A day at the beach

 We headed down to Galveston for a little birthday celebration yesterday.

We rode the ferry and saw a lot of silly dolphins 

We built sand castles

And we played in the sun

We finished it up with some good mexican food and called it a day.

I love a day  at the beach.

Summer of Missions

This is not a blog to boast... this is an intervention for myself.

This summer, Ryan and I have been on one mission after another.

During June I directed 7 different day camps for 60+ kids at our church.  During this time Ryan left for a week long mission trip called UMArmy in Lumberton, TX.  In July, Ryan left again for a jr. high mission trip in Dallas, TX, then came back and immediately left again for Male Retreat, then came back for VBS, and now I am about to leave for the female retreat, while Kai is attending his second VBS camp.  In August I have 6 mini camps for toddlers that I have yet to prepare for and Ryan is preaching all four Sundays.

Some people would look at this and say wow, you guys are on Fire for God.... however I am feeling a little burnt out.  We need to learn how to say no!!!

I am saying it now, starting today, Ryan and I WILL start saying NO!

We can do plenty for God without doing everything.  We need to focus on quality not quantity.  We need alone time with God so he can show us where and how we need to serve, instead of just saying yes to every opportunity that comes our way.

I have pictures of everything we did this summer but I am too tired to post them....

Our vacation from Summer

June has been a blur of day camps, mission trips, and running around (which I will blog all about in a few days).  However, this past weekend we  got away with some friends and took advantage of some serious down time.

We headed out to Lake Medina, which is right outside of San Antonio.  The lake was so low we could not go swimming, so on the first day Ryan took Kai on a hike through the property around the house we were renting.  After about an hour and a half, I was ready to send out a search party, but they eventually showed up--admitting they had gotten a little lost and ended up walking about 5 miles around the property trying to find their way back.

The next day we found a place called Paradise Caverns.  The water was ice cold, but the kids had fun.  

This weekend was just what we needed to recharge.

Now back to our real life.

Denver- Day 2

Today was all about adventure.  Ryan started his conference, so I set out on my own in an unknown land, to see what I could see.

I started out my day with a chocolate croissant and an espresso at a fancy little bistro called Crave-- that was an adventure in itself.  I am not a coffee drinker, but I always hear people ordering espresso, so I gave it a whirl.... I was not impressed, but I was hyper!

Fueled on coffee, I headed west, towards the mountains, to a place called Red Rock Amphitheater.  I hiked around the trails for about two hours and took a lot of pictures.

After that, I went to pay homage to a man who was the embodiment the adventure-- Buffalo Bill.  His grave in on the top of a cliff in Golden, Colorado.  It had spectacular panoramic views of the mountains, and it said that you can look upon three different states from the top.  I visited the grave site, the museum, the gift shop and the restuarant (where I had a delicious buffalo burger).

That evening, I joined Ryan and Cathy (the other pastor from our church attending the conference) and her daughter for dinner.  After that, Ryan and I attended a two hour worship service put on by the conference in this magnificent old Methodist church.

After the service we wandered around the downtown district for a while, taking in all the sites, and then headed back to the hotel.  We were both exhausted.

Denver-Day 1

Ryan and I had to get up at 3:30 am to get dropped off at the airport by my wonderful parents (who also had to get up at 3:30am) to catch our flight to Denver, CO.

Ryan is attending a church conference, and I just tags along for some much needed R&R.

His conference does not start until tomorrow so we got to spend the whole day exploring the city.  

We started our day at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refugee.  We wandered around for about 2 miles and saw prairie dogs, deer, geese, rabbits, and even a coyote.

It was so nice to just be able to walk around with Ryan and have stupid conversations and pose for silly pictures and not worry about anything.

After the wildlife refugee, our hotel room was ready.  We checked in and did what any normal person who had to get up at 3:30 am would do.... we took a long nap!!

Feeling rested and ready for adventure we set out again.  This time to the Great Divide Brewery.

We got to take a tour of the brewery, sample and few beers, and meet some interesting people.

After the brewery we headed downtown for some dinner and ended our night at a comedy club (sorry no pictures were allowed in there)

We are loving Colorado!!!

Field Day

Kai had his school field Day on April 5.

The top three events ( according to Kai)

1. The obstacle course
2. tug-o-war
3. snow cones

Easter

Happy Easter Everyone.

Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.