oh....it's been a while!

i'm so sorry friends and family!! it's been sooo busy and i've not really updated in a while. suffice it to say, an update is an understatement. there has been so much going on and i'm finding it hard to juggle it all. thus...this blog has been silent. it will have to be silent for a bit longer. i have two huge papers due in the next two weeks that need significant researching aka reading...and i have a home that has a little man on the couch sick-post-throw-up (sad!!), a sink full of dishes, counters full of dishes, suitcases still unpacked from our weekend away up at the Dau's for our annual apple/pumpkin picking slumber party!!...okay...the little man is now sitting up and singing along to go diego go...i think he might make it folks!!

oh...and on top of school and housework, there have been some significant (to say the least) things going on in our marriage. things being so super amazing and good...but realizations of how we have operated as a couple for the past 10 years and how some paramount changes need to occur-but for the GOOD. it is sooo good and i feel such a nearness from the Lord really guiding our path as we seek his direction and our surrender day to day. BUT...that has also been the mainstay of my mind...thus my research backup and reading deficit that needs to be seriously worked on...

please pray for us as we daily surrender our plans to the lord and ask him to open to his plans. this means a HUGE shift for us in mind and heart. one specific area would be vocation. we are looking/praying for a vision beyond being here at biola (is this the year we leave or one more year? Lord...what do you want?)...we are open...a few ideas that we are asking the Lord "why is this in our minds...is this you or us?" is going back into church ministry. geographically we are praying about anything on the pacific northwest. oregon keeps coming to our minds...but really have never been there nor have friends there...so why oregon, Lord? central/north cali coast-ish is also in our minds...colorado...even staying here in so cal...where Lord will you lead our family? father, keep us open...we surrender our plans to you...

so...that is what has been on our minds...or at least one thing thats been on our minds/hearts.

p.s. emily is LOVING preschool. will misses her during the morning...but loves time with just me (or maybe i just love time with just him! ha!)

i thought you'd get a kick out the photos i posted...ry and i had fun on yearbookyourself.com last night and the three photos are the product of my procrastination!

i

10 years

as of oct. 3rd at 10:30am, i have been married to the love of my life, ryan low for 10 years. a dear couple from school gave us their time share in cabo san lucas, so ry and i coordinated child care for the kids for the week as we flew off to paradise!! here are some highlights from our trip.

At the pool!!  there was this island in the middle of the pool that bubbled up and massaged you!  and if you see in the background, this black circle 'pod'...this is where i LIVED for the week!!  it was like a queen bed next to the pool!

our friend, the hairy moth!  this HUGE moth was stuck behind the headboard of the bed.  i heard it bumping up against the headboard.  we looked and it was this HUGE hairy moth! so we coaxed it down from behind the headboard and caught it in the container to let it free.  let the adventure begin!  this was the the first night there!!

on our last night, ry took this picture of me waiting for him before we went down to dinner.  i was watching the sunset and he said "wait!  wait! " and snapped the shot!  
after dinner on our last night.  we ate this amazing butcher block full of tacos and fillings and stuff!  it was amazing!  i could only eat about 2, ry at about 10!!! thus, the pregger belly!
the bed of our suite!!!  amazing!!
our self portrait before our anniversary dinner.  
the view from our room.  i know.  amazing!

ry getting into the hammock!  
the kitchen/dining area of the suite we stayed in.  i LOVED the lamp!
the dessert they gave us!!  flan...yum!
the entrance to the restaurant we ate the flan at
the bus we took to get to the main city, cabo san lucas, in pursuit of cabo wabo cantina-sammy hagars place-where ry wanted to go since he's a HUGE van halen fan.  
we found it!!  cabo wabo baby!!
the beach right outside the hotel property.  the water was so warm it wasn't refreshing
oh...this trip was amazing.  shaeffers, thank you so much for this gift.  what a way to enter into the next ten years!!
 

Preschool

Little bugs she drew..the one on the left is me (notice circles around eyes-they are glasses!) and the one on the right is ryan.  too cute!

we've made it through two weeks of preschool now!! here are some photos from her first day

just as we arrived!  

Her preschool first day outfit-ponytail and all!!

cousins!  they are in the same class.  i LOVE it!

Check me out!  

the big 30!!!

My awesome sister turned 30 on Sunday!  I tried to celebrate / suprise her (which is HARD!) by doing everything in '30's'.  at 9:30 i gave her 30 roses from our garden, at 10:30 she got 30 balloons, at 11:30-11:30p every 1/2 hr she got (or was suppose to!) texts and phone calls from her friends and i wishing her a happy birthday...at 4:30 we took her to Gabbi's (an AWESOME mexican restaurant at the Orange Circle!!!) and at 6:30 we had her favorite pie for dessert.  She also got 30 one dollar bills from us to go towards her D-Land pass (also a tradition from my grandma i tried to incorporate to bring her into Marisa's celebration) 

All in all, i think it all went off w/o a hitch!  WE love you ZIA and hope you felt celebrated!!!  

Daniel and Marisa after Gabbi's

Marisa opening her 30 one dollar bills wrapped around a can of beans-just like Grandma-ma did it!!

wearing the money

Playing with the wrapping

Daniel and Em...

It's here!!!

