kinney clan

Approach with confidence...

2011-06-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days I know I will never forget.

It was an amazing message from our pastor that started

things off for me - here's a little introspection...

He talked about having "rest" or "peace." His portion of

scripture that he drew from was Hebrews 4. My pastor

said something so profound, he said "our circumstances

should not affect whether we have rest." Our foundation

is secure - so when the winds and waves of life happen -

we should not be moved - we should not be shaken.

We should remain at peace in the midst of it all... This

reminds me of the passage of scripture when Jesus is in

the boat w/the disciples, and there is a huge storm. The

disciples are freaking out - and honestly just losing it.

All the while, the creator of the universe is sleeping

soundly at the back of the boat - not a care in the

world. He's not worried!!! The disciples wake him

up and say:

“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”He replied,

“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

Then he got up and rebuked the winds and

the waves, and it was completely calm." (Matthew 8:24-25)

I want that kind of peace - that kind of rest. The kind

that when my circumstances are raging around me -

I can sleep through the night knowing that I serve the

God of the universe and there is nothing that He can't

do! And there's nothing that I could do that would

make him love me less...

**Here's the part that will stick in my memory forever...**

In our Sunday School class - right after church service - we

continued on with our discussion of our Pastor's sermon on

rest and peace.

Across the room from me was a married couple,

the husband wheelchair bound, living his last

days of this life - dying from Parkinson's Disease.

His only daughter is getting married in 5 weeks, and

he is literally "hanging on" to this life so that he can

be there to walk her down the aisle. When asked

"how can we be praying for you two?" they looked at

each other and said "we're actually doing really good!"

His wife said, "you know he is digressing quite a bit..."

and he interrupted her saying

"no, I'm not digressing... I'm progressing!"

Wheelchair bound, soon to have a feeding tube put in,

not able to sleep at night because of the complications

of his disease, and here was this man - giving glory to his

God for the joy that he has each day to live out the end

of his life looking forward to what lies ahead.

This hit me between the eyes.

What a testament of faith.

Looking into my heart - my circumstances - my trials -

my "boat moments" in the midst of life's raging storms...

I hope that from now on I will be able to say, with joy

overflowing, "I am not digressing in this life - I am

progressing or running to the finish line with arms open

wide to my sweet Savior."

Where are you with peace? Where are you with His rest?

Are you able to look at all that surrounds you and say that

He is your peace? That He is giving you rest? You know the

really cool thing? He's OK with you crying out to him

to calm the winds and the waves that threaten to over

take you! At the end of the chapter of Hebrews 4, verse

16 it says:

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with

confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find

grace to help us in our time of need."

My need is never too great that he doesn't either already

know it - or hasn't already answered it. I hope that you are

encouraged in your faith today - no matter what your

circumstances - God is able to give you "rest" and "peace"

in Him today.

Big Boy turns 6!

2011-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

That's right folks - we officially have a 6 year old!

Doesn't he look SO old? Sheesh! Seriously!

When did this happen?

The whole family got to go to Big Boy's class and watch

him read his Birthday Book - and then answer questions

from all the kids in his class about his favorite things... :)

Cupcake icecream cones! Let's just say I had high hopes

and I will probably NEVER make them again :( I'll

explain later...

Had to put in a pick of our Girly Girl & her baby doll :)

Ok... Here's the skinny on these adorably aweful cupcakes!

They're really pretty simple... One box of cake mix -

24 - 26 icecream cones -

and a couple of cans of frosting...

Fill the cones 1/2 full with the batter - place in oven -

and voilà!

You'll pretty them up, and be super excited, and

BAM - they fall over like dominos. BOO.

Good thing Kindergarteners really don't care WHAT they

look like - they just see sugar. Plain ol' yummy sugar.

They'll eat just about everything!

And in other exciting news...

I have officially become a licensed hunter in the good

old state of Idaho :) Much to the delight of

my husband and Father-in-law who are

both avid hunters...

Oh boy.

All I know is that I scored a SWEET hat :)

Oh how they grow!

2011-04-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Today was Big Boy's 1st concert put

on by his school's Kindergarten program.

Exciting stuff!!!

He has been practicing his line FOR WEEKS!

It was so much fun to see him up there - no

hesitation - loving the spotlight!!

We may have a famous thespian on our hands!

I also came across another video of Big Boy

just a few short years ago - that I'm sure we'll

lovingly show on the Today show, or Regis

and Kelly when he's older and well established

in the film industry :) Or maybe just to his

girlfriends when they come over, and I become

"that mom" that can't stop talking about her

kids and all the silly things I kept of theirs when

they were little like their first tooth and their

little underoos...

No - I would never do that...

Enjoy!

What a cutie pie!! I love this kid :)

"Big Boy is the one that says 'Out came the sun, and melted all but 4..."

a much younger Big Boy

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!

Happy Easter to you all!

What a wonderful Easter weekend - full of remembrance of

what my Savior did so long ago for me! For us!! Our church

put on an amazing Good Friday service, that our sweet little

girl decided she wanted to be wiggly THE WHOLE TIME in

so we spent most of the service in the way back, while

Hubs held up the fort w/the boys all the way in the front

of the church... (where I found out later - that they too

had a bad case of the wiggles... hmmm... must be the Kinney

way!)

Anyways, we had an amazing - yet very somber Good Friday

service, then on to the Eggstravaganza that took place Sat

morning. It was a huge turnout of around 1000 people!

There was the egg hunt (of course!), 10 million bouncy-

houses, pony rides, train rides, and of course the DUNK TANK!!!

Hubs got volunteered for the dunk tank by our pastor -

and received the pleasure of being one of the early "dunkers"-

which meant the water was a wee bit chilly :) As you'll see

in the pic below - Big Boy had no problem takin' his pops DOWN!!

It was so fun! He was seriously dunked, no kidding, 20 times in

his 15 minute shift! BBRRRRR!!!!

We then did the typical hang out - paint Easter eggs - eat candy day

to gear up for Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday was again an amazing service - and celebration of our

Risen Lord! And such a huge reminder for me that my chains are

gone! I've been set free by the love of my Jesus dying on the cross

for me!!! I am so humbled by that truth - and so undeserving...

Needless to say - we had an awesome Easter weekend! The weather

even cooperated for us, and it was so beautiful! Even for Idaho!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this crazy sunshine means spring

is finally here :)

P.S... Check out the link below of Carrie Underwood & Vince Gill singing

one of my favorite hymns. You will not be able to watch w/o crying!!!

Click here to watch!

God Bless!

The kiddos right before the big "hunt!"

Hubs and I striking a pose :)

Hubs right before Big Boy "dunked" him!

Big girl shoes

2011-04-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is finally walking! So fun...

Wait.

WHAT did I just say?

Fun - but T R O U B L E!!! She's also shown us

that she has something called "rhythm" a very

scary technique that Kinney's have not had in

perhaps GENERATIONS... That comes in the

form of a booty-shake/shoulder shake that

cracks me up EVERY TIME.

In other BIG news, our Big Boy is on to losing

his THIRD tooth in a matter of weeks... Actually

I'm considering pulling the silly thing out while

he sleeps because it is majorly crooked and hanging

on by a thread... Hubs and I have decided between

all 3 kids - we're going to need to sock away some

SERIOUS cashola for their orthodontist bill we'll

have in a matter of years... The Kinneys (aka Hubs

and I) have some pretty gigantic teeth - so our

kiddos really don't stand a chance... :)

Today was our kids first lesson in earning and spending

their money! I so wished I had thrown my camera in

my HUGE mom bag to capture the moment, it was

seriously the CUTEST thing! And seeing what both

boys decided was worth their hard earned money was

interesting too. I'm so proud of Hubs in his ability to

already be thinking of teaching them responsibility in

handling money - setting aside 10% for tithe, and 10%

for savings...

WHAT?

I think I'm still learning those lessons - so hopefully

our kids follow their father's path of business savy,

smart-minded thinking when it comes to money! I

definitely fall into the "retail therapy" or "spontaneous

shopper" category far too many times!

That's it for now!

Happy Saturday :)

What the hay?

2011-02-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

So - I've debated for quite some time giving up the whole "blog" thing...

This may be obvious since my last post was August...

But, "what the hay?" AKA, "why not?" So - for all of

you holding your breath for the next Kinney Clan post

- HERE IT IS!!! So worth waiting for!!

