Twins Baptism

Today was a big day for us as a family. Justin had the privilege of baptizing Caleb and Madi. Madi started asking us about 3 years ago if she could pray and ask Jesus into her heart. We were of course thrilled that she wanted to make a decision to follow Jesus- but we knew it was more than just a one-time prayer, it was a choice to have a life long relationship with God. We asked her to wait and learn more about who God was and why she wanted to follow Him. Madi and Caleb began to ask more questions and Justin and I became purposeful about teaching them who Jesus was, how much He loved them and about sin and grace. Last year Madi came to us again, this time she told us that one morning while she was in bed she felt like God wanted her to pray and start a relationship with Him, she got on her bedroom floor and prayed. Caleb and Justin were on a date at Chili's this summer and he also felt it was time to make the decision to follow Jesus. This morning at the Granbury City Beach, we had the honor of baptizing our sweet, precious kids. Justin and I feel so blessed to be a part of their lives. We are so grateful God prompted our kids to move forward with a relationship with Him and couldn't be more excited to see all God has for the twins.

The Stuggle To Be the Cool Mom

I've always thought girls who are athletic, strong, fearless and love the great outdoors are totally cool. They are the first to jump in and play the game. They have a way of making things like dirt and sweat look enjoyable and even attractive. Then there are those of us who would rather be on the side lines, we run from the ball and prefer to stay clean. I fall under this category. I like frothy coffee drinks, painted toenails, nice hotels and kittens (I'm not sure if liking kittens makes me uncool- but they don't seem to help my case). So, here is my problem. Now that I'm married and have kids I'm faced with the choice to sit out, alone or play with the big (and little) dawgs. Let's face it, men love adventure and they love for us to experience it with them. When the little ones came along I had the perfect excuse. I used my "oh, I have a baby" card as much as possible and managed to avoid being asked to participate. The hard truth is, my card has expired. With my youngest being 4 yrs. old I not only lost my excuse but I have 4 little ones asking mom to join in on the fun. I guess it's time to either have another baby (not likely) or figure out a way to be the cool mom. Justin and the kids have embraced dirtbike culture. It even sounds like it's not for wimps- the first part of the word is dirt. So I too shall do my best to embrace it! I plan to stay true to my list of likes, but maybe there is room to add a few more. I may not ever achieve totally cool chick status, but I hope to at least be able to hang with the fam. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Hello Blogger!

Wow, sorry for the loooong break in blogging. Time flies when you're not blogging- but it's good to be back. Here is the quick snapshot of what we've been up to...

We added a new puppy to our long list of animals. Meet Moby Baxter.

Caleb and Madi are now 8, Elijah 6 and our baby is 4 yrs. old. We are definitely in a new season. No more diapers, everyone feeds themselves, I can take a shower and no one attempts to kill themselves or destroy the house (well usually anyway), we've even gotten rid of our last pair of training wheels. :( I'm doing my best to enjoy every minute- time is going by at lighten speed.


The prenatal vitamin business continues to grow and we're so excited to see where God is taking it. We are in the process of exploring options for a "one for one" type program to give prenatal nutrition to women in other countries who can't afford prenatal care. We are praying for vision and God's will as we move forward.

Summer is here and the lake has been our favorite place to beat the Texas heat.

We're all looking forward to our upcoming trip to San Diego. We miss our Cali peeps and it's always great to be home.

That's the short re-cap of all things new in Spray-town. Hope everyone is having an epic summer!

Football Season

I have to start this post by admitting I'm not a huge football fan. I love me some San Diego Chargers (GO BOLTS), but if the Charger's aren't playing you won't find me tuned into Sports Center keeping up with the scores. Justin, on the other hand, loves watching his beloved Cowboys and the longer I live here in Texas, the more I realize he's not the minority. Being a Texan = extreme Cowboys fan. So, all that said, Justin felt it was important for the kids (who are all 4 Texas born) to experience their first Cowboys Football game. The stadium itself is worth the trip but experiencing the game live was really great- even for me. I would love to tell you how the game went or even who the Cowboys played and actually, I can't remember if they even won...(I know, such a typical lame chick), BUT, I do know we had a blast and can't wait to do it again! Our brother-in-law and his son joined us, as well as our great friend John Graves and his son and they just added to the fun! Good times...good times!

The Schedule is Back

School has started and the glorious scheduled life is back. Summer is awesome in so many ways but by the end of August my life feels chaotic and even sometimes meaningless. Summer is of course, always a welcomed break filled with lots of swimming and family time, but since (I think) I could live life hanging out on the beach, with nothing to do but get a tan and watch the kids boogie board, schedules are good for me. It's now fall and life is again filled with sandwich bags of pb&j, backpacks, rushing kids in and out of the car and driving down the road going through my check list- "did you brush your teeth? (usually the answer is no...darn, we'll brush twice tonight)", "did your homework make it back into your bags?", "do you all have your shoes on?" (last week I asked this question a little too late- as we pulled into school Madi answered "I don't have my shoes", sigh...ok, note to self, be sure to ask this question in the driveway next time), and most of all...am I keeping us on schedule! So, welcome back schedule, I missed you and it's great to have you here again!

Here are a few pics from our family vacation we squeezed in the week before school started. Justin surprised us with a beach trip...my absolute favorite place to be!

Clean Fun!

As summer comes to an end I seem to be running out of ways to keep the kiddos busy. Texas is hot as a firecracker (insert southern drawl) so being outside without the involvement of water isn't a good option. Sooo.....here is an activity my dad used to let us do in the summer. It was usually a fun slumber party activity but since our house seems like a slumber par-tay every night, it worked great.

SHAVING CREAM FIIIIIGHT!!!!
Justin wasn't as excited as I was about the idea (his childhood memories obviously didn't include this fun filled, soapy madness), BUT he was willing to let me run with it. So bring on the cans people!!!

Ooohhh yah baby...tell me this doesn't look like totally awesome fun!

Jelly!!!

We have an incredible group of couples from our church (The Ranch House Empty Nester's) who decided to "adopted" our family and they have blessed us beyond belief this summer. Each week they send the kids a card with a special note and some type of gift. We've also received fun family stuff (movie tickets, ice cream, roller skating). Caleb looked at me the other day after receiving his card and said, "mommy we need to start doing special things for other people like they've done for us." I couldn't agree more! What a great example these people have been for our kiddos and they have made us all feel so loved!

One of the sweet couples (Dan and Regina), who we just love, invited us to their house to pick grapes for making jelly. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated about making jelly, ok actually, A LOT intimidated- making jelly is definitely out of my "range of limited cooking knowledge". But we called in the big guns- MAMAW, and she came to the rescue with her 10 cups of sugar and mad jelly making skills. Love that women. The girls were very into the entire process- the boys didn't seem to really care, but they will care when they chomp into a delicious PB and J with homemade grape jelly!






































Elijah and Sarah lost interest pretty quickly and were ready to swim. This is E's basket- every little bit helps I guess.






























And the final product...cute little jars of yummy grape jelly!!! So fun!