Making Memories

One of the things my mom and I always enjoy doing together is walking on the beach. We have continued to do this when I am visiting even with the older boys. Today we went for the first time without the twins in a stroller. I had Matthias in an Ergo carrier. It was about 80 degrees and much warmer than I am used to back home. A&W did really well with their back pack harnesses and I let them free roam for the most part. They wanted to play in the sand and I was happy to oblige because the heat was getting to me and it was cooler right by the beach. It was all good until Winston tripped and fell and got freaked out by his face touching the water. From there it was kind of disastrous walking back with wet, sandy and whiny toddlers. The only thing I could do was laugh about it. The good news is that they both took over a three hour nap today. The whole experience is something that will make me smile in the years to come.

Mini Family Reunion

This past weekend we all traveled down to Southern California for a mini family reunion and picture day in honor of my grandparents recently celebrating sixty five years of marriage. Is that not amazing, sixty five years?  My grandparents are such an amazing example of love and commitment to all those that are privileged to meet them.  I am so thankful to still have them here with us and grateful that they have been able to see our boys twice now.  

My grandma had one desire in honor of their anniversary and that was for a family photo.  With all the family, we had forty six souls in the photo.  My cousin Kristin, an amazing professional photographer, got roped into taking graciously offered to take the photo.  I know it is going to be a beautiful picture and I am looking forward to having those photos to look at for years to come.  Getting all of us together for that one day to take a family picture required months of planning.  My extended family always lived pretty close together and we would all get together one Sunday a month to celebrate birthdays.  My cousins and I have grown up however and we have migrated to different states over the years.  I have not seen some of my cousins since before Eric and I were married so it was very special to me.  It is amazing how life changes in five years.  I am now a married lady and a stay at home mom to two amazing little boys.  Most of my cousins have at least three children each so there were a lot of blond little kids running around.

My mom flew up to Nevada and we drove back down to So Cal with the boys. Then my dear husband flew down on Friday night, we had the photos on Saturday and we left early Sunday morning to go back home.  Did I mention that Eric arrived home from a work trip very early Friday morning and had to head out again on Monday morning?  The man is amazing and I am so grateful that he was so willing to go the extra mile to be a part of the weekend.   

Grandpa and Winston; Grandma with Abraham. The photo shows it was hot and the boys did not nap well. 

My grandma still has brilliant blue eyes--one link in the family tree where the boys get them.

My grandpa is in his nineties.  Does he not look good?

A family photo- Abraham(from left), Eric, Joleen, Winston, Mom Joanna, Stepdad Kurt, and brother Jeremy.

Me and my sweet Winston

These sweet little girls were the flower girls in our wedding and they were so happy to watch after the boys.

Our little Abraham at the park where we had family pics.

Abraham loved the trees.

Winston just took it all in.

My cousin and her husband hosted the whole family for dinner. They had the perfect back yard for a big family gathering.

Almost all the girl cousins.  This pic has two sets of sisters so I am the odd one out.

It was a whirl wind of a weekend but I am thankful we had the opportunity to spend time with my side of the family.

My Babies When They Were Babies

We spent this past Christmas in Southern California with my side of the family.  My cousin Kristin is a professional photographer and offered to take pictures of the boys while we were down there visiting.  Ummm, yes please!  She is so talented and I was so excited about her generous offer.  We had arrived in So Cal after midnight the night before we had scheduled to do the shoot.  It was the first road trip that we had taken with the boys and we were all zonked by the time we arrived at my mom and stepdad's house.  Thankfully the boys took a long morning nap after waking up at their normal time and then we headed over to Kristin's studio for the shoot.  She worked so fast and took a total of forty five minutes to take all these fabulous pics.  The boys had a quick food break in between some outfit changes and were happy little campers until we crept into the afternoon nap slot.

These pictures are precious to me because they capture A&W's individual little personalities as well as their twin bond.  They were still my baby boys in these pics rather than my little toddlers. I was so excited when I saw these that I asked Kristin for the web files so that I could share them on my blog.  I wanted to brag about how cute my kids were as well as Kristin's fine work.  If you or anyone you know is looking for a children and family photographer in the San Diego area, then you need Kristin Rachelle Photography.  She also does the most incredible beach photography.  Seriously. It was hard to pick a select number to share (otherwise this would have needed to be a slide show) but here are some of my favorites:

 My sweet bubbas- 9.5 months

 Our Abraham

 Our Winston

 They look like little men here.  What are they, thirty?

 Abraham telling Winston a joke.

So sweet.

Love these little faces.

Brotherly love.

The twin bond.

Little smiles.