Here's a rundown of the past 6 months - and what's

been keeping us so busy:

-Our show in Chicago was a success, or enough of a

success to proceed in getting ready for the January

Craft & Hobby Association show in LA... We had to

spend the last 6 months creating new product, figuring

out logistics, blah, blah, blah... See the pics below of

our booth! Travis and Wende came down with us for a

whirlwind trip!

-Our Big Girl just turned 1! Seriously - how did this

happen? She has been such a funny girl to watch! She is

going to have no problem bossing everyone around

(especially the boys!). I had no idea how different girls

would be from boys. NIGHT & DAY!

-Big Boy started Kindergarten this year... KINDERGARTEN!!

Seriously - I've had many mini-meltdowns at the thought of

my kids getting to0 old too fast! That has been a real joy to

watch him totally blossom in that environment. He doesn't

even notice that I stay and watch him until he disappears from

sight each day when I drop him off... He's just getting so big :( Sob!

-Our little peanut is not so little anymore too! He's doing

awesome in preschool and starting to read now - and get all

mature on me! He has also been such a blessing to watch grow

and see how God is going to do mighty things with this boy!

With all our kids! I often have to pinch myself... How did I get

so lucky?

-And last but not least, we recently got to go to DISNEYLAND!

I had forgotten what a magical place that is! It's only been 20

years since I've been there :) But, we went w/my folks and the

kids right after our show (since we were in the area) and had 3 full

days at the Magic Kingdom - and it was actually relaxing! So fun -

and the kids are at that age where they get into it completely, and

love every aspect of it, so you have no choice but to follow in the

magical footsteps of Disney...

Well - that about wraps it up for now! I've posted lots of pics below,

and will try most definitely to post again real soon!

Trav, Wende & Hubs setting up the booth...

Our Booth!

Skully & the Fam...

Big Girl schmoozin' at the camera :)

Practicing her Miss America wave!

The boys practicing w/the Incredibles!

Big Boy showing off his strength training :)

Goofy!

Peanut was a little star struck w/Handy Manny :)

Chicago!

2010-08-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hubs and I just returned a few days ago from Chicago - and I must say

it was a pretty cool town! I had NO IDEA how HUGE the great lakes

were...

They were big.

I thought they were the ocean for a split second - ok I actually said

out loud "is that the ocean?" And had the Chicagoan next to us smiled

real big and gave me a look like "wow - there's your typical blonde!

She must not have gotten an A in geography...."

I kept my thoughts to myself from then on, to appear much smarter :)

Anyways, it was hubs, I and our baby girl while the boys stayed with

Grandma & Grandpa Haverfield, which was SUCH a blessing!

No one told me how HOT and HUMID Chicago is! Sheesh - I walked

off the plane and into a wall of sweat. Instant armpit and boob sweat

equals one miserable momma... :)

Just in case you're wondering WHY hubs and I would want to go into

the "windy city" we were there for the CHA show showcasing our new

business products - trying to get into the big time stores.

We had a fabulous time - and both really feel like the show was a success!

We took orders from all over the place, and talked with some really big

stores! Fun, fun.

You wouldn't believe how much money some of the larger companies spend

on their booths - and just to be there in general... Thousands of dollars for

sure! We just had a 10x10 booth, and some of the bigger companies had

20x60 booths no problem. Crazy I tel ya! But so cool to walk around and

see all of the artsy-craftsy stuff! Very inspiring.

So now we get to see the fallout from the show - and how it all pencils out

financially. It's kind of like a mountain top experience - followed by the

lows that come after months of preparation. But both Hubs and I feel so

very blessed to have had the opportunity to get to go! What a great

experience for sure.

We were also fortunate to get to spend a day site seeing the big city of

Chicago - and so I've posted a few pics below of some of the fun places we

visited! We even stumbled upon a scene being filmed for Transformers 3!

Chow for now!

The "Bean." It was HUGE!

Scene being filmed for "Transformers 3"

Me and our baby girl!

Hubs in front of one of the many "Great Lakes"

Takin' a breather at the Navy Pier

------------------------------

Pics from the show!

This is a gal from the company "graphics 45"

which is primarily a paper goods company -

anyways, they were all dressed up funky like

this adorned with "steam punk" jewelry

(aka old watch parts, and funky jewelry) So cool!

Our lovely model, and friend Missy! All of our

wonderful photography was done by our other

good friend Debbie with Brown Studios - check

her out, she's fabulous!

Baby girl waiting patiently while we wrap it up

Using my new camera phone, so sorry the pics are kinda blurry...

Hubs working hard!

Our little holiday to Maui & the coast

2010-06-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Multnomah falls

on our way to see Grandma & Grandpa Kinney

Our little princess kickin' it island style!

We think our kids are pretty cute :)

Hugs!

Silly boys...

Funny faces! They LOVE the beach! Can you tell?

Anniversary night! Love you babe!

Sooooo........ Hubs and I and our little baby girl were able

to go on a fabulous, last minute trip to Maui! This was only

possible because of hubs parents taking our 2 little monkeys

for 6 DAYS!

Let's just say, I'm ready to go back! It was SOOOO relaxing!

(don't ask me why I just wrote sooooo twice! Seriously?)

Anyways, it really was a good time, and it just happened to

work out that we were in Maui on our anniversary! 8 years

ya'll! We made it this far - I can't wait to see what another

8 years looks like! Here's a brief rundown of what those

wonderful 8 years looked like for hubs and I....

-Year one- I'm still a college kid, & hubs is full on construction

guy building like crazy (the market WAS good back then!)

-Year two- I graduate from college, Hubs is still in construction,

and we feel called to go to Papua New Guinea for our first work

and witness trip together since we met in Venezuela the year

before we married. We return home from Papua New Guinea

and "Surprise!" We're pregnant :)

-Year three- I have "Big Boy" (even though we were on the 5-10

year plan for having kids...) we are living in our first house that

we have ever built together, and I'm in baby bliss....

-Year four- "Surprise!" We're pregnant again! 15 short little

months apart... Let's just say I'm still working off the baby weight!

But we are absolutely blessed by being given another beautiful,

healthy baby boy! Construction is still going great - and has us

living all over the place. We even lived with Hubs parents for awhile

while we were working up in the mountains. Let's just say that

I have an awesome labor story for when "Peanut" decided to come

3 WEEKS EARLY while we were up in said mountains... Hubs got

pulled over twice while racing down the mountain to get me to the

hospital in time to have our little Peanut 10 hours later :)

Good times!

-Year five- Work has slowed down tremendously for Hubs as the

market begins to fall out from underneath us. Our boys are growing

like weeds, and I'm adjusting to having 2 kiddos, both in diapers, and

both being VERY needy at the same time. BUT, God continued to

provide for our every needs daily. It was around this time that I

started experimenting with the idea of starting my own business...

-Year six- One of the TOUGHEST years of our married lives. We

are starting to realize at this point that our mortgage is upside down,

and the work that seemed to be never ending for Hubs company is

suddenly ending... We begin to wonder what God's plan is for us -

and how to stop drowning in debt. We both learned a new level of

trust and dependency on the Lord that will forever be a milestone

in our lives.

-Year seven- Maybe this is why they call them the "golden years?"

We have had our shares of ups and downs, but finally learn that we

will have to short sale our home, if not lose it all together, and

continue to trust that God has something planned for us... Our boys

are now in preschool together, continuing to grown and learn

everyday - and more than ever Hubs and I realize how impressionable

they are at such a young age. And more than ever we realize how

much they are watching us as we go through the trials of life that we

are going through and even more begin to depend on the Lord for

strength.

Oh, and "surprise" we're pregnant again :)

-Year eight- The little business I tinkered around with a few years

ago has suddenly taken on a new shape... The Lord decided that not

only was he going to work some pretty amazing miracles in our lives,

but He was going to shock Hubs and I completely by how He was going

to begin to help us dig out of debt. Through some amazing miracles, he

joined Hubs and I in a way of working together (that only He could do)

that has allowed my dinky little company to become "our" company

(meaning hubs and I and the Lord) And we are no longer in the

building business anymore. Yup - Hubs has taking to crafting! Well,

let's just call him Mr. Salesman!

Oh, and our little princess was born to us in this fine year of marriage!

