Whidbey Island

God was so good to us in August and made it possible for us to go on vacation to Washington with my family. It's taken me so long to post pictures, as we have so many to go through! I think the pictures speak mainly for themselves, but I will comment on some of them. My parents were so gracious to give us this trip for our birthdays, and even though we were in one of the prettiest places we've ever seen, the best part was being with family for an entire week. We really miss being near family!

The first pictures are of the place we stayed. We were on Whidbey Island, in a remote area overlooking the ocean. The Soaring Eagle Lodge was huge, we felt like movie stars with just 5 of us in this huge place!

The backyard -- where we spent the most time. The weather was ideal, so we were outside a lot.

My sister Robyn was training for a half-marathon.

We took a few walks just around the streets where we were staying. It was really quiet with little traffic. We enjoyed picking up fliers for houses that are on sale -- and dreamed of living here!

Lots of raspberries and blueberries and apples growing everywhere.

We ate and ate and ate! I think I gained 5 pounds! We mostly made our own food, as there weren't too many restaurants. We really enjoyed Toby's Tavern where we ate fish and chips!

This is a restaurant near Seattle. Seattle was hours away, so we sadly didn't feel like making the long trip to explore the city. We ate here after we first arrived and had the long drive to the lodge ahead of us. We didn't know where to eat, so we searched our GPS for local restaurants and picked it just by its name!
We went hiking around Whidbey Island.
He is very daring. Rather than drive to Seattle, we chose Canada, as we had never been there. The closest city in Canada was Vancouver. We didn't really know where to visit, but it was fun to just be in a different country. This is Stanley Park, with really pretty trees. And black squirrels!!! Never seen one of those!

Read the sign. I thought I was in California for a second.It was a long car ride and Darby decided to take many many many photos of us!
This is downtown Vancouver. All the buildings look the same. It reminded me of the cities in Wall-E (just piles and piles of same-looking towers everywhere).

When we were just hanging out at the lodge, we watched lots and lots of this:And played hours and hours of this:The last night, we had a campfire. What a joy that God had provided music for our family from my Dad and Darby. They took all of our requests, even "Shake Your Booty." I will spare you a video of me dancing to that :0). We didn't have sticks to roast marshmallows on, so we thought outside the box. Darby is using a grilling basket. Yummy!

Summer Fun Photo Contest

I'm entering this photo in the summer fun photo contest... nothing says summer like a day at the beach! Click here to check out the contest!

Babies Babies Everywhere!

It seems like we are in that stage in life when everyone we know is adding to their families. Please be in prayer for Danny and Shannon, who are just 12 weeks along -- and already know they're having a boy! Also for Jon and Lola, who just had their first daughter Emma, 4 weeks early but very healthy. Melissa and David, who had adorable little Zoe about 3 weeks ago. And please keep little Suzie Sanderson in prayer, born to Steph and Kyle at 28-weeks, still in the NICU but making encouraging improvements. Steph and Kyle have been great examples of Christians who put their little one in the Lord's hands, and I seem to learn daily from their response to this trial. In addition to these new babies, there is a long list of pregnancies within our little church -- 14 expecting, not to mention the many who have been born recently.

We are off to Seattle next week, so excited to escape the Texas heat. It's been well over 100 for weeks now. Seattle's average temperature: 60 degrees. In the daytime. I'm going to be cold! All our love to everyone, let us know how we can pray for you!

Summer Trip to California

July was a welcomed break from the Texas heat to visit family. It was a jam-packed time of fun and visiting, and was a great encouragement for Darby to finish seminary faster so we can Lord-willing be back near family! There were a few things that were extra-special -- like seeing all the Lang nieces and nephews (it had been about a year since last seeing them) and how they are all either taller than Aunt Karyn or nearing that day. It was also extra-special to be a part of Jasper's 3rd birthday, as well as be there for Father's Day. On Father's Day there was an announcement made that you will have to scroll down to see.

Shelbie went all out on Jasper's "under the sea" party. In addition to making this awesome sandcastle cake, she had great activities for everyone, including sea-animal origami (see the fish pic at the beginning of the blog, complements of Sophia Lang Photography) and sea-animal charades. Nothing funnier than seeing Uncle Morgan act like an eel and Aunt Fanny act like a grunion and Grandad act like Shamu!

