We're Coming to OHIO....

Yes, that's right...We are coming to visit our hometown in Ohio!  For those of you who don't know or are new to our lives, Benj and I grew up in Ohio and much of our family is still there!  We love going to visit and will probably spend most of our afternoons by the pool :)

We are so excited and counting down the days till all of us, (Benj and I, Nat and Shan and the kids), get to come visit for a vacation to visit family and friends!  Benj will be visiting for one full week and I will get to stay for two, yay!  We will be coming on June 12th and we look forward to some much needed rest and time with family and friends.  We miss everyone very much and this was the perfect time for us to get away for a while.

As for our wedding anniversary from the last post, Benj got me some great bags that I've been wanting and I made him a bag with a good friend of mine!  She makes such nice bags and taught me how to make a messenger bag!


My two bags!  Our sister-in-law, Shannon, sells Thirty One bags and he was so sweet to get me a couple of the ones that I've been wanting!!!

Here are some pics of the bag my friend Evy, helped me sew!  He loves the bag and I'm excited to learn more about making these!!!

Wedding Anniversary #3

Benj and I have had the sweetest three years anyone could ask for! Not void of challenges, adventures, and unforgettable moments of course. Where would be the fun in that?

This past year for us has been quite the adventure! We have moved across the country, started new jobs, still trying to make new friends, and have lived with family (who were generous enough to have us)! All the while, remaining best friends and dependent on God to guide and protect us.

 In the midst of all of our crazy changes, we continue to fully appreciate that we have each other. When we have felt out of place, lonely, or just overwhelmed, we know that we still have each other and God's grace and comfort to get us through. When we could've turned on each other out of frustration or fear, we have stuck it out together and we will continue to do just that!

This anniversary was a little different since Benj is on the road for work (thankfully just a short trip this time). We plan to celebrate this weekend and I am looking forward to having him back home soon! We are so thankful for how God is shaping our marriage and we continue to ask for His work in our lives and His protection over our relationship. We are also so thankful for the friends and family in our lives that have shown us what healthy marriages can look like and how important it is to let God into our lives and into our marriage.

Race For the Cure

Last Saturday we all were signed up to walk the 5K Race for the Cure. The boys had to go fly a job for the weekend and were not able to join us in Boise, but were able to show their support on the road! It was a beautiful day and I had a great time with Shannon, the babies, and my friend Melissa from work! Here are some pics of our day!

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted but I thought we would start off the summer right with a nice camping trip! Benj has been able to been home for a few weeks now and we both had a few days off of work at the same time! Because its still snowing in some parts of the mountains, we decided the desert might be a little more "camp friendly." We drove over to Bruneau Dunes State Park and stayed overnight there. They had a really nice camp ground and it was nice to just get away by ourselves, for a day. This park had 470 ft. sand dunes that you could climb, and while the climb was something I'll never do again, it was worth it when we got to the top. Here are some pictures and we are looking forward to our next camping trip when it gets a little warmer :)

Florida in January!

We are finally back into the swing of things after returning from our quick vacation to Florida and then battling the plague here at home. Everyone from the babies, to all the adults except Me, caught a horrible 24 hours sickness and we are all thankful its gone!
The last weekend of January, we went to FL for our friends' wedding (Eric and Cristina). Benj and I were both in the wedding, and we loved walking down the isle together once again! :) Though the trip was intended for the wedding, it was so much more than that! We were able to reconnect with friends that we haven't seen since we left over 4 months ago. It seems like such a short time, yet we feel like we've been gone forever.

We were able to hear and see how Discover Church is doing and loved spending time with the people we lived and worked alongside for over 2 years. The conversations we had and the time spent with so many that we love so deeply made the trip well worth it all! I can't even begin to list the ways in which we needed this time with everyone. We had wonderful hosts and experienced great generosity and thank God for our time there.

So Proud!

The past couple of weeks seem to have flown by, but we are anxious for next week to arrive! The past couple of weeks, Benj has been on a job in Phoenix. He returns next Tuesday and we will be heading to Florida to be a part of our friends' wedding! We are excited to see friends that we miss very much and to get a little bit of a vacation!

For those of you that may not know, when Benj isn't in the office, he is on the road traveling with a pilot, working the camera in a small plane. He works for an aerial mapping company and they bid on jobs all over the West. I am so proud of all the hard work he does and his company is extremely generous to us, financially and with his time as well. Though it's hard being away from each other, we know that this is just for a season. We are so thankful that Benj gets paid so well so that we can pay down as much college debt as we can! It's amazing to think about how much this job (as well as my job at Starbucks) provides for us and we know that God planned it all for us! Staying thankful helps the time go by more easily and it is such a blessing to be living with Nathanael and Shannon so when one or both of the guys are gone, Shan and I have someone to keep us company (and help with the babies too)!

In order to do their work, they start early in the morning and fly till the clouds come in or until the afternoon. They have to have clear skies and the sun has to be at the right angle in order for the pictures to be right. Here are some pictures of Benj at work!

It's been fun to be with Benj's family especially getting to watch our niece and nephews grow up. In the few short months we've been here, they've already started to change so much!





Christmas Eve!



The Excitement was just too much!


Opening stockings Christmas morning