And, if you've made it this long in my post, let's just say that if God

could maneuver this much fun in 8 whole years of life - goodness

gracious - what lies next?

I can't wait to find out!

Farewell Friends and Fun Projects

2010-05-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the privilege to be a part of a going away

party for our dear friend Candee Marchant. Her and her
precious family are moving this weekend, and I will say
with a very sad heart that they will be missed tremendously!

We had a fun little fondue party full of girl talk, food, more
girl talk, and yup - a little more food! I'm a foodie girl, can
you tell? That is something that Hubs and I adore about the
Marchant fam - that they are "foodie" people too :) For those
of you wondering what in the world that means - well - let's
just say we revolve ALOT around eating out and enjoying good
food! Simple as that.

On another note, I've been playing around with some new fun
projects that may or may not end up in my Etsy shop... This
particular project has been very heartfelt in that I have been
pondering the thought of God being my "portion" quite a bit
lately. And what better representation of that than an old
vintage spoon? Curious to know what you think.....

Cheers!

Lovin' my girl!

2010-05-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

Just for fun.......

I've recently said, quite a bit lately, that being the mother of a little girl
has definitely made me more "girly..."

I am LOVING being a bit more girly (if you couldn't already tell by the
painted toes picture!)

The Lord has blessed me indeed with 3 beautiful, wonderful kiddos!
To Him I am most grateful!

Birthday Bash!

2010-05-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

May 12th was Big Boy's 5th birthday! And all that he wanted
was a "police car cake" and a police car toy...

Little did he know that he has the coolest parents IN THE WORLD
and not only could we provide his little desires, but we were able
to schedule a meeting with an actual POLICE OFFICER & his real
life POLICE CAR!!!!

Let's just say Big Boy was a wee bit excited :)

We had a fab time of having the family over for sweet pork salad
and yummy chocolate cake and ice cream. And it was a beautiful
day - which is never a given in Idaho, so that was a bonus!

Here are some pics of the big event, and even my sweet pork
recipe in case you need a yummy new crock pot fave!!

So Excited!!
The new "ninja" toy! A wee bit scary :)
The Kinneys!
Grandma "Coco" as Big Boy has recently titled her, and cousin Makena!
Big Boy and his turn trying to bring down the pinata
Cousin Sid and the pinata
Peanut and his turn at the pinata
AND.... Watch out! Candy is loose - here's the cleanup crew!
Getting to talk on the radio - so cool! They loved it!
Getting ready to check out the car
Big Boy locked up.... Deja Vu perhaps??
Peanut locked up and looking really worried :)
Hubs and Officer Hoiosin chatting it up
Sweet Pork.......Yum!
All you need:
-Boneless Pork Shoulder
-1 can Dr. Pepper ( I used Diet Cherry DP)
-1 Jar Salsa Verde
-1 Cup Sweet Chili Sauce
-1/2 - 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar (do the 3/4 cup if you like it sweeter)
-1 TBLE Garlic Powder
-1 TEAS Salt

Throw this all in the crock and cook on low 8-10 hrs or on high 5-7 hrs! Easy Cheesy!!
Cook up some rice - cut up some limes - have a bowl of cheese - Sour Cream - Avocados -
Lots of cut up lettuce- and some black beans - chips......... Go Crazy!! This is SOOO yummy!

Mother's Day Weekend

2010-05-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Oh how blessed I am! I would never have thought that at
this point in my life, I'd have 3 kiddos all before the age of
30! And I know that all moms think this, but I truly feel
like my kiddos are so awesome! I have found myself quite
a bit recently just staring - watching their little personalities
bud and bloom. Now I'm starting to sound cheesy....

Anyways, my family did a spectacular job of making me feel
loved, appreciated, and I am humbled at how wonderful it
is to be a mom.

Our pastor on Sunday talked about amazing women in the
Bible, and he brought up one of my favorites: Hannah. It's
always a good gut check for me when I'm feeling overwhelmed
as a mom, to re-read Hannah's story and be reminded of what
a Godly heart she had.

One of the things that truly amazes me about Hannah, is that
she believed in the power of prayer. Her womb was closed -
without any chance of being able to bear children, she prayed
fervently to the Lord to allow her to bear a child; so much so
that the priest thought she was drunk!

And not only would that be hard enough to endure, she had
an even worse thorn in her side that came in the form of her
husband's other wife - who was very fertile - and new that
Hannah could not have children. She would poke and prod
at Hannah's wishes to have children by flaunting her own
abilities. YET HANNAH DID NOT CONDEMN HER. She had
every right to, too. In my opinion.

And the Lord remembered Hannah's prayer, and opened her
womb, and gave her a son. Hannah gave birth to Samuel,
and gave him away to the Lord when he was still really little.
And he became one of the most favorable prophets in the land
and one of the most well known today.

I can't even imagine giving any of my kiddos away! Yet they are
entrusted to us for such a short time. But they are ultimately the
Lord's anyways!

I have had the thought lately that I am responsible for my kids
future. I am responsible to help shape/mold them (by the grace of God)
into little warriors - men & women of God that will one day lead their
generation by their Christ-like lives. Because we are in the midst of
a spiritual battle that rages everyday...

My prayer this Mother's Day is that like Hannah, I will believe
and use the power of prayer to build up my children... And that I will
never lose sight of the fact that God has blessed me immensely with
three little miracles.

Here's a few pics of some of my favorite peeps...

My Neglected Friend

2010-05-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry I've neglected...

You.

That's right you!

Those who I know read these silly, yet amusing posts,
and those who I don't know that have found their way
here...

Let me start by saying, it's been awhile. And my camera
had WAY too many pictures on it - gathering dust, waiting
to be downloaded and shared with...

well,

YOU.

My neglected friend.

I sincerely apologize, and hope that you will sit back,
relax, and let your mind go blank as you look through
the photos our lives for the past month or so. These
moments are what has pre-occupied us so much that
we forgot to tell you about things like what we did for
Easter, and how much bigger our baby girl has gotten
since she was born...

Big Boy at the zoo....This is what a monkey looks like!
Another "monkey" shot!
Easter!

Cousins!
Love!
Daddy and his baby girl :)
Big girl sophia holding our little sweet pea
Playing a little back yard ball

I'm proud to introduce...

2010-03-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

Baby Girl Kinney! Yay! She was born on Feb 20th at 10:25 am.
Hubs and I are still waiting for the bubble to burst on this whole
experience with Baby Girl, because it has been such a smooth
transition thus far - AND she is SUCH a good baby!

I think the Lord knew what we would need for all of the craziness
going on in our lives right now! As of two nights ago, we are
officially in our new rental and waiting to close on our house
any day! Talk about another miracle. Geez Louise! God has
been blowing our socks off by all that he has blessed us with
in the last few weeks that I get emotional every time I think of
His faithfulness. We have had such tremendous support from
our family and friends through this crazy busy time - and we
count it as such a blessing to have them helping us in such
a huge way.

So, without further ado, here are some pics of our precious
little sweetheart! The boys couldn't be prouder brothers,
and SUCH good helpers!

Nesting & Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

Quite the title, eh? I have been working on that one for awhile :)
Basically, since I have been so absent from my blogging skills
for awhile, I thought I'd do a triple-whammy and combine much
of what has been happening in the Kinney world for your viewing
pleasure...

1st off - NESTING.

Yes, it's true, I have turned into the stereotypical pregnant lady
with my need to nest. And with moving on the brain its been a
little crazy/overwhelming with my need to nest! I guess a better
way to put that is that it's much harder to "nest" when you can't
bend quite like you used to, or move heavy things! Oh well, that
is why God blessed me with such a stud of a husband, right?
And our plan with baby girl Kinney is to have her in our room
with us for the first few months anyways - so no need to decorate
a nursery yet, although I'm in planning stages of that :)

Secondly -VALENTINE'S DAY.

