May 31, 2003

This is the day that I married my best friend. 5 years ago today, I began the journey of a lifetime with the man I love, my best friend, Hylke. What a wonderful celebration we had, and what a wonderful 5 years this has been. Thank you, Hylke, for being such an outstanding husband to me, and such an incredible daddy to Noah. I am blessed to be your wife. In honor of our 5 year anniversary, here are the 5 things I most appreciate about you (in no particular order):

1. You make me laugh like none other

2. Your love is sacrificial

3. You are a constant source of encouragement to me

4. You are an INCREDIBLE father

5. You provide for us so that I can stay home with Noah

I can't wait to continue this journey we're on, and grow old with you. (Although, I'm not in any hurry to grow old...haha) I love you, babe.

Here are the pictures

Here are the pics that go with my update (below). Enjoy!

Disneyland:

Looking at the Gorillas on the Jungle Cruise:

All bundled up for his nap:

Goofy is so silly:

Wow! These guys sound soooo good:

**Ok, we were walking around California Adventure and these street performers were singing "Blue Moon", they sounded wonderful. Well, Noah would not take his eyes off these men, they ended up coming around the stroller and singing around him...too cute**

Noah's Dedication:

Playing soccer with Opa:

update

I tend to think that if I don't have pics, I shouldn't bother updating my blog. Well, my camera is in my car, which Hylke took today, and so here I am without any pics to post. I decided that it would be ok, atleast this once, to give you a typed update...with pictures coming later. :)

Thursday:
Last Thursday I took Noah to Disneyland for the first time. I wasn't sure if he would enjoy it at all, but some friends were going and invited me along, Hylke was out of town, and I hadn't been in quite some time. I'm so glad I decided to go!! Noah thoroughly enjoyed his time!! He loved the Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan. It was so much fun watching him take everything in. Unfortunately the weather was pretty nasty, so there was much we didn't get to; however, it didn't put too much of a damper on our day...we found a little cove to hideout in while Noah took a 2 hour nap. :) He was such a trooper! He had fun with Goofy (who took extra time with Noah, giving him kisses and high fives) and the street performers in California Adventure. I enjoyed going on some rides too...the stroller pass is awesome! I'm already looking forward to our next trip...it really was so much fun watching Noah enjoy his time.

Friday:
After Noah's morning nap we went over to have brunch with Julie and Eva. I love watching Noah and Eva play...they are both such happy babies. Julie made some banana bread and and egg dish...we always enjoy spending time with them! We spent the rest of Friday home.

Saturday:
To Temecula to celebrate Joel's first birthday. Remember, Joel is 2 1/2 weeks older than Noah...you know what that means!! Noah had fun with his buddies, and we had fun visiting friends. We stayed in town until about 9 pm visiting with friends.

Sunday:
Grandma/Baca and Oma/Opa came into town for Noah's dedication. This was a special time for us dedicating Noah to the Lord. We desire to raise him in a family where Christ is central to all we do...definitely not an easy responsibility. This was also an opportunity to ask our church body to come alongside us and help us. Noah did great. He was soooo cute up on stage. He was smiling, clapping and doing "SO BIG!" We weren't prompting him, I think he just realized he had a captive audience. :) One of the cutest things was when Mark, the pastor dedicating Noah, asked the congregation if they would commit to praying for Noah and supporting us, they answered, "we will". As soon as they answered, Noah clapped. It was so cute and such perfect timing. We enjoyed having our parents over after for a BBQ...we're blessed with such great parents.

Monday:
Back to Temecula for a BBQ with Hylke's family. We weren't sure if we were going to go, but decided to at the last minute. It was fun to have all the cousins together...and fun for me to get some cuddle time with my newest nieces.

Tuesday:
Getting back into the swing of things! Last night I had my 8th grade small group over for our end of the year time together. I can't believe that they'll be going into high school!! We enjoyed some chocolate fondu and some special sharing time together.

Today:
This morning I was able to go back to the school I taught at last year to see my former students (now graduating seniors) put on the senior chapel. It was so fun seeing them once more before they graduate.

WOW!! Lots to type about! This week we've also spent some time thinking back to what we were doing 1 year ago...preparing for Noah's arrival...what sweet times. How fast a year can pass by.

I'll post pics soon.

What does a Gorilla say?

Just for fun

Just some fun pics from the last couple days:

Going on a walk

Check out my dirty feet!

Good Morning!

Noah, where's your head?

Summer in May

For those of you living in Southern CA, you know what I'm talking about. It looks like the thermometer will break 100 Thursday-Monday and then remain in the 90's through next week. We tried to think of some fun ways to get through this little heat wave and decided to get a little pool for our backyard. Our community has a pool, but we thought it would be fun to have something that was Noah's size and something we can just walk out back and enjoy. Noah LOVES the water and has done so well even when he puts his face in. Here are a couple pics from yesterday:

Here are a couple of videos too:

Noah enjoying his pool:

Noah taking some more steps:

Noah has his first swim date this afternoon. He's napping now, but later this afternoon Eva will be coming over to swim with him...how fun!

Beginning to walk and new shoes

Noah has been taking a couple steps for awhile now, but recently he's been taking more...5-10 together. I figured that it was probably time to get him some shoes since he loves walking outside too. My friend Julie and I went with our kiddos (her Eva is 3 months younger than Noah) to the Stride Rite store in Cabazon. We got each of them a new pair of sandals, so cute. I didn't find a good sporty shoe for Noah...I'm a little picky. I'm still on the look out for some good tennies and a pair of good flip-flops...I saw some reefs online today, I just have to make sure his chubby feet will fit. :) Here is a picture of the two kiddos after our shopping trip:You'll notice that Noah's still in his infant car seat...we have his other car seat (and have had it since he was born!) but this one fits babies up to 30 lbs and 32 inches, so I haven't been in a rush to move him out of it. Since he's only 3 weeks away from being one, I guess I'll get all the use out of this one that I can.

Here is a little video of Noah walking. I didn't realize that I filmed it sideways...oops. You'll have to tilt your head to get a good look at it. Does anyone know how to flip it? He probably would have continued to walk if our little step up wasn't in the way. It's amazing how comfortable he's become even in the last couple days.

Happy Mother's Day

My mom's graduation picture, isn't she beautiful?

My sister, my mom and me this weekend at her surprise 60th birthday party :)

My mom and her 3 grandchildren: Isabella, Noah and Liliana

Mom, today I celebrate you (this is your weekend!! :)) and all of the many ways you've impacted the mother that I've become. Although I've said it before, I now more fully appreciate all of the hours you spent raising me. :) I appreciate the nights you stayed awake with me when all I wanted was a friend (every 2 year old needs a friend in the middle of the night...and please don't remind me of that when I call you b/c Noah wants to play in the middle of the night when he's two), the many times you loved on me and rocked with me and the countless loads of laundry you did for me. :) Thank you for teaching me to, "show Jesus to everyone you meet" and although I know I didn't always do that, it's a lesson I still strive to do well and one that I will teach my children to do. Thank you for laughing with me, crying with me and walking through difficult times with me, even if I seemed like I wasn't interested in you doing so at the time. Thank you for the "mom" that you've become to Hylke and for loving him like your very own son. Thank you for the wonderful grandma that you are to Noah. Thank for singing to him, loving him, teaching him, caring for him and most importantly praying for him. Thank you for supporting me in EVERY aspect...and never forgetting to celebrate any accomplishments. Thank you for being proud of me and singing....you know what...even to this day. :) Mom, I love you and celebrate YOU today. I'm glad we got to spend this weekend together.

11 months

I can hardly believe that Noah is 11 months old today....wow.