This past week has been a bunch of firsts....one being, WILL'S THREE!!!  can you believe it??!!?Here is a picture of me and the birthday boy this morning before he jetted off to play with his new toys

Here is the family on Saturday-the day we celebrated his birthday-monkey theme because 1) he LOVES them and 2) he IS one!!
Happy birthday little man!!  You fill my heart with joy and i LOVE having a boy to discover the world with!!  

Will is turning three...

Our little man is turning three!!  We have begun celebrating with a combo birthday bash with Ryan's family.  We celebrated my birthday (august 29th), Desi's birthday (my niece), Anthony (my nephew) and Wills birthday!!  It was so much fun!!  We built HUGE home-grilled burgers, played in the pool, played with water guns, decorated our own red velvet cupcakes (will's favorite color is red) and entered into the world of boy!!  Will has had his own toys apart from Emily's dolls, princess clothes and jewels-but it's really only been like cars and blocks.  He got his first dinosaurs and monkeys and will i'm sure receive more boy toys as the month continues till his actual sept. 23rd birthdate.  And with Emily starting preschool tomorrow (photos will be posted!) I am now feeling old-and no longer a mom of babies, but a mom of kids.  Time really does fly by!  

Ed's HUGE burger!  I had to take a photo of it-how will he get his mouth around this!!

Will-post cupcake-doing his typical face : )

The opening of the dinosaur 

i'll post more as more celebrations continue : )

Changing

A LONG time ago...I said I would show you the little changes I was going to make in an effort to live more sustainably and less wasteful.  Below are three little photos of changes i've made.  

I have a basket (below) full of towels, older towels and older napkins that I use instead of paper towels.  I was going to buy all new towels and have them be all white and amazing, BUT then i thought, "another way to continue to live sustainably, is not to spend more money on items that really are meant to be dirty and not white and pretty!" therefore, I just am using what I already had!  I re-use a towel till it's just too dirty or smelly, put it off to the side in a pile to be added to the laundry pile, and then use another.  (also, on the side, is my aluminum water bottle-the only thing i don't like about it-i can't fit my ice cubes in them-i will need to purchase an ice mold maker in long tubes (at ikea) to put in my bottle)  The thing i LOVE about it-it's a  perfect size for my bag, it was $5 at pottery barn (and others online were like $20!) and it will fit in the pottery barn lunch pail that is made from chemical free insulation and has glass containers for your food to match.  

No more paper napkins!  Finally-a daily excuse to use my cute linen napkins i've only used in the past for special occassions-but isn't every day with your family a special occassion!?  and not creating more waste is also another reason to celebrate! (okay-cheesy, i know!)

My little recycling station.  I only made a station for the things I can either locally recycle or to on campus (oh, how i wish i could have more!)  The company that picks up the trash separates the other stuff in my trash for recycling.  The trash containers I got at Home Depot for $6 or $8 dollars a piece, the base they are standing on is a shoe organizer from Target for $10.  As you can see, the used napkins or used towels i put between the cans and at the end of each day, I just pick them up and put them in the hamper.  The middle shelf is all the cardboard boxes I will tie up and place in the trash to have recycled.  The bottom shelf are plastic grocery sacks that I have to take back to the local grocery store.  Staters, Albertsons, Vons and Fresh & Easy all have a place at each entrance/exit for you to put clean plastic bags for recycling.  My reusable bags (i got from trader joes for a buck a pop-to feed my whole family, i bought 6-that contains all the food i've needed.  5 bags-1 insulated bag for milk) i keep them in my trunk so i don't ever forget them.  I got the pictures off of google images and just glued them onto cute paper so the kids would know where to put what (another reason why i made the station, so they'd begin to learn how to recycle).  We actually just took our first load of plastic and glass to the recycling center and made $2!!!  I told Emily that we'd put that towards our gelato night!! 

; ) Any questions?  lemme know!!  also, let me know the changes you are making!!

Some other changes we've made:

All bath products are organic.  What we wash our bodies with I have seen, affects our skin.  William's skin has always been uber sensitive and since going organic with bubble bath, soap, lotion-he has totally slowed down his itching.  Seriously-i thought i wasn't going to see a change-but i did.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE  method baby (target).  i wish i could buy a costco size bottle of it because i love the smell so much i'd use it!!  i use aubry organic baby lotion after bathtime...oh-the kids just smell edible!!  i LOVE it!!

Adult soap-i used Jason-tea tree.  It lasted about 2 months!  it's a pretty large bottle that we all used till i got method last shopping trip. I saved the bottle (because it has a great pump top) and am going to refill it with whatever I can find (method sells refillable bags of soap at target) once we are done with it.  

My shampoo-I tried avalon organic from traders-terrible! smelt great (lavender) but the conditioner didn't work at all.  I am now using giovanni organic and love it.  i got it at henrys, but i think you can get it at target.  it's $7 a bottle-and has lasted me a good month and 1/2. that is with ry and i using it.  i would love a cheaper one that works and doesn't cause my hair to dread-but for now, i'll stick with this.  

anyone have a good face wash?  I like my alba wash (ad love my alba lip gloss!!!)-but don't really have anything i like for after wash (used Juice (from sephora) but not super stoked on it).  I just feel like my face looks older.  that also could be because i'm older! (just turned 34 and am acutely aware of my wrinkles all of a sudden!)...i'd like a killer moisterizer and make up ideas...

As I am finishing up my cleaning supplies, I am moving towards green products.  anyone have anything they like for toilets, mirrors and wood kitchen tables?  

wow-thanks for reading the novel!!  finally had time to catch everyone up!!