Player of the Week...Dorian Green!

We are so proud of you Dorian!  Way to play hard and earn, Mountain West Player of the Week!

  Check out this-(No Mountain High Enough) video and see what ESPN is talking about within this conference.  

Its pretty exciting keeping up with D in his Senior year.  

We LOVE listening to the games, wearing CSU tatoos and praying that this year they make it again to the Big Dance!

GO Rams!  

*photos from coloradoan.com and milehighhoops.com

And seriously, I know you have lots of fans, but these two think you are SUPER RAM.  You've got to be the best player in the entire NCAA in their eyes.  We all love you, Uncle Dorian! :) 

Last of the 4's

 Hey there beautiful little girl!  It is amazing that you will turn 5 tomorrow.  We LOVE you!

Love, Momma, Daddy and Owen

Dear Catie Beth

We hope this letter makes it to TX and you!

 I noticed the flag was up on our mailbox, but couldn't recall putting anything in the box to mail. I thought maybe it was up by accident, but no.  I knew, yesterday, Katie was writing a letter to her friend Catie Beth. She wanted to send it while CB was at her Nana and Papa's house in TX...
I was talking with Justin tonight and he said Katie came running out of the house when he got home from work to please please please put it in the mail for her.  Justin didn't know it wasn't adressed and he popped it in the box.  ...super cute.  :)
SOoooooo....we talked about what is needed again on a letter to send it correctly and then re-put it in the box.  Friends...we hope it gets to you before you travel back here!  

Science Museum

 We explored the new science museum wing!  Tons of hands on activities and neat technology.  Plus all the research scientists were working behind glass walls so we watched then research/investigate/dissect.

It was pretty neat.  The table above is pretty cool.  It lights up with all the information about whatever animal is placed on it.  Katie choose to learn about an owl and Owen a frog.  Being honest, their favorite part was just pushing the buttons on the table, like an ipad.  :)

Oh and we ran into the Cordells exploring the new wing too-Love those people!

Katie quotes

1. I just found a good beef recipe on Pinterest Mom.  It has shredded beef, tomatoes, lettuce, avocados she threw in, a little bit of jalapeños for Buzz.  And Buzz likes heat.

2. Oh here is another recipe....Buzz texted it to me, it is called a Roll up Pizza with pepperoni and cheese. You put in the oven for 35 minutes.  He gives me good ideas.

3. All the princesses have great ideas for food...Tinkerbell, Lily, Magnolia, there are so many people to take care of...lots of food needs to be made.  That reminds me I have 30 daycare kids to take care of tomorrow...

4. This is so funny....Tiana just posted on pinterest.....it said, "do you dads work when he's working to show love.  And the comment said, doing your dads work is fun".  That is so funny!

5. Everyday I text Tiana, "Birthday Girl!"

6. And Buzz keeps telling me he is playing on Barbie Surfer Girl game and also on the library app where I can write my own book...It helps me learn my words.  Buzz just plays all my games...Oh I have another game loading.....it's called Amazon Prime.   BUZZ....DON'T DELETE THAT!

7. And we were having this conversation home in the car.  I was asking her if she would continue learning how to cook by making lunch for us one day a week.

Kt said: I have small, but tiny arms, they are strong and one day a week would be perfect for my schedule to make lunches for the family.  Let's do it mom!

Our Budding Artist, Lover of Her Daddy and Inspiration Seeker

Katie, you look so big in these photos!  I can't believe, you, our little girl is growing up!

Way to go doing this all by yourself:

...going outside with your baby doll changing table, turned art table.

Using the white stool for a seat.

Getting inspiration from the outside/creation.

Being with daddy while he mows the yard.

Listening to 'What's in the Bible with Buck Denver" so that you can drown out the noise of the blower.

Having your Bible near by for deep reading.

And finally creating a vase of flowers in your journal!

You are one creative girl and we LOVE you .

Despair

I had Owen playing with Legos while I did a few things around the house and this is what happened for 45 minutes straight. 

build a tower...legos fall over...Owen cries in despair...build a tower...legos fall over...Owen cries in despair...build a tower...

Then I was having Katie pick up her room before we left and she was in despair too...

I can't do it...I don't want to pick up my room...why do I have to do this...can't someone help me...it is too much...why can't I fold my clothes right...

