Sisters?

I just got this adorable picture from our sweet JG. I love it! BUT I can't help looking at it and thinking how much my 2 precious daughters look NOTHING alike! It is so crazy how they have 2 different faces, body types, hair, smile and everything, but both came out of my body (with the same daddy! hehe) I guess Audrey just looks more like her daddy and Ainsley looks more like me. :) I can deal with that. Aren't they cute though?!

The Big 3-0!!!!

For some reason this birthday is one that I have been dreading for quite some time now. The thought of being in my thirties is not too exciting for me. I know that the next ten years will be a wonderful time of raising my kiddos into their jr. high years and hopefully being an important/essential part of who they will become as they are introduced to their Savior. I am totally okay and looking forward to the many sweet memories that will be created in my thirties. I think the part that I am sad about is saying good bye to my 20s. As silly as it sounds, I LOVED my twenties. It is hard not to think about the incredible man the Lord gave me 10 years ago as well and how much our marriage has grown. (We will be celebrating 10 years of marriage in 2 months! Crazy!) So, because I was married as a 20 year old it is natural to also look that that aspect of the past 10 years. :) Here are some of my favorite memories of my 20s:

• Marrying the man of my dreams and my best friend and going on a wonderful honeymoon to Cancun
• Becoming a "ministers wife" and having to navigate those new waters
• Graduating from college and following through with a lifetime dream of being a teacher
• Teaching 6th -8th grade for 6 years and loving every minute of it as the Lord allowed me to have a special impact on students that I still talk to today. (My first group of kiddos are completing their 1st year of college! WOW!)
• Buying our first home in Katy, TX
• Going on a cruise and many other wonderful trips for anniversaries and times we were able to get away
• Our struggle with infertility for 3 years
• Making so many wonderful new friends and keeping a lot along the way
• Having our 3 amazing kiddos that the Lord has blessed us with over and over again
• Having the opportunity to share many special days with my best friends from weddings to births
• My precious grandmother Mauritzen passing away and being able to celebrate her life and legacy
• Becoming a pastor's wife and watching my hubby thrive doing what he was made to do - shepherd and love a flock of great people

To "celebrate" our 30s me and a couple of good friends from high school took a trip to Austin to pamper ourselves with a day at a spa, eat at some great restaurants, shop, sleep in a really great hotel and spend some much needed quality time with each other and away from our families. Thanks to our 3 wonderful husbands for "carrying the load" of the kids while we were gone! There are 5 children (and 2 on the way for Meg!) between the three of us and we had a blast having girl time together! It was a quick trip that I wish could have lasted longer, but hopefully we will make this an annual thing! ;)

Kylie, Meg (and her twin baby boys that are due to arrive in July!) and me on our girl's weekend.

I had a wonderful and relaxing birthday! Andrew actually took off and we spent the morning hanging out in the beautiful weather outside as a family most of the morning. Then I went and did a little bit of shopping for myself and also went and had a spa manicure and pedicure. WONDERFUL!! Our sweet Nana came in the afternoon to watch the kiddos while Andrew and I went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory. (I love that place!) We sat by the water and had a great time reflecting and looking forward to our future as a family, in ministry and as a couple. It was perfect and i am thankful that it was just the two of us. (Just what I wanted! It is a rare thing to "go out" these days and we loved every minute of it! Thanks Nana!)

Dinner and dessert were awesome!

Then, on Wednesday two of my best friends from college took me out to dinner and we had a great time. I love these two girlies and I also love that we live close enough to each other to spend more time together! (Let's keep this tradition going, girls!)
Me, Blake and Cathy

Okay, 30s! Here I come! I am looking forward to the many awesome things that are to come in the next 10 years!

A First for Austin

We took Austin to his first baseball game last week and we all had a blast! Our (future Aunt) Kristin and Uncle Cory gave us free tickets to a Frisco Rough Riders game and Austin was so excited! I was so cool watching the game through his eyes. He had many question and the main thing he didn't understand was why he couldn't go out on the field with the players. So cute!

Daddy and Austin

Drinking a lemonade. (His first of many special treats that night!:)

Look at that blue face! You can't go to a baseball game without eating cotton candy, right?!

Austin loves his Uncle Cory!

More sugar!

By the end of the night Austin was so wound up on sugar he was bouncing all over the place! What a fun night!!

Easter 2009

Dyeing Eggs for the 1st time. We had a lot of fun watching them turn colors!

Austin and Audrey's egg creations. Grreat job guys!

Happy Easter! It was a crazy day for us. We had 3 services at our church with about 500 people and Andrew did a fabulous job (as always!) I am so proud of him! Then we jumped into the car and drove to Ft. Worth to spend the rest of the day with 30 something people in Andrew's family.

Isn't Audrey's outfit so cute?! Thanks Aunt Alisha!!

My loves!

Happy 1st Easter, Ainsley!

