Argentina Travels!

Stephen and Cecilia sent me lots of fun pics from their trip to Argentina. It looks like they are having lots of fun spending time with her mom and cousin...and the scenery is amazing. Hope you enjoy!
This is a beautiful picture of the mountains!
Stephen pointing out the fact that he is a gringo!

More beautiful mountains!!!

Stevo and Cecilia enjoying the view.

Stephen in the snow in August!

I'm ready to take a trip to Argentina!

Stephen and Cecilia with Cecilia's cousin and her mom. I know they are loving the chance to spend time with Maria!

Another family photo.

Ray of sun.

Eric, Maria, Cecilia and Stephen

This is a picture of one of the ski resorts there. I just have one question to Curt and Hannah...what are we doing here??? Why are we not in Argentina enjoying all the fun fresh powder!?!

One more pretty shot.

And then the Bro Hamm we all know and love brushing his teeth while sitting on the toilet in the shower...talk about multitasking! :o)

Little Miss Personality!

Kenzie is getting more independent on her bike. As you can see she is comfortable enough on it now to look our way making faces, which is a change from her serious concentration face seen below. She's now learning the art of stopping and starting. One way in front of our house is gradually downhill...Kenz pedals fast and picks up speed going that way, so stopping on that end looks like Kenz veering off into the soft grass for a smooth crash landing. On the ride back it's harder to get started as it is uphill, but Kenz can do it and going uphill with less speed, she can stop too!

In other news, John seemed to enjoy his birthday and all the goodies! We gave him some fun mountain biking/hiking gear and a couple shirts. The kids were having so much fun playing that we didn't want to make them stop to go out to dinner, so we ordered a pizza and headed off for the community group ice cream social. It was big fun! We're both very excited about our new group!!!

Funny saying from Kenz this week as we are starting to implement a chores list: "We're the cleaner-uper girls and the boys make all the mess, except Daddy and he's pretty clean." I don't know how much I buy that the boys make all the mess, but Kenzie is always wanting to help clean up and she even helped me wash the veggies for dinner one night this week.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is John's birthday! Kenzie helped me wrap all the gifts while John kept his eyes closed. We learned how to wrap a gift, stuff tissue and curl ribbon, and that curling ribbon takes a lot of practice to get it right. To celebrate tonight, we are going out to dinner, John's pick, and then to a community group ice cream social! YUMMY!!!

John is a wonderful husband. He is strong and wise, yet tender hearted and thoughtful. He can make me laugh harder than anyone else. John will try just about anything, whether it is a new food or fixing the car. He loves people and likes to do for people. And most importantly, he loves the Lord...he challenges me to grow closer to Him daily!

Happy birthday John! I love you!

That Time Of Year Again...

It's the end of August, and since John and I both like to be training for something, we are starting up the long runs again in preparation for this years St. Jude Half Marathon. Our first long run was this past Sunday at Shelby Farms on the Tour de Wolf. It was great to finally run the trails again. Pounding the pavement for an hour did not sound like fun to either of us. Trail running is much more fun and, to me, it feels like somewhat of an adventure. I lose track of the minutes and the miles and just enjoy the scenery.

We Have A Natural!

Sadly, I still do not have a picture...but Kenzie is officially riding her bike. She hasn't quite figured out how to stop upright everytime, so she finds a nice patch of grass and leans into it. As she is standing up, she screams down the street at us "I'm ok!" She is LOVING it!!!

Last night my parents came in town for dinner. Kenz was so excited to show off her new skill. It is fun to see her enjoy it so much!

Barbie Cycling Update...

Kenzie rode all the way down to the Nobel's house last night by herself (that's about 4 houses down)...she then proceeded to veer left and made a very graceful crash in the fluffy grass in their front yard. She was so excited with her new accomplishment! She will be a pro before we know it. At one point she was trying to turn her bike around while still sitting on it and John suggested to her that she get off the bike and then turn it around. She laughed at herself and said in her silly voice..."Good Idea!!!"

Last night she heard me talking to my mom about how great she had done, and yelled from her bed "I'm a really good bike rider!" I'll try take some more pics next time she rides.

What We've Been Up To This Week...

Things have been a little faster pace than normal as John and I have been getting prepared for the kids to go back to school. The tax free day was insane, but never fear, I only ran 2 people over with my cart! We were at Walmart with all of God's chilrens...it was a blessed event!!! :o) As for the pics, Justus is trying out for the golf team.
After spending a week with Gracie and Doc (what the kids call my parents), he is completely hooked. John went with him yesterday for his first round of try outs and said Justus did very well! He is a great athlete, and we really hope he will enjoy the sport.

In other news, we are also trying to teach Kenz to ride a bike. John runs along beside her making sure she does not fall. Eventually she will, but we want her first few riding experiences to be good ones!

As you had probably already guessed, she gets all her mad bike riding skills from me! I'm teaching her everything I know.

This past weekend we helped give a party for our friends Jonathan and Melissa at Curt's house. These are our very fun and crazy friends Curt and Sarah. They were having lots of fun after the party...that or Curt was celebrating everyone getting out of his house!

And finally, John and I out on a date night last week. We had some yummy sushi!

Community and Such...

Life at our house is good! We had a very fun visit from my little bro, Matthew, and my daddy this week. They came in town to bring the boys a memory card for their Xbox and to visit and have dinner with us. That was an awesome treat!

Justus and Maison are training for the Bartlett triathlon, which is this weekend. John took them to the pool last night for another swim workout. I stayed home to work on thank you notes and relax, but hear they did very well. I'll let you all know how they do in their race!

Yesterday afternoon Kenzie ran into our room with panties on her head...that girl is too funny. She then proceeded to ask John to help her with pigtails so that she could have one pony tail coming out each side of the panties that were on her head! It was impossible not to find humor in that!!!

In other fun news, last night John and I went to visit a potential community group. It was a fun and casual get together with some couples that go to our church. Cal and Lindsey are going to lead the group, so we met at their house and had a yummy dinner. Everyone was very nice, and John and I both left excited about the group and what God will do in and through us. I knew most everyone there, but mostly just as acquaintances, so it will be fun to really get to know them!

We are off to the lake this weekend and then to visit with my fam in Jackson on Sunday before Stephen and Cecilia leave the country for a couple months! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

High of 90 and 100% Chance of Snow

Memphis has the strangest weather! You may be wondering if my sanity has finally left me...and I'm quite certain it has. That said, I saw it with my very own eyes. Yesterday as I pulled in the driveway I noticed that the ground in front of our house was completely white. Come to find out Kenzie and two of the kids down the street had emptied a big box of those styrofoam packing peanuts all over the yard. Love them! I think the feeling was mutual though, because their excitement was overwhelming ;o) when I told the kids to pick them all up. They then proceeded to scatter the little white peanuts all over the yard, maybe hoping it would make them less obvious and I might not notice. Much to their disappointment, I did notice and the fun game of pick up began again! Aren't I super fun!?! Needless to say, I will be surprised if they do that again! I found the picture on ebay...they will sell anything. This item sold for $6.50.

Day Dream...

Just sitting here on my "smoke break" and dreaming of St. John. The picture to the left is of the resort where John and I stayed on our honeymoon. As you can see, it is absolutely beautiful there!!! Hopefully I will have more pictures to share soon, but for now they are all on the computer at home and I have yet to try and upload pictures on dial-up!

In other news, there is currently a thermometer in my cube. We are tracking the temp to report the freezing temps in the meat locker, that is my cubicle. Most days I can be found sitting in my cube in a North Face jacket and wrapped in a fleece blanket shivering. Can you understand why I would be day dreaming of some place tropical?!?!