..  FUMP!" as she jumped off the stairs :D

 A Sunday drive through the orchards

with 2 special aunties who slept over

 More visitors on the beach on holiday Monday

 A truly beautiful place, especially after most people left on holiday Monday!

A special way to end our summer - time together!

A special Thanksgiving

Friends are people who lift you up, help you out, take care of you...God gives us friends.
This Thanksgiving I'm especially thankful that God has given me two different friends.
One is my husband.  It was his idea to go hiking on Thanksgiving Day, as we had dinner on Sunday this year.  And not just hiking, but hiking Mt Cheam, in October.  An unreal kind of hike, made possible by the blessing of our amazing weather this year!

The other is Melissa, my best friend, who offered to take the girls while we went hiking.  Brian's 5 hours turned into 8.5...and they were all still having fun when we returned :).  Thank you, Meliss!!  The pictures say it all - they were delighted to pick apples, wash the car, build a fort, hang out with Mrs S, mix brownies, nap in Uncle P's house, and of course eat brownies :).  It was very special to hear that they'd had such a wonderful day while we enjoyed hiking in the most amazing fall colours I've ever seen!!  I hope your Thanksgiving Day was one to be thankful for :)  Enjoy.

And while they were busy here...we were busy here:

 Did I mention the colours??!

Only God could create something this beautiful!  I was in awe as we hiked and said quite a few times, "Oh wow!  Look at these colours!!"

 At the top overlooking our valley :)

 While a bit hazy (maybe dust?), the view was still incredible.  The wispy clouds created their own landscape :)

Go find something to find God's beauty in :)    Enjoy your day. LM