shooting guns

so, for our leader christmas party this year, we took them all shooting!! it was my first time to ever even hold a gun...i was a little nervous, but it was so fun! the endlers set up a little competition for us all, and we had 3 stations to shoot at...the first ones here are with the rifle, then the shotgun, and sadly, i didn't get any pics of the pistol. it was SO fun for everyone!!

thanksgiving fun

thanksgiving was busy this year! we moved karis and thomas to a new apt (then they had to move her back cuz there were roaches...they found a new place to live!)...there was a special at six flags, so we took the whole family out the day before thanksgiving. had our normal lunch, then on to the vandys...thanksgiving lunch on friday...movie on saturday then home again. it was fast as usual...but always a blast!

baby spoon is coming!!

baby spooner is coming soon...and you can't even imagine how excited we are about this little man. we had karis' shower and had a blast doing it!! always a joy to be with my sisters!!

Nov 19

november 19 was logan's 12th birthday! we are so proud to be this kid's parents! he is a lot like me in personality...which can cause us some strife here and there....but it also really helps me to understand him. he is a boy of very few words. very little emotion. but it makes those little glimpses of his sweet heart so special. he shows us here and there but he is very introverted, so getting him to talk about his feelings is impossible. :) he thrives on being with his friends. he is energized by their company...constantly needing to be around them. thankfully, he has an incredible group of friends around him. so many are on our street...and more in his small group at church. as he is getting older, we are headed away from birthday parties, so he chose 5 friends to take to golden corral for dinner to celebrate his birthday.
he is now 5 feet tall (he grew 3 1/2 inches last year!)...he loves minecraft and playing outside with his friends. he enjoys action movies and his favorite show right now is "once upon a time". best buds are carson marshall, james lindsey, andrew buban, michael clark, and luke robertson. love, love, love our little lowg dawg!!

still processing

so, my dearest oldest son went to his first dance. we missed the actual invite. so it all went down in about 3 hours. apparently, he had heard of it...but didn't really care, until he realized a lot of his friends were going...so then 2 hours before the dance, decided he wanted to go. i am trying to be better about going with the flow...i'm not what they call "super flexible". i like plans, and i like to know what is happening. so...the last minute decision to go was fine...until i later realized how emotionally unprepared i was!! andy stayed to chaperone....and my mind was a whirlwind of emotions the whole time while i was still at home. i was really overwhelmed with the idea of a dance (i mean, i was homeschooled in jr high, so my first dance wasn't until junior year of highschool!)...but i also wasn't prepared for the boy vs girl reactions to it. my mind was reeling, and i was wanting mega details and explanations of exactly what happened and how he was feeling....LOL. not exactly how it went down in a house full of testosterone. everyone was WAY TOO nonchalant for this momma. my heart was literally about to explode as i just watched in awe as he sat casually on the couch and said "it was fine". and then....to hear that he actually danced with a girl. to be fair, he was forced. but he actually broke out of his very firm comfort zone and danced! one time. in the last 10 minutes, when andy was already outside, so he missed it. but he danced. i couldn't even believe it. its so not like him...but i was so proud of him for being open to trying something new. apparently, this friend, caroline mccall, forced him out, but then taught him how to two-step. and while my brain was in a tizzy screaming, "what. how? what was that like? where were your hands? did you like it? what song was it? would you do it again? do you like her? do you like any girl?".....i sat coolly on the couch, and said, "awesome. i bet that was fun." i was so totally chill, i'm pretty sure i passed the cool mom test. (for the moment. had he seen me later, i would have failed miserably and probably been banned for life from any and all events.) but then ....he went to bed. oh the restraint! the Lord showed me a bit of crazy in my momness that night. wow. again, i was NOT prepared for how i was going to feel! i'm trying to not make it a big deal, but it kinda is, right? my baby went to his first dance.

this was his jam for 95% of the night. its so logan.

logan and buddy, carson after the dance. so chill. but look at logan's smile. ya'll that is real.

october fly by

sometimes life goes so fast i just have to hit some highlights. although, i do feel like i say that a lot....*sigh*....but here we go.

sweet sweet college leader, kasey is now engaged to ryan. major deal. can't wait for the wedding!
 

just cause

karis and thomas came for a visit. o my, her baby belly had grown! we went and i got my ear pierced...i have wanted to for my 36th birthday, but waited until her visit. we also took some cute family pics, but i'll post those later.

date night. free tickets to see chris tomlin. love time out with this man!

we had planned to go for a quick ft worth visit to see max and graham play soccer. sadly, it RAINED the whole time. it was less than 24 hours, but oh we loved that time to catch up. we stayed in all day and ordered pizza since it was raining.

tacoma/seattle

the second half of our trip up north was visiting joe and barbara magby! they have been such a special part of our lives the past year, and we are so sad to see them move back to tacoma...we know the Lord has been leading them...and super excited to see what He is doing up there! it was perfect timing since we were up there at whidbey island, so we spent two extra days just hanging out with them! they showed us around tacoma...and then went into seattle one day and showed us the city!! it was beautiful...and so fun to spend extended time together! we did some shopping, saw a movie in recliners!! in seattle, we visited the starbucks roastery....went to the pike place farmers market...ate at athena's (the restaurant that was in the movie, sleepless in seattle), visited an alley covered in gum, and took another ferry ride!! i was hoping to see whales, but i did get to see an otter and a sea lion hanging out! we absolutely loved our whole trip!