I have been looking forward to my Hot Date night for quite some
time now! Probably because Hubs and I know that this particular
date night could be the last one we have for awhile :) So I had
been holding out - crossing my legs - thinking non-laborous
thoughts... And we successfully made it through a lovely date
night last night! Dinner out, AND a movie, sans-kids. Doesn't
get much better than that! We saw the movie "The Blind Side"
and loved it! Go see it if you haven't yet - it's a good one :)

Well, I have a feeling that this baby girl is coming any day...
Stay tuned for our next blog post, as it will probably be filled
with some pretty cute little baby girl Kinney pictures! In the
meantime, here are some fabulous pics that my very talented
friend, Debbie Brown took of my baby belly :)

New Year - New Perspective

2010-01-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hello 2010! We had a wonderful Christmas/Holiday season,
but I must say I do like the "start over" feeling that the new
year brings! Maybe it's a renewed hope, or a feeling of better
things to come... We obviously have a few very fun, monumental
events happening here within the next few months - Baby Girl
Kinney being top of the list, with our house coming in second
with a good possibility of closing rather soon. (We're still praying
about that one!) And wouldn't you know that both of those
events are happening very close together? I never thought I'd be
needing to think of moving while being so HUGE, but better that
than not at all, right?

I'm officially in my 34th week of pregnancy! I seriously DO NOT
know how the time went so quickly! Wasn't I just taking my 4th
pregnancy test trying, trying to count to 10, and realizing our
family was going to grow to "party of 5?" And she'll be here before
we know it - crazy I tell ya!

Well, I'm sorry it's been so long - and that I'm just now posting
Christmas pics - but hey, at least I'm just a few weeks behind :)

Happy New Year!

Here are some pics of Christmas morning with Hubs reading to the
kiddos some Christmas stories out of a book from their Aunt Jeanette.

This is my good friend Candee and I with our little bellies hanging out :) She's two weeks ahead of me and having a little boy!

Catching up...

2009-12-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving came and went - and now we're just a
few short weeks away from Christmas! Seriously -
where have the past few months gone? So in order to catch
you up-to-date on our holiday time, I have just a few pics
to share that are so much fun to look through already!
Our boys had their Thanksgiving Feast Party at school
right before we took off for our trip to the coast - and
although my attempts failed miserably on getting good
video footage, I did manage a few cute pictures of their
program...And then threw in a few pics of our trip to the
coast for Thanksgiving. What a blessed time!
Big Boy took his job very seriously of leading us all in the pledge of allegiance...
I love the look on Big boy's face as Peanut leads us in prayer...So cute!
My awesome 3 guys!
Boys :)
Me and my babies walkin' on the beach
4 Kinney men looking for crows/geese/some kind of bird to hunt on one of our days at the Kinney Ranch...
And the poor "crow-bird" (as Big Boy calls them) that was met his untimely demise due to those 4 Kinney guys... Can you see the look on Peanut's face of "either mom is going to think this is cool like us, OR.... we're in BIG trouble!"

Thankful

2009-11-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Birthday weekend, thanks to
the wonderful 3 guys in my life and my wonderful
family and friends. It's so nice to feel cherished
and loved, isn't it? I think I really take that for
granted sometimes. So one more year as a "twenty-
something" and then comes the thirties...

At least I have one more year to prepare!

So I went to pick up the boys from preschool
today, to have their teacher tell me a very funny
story about Big Boy. Apparently they were going
around the circle saying what they were thankful
for.

It went something like this:

Teacher: "so what are you guys thankful for?"

Big Boy: "I'm thankful for my mommy."

Teacher: "oh, that's nice."

Big Boy: "But she's not thankful for me!"

Teacher: (knowing there was a story behind this,
she probed further)
"I'm sure your mommy is thankful for you.
Why would you think she wasn't thankful?"

Big Boy: "Well...........She's mad at me because I
pushed my brother and made him cry.
I guess I wasn't using good self-control."
(they have been learning the fruits of the
spirit - Big Boy's most challenging has been
self-control, so he knew this was an area to work on!)

Teacher: "So, maybe if we use good self control, and DON'T push our
brother we will give mommy more things to be thankful for, huh?"

Big Boy: "Ya, I guess so."

Oh, boy. I love this kid - and his heart. Just had to share!

Fall...

2009-10-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

These pics were taken at night, thus the blurry edges!

I love fall.

Our beautiful maple tree out front has within a week's time, dumped all her beautiful orange and yellow leaves on the ground
for our boys to jump, roll and play in. *sigh*

I feel so completely, abundantly, full. To overflowing. Full.

I have so much, and yet I feel that within the last few weeks, God has revealed to me a glimpse of His mighty hand at work.

Within my family, within our finances, and within me spiritually.

I have mentioned before the journey our family has been on the last few years in previous posts. Through this journey, I have truly felt like one of those poor wandering Israelites, kicking around the dust and grumbling that I have nothing good to eat and that there seems to be no end in sight to the constant waiting. And wandering.

But amazing things happen when you crack open God's alive and powerful word! I have recently started (for the 2nd time) a Beth Moore devotional called "Living Beyond Yourself." Pretty fitting for a girl who's constant struggle has been to do just that - live beyond my comprehension, and trust that God has bigger plans for me than what I can see.

I started opening my heart to Jesus, and He started showing me where he was going to work. First was with Hubs. We haven't been on the same page financially - well, probably EVER. But through God's gentle nudging and softening of both of our hearts, He's shown us a way to compliment each other and understand each other so much better than we ever have. I'd have to say finances has been one of our major irritations since we've been married. So I guess 7 years isn't bad in resolving a few things??? Ahem... Anyways~

Through the last few weeks, I have felt an indescribable peace that could only come from above. A peace that calmed my heart and assured me that everything was going to work out - and be OK. But in a very real way - not a fleeting moment kind of thing.

It has been almost a year that our home has been on the market. And we have not gotten an offer on our home until just recently, and it was a very humble offer at that. But when I would normally get angry and defeated at our current circumstance, I felt safe - secure - sure of really nothing. Except that God was still in control.

This weekend, we received 2 new offers on our home. On the same day. Coincidence?

Not only did that jump our chances of actually selling our house (instead of giving it back to the bank) but we may actually see a glimmer of hope that our financial burden of a mortgage is soon to be over.

God is good. All the time! No matter what.

I will never forget His faithfulness to me, even when I am so quick to doubt.

Hyde Park & Other Fun Things

2009-09-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend I had the opportunity to participate with a group of
other lady artists, like myself, at an event called "Hyde Park Street Fair."
It started on Friday and went through Sunday at Hyde Park in Boise.
I had never been before, so I was looking forward to the exposure
and the experience. We were by far one of the biggest booths there!
Our space was 24 feet by 48 feet!

I always tend to stress out last minute with these kinds of things -
scrambling to get my stuff "ready" and always feeling like I could
have created one-last-thing...

Needless to say- the hard work paid off (literally-ha!) and it was a
great weekend not only financially but socially as well. I love the
networking that comes with being a part of a group of creative
individuals and seeing what inspires them - and the gifts God
has given them that are so different from mine.

I also must give MAJOR kudos to my husband who allows me to
do these crazy ventures - and whether or not he knows it, is
allowing me to fuel my creative fire by participating but that is
only because of his support. Otherwise there is NO WAY I could
possibly do any event! Can you imagine me carting around my
two monkeys to one of these things? They would get tired and
antsy the moment we arrived... So thanks hubs! I love you!!

On a completely seperate note: my boys are LOVING preschool
this year! I am hardly surprised, as their teacher is SUCH a gift -
and has been blessing me with her ability to get my boys to
learn and mature into such wonderful young men.

So on Tuesday of this past week, the letter of the day was "b"
and so when I came to pick them up they had these rolled up
papers that were as tall as them with a life-size picture of
themselves.

Just too cute, so I had to share...

I can't believe how big they are! And learning so much each day.

Oh - and if you've made it this far.... We find out in 2 weeks!

And I hardly can stand it :)
A view of our tents from a distance
My booth is on the right (crummy picture, I know!)
Big Boy's drawing
Peanut's drawing
My belly shot at 16 weeks

A day of 1sts

2009-09-08T11:57:00.001-07:00

Today marked the first day of preschool for BOTH of my kiddos.

*sigh*

They both ran to the door with such confidence and glee that I
was almost too clumsy with my camera to get a good shot of
the historical moment. How did they get so big so fast?

It's amazing to see the difference in Big Boy from his first year
last year to now, and I really can't wrap my mind around how
much they will both change in the coming year.

I am realizing more and more lately that we only have them
in this sweet, innocent stage for but a moment or a breath,
and then they are gone - and no longer need our help with
the everyday things.