*note...I did find this pretty humorous... Ah, the life of a child.  :)

Oh Hey There Friend...

Melissa Anne Clift you are still one of our sweet girls!

 I included this photo because I thought Katie looked oh so cute peeking up...  :)

 Awwwww.....I like this one!

Katie and now Owen, from day one have LOVED attempting to play dominos with Melissa.

 Seriously...isn't this the coolest apt???

The Kids and I made the short trip up to Wake Forest to spend some time with Melissa!  We sure love this girl.  :)  Her apt is incredibly cool and her furnishings are awesome.  She's done a great job making it into her abode!  

We will miss her deeply as she is packing up and moving out to OK in a few weeks, but also feel so blessed to have walked and been friends with M for the past four years.  Wow, four years!  The Lord has done a lot and He is certainly up to great things now too.  

Melissa, you are wonderfully created and deeply special to us.  Hugs and love, Justin, Gi, Katie, Owen

DC, part II

Notes to Self

A few things about traveling

1. Forget your tennis shoes, walk all over DC and ride the METRO in your clean, newly bought by my husband, cream colored TOMS.  Not the smartest idea I've had lately. My TOMS did hold up well.  And I successfully stretched them to fit (TOMS always stretch to fit your feet they say). Needless to say they are well broken in.  

2. Forgot to bring water on our outings.  I forgot numerous times to grab the water bottles.  And yes, I paid $5.99 for a bottle of water.  Next time-don't forget WATER!

3. Swim in an outdoor pool in April.  Hummm...was this a bright idea or not. Though the pool was heated the air temps were not.  Of course Katie loved it, but Owen and I only lasted 33 minutes.

4. Pack one more outfit then I think necessary for each kid.  Washing clothes in the sink works, but I need to be prepared an extra wee bit more-mud puddle jumping, rolling in the dust/grass....  :)

5. ALWAYS a good idea to stay close to where we are exploring.  This we did well!  The hotel was within walking distance for Justin and us.  Plus the METRO had a stop in right below the hotel-score!

Here are the rest of our photos.  As one can see from the photos we had a great time.  We'd do it again especially since we saw two great friends!

While at the Roarks (a friend we were SOOOO glad to see) playing, Katie was beyond excited to dress up in princess outfits and wear heels.  Thanks Emmaline for sharing your clothes and dolls and thanks to Hudson and Elijah for being such generous hosts with their room full of lego and dart guns and swords.  Thanks to Allison for opening your home, conversations, being real and pizza.  :)

The two littles were left at the table to finish their lunches.  Owen was mixing his applesauce in with his lemonade while having a cell phone charger around his neck. Interesting. Emmaline was fingerprinting and eating her yogurt.  Creative. :)  

The kids got to watch a Mickey's Clubhouse and were glued to it...  What else keeps five kids quiet for a few minutes? :)

Nana, this photos for you (hint-look closely at the tongue :)

Hey there....thanks again for letting us stop by, play and eat lunch!  Your company was refreshing and your home beautiful.  SOOOooo glad that Robin introduced us and our men had classes together way back when we were just couples.  We appreciate your family and all the Lord has you guys on doing-being on mission for His Kingdom.  

We had to do some funny faces at a yummy pizza place.  Thankfully we were able to grab dinner with Justin two nights in-between sessions!  :)

Q Conference venue-an amazing hall.

The kids loved walking the sidewalk 'balance beam'.  I think walking on the edges was the highlight of  our many walks.

Dancing in front of the Smithsonian Castle

A resurgence of the 80's...Eat your heart out Tina Turner.

seriously...my hair-wow.

Ka-Chow!  

I heart these two guys.  

And we loved this coffee shop called Ebenezers on Capital Hill.  They have a neat story and exceptional coffee...it was worth the walk (around the block since we got turned our with our directions :)

Owen is licking the sugar off the table from the cookie we got the kids-good boy, get all those crumbs!

DC was beautiful-azalas everywhere, tulips blooming on every corner and cherry trees blossoms flying in the wind.

And to round out our photos...a moment captured by Katie Grace.  

OOOOHHHH, and one place we absolutely loved eating was Chop't Creative Salads...it has inspired two weeks of salads for dinner...Katie has been fond of saying, "This hits my yummy spot!" 

-more on that later. :)