{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{:Vacation Bible School:}

Hello Friends!

This week is VBS at our church.

So that means that we are busy busy running out the door in the morning,

and getting home in time for lunch and then naptime for all!

Please pray for us as we love and encourage 140 children from around our community!

I'll be back next week with more posts.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{p.s. this is not from this week, but i haven't picked up my camera all week}

{Our Visit with the Heinkels}

My mom's side of the family holds an annual reunion every summer.  This year was number 29!  There must have been between 40-50 from the two sides of the family (my grandpa and his brother).  This year all but my brother and two cousins were there from our side of the family.  Pretty cool.  My Uncle Dale coordinated the event at a beautiful park in Freeport, IL.  The shelter house sat up on a hill with a nice overlook and a waterfall was right by us...as well as a playground.

This is the big group with both sides of the family

This is just our side

These are the cousins and spouses present

Cousin Jen and me catching up

Daddy and Chase go on an adventure with Uncle Dale

2nd cousins Chase and Alex

We had lots of fun staying at Grandma and Grandpa Heinkel's 125 year old farm house.  It is always an adventure there because so many of us end up staying there and it's a race to the bathroom, because there is just one!  Chase loved running around in the great outdoors and there were about 6 new farm kitties that had recently been born.  She loved those.  So did daddy!  She named two of them Shadow and Tiger.  You can probably guess their coloring.

It's always a tradition to go to church as a family on Sunday morning and then Grandpa takes us all out for breakfast.  I think this year it was 20 of us.  Thanks Grandpa for making sure we all get fed well!

This year so many were staying at their house that two couples slept on the grounds in a tent and a Jeep!  That's a full house.  Cards were played (not by my little family though), lots of visiting was done, always eating good food (especially the local cheese!)

It was a great stay in the country.  It is a different world than we are used to for sure.  But it is a treat to be able to experience something new and different.  And I have lots of childhood memories there.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for hosting everyone!!

{hipstamatic thursday: on saturday}

::a look at the week's events through cell phone photos::

:the haberay's:

:heading to church:

:chase's new double baby stroller:

:beautiful flowers:

:the embarcadero in san francisco:

:delicious lunch:

:look closely - it's goats on a hill in the middle of the city:

:beautiful wild flowers:

:downtown:

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Our Indian Princess

Our sweet Indian neighbors just returned from a trip to India.  

They brought us back some extravagant gifts!

Chase got this beautiful dress and I got those gorgeous bangle bracelets.

We also got a pretty picture.  

So very kind of them.

Chase calls it her princess outfit!

Our Visit with the Klipsteins

We recently had a very nice family vacation to the Midwest.  John had not been there in over 4 years and he had always been during the winter months.  The last two summers I have taken Chase back there to see our extended family.  It was during these visits that I realized how beautiful Wisconsin and Illinois are!  I had forgotten because I too had most recently been during the bleak winter.  Let me tell you, it is gorgeous there with rolling green hills and lots of fields with things growing, and black dirt and beautiful flowers, and one of my favorite childhood memories:  fireflies!!

We got to see everyone on this side of the family minus one cousin...amazing!  It included 2 family reunions.  Each of my aunt's that live in Madison hosted a party, and they did a fabulous job!!  They each have beautiful homes that are fun to admire.  We had a quiet lunch one day with my parents and my grandma.  That was nice to have some time with her.  Chase loved sticking her toes in her pool in her apartment complex.

One day in Madison, my parents so kindly watched Chase for us so we could have a date day and spend some time with Adam and Rachel.  We had fun renting kayaks on one of the smaller lakes in this fine city.  That was a lot of fun, I could see us buying a kayak and using it as a family.  Then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant followed by delicious ice cream at the dairy on the University of Wisconsin's campus.  This is one of my favorite childhood memories.  We lived close enough that we could walk there, we'd cross a huge bridge and stop to stare at all the car whizzing by below us.  Then we'd get yummy ice cream and visit some of the ag/dairy buildings that were close by.  After ice cream we walked on State Street doing some window shopping and people watching.  That's like the coolest street in the city where the young folks/college kids hang out.  The street ends at their beautiful state capital.

At the first family reunion we got to go for a ride in my aunt and uncle's speedboat.  Chase didn't love it at first because it was too windy, but eventually she liked it.  This was the hottest day of the week and my uncle stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and asked who wanted to go swimming.  After watching my cousin, her boyfriend and uncle swim, I decided I should too!!  So I jumped in to the shockingly cold water, and it took my breathe away!  But after a couple of minutes it felt soooo refreshing.  That was a fun treat.

One day we went with my parents to walk around Olbrich Gardens.  That was a beautiful garden with lots of different flower gardens, a Thai garden that was sent over by the Thai government.  And it was totally free!  We didn't even hit all of it.  It was huge.

We had several nights/parties at my Aunt Gail's house and they had just finished building a deck in their backyard complete with a firepit.  Those nights were very fun because we had s'mores each time.  And the ambiance of a fire is so nice.  She does everything beautifully, so she had lanterns with little white lights and candles and pretty decorations for the 4th of July.  This is where Chase first got to see fireflies and she tried catching them.  Gail found us a jar to put them in, but once in there they didn't light up anymore.  We've learned on Sesame Street that it is because the small jar cramps their style and they can't move around as much.  See, tv IS educational!!

All in all, we had a great time with all of the Klipsteins.  Thanks to everyone for making this trip a great memory.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{a rare moment}

:::this is our sweet family from France; their children and Chase are 3rd cousins once removed! no one EVER knows that distant of a relative!  it is  amazing that this relationship has continued and it is my hope that Chase and these kids will carry on a legacy:::