Holiday Happenings

It has been quiet on the blog but not due to lack of stuff happening within our family. We are in Southern California spending the holidays with my family. We are absolutely loving the 70 plus degree weather and the awesome Mexican food. Abraham and Winston are being smooched on all the time and I am grateful they get the chance to spend time with their grandparents and great grandparents down here.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that God blesses you in the coming year. I will be coming back in the new year to share all about our vacation fun and how the boys are changing with each passing day.

A few cell phone pics to share:

The boys got to meet their great grandma and great grandpa Dykstra for the first time.

Me and my hunny at the beach on Christmas Eve.

Winston is just too cool for school.

Our little family at the view point for Diamond Valley Lake.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

March Vacation

Eric and I were thrilled to get away recently for close to a week. Our friends Matt and Tiffany got married on March 14th so we combined attending their wedding with seeing friends, fam and going to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland! We headed down after work and did the night time drive again. I think we are pretty committed to doing the drive down south at night now. It makes it go by real fast when you don't have to look at the desert. The sunset driving out of Bishop was lovely however. It got dark just outside of Lone Pine and by then it gets pretty boring. Sand and Joshua trees. We got to spend some time with the nieces and nephews, Grandma Ida, my Grandpa and Grandma Dykstra and my parents.

Matt and Tiffany's wedding was beautiful and we really enjoyed getting to be at a Christian wedding with so many mutual friends. For pics check out their photographer Marlin Munoz's blog. Robert Elliott, the pastor who performed our ceremony, also officiated the ceremony of Matt and Tiffany. It is wonderful to hear people say their vows when you know that they are committed to the mutual foundation of Christ being their Lord and Savior. Oh, and there was a sweet party afterward as well.

We headed to Disneyland with some good friends: James and Michelle Elliott and their adorable kiddos, Dave and Robyn Lamberth and Dave and Kathy McGuire. Eric and I had not been to Disneyland together since our engagement (Eric proposed to me at The Vineyard Room In CA Adventures). It was fantastic weather and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with our So Cal friends. The new Toy Story ride is our latest favorite.

TOTUS

That's right, TOTUS as opposed to POTUS. The Teleprompter of the United States of America. Recently as I was in So Cal for a friend's wedding and visiting family (more on that later), the topic of how our president cannot seem to actually speak without the use of teleprompter came up. Seriously, on St. Patrick's Day we saw that the man cannot even act candid as the host of his own party without a teleprompter. It was kind of a Wizard of Oz moment. All that to say a very witty and anonymous individual has started a blog writing in first person as TOTUS. You honestly just have to check it out for yourself: http://baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com/

And while I am not a fan of Rush Limbaugh per se, the transcript in which he dissects the St. Patrick's Day debacle with Ireland's PM is hilarious.

May I venture so far to say that at least Bushisms were original material even when they came out jumbled and unpolished sounding? It sure beats the umms, uhhs and errs when impromptu speech is forced upon Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and President Barack Obama.

I better watch what I say now, huh? This So Cal transplant is still trying to break "like" out of my vocabulary when not used as a simile.

Mike and Zabrina's Wedding

Eric and I got to go on our first road trip together this last weekend. We drove down to So Cal for a family wedding. From Gardnerville, NV to Riverside, CA it is about a 7.5 hour drive which gave us plenty of time to talk, sing, goof off and just enjoy each other's company.

 

It was wonderful getting to see my family for the first time since after our wedding especially for such a happy event. For those who are not too filled in on my family life, Zabrina is my former sister-in-law who we are very blessed to have such a close and positive relationship with. Mike and Zabrina actually said their vows in April in Las Vegas. They wanted to have a ceremony for family and friends to witness as well as a celebration! The wedding was held at my dad and stepmom's home that they recently built in Hemet, CA. It really was a great day and wonderful to see how happy and whole this family now is. At the reception, Mike made an announcement and asked Jaymie, Zabrina's daughter, to become an Emerson like her mom. He wants to adopt Jaymie and gave her a necklace with engraved with her new name. It was so touching for me that I did not get photos of that moment. For those of you at our wedding, Jaymie was one of my bridesmaids. Eric just loves the idea and role of being an uncle now and I can tell the kids love him too.

We got the chance to have my Grandma Ida stay at the house with us too all weekend which was a lot of fun. She seemed to really enjoy herself. On Sunday we went to church at my former church, Reformed Baptist Church of Riverside. My grandma came with us and my younger brother Jeremy, a freshman at Cal Baptist University, also showed up. It's amazing to see my brother basically out on his own and maturing into his post-high school self. It makes me so excited to see the kind of man he is becoming. It was so great seeing so many of our close friends at church that were there at our wedding and had been so important and supportive of us during our whole courtship process. It was a quick weekend but we really enjoyed our time.