Last Day

Kaden kissing Noel on the coast of Big Sur

Kaden kissing Heather on the coast of Big  Sur...I can't wait to show him these pictures when he's 16!
Matt and Noel checking out the cliffs on the coast
The "Secret Garden" Door in Carmel
The Tiffany's in Carmel!
Heather and Noel on the white sand beach 
Ready for our girl's night out!
What the boys do when the girls are out!

 Saturday was our last day with the girls and God just worked out so many neat details for us. We were able to take a drive up the coast just before the fog came in and spend a great afternoon in Carmel and left just as it started to POUR rain! Very nice! The girls were breath taken with the view of the ocean and the cliffs, it' still takes my breath away. Carmel is a neat little town...very, very expensive...with quaint little shops that range from personal art galleries, handmade soaps, Coach, Tiffanys, to fudge! So much fun, and best of all when you're done shopping you walk down the hill to the beach! 

  Matt also let me take the girls out for a night on Canary Row. We ate at Bubba Gumps and finished up dinner by getting cookies at the Nestle Toll House cafe! :) It was a bitter sweet night as our time grew to a close but we were just so thankful for the time we had together. 

  Our hearts ache to see all our kiddos and please know that the invitation to come is there. We would love to get to have each of you to ourselves for a while and just love on you all. We love you and are keeping each of you close in our hearts and in our prayers. Jesus loves you.

They're coming!

  Matt is on his way back from the airport with two of our teens from our youth group in Texas! We are so excited to get to spend a few days with Heather and Noel, show off California, and just be together. It really was like leaving our kids behind when we moved so this will be a good reunion. To the rest of our kids that we are still missing...come soon! 

  Hope that everyone has a good weekend. 

  

P.S. Pictures to follow after this weekend 

Hiking

Ready to lead the hike!
Kaden was so excited to see so many trees...remember we're coming from Del Rio where there weren't many, so trees are very exciting.
More...trees

Ummm...trees
A beautiful view of Carmel Valley
Another beautiful view of the valley..no they aren't the same!
Kaden's picture of mommy on the trail...yes, I'm strating to look pregnant! :)
My fearless leader
The only  "wild life" we saw...a banana slug! 
View of the ocean from the side of Jack's Peak

  While Matt was studying and Caleb napping, Kaden and I decided we would go hike around Jack's Peak.  Poor kid's been wanting to go hiking for a long time and it was a sunny, cool day so off we went. It's a really neat "little" mountain with great trails and views. There was a mountain lion warning, but much to Kaden's dissapointment we didn't see any. :) We did however, see a banana slug which is exciting in it's own way...and we affectionatly call it a "poopy slug" since it looks more like that...and this has been making Kaden giggle all day! :) Not only was Kaden the trail blazer on our expedition but the photographer as well! He took most of the view pictures himself! 

  Hope everyone had a good weekend and please make sure to get out and vote this Tuesday! 

   Jesus loves you!

Dentist

Caleb playing before the dentist...very exciting to walk in and find toys!
Kaden was excited to find video games to play
And we were even more excited to find TV's on the ceiling that we could watch!
Finally done....as you can tell from Caleb's face the excitement ended. :)
Kaden showing off his shiny teeth...Caleb trying to show off his teeth! :)

Well, Mommy survived taking her boys to the dentist...by herself. Yeah...we're just happy we get to wait another 6 months before trying this again. :) Actually, Kaden did much better today then he has in the past. There were moments of great fear, terror, chocking, crying, and clinging...and yelling as loud as he could, "pray Mommy, pray!!!" (Once they realized we were going to cause a scene they put us in a little back room so other kids wouldn't hear us screaming! :)  But we got most of his teeth cleaned...missed two in the back but that's ok! Caleb of course is watching this the whole time and literally biting his fingers with worry...and then it was his turn. He actually did really well through the cleaning and it went fast and was painless. Once Kaden calmed down the dentist came in to count and check out the teeth, he hopped right up on the bed like this was his favorite thing in the world! Then when Caleb had to let the dentist look at his teeth (no brushing) he Freaked out! Oh well we're done and everyone has healthy teeth! Thank you, Jesus! Even more exciting is when I went to make their 6 month out appointment I realized it would be just after the baby is born! WooHoo...less then 6 months to go! :)

 

dentist

The Other Day

On the lookout
Nope...no pirates
Wait...get down Caleb...I think I see some
Getting a closer look
Nope just seagulls
Yay...messy sand!

We hit the beach ( I'm still loving that we can do that) and enjoyed some sand time. Just thought I'd pass on the pictures. 

