draft sent

The dissertation has been sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still can't believe it's true and I'm not the one who did all of the work! I am so honored to write that my dear hard working husband through days of sweat and toil has printed and sent his paper, or shall I say book, to the readers. The next step is the defense, so there is still some work ahead. But we are very excited to be at this point. We are so thankful to our gracious Lord who has seen us through this process so far. Also, thank all of you who have encouraged, walked with us and prayed for us, and please continue to pray for us as we finish and pursue finding a job.

On June 20th, Monday morning, we had the car packed and loaded and stopped at the post office to mail the dissertation on our way out of town. It was a true celebration. We had been postponing our family trip for this moment and even had a countdown on the wall for Hallel of our family vacation. We headed off to the beach for 3 days and soaked up some much needed family time! I will let the pictures tell the rest...

Lunch at Capitola Beach

 A perfect day at the beach to make lots of sand castles.

 Simeon cried when he first saw the waves but then warmed up to them.

Hallel begs Josh to make her a castle and then can't wait to destroy it.

Dennis the Menace Park which the kids LOVED and it was free!

 Simeon and I crossing the bridge to get to the green twisty slide.

The park was full of great slides and playgrounds for all ages.

 Hallel's favorite was the "bumpy slide".

White sands beach across the street from Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey.

 It amazes me how much fun the kids had just shoveling sand!

 The only bummer was that our pool was freezing at the hotel so a dip of the toes was it, even though Hallel was soooo excited to swim. She would look out the window of our hotel and stare at the pool. so sad:(

Classic CA In n Out next door to the Hotel, very convenient! It was fun since we never go to the one near our house. :)

 Watching Curious George and Angelina Ballerina at the hotel, a very special treat!

 And of course Red Robin, our fav on the way home! Super special and fun vacation!

U2 360 tour

A year ago Josh and I got tickets to see U2 and unfortunately the concert was postponed for a year. But thankfully our tickets were still good and we were able to go in much better circumstances (it is amazing the freedom when you are not nursing). Plus it was a welcome break to spend the evening with Josh in the midst of his writing deadlines.
I think my favorite song was Beautiful Day and Josh's was probably Where The Streets Have No Name. But how can you go wrong with Bono and the Edge outdoors with 62,000 people in a full stadium with a 360 screen, a beautiful moon, and the best date ever. It was so fun to listen to U2 together since Josh is the one who has gotten me to really like them and their songs have a lot of road trip memories attached to them. I will let the pictures tell the rest.
burgers in Berkley

"the Claw" which holds the 360 screen

 listening to Lenny Kravitz the opener

 nice person who took our picture and their finger

 the show

 the screen being stretched, nice effect

the end

big girl panties

I am so excited to be writing this blog that we are having potty success at last! It was seriously like all of the painful hours spent on the potty chair just melted away and something seriously "clicked" for Hallel. She went from waiting for it every time to being able to go when she sat down on the potty chair to being able to go on the toilet in a matter of a few weeks. Before this just sounds like a mom bragging I just want to say that there were many days of frustration almost to the point of tears on my part and definitely for Hallel. So I hope this post is an encouragement to all of those mothers about ready to embark on this most duanting training.

One of my friends recently said that she read that there is a connection between verbal communication and the physical readiness to potty train. I whole heartedly agree with this statement. So many of Hallel's little friends that have been verbal at an early age also seemed to potty train early. I know it took Hallel awhile to talk and it seems the connection of holding it and making it come has taken her time to develop.

I know the chocolate chip reward and Grandma bringing new "big girl panties" also helped ALOT too!:)

a visit from grandma

We had an unexpected specially special visit from my mom this past week. With some gracious sacrifices from various family members my mother was able to spend five very sweet days with us. The kids were soaking up every minute with Grandma as much as I was too. I want to use this post to mostly show pictures of all the fun things we did together. But really the specialness was just in being together and all those conversations that spontaneously come up and having her experience the kids in their "world" being themselves. Thank you to all, but most of all to Dad who shared his wonderful wife with us!
Morning milk snuggle

Scruptious breakfast at the Half Day Cafe 

 Coffee tasting with friends from our church

 Digging, castle building and crushing, and picnic lunch at Bolinas Beach

 Discovery museum fun

Showing Grandma the playground at the Seminary

 Many more hugs, kisses, stories, playing, eating, laughing, potty training and crafting (I'll blog on those last two items soon)

 We love you Grandma!