Here's to bittersweet moments!

What a precious gift these two are to us. We are so proud of them!

5 stones...

2009-08-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

So, as summer winds down I find that I'm looking forward to a lot of things.

-Fall; cooler weather; the leaves turning...
-Both kiddos in preschool - WHAT? (Actually I'm not sure if I'm ready for that one!)
-Anticipation as to what the end of this year will bring for our family - and what next year holds...
-My 20 week ultrasound in Oct. to find out if we're going to have a football team, or another player for the "girl's team..."
-Did I mention fall?

Anyways, you're probably wondering what my title means. Let's just say this past Sunday's sermon, mixed with an insightful Sunday school class led to some really good discussion between Hubs and I about where we're at.

Even though we have yet to see anything major happening in our lives in the areas of finance, and work for Cornerstone, we are
still facing each new day with the expectation of great things. But 2 + years of this can get weary. Lately, Hubs and his partner have been taking on a lot of remodeling jobs which have brought a lot of work - but a lot more stress - because we still have SO much debt.

We thought it would be easy.

Put the house up for sale, start getting creative with jobs, cut back on our budget...

We didn't expect things like: the market to be flooded in our area with close to 700 homes and bare land for sale
Oh, and getting pregnant...

But, in the midst of all of this - we had a light shine on our circumstance in the form of some wise council. A friend of ours asked Hubs what his "5 stones" were. Hubs started to correlate this analogy with one of his favorite Bible stories about David and Goliath and the 5 stones he gathered before facing the giant.

Our friend continued to elaborate on what he meant by his question, and proceeded to say that even though David had the courage and strength of the Lord on his side, and he knew God was going to be victorious, he still gathered 5 stones. In his mind he must have thought that there is no harm in being prepared. Maybe he even thought it could take all 5 stones to kill Goliath. But with and intense faith, he picked those stones and looked at this "giant" of a situation, and what did he do next?

He ran. Full speed. At the giant.

And God was victorious! And it only took one stone.

To wrap this all up for you - I just feel like no matter what our circumstances, God has called us to be obedient and to sometimes just wait on Him. But that doesn't mean that we can't be prepared when he calls us forward to face our giant to be able to reach into our pocket and feel the smoothness of those stones and to know that no matter what happens, we are the vessel and God will be victorious through our sufferings if we allow His hand to lead us.

What are your 5 stones?

Peanut turns 3!

2009-08-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, after a LONG, but good week of VBS (vacation bible school) at our church, we wrapped up the weekend with Peanut's 3rd birthday party! We've been talking for about the last month on what kind of cake he wanted to have, and all he would say was "fireman" or "firetruck"... So I opted for the firetruck cake - since it seemed a wee bit easier to me than trying to make a person out of a cake! Sheesh!

So, I must say, Peanut was a hoot. He reacted to opening his gifts and cards like you would hope any little kid would (but usually doesn't) in that every single thing held the same exact excitement in his mind and he LOVED everything! All of the grandmas and aunts had HUGE success with the cards they gave - in fact he could have been completely satisfied by the cards alone! He loved them!!

He's an easy-to-please kid right now and I love it!! It was so fun to watch him in the moment.

Let's just say the highs of yesterday's events took their toll today, in that we had a few too many meltdowns for no reason whatsoever. It was when we realized he wasn't getting his way today, like he did yesterday, that things started to turn ugly. We have an unsaid rule on birthdays that typically you can get away with a lot by just saying, "but it's my birthday" or in Peanut's case "it's mine and I don't want to share" and for one whole day we allowed it.

So really don't feel too bad for us! By allowing the "it's your birthday rule" -a.k.a. "you don't have to share with your brother," we unknowingly set ourselves up for a VERY emotional day today! AND it didn't help that my husband also called me "hormonal" today - but that's another story entirely...

Anywho - here's some pics from the big day!
Madagascar 2!
The cake...
Our b-day boy!
Blowing out the candles
Cake time!

Gone Fishin'

2009-08-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

So we decided it would be a total blast to wake up early Saturday morning, before the intense heat of the day, and head over to our sub's fishing pond. The boys had been talking about catchin' a big fish all week, so we figured it was time.

Let's just say early morning must be best, because there was definitely no lack of bites! The boy's lines barely hit the water when I heard a giddy scream coming from Big Boy "I caught one! I've got a big fish - look, look!!" It was at this time that we had to remind Big Boy that in order to catch the fish, you couldn't drop your pole and dance around, you had to REEL IT IN!!

That's my boy.

It wasn't 2 seconds later that peanut had a similar reaction and reeled in his fish too.

Unfortunately, given the extreme excitement due to fish literally jumping on the bank - once the bites stopped, so did the attention spans. But we gave it a good go, and stayed for about an hour, testing every hole and secret spot there was.

Still, we only came home with 2 little guys.

Hubs went to filet the first fish to find that the meat would equal MAYBE one bite, and decided to give up and tossed the fishies in the trash.

In our 100 degree garage.

Let's just say my smeller's a little sensitive right now anyways, and I could've done without the rotting fish carcases in our 100 degree garage for, let's say, FOREVER!!!

Our garbagemen are going to love us tomorrow when they find the surprise! Bleh!

I also forgot to mention in previous posts, that Hubs had given Big Boy permission at one point (when I was gone for the day) to go potty outside - as long as it was next to a bush. Well, let's just say we have been caught off guard multiple times when Big boy decided to go potty out in our front yard next to the water feature while cars drove by... Well, this fabulous day was NO EXCEPTION in that 5 minutes after we arrived, we heard a sweet, innocent "mom, dad, can I go potty?"

And much to my dismay (because our sub's fishing pond is right out in the big wide open part of our sub) Big Boy goes over to the most indescreet spot, pulls his pants down and continues to go for about 5 minutes. Because at this point anything is more fun than not being able to catch anymore fish.

Well, let's just say you need to check out the last picture to get yourself a pretty good chuckle - as you'll see Hubs doing while trying to look like a professional fisherman.

Love this kid!
So grown up next to his daddy
My Men
Daddy showing Peanut how it's done
Hmmm... Just had to share! Gotta love boys :)

Life's Many Surprises!

2009-07-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well,

We've known for awhile now...

But have decided to wait until the right moment...

God has chosen to bless us with many things - but He really thinks we should be
extra - special blessed in a certain area.

Give up??

Kinneys are offically going to be a "party of 5" come February 27th!

Here's our little teddy graham size baby as of Monday of this last week.

We could not be any more excited for this new little edition to our lives - granted, the 3rd unexpected kiddo to date!

We LOVE surprises :) And can't wait to meet this little one!

Snake River Stampede 09'

2009-07-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

So hubs and I, plus the two crazy kiddos we get to call our own ventured out to our annual Snake River Stampede night (aka rodeo). We make a night of it not only to see the crazy rodeo clowns and bull riding, but for a little thing we like to call "free dinner."

That's right.

Free.

Albeit hotdogs, hamburgers, pop and some potato salad - let's just say we have some connections in the Pioneer Title biz, and they like to invite us for freebies whenever possible...Along with hundred of other people. But hey, it's free!

We made it through 102 degree weather to a nice, air conditioned building just in time to watch "mutton-busting."

You didn't know they have cruelty to animals at these things, did ya? It's actually just little kids anywhere from 6yrs old to 10 that sign up to ride wired and crazy sheep (aka mutton) as long as they can until they fall off. It's really quite entertaining!

Our Big Boy said he'd like to do it someday...We'll see...

Anywho - here's some pics from the night! Giddy-up!

Homemade Zuppa Toscana Soup = One Happy Mama

2009-07-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

So - if you have never been to Olive Garden and tried their "Zuppa Toscana" soup you have missed a bit of heaven (in my opinion!) I just recently went with some girlfriends, and had to ask our waiter for a bowl "to-go" because I love it so much.

I got home, and definitely hid the container in the back of the fridge - so that hubs wouldn't think he could take it to work with him the next day for lunch...

I'm a bit obsessed.

Then I start thinking...."why haven't I googled this recipe before? I'm sure someone has cracked the code on the yumminess of this soup..."

So I tip-tappittied away to find my beloved Zuppa Toscana soup.

To hubs delight (but not my children - their tastebuds haven't developed yet...) I made the sacred soup tonight, with a little caesar salad, and sourdough bread...

