33 Years Young! Happy Birthday, Mark!

My handsome hubby turned 33 today! 

He basically rocks my world.

He is the BEST husband and father!!!!

I am one lucky girl!

And did I mention he's really good looking?

Yesterday, we delivered some balloons and a KitKat (his fav candy bar) and a card and gum to Valor!

And this morning, we had our traditional birthday breakfast P-A-R-T-Y!!!

 

 
We had a yummy burger dinner with Marks parents at Red Robin- make sure to grab one of their loyalty cards and register it (for free) and they will give you a free burger for your birthday! They have such yummy burgers!

After dinner, we all went back to our house and I made a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and vanilla frosting for Mark! After a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, we dug in. The sugar high culminated with Elijah and Grandpa digging the boxing gloves out and having quite the match! 

sorry its blurry but it just shows you how action packed the game was!

Tonight Mark and I are snuggling under warm blankets with a movie. bliss!
A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Happy 33rd Birthday, Babe!

We love you SOOOOO very much!

"Fall"ing Head Over Heels

Silverthorn, CO

Sometimes I look at pictures like these and my eyes tear up- where has the time gone?

 My kids are growing like weeds!

 I am no longer a mom to tiny little munchkins but big kids:) 

It melts my heart and makes me savor the moments because they grow so fast!

Embrace those munchkins and big kids today....

because they grow up in a blink of an eye! 

Thy Mercy, My God

Overwhelmed by God's mercy and goodness to me today! 

He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ! WOW!

 I am blown away by His mercies- 

They are new every morning- Great is Thy faithfulness!

Thy Mercy, My God

1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Take a listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUEgqGNFiMs&feature=related

Fresh Zucchini Tomato and Feta Bake

Fresh Zucchini Tomato and Feta Bake

1 large zucchini sliced

10 cherry tomatoes halved

1/2 cup of crumbled Feta

2 Tbs extra virgin Olive Oil

Cook zucchini in oil till tender over medium heat. Add tomato halves and cook a minute more.

Transfer to small baking dish. Crumble feta over top veggies and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Its hard to believe it is fall. The weather here in Denver is WARM! Its been in the 80's for a while now. I do enjoy the cooler mornings and evenings though! My front porch is decorated for fall.  

I have started running- and lost about 2 pounds. I really want to firm up which I know will only happen at a gym but for now running will do.

School is going well for all the kiddos. The twins joined girl scouts after school and choir after school. They are staying busy.

 Mark has started his speech and debate coaching- it is going well! Church is going great! Mark was able to preach yesterday on baptism and a bunch of teen guys from valor came to hear him. They arent saved and will openly admit it but really respect Mark and enjoy honest conversations about the gospel and "religion". They came over for lunch at our house after and spent a long time just talking and hanging out- it was fun and I hope that we can continue to talk to them about Christ and see them come to know Him! 

My mom is coming to visit at the end of October- I am SOO excited as well as the kids! Sophia keeps asking how many days till she comes! 

Marks cousin, Eddie is coming to visit this week from Australia. We are headed to Marks parents house for dinner tonight! Then on Wed, we are headed to the mountains with him! Hopefully we can see some fall colors. Looking forward to it.

Well, that is about it here. Hope you all have a great week!

Simple Things Sunday

{sweet kisses from Elijah} 10.2.2011

Pumpkin Jack-O-Lanterns

 I just love October- it may be my favorite month ever! 

The leaves start changing.

Sweaters and hoodies (thats for you, Mark) can be worn all day.

There's a nice nip in the air especially in the early morning and late evening.

Pumpkins start gracing front steps and mums appear everywhere.

Its my man's birthday month!

You can find apple cider in the grocery store.

We dress up our little munchkins and go trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpas!

We drive up into the mountains to see all the yellow Aspens.

I just love fall! Its the best season ever!

 I found this cute idea in a Southern Living magazine that my mother-in-law gave me.

Take old canning jars and paint the outside with orange paint- let dry. Paint a black rim and design a face with black paint. Stick a tea light or LED light inside and ta-da.. a cute little non perishable pumpkin lantern to adorn your front steps for October!  And the best thing is that little hands can do most all the work!

Happy October!

{LOLA'S}

I love this picture. It reminds me of a fuzzy picture I have of my mom and dad on their wedding day in the 70's. In this picture I am just missing the feathered hair and long flow-y dress and daisies! I really need to get a scanner so I can show you all some great "old" family photos.

Now, on to yet another date with my man. I know- we are getting WAY too many date nights, right! We have gone out without kids the past 3 weekends and I could really get used to this:) This time we went out to celebrate Mark's moms birthday! We treated them to Lola's- a fancy "chef" Mexican restaurant downtown in the Highlands. It was WONDERFUL! The food was amazing and the company just delightful

We started off with homemade guacamole that the guy makes tableside. It was so yummy! I am a sucker for anything with avocado in it.

Mark and his mom ordered the double cut smoked pork chops with frijoles charros, onion rings, guajillo
and grilled peach barbeque sauce. It was delicious! I tried a bite, ya know! It had such a yummy smoked flavor- I wish I had the recipe for that sauce!

Ben and I had the poblano relleno which had hazeldell farm mushrooms, tomatoes, chayote squash,
wild rice, smoked goat cheese, chile rojo. It was quite spicy but the goat cheese cooled it down just enough!
It was big Pepper!

We decided to ride downtown for dessert on Larimer Street at The Market- a local joint that has amazing desserts (definitely try the Spring Fling Zucchini cake with fresh fruit) and a great coffee bar.

It was a wonderful evening filled with great food and great company. Special thanks to the Endyks who babysat the kiddos so we could have a nice evening out with Marks parents. We love you guys!