Darren’s Birthday August 24, 2009

Yesterday morning Darren walked into our bedroom to see McKinsey sitting on our bed holding a birthday gift. So cute! She got Daddy this cute outfit for herself that says “I love Daddy”. How thoughtful of her:)!

We have made it a tradition that for our birthdays we go to Johnny Carinos. We love that place. We always share the homemade lasagna and if it’s your birthday they bring you this delicious chocolate cake with ice cream and no embarrassing birthday song. McKinsey gave dad another good gift by sleeping through our entire meal so we could relax and enjoy every bite. She did happen to wake up just in time for dessert. She must have got that intuition from her daddy:) Then we headed down to Victoria Gardens and hung out for the afternoon. It was a fun day out of the ordinary.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) my amazing Husband! I love you!

Brilliant Bows August 22, 2009

One of my sister’s best friends from college makes these adorable bows and sells them online. If you’ve every admired a bow in McKinsey’s hair (the little that she has:) it comes from Stephanie’s Brilliant Bows. I highly recommend them. Here’s McKinsey modeling some of her newest ones…

Happy Anniversary To Us August 15, 2009

Last night we finally set aside some time to celebrate our 3years of marriage. Our real anniversary is July 8th, but we were on vacation with Darren’s side of the family and didn’t want to take time away from everyone since we only get to see them a couple times a year. When we got married we decided that every anniversary we would take turns planning it. This year was Darren’s turn and he took me to an amazing Mexican restaurant. It was perfect- cool summer night, outside seating, mariachi band, really delicious food, and distraction-free conversation with the man I love.

We had a romantic and relaxing evening. After dinner we went on a walk around downtown. Spending time with Darren never gets old. I’m so thankful for his love and friendship and can’t imagine life without him. I’ve realized that as time goes on our relationship gets sweeter and richer- even with a baby in the mix! It’s crazy that it’s been three years. Sometimes it doesn’t seem that long but then we’ve realized that a lot has happened these past three years. God has blessed us more than we ever deserve. Because of Christ in our lives, we are able to have a truly satisfying marriage. God is sure the Giver of good gifts- the best gift being Jesus Christ His Son so that I may know God and really live.

P.S. Thanks Roy & Gail Ronveaux for taking great care of our precious little girl!

Cupcakes August 14, 2009

My mom, sister and I made the cupcakes for Brayden’s birthday party. We each picked a sport to decorate. Not only were they really yummy, but they looked so cute. I’m proud of myself. Can you tell?:)

McKinsey is 5 months old August 10, 2009

The same day that Brayden turned 1 Kinsey turned 5 months. They are exactly 7 months apart because they were both born on the 8th. Cool, huh?!

Kinz is at such a fun stage right now. She has been rolling over for over a month, so she is a pro at it. She is super observant of the world around her. Right now her favorite thing to observe is Bruiser. She loves grabbing at things especially things that make crinkly noises. And anything she can get her hands on she will suck on and if she can’t get her hands on anything then she will suck her hands. Here’s a few pictures we took the morning she turned 5 months.I love these pj’s that her auntie ReAnne got her. Aren’t they adorable?!

Girls Night Out August 10, 2009

Love these girls!It’s not often that I have time just to myself and it is always so refreshing. Thanks Darren for taking care of McKinsey while I enjoyed some girl time.

Brayden’s Birthday Bash August 10, 2009

Yesterday we went down to Hemet to celebrate Brayden’s first birthday. Jen and Jeremy threw him a cute sports themed party- perfect for Brayden if you know him:) We just love the little guy. He is full of personality and is walking like a pro. Here is a picture of the aftermath of him enjoying his first cupcake…

Before the party Bruiser and Darren went swimming. Bruiser loves the water. He looks like an otter in the pool. Makes me wish we had a pool.

July in Review August 3, 2009

July has been a fun and busy month for us. It’s been filled with lots of good times  and memories with family and friends.

