Family Vacation to Big Bear

For my birthday, Dean & Candi gave us a weekend using their time share.
We chose Big Bear!

We took a day hike up to Castle Rock

Bennett loved his Kelty backback
He stared at EVERYTHING as we hiked. He loves the outdoors.

We found some snow & Bennett was quite curious

The view from the top

Even though it was cold, we enjoyed the pool for a brief moment

We strolled around the Village, saw some horsies, and went out to dinner

Bennett even enjoyed sitting by the hot tub

We went for a nice stroll along the lake and got lunch before we left on Sunday
It was a great relaxing weekend!

Weekend of Service

The weekend of May 14th and 15th, our church, North Coast Church, did something amazing. For the third time, they closed down ALL 25 weekend services on each of their 4 campuses so we could stop being IN church, and start being THE church

With all the planning ahead of time, they were able to fill 6,500 volunteer slots (4 hour time slots) all weekend. They completed 185 projects on over 100 sites all over 6 different cities in North County San Diego

This is one thing I love about North Coast. It is not enough to just show up on the weekend and claim to believe in Jesus. It is about a bigger calling of loving and serving others as Jesus would and God commands.

This is our growth group (small group that meets every Thursday to do Bible study)
We all signed up to work on the Bradley building in Escondido. This center provides outpatient mental health rehabilitation and recovery services to assist individuals with psychiatric disabilities to live, socialize, learn and work.

It was a huge project with lots of volunteers. The guys did hard, manual labor hauling mulch, and digging trenches for retaining walls

The girls did cleaning and painting. Darcy & I worked on this room. I cut in (with another volunteer) and she rolled...such a team!

The girls: Desi, Angela, Marisa, me, Darcy, and Lorna (prego Karen had already left)

It is always fun to serve others with your husband!

Bakersfield Trip

For Mothers' Day weekend we took a trip up to Bakersfield to visit Luke's sister and family. We had SUCH a FUN stay! We had great food, conversation, and play time with the cousins.
Here's a couple pics that capture the funny highlights:

Saturday morning we went to Kevin's t-ball game

He's a stud!

No stay is complete without a good jumping on the bed party

Uncle Luke read Kevin & Shannon one of my favorite books
"Everyone Poops"
Timarie and I went shopping & found it at a used book store down the street

Kevin's face cracks me up!

We took a field trip to the local hardware store

Shannon & Kevin

Bennett had so much fun playing with new toys...this block became a fun hat

Timarie gave me the most adorable gift...The Mom Book
Each birthday and Mothers' Day, Bennett (and hopefully other kids) can write/draw me a little something in the black composition book that I will cherish FOREVER!

Bennett tried his best with crayons

This horsie is from when Luke was a kid.
Bennett will inherit it soon from Kevin & Shannon.

We had such a good stay hanging out. We even roasted marshmallows over their little BBQ pit. It was a short stay - too short. We drove home Sunday in time for a Mothers' Day dinner with the rest of the Szabo family.
Thanks, Friesens, for all the memories!

Where's the Hair?

Luke decided to grow his hair out for Bennett's first year of life...
But now Bennett is 1, and the hair is gone!
Although Bennett freaked out the first time he saw him, the family is happy to have the hair gone.......for now at least.

Bennett's 1st Birthday

Bennett's birthday was May 1st, so I apologize it has taken me so long to post pictures. We had a fun little family party at our house. We BBQed burgers, unwrapped gifts, and enjoyed some cupcakes. It was great fun to get the cousins together and see them play.
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!
Love you guys!

I was feeling crafty so I made some birthday decorations. Each strand has pictures from every month of Bennett's first year.

The birthday boy with Daddy

Kevin & Shannon helped Bennett during gift time.
Kevin was very helpful with the opening of gifts (and describing the types of trains Bennett received) and Shannon was quite the clean-up help.

Grandpa & Grandma got Bennett this sweet boat sandbox.
I'll take some more pics when we have the sand all put in.

Bennett was pretty into the curly ribbon

AND THEN IT WAS CAKE TIME!!!!!!
(I tried my hand at some cake decorating...turned out pretty good!)

Gimme...Gimme...

"This stuff is weird. And why do I have my shirt off?"

"Wait...isn't that cake mine?"

"Here Mama, you should try some."

"You too, Daddy...it's pretty delicious."

"Yup...I could get used to this!"

"All done! Bath time!"

Hangin' out with Grandma

4 generations of Szabo boys

Sitting on Mammie's lap with Great Grandpa Ernie and cousin Kevin

3 generations of ladies

The wee ones
Cousin Shannie gave Bennett the most adorable kiss and hug

The 3 of us

Happy Birthday Bennett!
What an amazing (and fast) first year. We have enjoyed every bit of being parents and cannot believe what a blessing our son is to us.

Braund's 30th Birthday

On the 30th of April we celebrated Mike & Kristyn's 30th birthdays. They had a joint party on the Hornblower. We had a delicious dinner aboard the ship as we cruised along the San Diego Bay. The weather was beautiful & we had a great time getting dressed up and heading downtown. Thanks Braunds for a great night!

The birthday couple

San Diego Harbor

All the lovely ladies

Luke & I with the city in the background

I sure love my Kristyn!