There was a twinge of guilt as I slurped my bowl down to nothingness... "I must share this recipe with the world, so that others, too, may enjoy a much cheaper bowl of yummy goodness also known as Zuppa Toscana."

So, because I haven't written in awhile, I decided to do a food post as a peace-offering to you all. Please make this soup! It's SOOOOOoooooo yummy.

Here it goes:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Makes: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground Italian sausage
1½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
¼ of a bunch of kale
Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.

Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
Stir in the sausage.
Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Buon appetito!

Mawage...

2009-06-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

"Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday... And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

Confused? Perhaps it's time to watch "The Princess Bride" one more time - and then you might get that whole thing...

Anyways, today marked a wonderful day in the Kinney household, and that would be 7 blessed years of mawage, I mean marriage. :)

We woke up, got some breakfast with the kiddos, and then Hubs took the two boys with him on a "daddy work day" to leave me with a whole afternoon of "mommy time." It was a little slice of heaven.

Then we reunited right before dinner, with my boys safely placed in grandma and papa's care, and off we went to one of our favorites, Asiagos.

Then a movie.

Then dessert.

Then to a quiet house, and the knowledge that we get to sleep in a little in the morning! (our normal wake up time with the boys these days is around 5:45 - 6:03).

What a lucky girl I am on this fine day!

Hubs & I at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert! Yum!

Waiting room

2009-06-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

So we've all been to one - and they can have some of the best people watching around... Sometimes they're a bit uncomfortable, especially if you have a squirmy little one wanting to explore around - when we all know that exploration out of our own chairs will draw attention - and then WE are the ones people are watching!

This all happens in the "waiting room."

So, though I've had my fair share of waiting rooms (you definitely rack up waiting room visits when you have kids or become prego!), this story is more a figurative story of the "waiting room" of life.

I feel like the last 2 years has been a season of waiting - relying - stretching - mourning - hurting - & blessed time altogether.

But it is easy to become weary in the waiting, and I must say - that has been my biggest struggle. You become dull to your circumstances and feel like no one REALLY wants to hear your sad sob story one more time, that it would be best if you just shuffled along - weary and burdened, but ready for change.

This last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. This last week leading up to Pentecost Sunday was a week of Hubs and I praying for patience and wisdom during "the waiting".

Pastor's sermon on Sunday dealt with WAITING.

Is there a theme here?

Pastor spoke on the 120 people waiting, as Jesus told them to, in a room - which lasted for 10 days. Can you imagine being in a room with 120 people? Can you imagine the EXPECTATION of what Christ was going to do? I can't get over their faith. In today's culture to be asked to wait, we commonly reply "what, like 5 min?" And even that in our minds is too long.

Imagine being asked to wait for an undisclosed period of time. In this case 10 days. For many of us, we would have to quit our jobs, close up shop, find some pretty good babysitters..... You catch my drift.

Here is the really cool part.

It came like a "mighty wind" upon them... The Holy Spirit, that is.

How exciting is that? But yet how easy is it to be sitting there, staring at the same dusty walls for 10 days straight - it would be enough to make you want to lose your mind. They may have thought they were seeing things - as it says that "tongues of fire rested on each of them, causing them to speak different languages."

But you can see God's hand in motion as:

The apostles received the Holy Spirit and were miraculously enabled to go out into Jerusalem prophesying and speaking in languages that all the visitors to Jerusalem could understand as told further in Acts 2:5-6: "Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem ... they were hearing everything in their own languages." The noise and activity attracted a huge crowd and the Apostle Peter preached a sermon to the crowd with some effectiveness, as Acts 2:41 reports: "On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized."

THREE THOUSAND were baptized! Can you imagine? What a mighty reward for waiting, in reality, such a short amount of time.

But to us 10 days would seem like a lifetime. Maybe even as bad as 2 years...

I sit here today, and find that my faith must be greater than my need, because without HIM, I am nothing but a nobody - staring at a dusty wall - "people watching" from my stiff waiting room chair.

I know that I can wait expectantly - but that I can't expect HIM to do what I think should happen. I should live in the expectance of knowing HIS will and way are best, no matter how long it takes to reveal itself.

He is my Rock and Fortress, He is all I need - and what better friend to wait with than the ruler of the universe? The one that holds time in his hands?

Cardboard Testimonies

2009-05-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to give a form of my testimony for our church's current sermon series. The series is called "transformed lives" - and I can honestly say, it is one of the best series I've ever been able to be a part of. The series started Easter Sunday, and let's just say - the bar was raised pretty high - I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.

So the Sunday service had a portion of it called "cardboard testimonies." Basically a group of very brave individuals walked across the main stage holding a piece of cardboard - with one side having a few words describing their past sin. One individual's read "alcoholic." He flipped his cardboard to read what he had been redeemed of - the flipped cardboard read "sober 6 years."

There were about 20 different testimonies like this. Everyone having a different story - and yet, you connected with each of them.

Testimony is one of our most powerful weapons in this life against the enemy. Once you experience someone's vulnerability, like the sharing of a testimony, you find that maybe you might be a little bit more willing to be open yourself.

Having been moved by the openness of the people who shared on Easter Sunday, I feel God prepared my heart to say "yes" when I was asked to give my testimony in the form of an interview of sorts that was video recorded.

Those of you that know me well, you would know that I am usually not that bold.

Ok - I don't really have a bold bone, muscle, fiber in my body - at least not yet. Maybe that is what God is working on in me right now.

Anyways, the original interview was 16 minutes - but they cut and pasted it together to be only about 2 minutes. So no worries, if you choose to watch it, it won't take all night!

I don't know where you are at right now in life. Maybe times are great, and you are feeling His abundant blessings, and life seems to be more full than ever. Or maybe you have never felt so stretched in your life, and you feel like you're holding on by a thread.

Or maybe you're somewhere in between.

No matter where you find yourself, I hope that you know you have a loving Father in heaven walking through each step of life with you.

He knows your name.

He knows your every thought.

He sees each tear that falls.

And He hears you when you call.

Click HERE to go to our church webpage that has all of the testimonies listed. Mine is the 3rd one.

Or you can watch it here, but it's a little slow...

Birthday Fun

2009-05-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Today marks four sweet years of having our first child. What a gift! Big boy is growing up so fast - I can hardly believe how much he's grown up in just this last year. So - as customary in our home on birthdays, Big Boy got to choose his birthday cake design......

"mom, I want a train cake - a blue and black one, with LOTS of trains." Makes sense, no?

So, I set out on an expedition to find the perfect train cake - on a budget :D

After a few good Google searches, I found the perfect recipe - and set my mind right on doing it. Then I got a silly notion that maybe I should do a little "step-by-step" tutorial on how to make the perfect train cake for a 4 year old.

WARNING***** many pictures to follow!

So - without further ado, Happy 4th Birthday to my Big Boy! We love you!!

---------------------------------------------------------

The Perfect Train Cake

What you'll need:
2 boxes of cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Yellow & Swiss Chocolate mix) & 2 loaf cake pans
2-3 containers of ready made frosting (I used cream cheese, coconut, and chocolate)
4 -5 different types of candy to decorate train (like gummy worms, licorice, reeces,
sour patch kids, oreos, choc covered raisins)
plastic ziplock baggies, or decorating icing tubes
candles
some sort of plate, or cardboard to cover with foil to use as your tray for the cake

Ok..... Here it goes!

Bake your 2 cakes each in a loaf pan - and then cool completely. When cooled, place these in the freezer for 20 -30 minutes
to harden the cake and make it easier to cut and frost.
Take a serrated knife and cut the top off of each cake as shown. I like to keep all the cake scraps and put them in a freezer bag for a different dessert recipe later on.
Next cut the loaf in half, and then in quarters.
For the engine car, cut the two sides (as shown).
Next cut the front so that the engine comes to a point.
Cut a little square notch out as shown reserving the cut out part
with a little frosting used as glue put the cut out part on top as shown to give dimension to the engine car.
Mix your frosting with whatever color choices you want, I did 2 shades of blue and then chocolate
Next, crumb coat the train cars so that our final coat will be nice and smooth.
here's what they look like after the crumb coat
And the engine car...You can definitely see the "crumbs!"
I like to stick the cars in the freezer to allow the frosting to harden to make the final coat easier to put on. While you wait for that to set up, you can fill your frosting decorating bags with the different colored frostings - and then we can assemble our base tray.
I cut the tip off of a ziplock bag to use for the train tracks that you can draw on the tray - this allows us to know where to place the train cars.
Here's what they look like finished. You can also write a saying in the middle with frosting. As you will see later - I didn't like how the words turned out, so I redid that part and did it a little differently. That's the bonus with frosting, it's very forgiving!
Now you can place your train cars on the tracks to get ready to decorate!
The final product! AND 2 very happy boys :D
the finished cake
Big Boy blowing out the candles!
My 2 precious boys
Peanut and Sophie awaiting their piece of cake!