Audrey's 1st official egg hunt.

(The one at the church was cancelled because it was raining earlier in the day.)

Austin LOVED this part of the day. He is so competitive! I wonder where he gets that from?? It was a wonderful day, but we were wiped out by the end of it!

Easter is one of my favorite days of the year. It is such a reflective time of remembering what our Savior did on the cross for us. The penalty He paid for our sins is amazing to me and sometimes hard to wrap my heart and mind around. We are so undeserving of that kind of love! I love celebrating His resurrection and all that He has done in and through my life. I know that He is alive and living in me and there is no greater feeling to know that I can find rest and peace in Him. Praise You, Jesus!

Ainsley is 10 Months Old!

Our sweet Ainsley is about 10 1/2 months now and she is as active as ever. Unfortunately, she STILL isn't crawling, but we know that she is super close. She is quite the roller and seems content to just roll where she needs to go. It is funny to watch. She now has 2 top and 2 bottom teeth and we are slowly introducing her to "big people" food. For those moms out there - she loves puffs (and so do I!!) Ainsley is also our little grabber and she has quite a grasp. :) Things she loves: Mommy's necklaces and earrings, her blanket, bath time, any toy she can put into her mouth, her bottles, our nursery workers at church and of course daddy, Austin and Audrey. I love to watch her face light up when she sees Andrew walk into a room. She has the biggest blue eyes and everyone loves those dimples! I can't believe that I will be planning her 1st Birthday party soon! Time is FLYING!! We are so blessed with our children! We were talking the other day that we can't remember life without them and that we would NEVER want to go back! They truly are an inheritance!

Love you baby girl!!

A Day Out with THOMAS!!

A couple of weeks ago our sweet Grandma and Grandpa Werley met us in Grapevine, TX and we had the chance to "meet" a very special friend around our house: THOMAS the TRAIN!! Austin is a huge fan of all things that go and make noise, but Thomas is one of his absolute favorites. We have the train table with all of the Thomas and Friends trains and Austin knows all their names and even sleeps with 3-4 trains every night. So, this was a chance of a lifetime as far as he was concerned. It is so awesome as parents to watch one of your kiddos dreams come true right in front of you! It was a magical time that I hope he never forgets.

Here are some pics from the day:

The official "Ticket to Ride"

Here he is! I wish we would have had a video camera to capture Austin's face when he saw his friend for the first time. It was priceless and he was so excited!

This is not the greatest pic. It just happened that right before as we got there a major cold front was blowing in and it turned out to be freezing cold and very windy. I unfortunately wasn't as prepared as I should have been, but we survived.

Austin meeting Sir Topem Hat. Too cute!

Audrey playing while we waited to ride the train.

We are on the train where it was much warmer!

My sweet and happy boy!

Daddy, Audrey and Grandpa Werley enjoying the ride.

Austin loved sticking his head out this window and walking up and down the aisle of the train asking A LOT of questions about how it all worked. Thankfully Daddy and Grandpa are smart guys! :)

Austin also got to pick out a very special train to remember the day. He was bouncing off the walls the entire trip! I love days like this one! To see my children with so much pure joy is such a wonderful thing! Austin still asks when Thomas is going to "come and visit him" again. I love it!

Audrey's 2nd Birthday Party

We decided to change it up a little bit and have Audrey's party in our church fellowship hall this year. We have a hard time each year deciding to have an inside or outside party for her b/c the weather in Texas in March is always up in the air. It could be warm and sunny one day and then snowing the next like it was this year! I am so glad we made the call to be inside this year. We had snow flurries the morning of her party here in Anna! It was a wonderful day full of lots of family and friends. I loved having a tu tu party for her because all the little girls were dressed so cute! I highly recommend it! Thanks to my sis for capturing the party with her camera, to Grandma Werley for helping me with all the food prep and to my sweet hubby for going the night before and helping me get everything set up!

Here are some pics of the party:

We just can't believe how big our sweet Audrey is getting! Each day she surprises us more and more. In this pic she is talking to her Aunt Zu zu about something really important I am sure. Audrey is not really a fan of cameras - we do the best we can at this age. :)

Opening gifts. Austin did so great helping his little sister open all of her gifts. It was so cute to see how excited he was for her with each new present.

A shot of the majority of kiddos at the party.

Austin and Audrey bowling with Papa.

Blowing out the candles.

Bounce house fun!

(Have I mentioned how much we LOVE this thing?!

We use it almost daily especially now that the weather is getting warmer.)

Eating her cupcake...

Cousin Sophia and Ainsley. How cute are they?!

Audrey in her new shoes and purse from JG and Big T (Terry and Jan Graham.)

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

We love you and praise God for the gift of you!

Blogging Marathon

I am about to go on one of these to try and catch up for the last MONTH of what has been going on in our little corner of the world. Stay tuned... I think I have like 6-7 posts coming!!