\\ Recent Birthdays //

Our nephew, Uriah, turned two in the beginning of September!

His Grandma Mary went all out with his cake!

 : The Birthday Boy :

Blowing out his candles!!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

We also had a birthday at the end of September...

...Jubilee turned 3!!

Opening presents while her nephews watch:)

Blowing out candles!

( Picture credit to Joanna & Joylin at www.stritefamily.blogspot.com )

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Justin's dad also had a birthday in September! :)
Sis. Joyce's was the beginning of October and Joanna's was just last week!!

I made dinner and a cake and took it over to the Strite's house for Joanna's birthday.

 Joshua and Timothy had to count to be sure we put enough candles in! haha
(This was my first time decorating a birthday cake so it's not perfect but I had fun! :)

Juliana also came down for the weekend :)

Harvest Time

This past week has been a busy one at Justin's work...they've started harvesting!
I love getting to ride along with Justin while he drives the grain cart.

Ready to load into the grain cart...

Shawn loads the grain cart which Justin then drives back to the grain bins and unloads into the semi.

Shawn's dad, Ed, runs the auger that takes the corn from the semi-trailer up into the grain bins.

...inside the bin...

Riding in the tractor all day calls for some snacking :)

It's the little things in life...

:: coffee & devotions ::

:: tagging along at work with my hubby ::

:: cuddling the newest addition ::

:: and admiring just how adorable baby Judah is ::

:: Sunsets ::

:: and of course, just being together ::

God's Promise

One evening this past week there was a gorgeous double rainbow in the sky.

:: Genesis 9:13-16 ::

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

The colors were so vibrant and vivid!!

2,261 miles & back

Saturday morning my sweet husband drove me to Tucson so I could catch a flight back to Pennsylvania to visit for a few days!  

I loved the view as I landed in Harrisburg!

Green fields, trees, quaint little houses...

Saturday night there was a youth get-together/surprise party for...

...Travis!  Faith flew up from Florida and surprised him for his birthday :) 

Cousins <3 

It was so nice to see them again!

Sunday afternoon after church the young people went and played volleyball.

The last two times I've been back to PA it has been during the week so I never really got to hang out with them.  The fact that I got to see them Saturday and Sunday made the trip really fun! :)

Roseanna also had a birthday while I was there!

Happy Birthday Rosie!!

Puppies and ponies we saw while biking Monday evening :) 

Tuesday I redecorated and organized Hope's room and packed so I was ready to leave for the airport at 3a.m. the next morning!  I really like how this one dresser turned out! :)

Tuesday night something very exciting happened back in AZ...

Little Judah Lewis Garcia arrived!! Now Jenny and Micah have three little boys!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

All in all the trip back to Pennsylvania was very fun and I'm glad I went!

Still, there's no place like home!!

Apache & Roosevelt Lake Trip

Sunshine, water, friends, laughter, and lots of memories... This past weekend Joylin, Joanna, Justin, and I went with Juliana and her dad to have some fun cruising on the lake in their boat.  We spent all day Saturday on Apache Lake and Sunday morning on Roosevelt Lake.  Tubing and wake boarding were the most popular water sports we did.  Bro. Tim did knee-boarding and skiing, Juliana did skiing as well.  Most of the pictures and videos we took are on Bro. Tim's camera but we do have quite a few off our phones.

Here are a few tubing "wreck" videos, because that's really the only part that everyone waits for!!! :D

Joanna pulled a funny move on this ride!  She catches some air and gets bounced up off her tube.  When she comes back down, she lands back on the tube, only now she is being pulled backwards!  She grabbed back on to the tube and kept riding!  She said it was the scariest ride of her life because she couldn't see when a wave was coming up, Justin was just flying along beside her saying, "Hang on, here comes another one!!" :D

Justin and Joanna get some air in before they go flying off their tubes!

Justin goes flipping off his tube.


Justin actually stays on his tube for this ride and I'm the one that gets dumped!! :P


Justin thought he hurt me really bad when this wreck happened, but all he hit was my leg as he went tumbling!


Check out the jump Juliana gets in as Justin wrecks!!

Hope you enjoyed the tubing videos!
Now for some pictures of our weekend :)

On our way to Apache Lake Saturday morning we went by the Roosevelt marina.

Another view of Roosevelt Lake

The dam...

...the dam from downstream.

Cruising on Apache, the day was perfect!

 Juliana on the tube!

Joanna and Juliana

* * * * * * * * * * 

It was rainy, cold, and cloudy Sunday morning but we stayed on Roosevelt and listened to part of a message until it cleared up and the sun decided to warm us all!

 We found a cove that was perfect for wake boarding... there were some sailboats in there as well.

Yes, I actually tried wake boarding :)

Some ducks on the water...

 Roosevelt is the largest lake entirely located in the state of Arizona.
Both the reservoir and the dam that create the lake were named after President Theodore Roosevelt.


Love these two!!

We drove over by the dam for some pictures :)

Our crew!

A big "Thank You!!!" to Bro. Tim and Juliana for inviting us to go along!

...and the view as we pulled up the ramp to head home!

* * * * * * * * * *

Here are a few videos of Justin and I wake boarding on Roosevelt.


No, I'm not that great, but I really enjoyed it!


The water in the cove was so smooth!


My attempts at going out of the wake were unsuccessful!! :(


Justin was really good at wake boarding!

He got back over the wake nicely too :)


He tried pulling himself in without sinking when he was finished his ride :)

and that's it folks!!  Have a great day!

~Kaitlyn