Darren’s two brothers, their wives and munchkins came out for vacation. We met up with Darren’s parents and all stayed down in Oceanside. We got to meet Barry and Alyssa’s little girl, Kendyl, for the first time. She’s an absolute doll! Kendyl was born 3 weeks after McKinsey so it was fun to have 2 babies so close in age. We also got to see our nephew Judah, Jared and Rachel’s big boy. He’s about a year and a half and full of energy. We hadn’t seen him since Christmas, so he had changed a lot! It was fun to see him walking around. He loved the beach and got down and dirty playing in the sand and water. Too bad Kendyl and Kinsey were too young to truly enjoy it- although they took some bomb-diggity naps in the shade with the relaxing sound of ocean waves. Since Barry and Alyssa live in Colorado and Jared and Rachel live in Illinois, we really cherish the times we can all be in the same place. Our good friend, Josh, was a huge blessing to our family and met us out in Oceanside to take pictures for us. Darren’s parents have the CD of pictures (along with all the pictures we all took ourselves of the week) Josh gave us, but you can click here to visit his blog and check out some pictures he took. I’ll post some of our favorites when we get them from Darren’s parents.

July 8th was our 3yr anniversary. We have been quite blessed these past 3 years. I am so thankful for an amazing husband who loves Jesus, which enables him to love me deeply and serve me daily.

The following week was the pre-wedding haliballoo for Scott and Melissa’s big day. Melissa is one of my best friends from college; and now all 4 of my college roomates (Kim, Meagan, Lindsey & Melissa) are married to amazing men. God is good! Melissa’s wedding was beautiful (&hot) and I hope all that attending were able to see Christ’s name honored. Melissa was an absolutely gorgeous bride and I am so very proud of and happy for her! Love you Melissa Rank (and you too Scott:)!Since I was in the wedding, Darren was Mr.Mom for the day. He did a great job and even dressed Kinsey up all pretty in a cute dress and even a bow (although we’ll need to work on the bow placement and utilize her strip of hair:). Nice work dad! Kinzers was a little drowsy and not herself (although still adorable) because she was on benadryl because she broke out in a rash and fever after her 4mo immunizations. Sad:(

Tucker and McKinsey time. Our good friends, Josh and Liz, were visiting and we finally got to meet their sweet boy, Tucker. My due date was the day before Liz’ and Tucker was born 3 days after McKinsey. They were super interested in each other as you can see. So cute!Here’s an extra of Kins playing in her bumbo.

The following week we headed down to palm springs to hang out with my (janelle) side of the family. Darren and my brother, Dan, could only be there for part of the time because of work. But my parents, Jen, Jeremy, Brayden, Kinsey and I were able to be there most of the time. Of course Palm Springs was hot, but our condo was amazingly cool (I even wore sweatpants some of the time!). We had so much fun playing with the kiddos and playing games together. We took Kins in the pool for the first time. She was super cute splashing around. She l0ved it!

The next three are a sequence of Kinsey’s first time in the pool. At first she’s not sure…Then she realizes she kind of likes it…Then she goes crazy splashing in delight. She absolutely loved the water.

Our garden went crazy this month and we’ve enjoyed some yummy tomatoes and green beans. Unfortunately, Bruiser had to stay behind for most of the adventures. As we were packing up the car for a trip, he tried to sneak in the car thinking maybe we would decide to take him. What a funny dog!

See ya later Lloyds… August 2, 2009

Last night we went and said goodbye to the Lloyds. Meagan was one of my college roommates and I love her dearly. Kendall is amazing and I’m so glad that Meagan married him and that we’ve got to know him. They go to the same church as us and we’re going to really miss them at Norco.

This morning they kicked off their road trip to Iowa, where they will be residing the next 3 years as Kendall works on his Masters. The Lloyds will be greatly missed by the Meisel’s. I hate that we didn’t spend more time with them while they were still here, but let that be a lesson to take advantage of time with loved ones while they are near because you never know when God will lead your paths apart.

Here’s an old picture of them at a wedding we went to together. Good times! They are what my friend Melissa calls a guaranteed good time.

Roomates May 18, 2009

For a week or so our friends Scott and Stephanie were living with us before they took off for India for a couple months. It was a lot of fun having them stay with us and a huge help to us in many ways. We have loved getting to know them over this past year and really enjoy their friendship.They are the type of couple that are always looking for ways to be a blessing and serve. They are now currently serving together in India for a couple months. We are so happy that they have this opportunity and wish we were there with them. If you are interested in following their adventure in India you can check out their team blog here.

A couple nights before they left we went to Johnny Carinos to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday and ate way too much. Good times! Darren, Kinsey and I (& especially Bruiser) misses you guys.