Yosemite

On Monday we made the trek over to Yosemite.

Talk about beauty!

Our picnic lunch spot was next to a cool river.

And happened to have a stunning view of El Capitan.

Friendly ducks too.

Much better than the Canadian Geese we encountered at Lake Tahoe last weekend.

 This fella wasn't crazy about 8+ hours in the car.

Half Dome

Love these two. 

Yosemite Falls

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

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Three Ohhh!

Normally I keep my posts focused on what I'm up to and life with our boys.

But, today we celebrate my guy's birthday and I can't help but brag a little...

So thankful to God for blessing me with this dear husband.

From the day he popped the question...

...to the day we said I do...

...and beyond, he has been my very best friend.

 Our boys have a patient and godly example.

And they can be thankful, 

because he's a lot more spontaneous and fun than I am!

 From the very beginning, 

I feel I must be the luckiest girl alive to be partners with this guy for life.

 We're only almost 4 years in, but already I can't wait to spend the next 30 with him.

Happy Birthday my love.

My Latest Project

Sometimes it takes having my hubby out of town for a 

few weeks to motivate me to get started on a new project. 

Especially something as time consuming as a new quilt.

So, with quiet evenings, minimal meal prep, and clean up, 

I got to work on Lynden's new big boy bed quilt.

From cutting and piecing to assembling - it went pretty quickly.

Especially thanks to my beautiful new Bernina sewing machine.

Happy birthday to me from my sweet in-laws!

Now all that's left is the actual quilting.

But first I need to decide on a fabric for the back. 

I'll be sure to show off the finished product once it's complete.

But with my honey back home and family coming into town this weekend, 

I think it'll take a back seat.

How else do we entertain ourselves on these sunny summer days?

Daily walks.

See?

There's my baby bump!

We're always keeping an eye out for lizards, rabbits, and 

any other fun desert creatures we might encounter.

Here's a little lizard friend. 

You could see exactly where his tail had come off and was regrowing.

How's that for a natural science lesson?

 And these two cuties just can't get enough playtime with each other.

So thankful for brothers who are best buds. 

It always helps to cool off with popsicles too!

Summer Reading

One of our favourite things to do over the summer is spend more time at the library. 

It helps that we have a great summer program with reading incentives and special events.

Last week we got to enjoy seeing and learning about a lot of different
wild animals native to this area - plus a few other exciting creatures.

Ryder wasn't sure if he wanted to look at the rattle snake, 

but the golden eagle, iguana, monkey, and opossum were all very exciting!

He was even brave enough to touch the 3ft tail of the iguana after the presentation.

Of course we always leave with a stack of new and interesting books - most involving animals.

And for those of you waiting on another baby bump picture, 

here's Baby #3 getting his story time in too.

A Week With The Cousins

After our big road trip up to Canada a few weeks back, my sister and her 

sweet kiddos made the long trek down here to our desert for a week.

We all loved the fun company and Ryder especially enjoyed having 

home based friends to play with every day.

We planned a few local outings to share our Fallon life...

A sunny beach day at Lake Tahoe

Lynden took a few minutes to acclimatize to the cold water, 

but after that he had as much fun as the rest of them.

Abigail was definitely the most adventurous swimmer.

How's that for a picturesque backdrop?

Ryder preferred solid ground under his feet.

Next we toured the base and even got to go out to the flight line to watch a few jets taxi and take off.

No cameras allowed there, but we could get up close to these planes which also served to shade the kids from the hot Nevada sunshine.

Can you see them?

A day in Reno was also in order.

We enjoyed the beautiful Truckee Riverwalk.

Ryder's most recent favourite request is to dip his toes in water. 

The other kids were only to happy to join in.

We found our way to the Old Granite Street Eatery for lunch.

Even with all of the adventures, we were able to have a pretty relaxing time with quiet evenings.

Braden and I were spoiled with the best babysitter for a fun date night - coffee & throwing a frisbee in the park - just the two of us! 

 We sure are going to miss our Canadian cousins!

Our Canadian Vacation

Well, I lost track of documenting each stop along the way at about this point.

I was having so much fun seeing friends and family that I forgot to pull out my camera and preserve memories in photo - but, we saw many dear friends and toured my uncle's dairy farm (where my Dad grew up) while north of the border.

One of the big highlights of our trip was spending a day visiting my Grandma (Oma, to the boys) and Great Aunt Helena.

Here they are with Aunt Helena - after playing all morning with her fun vintage toys.

At Grandma's house we had to play a game of Scrabble for old times' sake.

She had some pretty fun old toys tucked away in a closet as well.

We sure do love and miss Oma.

And so many members of our extended family got together for a Duerksen brunch gathering. 

We were glad to see so many and can't wait to live closer again.

One last picture with Oma

and Auntie Joanne, who was a great host for the week.

Finally it was time to get back on the road home. 

We didn't attempt the drive straight through again, 

and broke the trip up into two days on the road with these traveling champs.

Pretending to sleep - and actually sleeping.

We stopped to stretch out legs at an outlet mall on the way home. 

While I was browsing, 

Daddy sniffed out the cotton candy vender and gave the boys their 

first experience of this sweet fluffy treat.

A request from Ryder to dip his toes in the water couldn't be passed up as we were driving through Klamath Falls, OR. 

Everyone stayed healthy and the van gave us no trouble at all.

We were so blessed to see loved ones over the course of our vacation.

And finally, 

Home Sweet Home!