Long time no see!

2009-05-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still here! It has turned into that crazy time of year (no it's not Christmas at our house!) and so that means blogging takes a back seat for awhile until we can settle ourselves for a few moments.... whew! Ok, let me take another moment - alright. I'm ready to begin my debriefing of our recent venture.

Hubs and I were able to go on a much needed vacation this past week - on a cruise, in fact.

No - it was not to Mexico, although tropical weather does sound nice right now!

It was from San Diego up the coast to Vancouver. What cruise-literate people like to call a "transitioning cruise". Basically because the very popular and beautiful Alaskan cruises start very soon, and so our cruise ship was making its way up to that side of town.

My very gracious in-laws came and stayed with our two rambunctious kiddos -and we finally caught up on some sleep (while Jerry and Judy gave up some of theirs! Thanks again!!)

It's amazing what 6 days of uninterrupted time to yourself and your spouse can do for you. You start to talk like a normal adult, instead of using sentences or words like "I need to use the potty" or "pumpkin" or "let's go night-night." But our children still hold places in our hearts that make us long and ache for seeing their bubbly faces and personalities, and allow us to feel normal as parents - even if we use silly words to express ourselves.

Hubs and I were also able to catch up with my younger brother Shawn and my SIL Marie, and their new baby Emory.

So Cute!!

She is only 2 weeks old - and so we were thrilled to get to see them all so soon after Emory's birth.

So - without further ado, here are some pics of our trip! Happy Mother's Day!
Our fancy dress up night on the cruise
Our cruise ship is on the far right of the picture
Getting to hold baby Emory! She's so little!
Precious little family
Baby Emory

Garden Diaries - Entry 1

2009-04-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hanging out
Loading up the dirt
Daddy's big helper
Mini wheel borrow
Tonka truck style dumping
Our plot
Yes, it is that time of year again... The earth is starting to thaw, my tulips are starting to push up through the dirt, and it's time to start thinking about our garden. Some of you may have heard that last year's garden attempt didn't go so well. We have really only had one successful attempt at a garden, and that was pre-kids, so forever ago! And even with that attempt, it pretty much was successful because we planted WAY too many tomato plants (unbeknownst to us we didn't realize you only really need 1-2 plants, not 6-8!). So instead of trees, we had HUGE tomato plants. To make matters worse, once it was time to start harvesting those puppies for some yummy salsa, we waited ONE day too long to get them in doors. Yup, it froze, and we were stuck with 8 buckets of tomatoes that pretty much looked good on the outside and had absolutely NO flavor on the inside!

So, here we are.

5 years later.

We don't know if this is our "forever house" or not, but we've come to the conclusion that we can't wait forever for a garden! In our almost 7 yrs of marriage, we've moved 6 times - so taking the time to make and take care of a legit garden plot has not sounded too appealing to me.

But this is the year Betsy - Oh yeah - this is the year!

Hubs and I decided to go for it - and if this old house of ours sells in the meantime, we'll request that they save us a few squash and tomatoes for fun...

Our boys couldn't get enough of digging in the dirt we had to get to fill our "plot" and helping hubs and I wheel borrow back and forth until the job was done. I've been getting some pretty good gardening tips, so my goal is to share these with you and have you track my progress with me of how successful this year's garden will actually be!

*Tip of the day:
Starbucks offers FREE coffee grounds just for your garden! I picked mine up, packaged and sealed all nicely, and ready to mix in with the dirt! Hubs found out that your dirt should have at least 25% compost added for best results! So, go treat yourself to a fancy cup of coffee from the "Bucks" and help enhance your gardening experience at the same time!

With a heavy heart

2009-03-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

The words from the Natalie Grant song, "this is what it means to be held" are ringing in my head and in my heart the past few days. "How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life, and you survive" are such powerful words that express what so many of us never want to feel - the loss of a child.

We learned a few days ago, that a couple from our TLC bible study group, who were 7 months pregnant (due the end of May), had found out their baby had died in utero. They were in Montana visiting her family, and after awhile of not feeling the baby move - they went into the hospital to find out there was no heartbeat.

I am still trying to grasp the situation.

When I was pregnant with Big Boy, I started bleeding unexpectedly, and knew I was suffering a miscarriage. I'll never forget that feeling of helplessness, and dismay - thinking our little one was gone. When we made it into the ultrasound room, the nurse forgot to turn the heartbeat monitor on right away, so my first glimpse of our baby was motionless, soundless, and full of an intense grief that I know only slightly compares to this couple's grief.

Needless to say, the nurse finally turned on the heartbeat monitor - saying her apologies for forgetting, ( I believe it was when she saw my pool of tears that she had the light bulb turn on) We had only had a blood clot that had burst - mimicking a miscarriage - being of the lucky few to walk away with a healthy baby still protected and doing well. God definitely protected us.

This couple had to give birth to their little one - saying farewell to a life that they will only get to know further in heaven someday. I would covet your prayers for this precious family. They are newly married, and as you could probably imagine something like this could easily tear a couple apart.

They are having a memorial service for baby "Ella" in Montana tomorrow (Saturday). And come back home next week, without her.

God is a just and good God. This I know. I also know that He won't give us more than we can handle. But death, especially of a little one seems too hard for me to grasp at this moment. I look at my little ones and count them such blessings in a world full of hurt and brokenness. Even when we can't understand the pain, or the reason behind life's tragedies, we can hold firm to Him who's the anchor for the times in our life when we experience the "storm" and uncertainty.

Just for fun...

2009-03-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is what the Kinney's like to call "banana phone conversations."

Ya, we're cool.

Just thought we'd share a bit of our coolness with you!

Who knew bananas could be so useful? Not only do they taste yummy, but to a toddler - all they have to do is put it up to their ear, and magically they hear grandma or grandpa on the other line............

I'm feeling a bit dissed at the moment - because somehow I missed the boat on being the only person they'd want to talk to if they could talk to someone through a banana phone.

I mean seriously, how cool would that be?

What is this crazy world of ours coming too?

Most embarrassing moment of my life, take 2

2009-03-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ok - so I had a good chuckle at my own expense today, with my 2nd most embarrassing moment. Who knew these two moments would be so close together? They are, though, linked in a very strange way. Here it goes........

I am headed to the Boise court house, to take care of a very important document "aka ticket for excessive speeding" (says the policeman...). I have never been to this court house, because we've recently moved - and I am a rather good girl when it comes to breaking the law-n-such.

I have Peanut with me, so in order to remain somewhat composed through the whole going in and paying and trying not to sound off any alarms or break any more laws, I decide to strap Peanut into our rather large "cadillac stroller". It's pretty obvious WHY it's called the "cadillac" but for those of you not used to strollers, I will fill you in on the fact that we have moved small households with all this puppy can carry.

Ok - back on track, sorry!

So, I'm headed up the ramp to the HUGE, SCARY, courthouse front doors only to find that they are not the usual automatic opening doors like at the mall.... They are the fancy revolving doors that you would find downtown NYC at Bloomingdales.

No sweat - I can fit the cadillac and me in one of those slots no prob.

My eyes glance quickly at the handicap button that allows you to SLOW the revolvingness of the doors - but my attention is quickly diverted as I gear up to just go for it.

Big mistake.

I make it into the "stall" alright, no problem actually. It's when the doors try to continue revolving that we run into a slight issue. Me and the cadillac are not allowing ANY motion, so the doors start hurking and jerking until finally I am flung into the foyer of the courthouse.

There were definitely AT LEAST 15 security guards smirking at me as I try to pull some composure out and look like a not-so-crazy-person.

The poor guy who happened to be in the stall behind me offered the only help, by asking if I was alright........