  We're half way through a busy week and looking forward to the weekend. We have dentist appointments in the morning so please pray it goes well! I'll let you know! Hope your week is going well. Keep your eyes on Jesus

Weekend

Caleb and mommy on the beach at Lover's Point
Jelly fish at the aquarium. So amazing to watch.
My oyster boys! 
The real fish at the aquarium are nice but the ones we can play with are even better! :)
Kaden dressed up as Nemo
Caleb dressed up as an Octopus
This is not a piece of floating seaweed...this is a Sea Dragon! Think of a Sea Horse with plants all over it! 
Papa Van, Grandma Shawn, and Kaden at Pebble Beach

Hey, so we're still alive just in case anyone was wondering! Thursday night, Papa Van and Grandma Shawn drove up to spend the weekend with us. We had a great time and had so much fun showing off Monterey...they've been here before but not with Kaden and Caleb as tour guides! The highlight of the tour was of course the aquarium where we did manage to bring our camera this time and take some pictures! Unfortunately, it's hard to get good pictures of the sharks (the boys favorite) since it's so dark in there, but hey at least we got some this time. We also got to try out some fabulous new restaurants and such. It's just fun to feel like we're starting to settle into the area. 

  This week will be busy as we have harvest picnics, festivals, dentist appointments, picture appointments, Arbone parties...etc. But Praise the Lord for the energy and strength to do it! :) Hope everyone had a good weekend and thanks for the prayers...everything with baby seems to still be going well. 

PS. Friday night was my 10 year reunion! Let me just say, that, that night was the weirdest most bizarre night of my entire life bar none! I can't even describe what it was like to see all these people 10 years later, the memories, how everything was SO much the same and SO different at the same time...Weird!

April 27, 2009

We wanted to let everyone know that God has chosen to bless us again and we are expecting another little one. We are 13 weeks along and thankful for God's hand over this little life. We've been in the ER twice (in our 12th week) with unexplained bleeding, but after 3 ultrasounds and consulting with our OB, everything looks good. The baby is healthy, beautiful, and kicking around and as far as He can tell there's no explination for the bleeding...we're calling it God's miracle. Our due date is April 27th...which seems very, very far away! :) Thanks for your prayers and rejoicing with us! 

Big Sur

We stopped a couple times on the drive just to get out and look at the view...I'm not sure what Kaden is pointing to I just love the expression on his face, it makes me giggle. :) 
We stopped by the river before heading further up the road...we would have stayed longer but we weren't allowed to bring in our own picnic stuff, we had to buy food there...so we found a free place to eat! :)
Beautiful blue birds kept darting down to eat the bread we threw to them. They were pretty brave and greedy...some of the birds picked up 3 or 4 pieces before they would fly off! I'm sure we weren't supposed to be feeding the birds since we're not even allowed to feed ducks, but oh well,  it was fun and I didn't see any signs!
There's a deer in the middle of this picture if you look really close! It was actually fairly close to where we were eating lunch so the boys got quite a kick out of watching them. 
Who knew rocks could be beautiful!
Walking along the beach...yes we did go pick pumpkins in shorts and a t-shirts, and go to the beach with sweatshirts! I can't figure out the weather here!

Water comes surging through the hole in the rock formation below. This beach is also famous for it's sunsets. As the sunsets it shines through this hole onto the water. Sounds so romantic...maybe we'll go back without kids and get pictures!
I think this beach would be perfect for filming a pirate movie! There's all kind of cool caves and rock formations, so beautiful. It's hard to see cause our camera isn't the best but the greens and blues in the water we're just amazing. 
Beach brothers...I just love Caleb's little dirty, sandy feet!
The forest and the ocean...a great combo!

 Saturday, Matt took some time off of studying to take our family up the Big Sur coast drive! It is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever seen as you wind down the coast on top of cliffs hundreds of feet above the ocean...it's also very dangerous so you have to go slow, and probably not for those who get car sick as you hit lots of curves (which the boys thought were so fun)! What was really special is this is the drive that my dad used to take our family and any and everyone that ever came to visit us when we lived in California!  I can't even count how many times I've driven this road but it's breath taking every time...if you don't believe me, believe that my two boys sat in the car for over an hour both ways with no "entertainment" except looking outside and never complained! :) We enjoyed a picnic on the forest side of the mountain and saw some neat wildlife and gorgeous Red wood trees, and then drove down to Pfiffer (I'm sure that's not the right spelling) beach just to enjoy the ocean for a while. It's one of those places you can't describe with words. God is so evident in the beauty of His creation! 

 

Pumpkin Patch

The boys trying to figure out which way to go in the corn maze
They had SO much fun running through the corn maze. The corn was taller then Matt so it was a great place to run and play. I think it's the farthest and the longest Caleb's ever run without asking to be carried!
On the trail
The Young Life pumpkin patch had Peanut characters up all over! So cute. 
Pumpkin down
Pumpkin up
Pumpkin down...those things are heavy!
They had so much fun picking out their pumpkins. Kaden had to pick one for home and one for school...and Caleb tried to pick the whole field. 
posing for a picture in the pumpkin coach  
Showing off all the pumpkins we brought home

Monday afternoon the Van Hook boys and I went to the pumpkin patch for some good fall fun! The boys were so happy to run through the corn maze and get to pick out their very own pumpkins! Life is so much fun when you get to live it through the eyes and excitement of your children! Thank you Lord, for your grace and mercy and Your good gifts each day that we so often take for granted! Happy Fall everyone!