Love our Lil' Skiers

Ok, there's moments in life that just seem surreal.  Seeing Elli and Dawson skiing was one of them.  It was a dream moment.  My dad, who taught me how to ski, helped us teach the kids to ski and they absolutely loved it.  Dawson threw a complete fit when it was time to go.  After 2 days, we hit the big mountain.  That's when I became extremely proud of my girl.  It was intimidating, but she kept to her triangle and turns and made it through.  Many people commented how well she was doing!  Paul took Dawson up later and he did great, too.  Dad and Mom were amazing...letting us ski by ourselves and have dates...refreshing.  Karis shares her "Gotcha Day" with Grandpa Yutzy's birthday.  So we went up 2 gondolas and enjoyed fondue at the top.  The kids were covered in chocolate by the end.  What a celebration. 

Easter!

We absolutely loved Easter this year.  Grandpa and Grandma Yutzy started it out with Easter baskets a week before plus an egg hunt.  The kids were ready.  Elli surprised me with her thoughts on Easter.  She was so sad that Jesus had to die.  But what she was glad about was that she and her siblings could dress up for the day.  Then she had outfits picked out for her and Karis later when our friends came over (thank you Bethany and Abby).  This year Grandpa and Grandma HOuge were here (woohoo) and our dear friends, Jackie and the Chambers.  Such a sweet time.  They had a huge hunt and Simeon and Jadyn not only helped hide the eggs, but help find them, too.  I loved our time together with sweet friends and Grandpa and Grandma.

5 years ago...

Exactly 5 years ago, we found out we were expecting with our first miracle baby.  That week, God laid on my heart that I should pray that this baby would have a heart for children without parents.  The other night, totally out of the blue, Elli asked if we could pray for children who didn't have mommies or daddies.  Needless to say, I became a little teary-eyed. 
Here is Zach describing the last 2 weeks at the Houges...fighting the flu and feeling icky.  Finally we are seeing the light of day. 

Thank You to the Giver of Good Things

Trampolines bring so much joy and laughter

12 years from now...a glimpse into the future

Brothers

I love thanksgiving...spending time with friends and family reflecting on God's gracious gifts.  Today Elli thanked Jesus for "turkeys and cozy homes and hands that she can get dressed with".  Dawson thanked Jesus for each person he knows plus water and napkins and forks.  Karis said "thank Jesus for Eric".  Yes, Eric joined us from Arizona!  It was a beautiful day and "Uncle Rafa" is always a fav at our house.

Fav Wheels

Dawson and Elli received bikes for their birthdays and they are a hit!  Dawson even crashed big time with chunks out of his skin, but he only cried when he thought that he wouldn't be able to get back on the bike.  It has sealed the deal of best friends between Elli and Dawson.  They love to pretend going all over town on those bikes.  Karis and Zach love their wheels, too. 

Happy Halloween!

Our First Fam Vacation

After naps, puddles were a fav...yes our kids normally wear pants

So much joy in a small puddle

Zach feels pretty big eating his green beans

Dawson has learned how to "fly" down the hill...he usually wore a helmet

"we do the hokey pokey"

Firetrucks rock in Karis' world because that means she gets to wear a hat

Sisters who LOVE their Fruit Loops

I love that God has crazily blessed us with 4 little ones.  I can't get enough of them and their small clothes

Can you tell that Dawson's daddy has been doing A LOT of wheelbarrow projects this summer?

 Ahh...summer...this has been one rockin' summer.  We started out the summer with an amazing trip to Kansas and Minnesota.  Then the Yutzys all met in the mountains for another fun filled week. I will catch up with those memorable times, but want to blog with most recent...our first family vacation just as a family.  We spent 10 days in Keystone with the theme of playgrounds, sand,  more sand, puddles and cars.  Needless to say, it's pretty inexpensive outings!  My favorite days were heading to Keystone Lake when we woke up.  We would walk to breakfast (a nice lady would clean up after we ate) on the lake and we would play in the sand and playground.  The kids loved eating sugar cereal there (a rare treat)!  Another  highlight was meeting a firefighter in Breckenridge especially after our crazy week of Colorado Springs fires.   What was hilarious was that Dawson use to talk all day about firetrucks.  So we thought this would be the ultimate...sitting in a truck, wearing a hat and even running the siren.  He HATED it and does not like fire trucks anymore.  Oops!  But we made up for it by taking him on a fast, very fast water slide (Paul holding him).  When he would go down, the only thing I could see was his dark skin contrasting with his pearly whites beaming.  He now talks about that all day:)  Zach's highlight was the sand.  He loved squeezing, throwing and eating sand.  He is quite the crawler/wanna be walker.  He bear crawls quickly to keep up with his siblings.  He also thinks he is too big to eat baby food.  He is always a smiling , laughing mess these days.  We found out that Karis LOVES the water.  She could hang out in Keystone Lake (pretty cold for me) for hours if we let her.  She wants to "get wet", as she says, any chance.  Elli is growing up...sniff sniff...she is the ultimate big sister.  She gets the sippy cups ready, tends to each child and "reads" to them during the day.  She also has the most hilarious comments and stories.  She asked me if I could tell her "a sweet story about when she was a baby". I told her that we prayed and prayed for a baby and Jesus gave us her.  Her question was "now did God and Jesus hold me  then gave me to you or did I walk from their house to yours?"  Hmmm...Anyways, this vacation took away the distractions of projects and life at home and a bond grew deeper than I could imagine between all of us.  Thank you Jesus for time away!!