Not Quite the Halloween we Planned For....

We woke up this morning excited for Halloween trick or treating, playing three soccer games, and getting to see everyone over at Mom and Dad's house. Well, sometimes life doesn't quite go as planned. Instead, Kelsey caught a fever and is throwing up, we had to get our hot water heater repaired today for $763, and our car had to get repaired today for $1,000. I am thankful that God has really been helping me over the past couple of weeks to put things like these into perspective. As my grandpa is dying of cancer, God is showing me on a daily basis what is most important: love for family and friends, being there for other people, and my relationship with Him. He gently reminds me that we are very blessed to even have a house and a car that we can repair and that we have the money to fix them. So instead of trick or treating today, we are home taking care of Kelsey to make sure that she doesn't get dehydrated and thinking about how blessed we really are.

More Cousin Fun!

We had a couple of fun evenings with Mary and the kids this week. The kids taped their legs together and spent lots of time giggling as they tried to get around the house. Last night we ate pizza, played some games, and Conner spent time teaching Alex how to skateboard.

Pumpkin Carving

Kelsey and her friend Sami had fun carving our pumpkins. They wanted to do peace, love, and happiness pumpkins. The kids continually remind me enjoy the simple things in life.

Anniversary Getaway

Peter and I just returned from a wonderful time away at the Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton. We were surprised by how much we loved the little town - it is filled with some cute shops, restaurants, and great places to walk. We hiked 7 1/2 miles at Silver Falls, seeing all 10 waterfalls - the scenery was spectacular with all the colorful leaves. We definitely needed the walk after having a prime rib and salmon dinner the night before. We are very thankful to all of our friends who took care of our kids so that we could have a great time.

We Love our Cousins

We loved spending time with Jack and Elie yesterday - they are such happy and sweet kids! We went to two different parks, went on walks, played soccer in the back yard, read books, and ate pizza! The kids were perfect, and our kids were in heaven being able to take care of their little cousins. Jack is so polite and made us smile so many times like when he said, "How's your weekend doing?" Katie and Tyee are doing a great job raising such awesome kids!

We Did It!

After finishing the Helvetia Half Marathon in June, I had a crazy idea that it would be fun to walk the Portland Marathon. Well, today was the big day. Yesterday I started getting very nervous and was really questioning my ability to walk 26.2 miles! I've been having some problems with my hip which I thought might prevent me from being able to do it. During church last night, I was praying about whether I could really walk a marathon. God then gave me the greatest sense of peace and reminded me of the scripture that says "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." He reminded me that I wasn't going to walk the marathon alone - He was going to be right there with me giving me all the strength that I needed. I then had the most incredible sense of peace and became very excited about walking today. The first 10 miles were a breeze, and the last 16 miles were not! The hardest part was miles 20-26. It was an amazing experience, and I'm grateful to my friend Michelle who walked with me. Peter and the kids were there to greet us at the finish line - it was so great to see them. Peter and a friend are now talking about walking it next year. Tonight I'm very, very sore and am hoping that I will be able to walk in the morning :)