No under-the-sea party would be complete without swimming! This is Allison striking a pose.

Zachary and Cody are ready to swim.

Uncle Darby and the birthday boy.

As mentioned earlier, this is proof of how much Taylor has grown. Looks taller than Darby, and Darby is even on his tip-toes (just kidding).
A year since we've seen Audrey, and she is a little girl now.
After the pool party, we got to spend the night at Morgan and Shelbie's place and then go to church the next morning with them. After church, we celebrated Father's Day/my birthday/Darby's birthday.

This is Sophia, who continuously and politely asked to borrow the camera. She has a lot of talent for her age, and we were struck by her thoughtfulness in setting up the shot, asking people to pose or arranging the items being photographed. She even has the knack of being at the right place at the right time, as you see by the picture she took of Silas below, who is pressed up against the sliding glass door.

Baby Silas was so sweet and cuddly and happy, it was a joy to spend time with him, as it's been since Christmas since seeing him. Here is Uncle Darby holding little Silas in the beautiful exotic jungle yard!

After Father's Day at the Hughes house, we went to celebrate Father's Day at the Hauptman house. As mentioned earlier, there was a joyful and shocking announcement made, as my Dad opened this gift:

No confusions, it's not our announcement! But my brother Danny and his wife Shannon are now expecting their first child, the first of the next Hauptman generation. We were all surprised and crying. You can follow the progress of the baby at the Hauptman Family website by clicking on "Shannon and Danny." My Dad was a little confused and thought the gift was for his use.

The following morning, the Hughes side got together for a day of fun. Darby and I started out with In N Out for lunch, officially making me ready to die and go to heaven. The next stop for the family was to go to the veteran's memorial cemetery to try to locate the gravesite of Great-Great-Great Grandad King (the number of "Greats" was fully explained by Darby's Mom, but I'm still confused!)

George W. King

We went to the beautiful California beach. It made for some great pictures! This was so relaxing and beautiful, praise God for His beautiful creation.

We spent the night at Morgan and Shelbie's again, ate some Ravanelli's pizza for dinner.... mmm... and the boys bonded over their video game.

Another sweet memory is spending the night at the Lang's. The kids left us notes in the bed with little messages. They remembered that at Christmas when we stayed at their house without them there, we left them each notes in their beds. It was a surprise that they remembered! Oh, and before bedtime, the Hughes family had an outside movie night, eating ice cream and brownies and popcorn in front of the big screen projection of Surf's Up.

The next morning, Shelbie and I took the boys to their classes at the rec center while Darby spent time with the Lang kids playing Wii. It was fun to see Jasper and Silas'personalities come out in this different setting. Jasper was shy and hesitant but was coaxed into participating. Here he is on the trampoline. He says he's jumping, but he is really just standing there doing nothing while Shelbie swears that he is able to jump on Cousin Audrey's trampoline. Suuuure.... :0)

Silas and me. He's so cute!!

Silas was impressive, as he remembered the toys and knew exactly what to do to make them make sounds. He was the oldest baby there and is ready to move on to the next class.

We were able to spend another night at the Hauptman house. This is me and my Mommy in their new kitchen. I am still surprised every time I see it!

Sadly, time to leave the next day. We planned to meet the Hughes/Lang family at Starbucks near the airport for a last goodbye. Our flight was delayed, so we got to spend more time there. Who knew that 15 people can meet for cofee at Starbucks and still be able to sit together!

This is Audrey, Jasper, Sophia and Silas.

Darby and I with all the kids. We missed Cody and Heather, but they were at school. Surprised that with so many kids, it's Darby who has his eyes half-closed!

Sophia the photographer borrowed my camera again. She got some great shots, one of which is this adorable picture of Shelbie and Silas.

Allison took this picture by holding the camera in front of us.

And you can't beat Sophia's picture of the birthday boy!

At Starbucks, the kids were sweet by giving us pictures they had drawn for us. Zachary drew a picture of Texas, complete with dirt, cactus, and tumble weeds. It made my co-worker Melissa laugh, as it's funny that Californian's have that picture in their heads when they think of Texas. And so y'all know, I don't see too many tumble weeds and there isn't any cactus here. Just dying grass from the heat heat heat!