Year number 6 started off easy for us. After years of total chaos we assured ourselves that we were going to keep life as calm as possible for awhile.
We soon celebrated Malachi's 2nd year home with us!
And we took our sweet little one's on their first trip to Disneyland (Malachi's 2nd)!
My how times had changed at the engagement spot over the years! Married 6 years, Malachi was 2, Eli was 1, and Sabrina was 6 months!
The trip was busy with so many little's but it was a trip full of memories! We were exhausted but still had so much fun. There's something amazing about sharing your favorite places with your children!
We did get to break away thanks to grandparents for some quality one on one time at our favorite place!
As fall approached we were also able to get some family pictures which truly reminded me of the chaos of our lives in these days. I honestly don't know how I managed it all and still I don't know how I manage them all. But we get it done, and I am often exhausted! They were all so busy and needy and running off in different directions in these early days!
I always knew though that I couldn't do it without my amazing hubby. We were still adjusting to all those blessings in such a short time. Our desire was to be close to one another but I remember some harder days in this phase just because of lack of time and communication. Keeping our marriage strong was always our top priority though and we continued to work and invest in it. Our love and commitment always held strong and looking back now it was such a short little phase of life.
Fall brought fun changes too as our little oldest guy got to play soccer for the first time!
And in general it brought fun family times together!
l little miss bina baby and I tagged along with daddy on a quick trip to Las Vegas for a few days! Time away from reality has always been nice and I had quite the cute companion!
Winter set in and after Christmas we took off to Eagle Crest for a few days with all of my family. We had a lot of fun playing with the boys in the snow!
And then another new year! The kids of course remained our primary life focus. they kept us so busy but we couldn't have loved our little family any more! We had so much fun just enjoying the simplicity of life together!
Eli's birthday was soon to follow and we had a blast celebrating him in some of his favorite ways!
And just on a whim we decided it was time to try and sell our home. The market was down which we knew meant we wouldn't get a lot on our house we were selling but we had quickly outgrown this home over the course of 4 years and were hopeful that we could buy something bigger in the down market. We figured we would just test the waters and see what happened.
Before long we found what I still feel like was the perfect home for our family! It had been pretty well abused over the last couple years as a foreclosure but it offered a huge yard (not to mention grandparents literally in the backyard) and lots of bedrooms! It could not have felt more perfect as it was literally everything we were hoping for but didn't expect to be able to find or afford. It was still a long shot that we would get it as the first offer fell through and we were competing with several other offers on the property, but we got it! What a huge blessing!
But this also meant the work had to begin as this house needed a lot of TLC. Remember that self proclaimed "calmness" we wanted this year, yeah that was now officially out the window!
Life continued to move quickly even in the midst of trying to get our house all fixed up. Easter was upon us!
And then Birthday season! Malachi turned 3!
And Sabrina had her first big #1 birthday!
Finally the house was ready to be moved into and life settled down for a little bit. Peter and I had the wonderful opportunity to get away for a week to Atlanta. This was the first real time we had left them for more than a night or two and boy oh boy was this trip needed. We felt like a couple again! Peter had to work during the day and I got some much needed rest and relaxation but we had a blast checking out the city together in the free time!
And then it was summer again and we were facing the 4th of July! We were able to get away with the kids for a couple nights to the beach to celebrate the occasion and had so much fun as a little family!
Summer has always been a fun time with the kids and as they got older and we could take them out and about to experience new things! Nothing feels better than to just spend time enjoying life with our little family!
We had another fabulous year together. The kids kept growing and changing, our lives got more settled as we grew into our "forever" home. While our marriage had a few ups and downs in that year, life was so soo good! The kids were busy and demanding but they made each day worth living! We didn't know what the next year would hold, in fact I am pretty sure the things we were going to do in the upcoming year were very unexpected on that 7th anniversary. God loves to keep us on the crazy road, but life would just get better!