"Ya" I say "that was pretty awesome" as I try to catch my breath because I am laughing so hard - trying not to cry.

All of this because of a stupid speeding ticket!

Just for fun, I looked up the definition of a "revolving door" and here is what wikipedia says:

"A revolving door typically consists of three or four doors that hang on a center shaft and rotate around a vertical axis within a round enclosure. Revolving doors are energy efficient by eliminating drafts, thus reducing the heating or cooling required for the building.[1] At the same time, revolving doors allow large numbers of people to pass in and out."

Let's just say the last little bit about "allowing large numbers of people to pass in and out" could be a bit of a crock.

Be advised: Large strollers DO NOT mix with revolving doors!

Happenings

2009-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

So, due to a finicky bug of some sort, that I believe I contracted from the youngest member of our family - I have been a little down and out the past few days. I say all of that, because alot of fun stuff happened this past weekend that I wanted to share with you sooner.

My friend Julie Turner, who I am recently doing promotional stuff for, had her first ever "CD Release Concert." Talk about fun! She looked like a rockstar, too, which is always cool (to say that you're friends with the rockstar) because somehow you end up feeling that enthusiasm along with all of the hype of such an event. Ok, I was totally a groupie that night (along with Sarah!)

Ya, we were cool. Old, but cool nonetheless.

Oh, did I mention that I was the MC for the night? Oh, talk about a stretch! But Sarah was a good "mental coach" for my little moments on stage. I am definitely glad that is over, thought, something about the sound of my own voice on a microphone just doesn't do it for me. Not quite as cool as when you were younger and would record yourself singing into the tape recorder, only to play it back and have it sound like a completely different person..... Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!! I know I wasn't the only one who used to do that....

If you want to check out Julie and her new CD, go to her website at www.julieturnermusic.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just for fun, I thought I'd share with you some random things said in our house recently:

Big Boy: (when asked to pray at dinner last night) says "Dear Jesus, thank you for today, thank you for the letter "T" and for how whale starts with "T" and for rainbows and for ice cream. Amen"

Peanut: His new question for everything is "whattis it?" "Mommmmm, whattis it?" Even if you just told him, he's still got to ask a few more times just to make sure you know what it is.

Big Boy: (again at dinner) starts sounding out "cc-oo-ff-ee" (we have a coffee picture on the wall in the dining room). So we start going with it, all too excited to think our 3 1/2 yr old is reading, what??? So Hubs starts pointing at a different coffee print on the wall that says "cafe". We hear "cc-aa-ff-ee". Then, "coffee!!!" Only in our house would everything spell out coffee.

And last but not least...............

Big Boy: "mommy, are we gonna watch American Idol?" Ya - we're all addicted, even if hubs won't admit it.........

Most embarrassing moment of my life!

2009-02-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

I had a normal morning - everything going along at the normal pace, but I was running a little late to drop the boys off at preschool and Grandma Sharon's....

Seriously, I was 2 BLOCKS from dropping Big Boy off at school - my last stop - when I saw it.

Too late.

Check my rearview - yup -

BUSTED................

So where do I end up pulling over to greet my lovely police officer friend, so that he can write me up a ticket?

Right in front of Big Boy's preschool.

If that wasn't enough, I appeared to be one of the first mom's there (of course, I was the only one RACING to get there!). So I got the luxury of watching every mom come, drop their kids off and give me the "I feel so bad for you right now" look as they waved and drove by.

Every single one.

It's not even 10:00 am yet - gripes, what a day.

It's a heart issue

2009-02-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life where someone captured words that expressed exactly how you were feeling? That happened to me so unexpectedly last night. On the eve of a day that celebrates love, friendship, and happiness. I ran smack dab into something I've been trying to grasp for sometime now.

The heart.

All it's detail, mystery, and empty parts - why is it so hard to define all the feelings that come from this essential part of our bodies? God obviously had many reasons why this organ was to be so important, not only to our survival, but to the core of our being. I wrote in my journal a few months ago that sometimes I think that I FEEL too much. Empathy is at the top of my character chart, they are telling me in a new study I just took on finding our strengths. The funny thing is that I always thought of empathy as a weakness - for that very reason, "feeling too much." And in feeling too much I feel unable to use the wings he's given me to fly - and instead I sit with wings bound watching and waiting for my moment to soar.

Is that how Jesus felt? Overwhelmed by all the hurt and brokenness around him; too unstable to move a square inch because it hurt too much? No, he moved with grace, confidence and complete empathy for those he met (and those he didn't).

It's amazing how one slight shift in perspective brings us back to what's real - God's love, and God's heart. It never fails us, it never leaves us hanging wondering if He cares about us. I am finding that Satan uses confusion, miscommunication, basically the unknown in our minds to bring dissention among us causing us to stumble and stay on the ground.

This is where I struggle. Why? Because I am a people pleaser through and through. If I feel a cord is broken between me and a friend it kills me to the core because I cannot control their reactions to me. But I am reminded that God gave us relationships as a privilege and not as a right. But he made us relational people - and that we function best as a body of believers if we are of sound mind and body. God speaks it so much better than I ever could, and this is what He says:

"be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10)
"be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous" (1 Peter 3:8)

Did you know that the Bible refers to the "heart" 876 times? God knew we would need instruction on this important tool, otherwise why would He mention it so much in His word? I just wish sometimes we had a book to refer to, like "a guide to using our hearts for dummies" or "learning to fly again is easier than you think," or something like that!

I think that once we surrender our hearts to our Father and creator, we gain a new freedom to trust those who maybe broke our hearts in the past, or let us down. We can't control how others treat our hearts, but we can trust He that controls our future and has our hearts in His hands. Did you know He sings over you? What would that song sound like...

I want you, if you've waded this far through my lengthy blog post, to check out the article that I read last night that summed up what God has been whispering to me for quite sometime. I warn you though, you will be blessed, and maybe faced with a truth that will unexpectedly enrapture your heart. Check it out here.

Teddy Bear Tea Party

2009-02-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Big Boy's preschool rocks! I just LOVE his teacher, Mrs. Blair, she does a fantastic job of teaching our little guy his letters, and stories about Jesus. It is such a precious time in his life right now, I feel like I am trying to squeeze every ounce of pleasure from each moment. Today was his last day before Valentine's Day, so it was obviously a great time for a party; hence the title of this post! That's right, it was a teddy bear tea-party, AND pajama day all in one! They got to wear pajamas today because the letter of the week was "P"- I love it!! So cute.

About every month the little kiddos get to go on a field trip to meet different "people of our town" and today they got to meet Grandma Gee (Mrs. Blair's mom) who's an excellent baker. So, she came to school and helped them all make the most adorable heart shaped cakes! They even got little chef hats and homemade aprons and baking goodies like cookie cutters and spatulas.

Is it weird that I get excited on field trip days because of all the cool stuff Big Boy gets to bring home? I think I look forward to these special days more than him because of all the fun little surprises! (can we say easy to please?)

So, we also got to make out little Valentine's Day goodies for the other little boys in his class - and that always brings back fond memories of getting to make Valentine's Day boxes at school to hold all of our little treasures in...

I love that I get to share this time of year with such wonderful men in my life! I'm such a lucky girl indeed. Especially when my little guy brings home a chocolate cake... Ok, so I may have some serious chocolate issues, but it's ok to splurge on V-Day, right?

Happy Love Day! Go make yourself some heart shaped cookies with lots of frosting and sprinkles! Oh, and don't forget the chocolate kisses :D

Big Boy modeling his new apron, baker's hat, V-Day cake, and teddy bear (from his little "tea party") I love this kid!!

And the winner is...

2009-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, Hubs and I got to work at the coffee bar at church for their yearly "customer appreciation day" which is put on by the chamber of commerce. We worked at it last year, and it was alot of fun - getting to meet people from our community, and to walk around to the different 100 businesses that had a booth there as well. You are always sure to find fun giveaway stuff for the kids - and this year some fun samples for us too! I think my prizes were a new toothbrush, a t-shirt from last years "race for the cure" and some coupons... The kicker to this whole event is the door prize drawings they have for both adults and kids that you sign up for in hopes of scoring something cool like a bike, or something like that. We usually don't stick around for the name calling when they start giving out prizes because there is usually a million people there and the chances just aren't that good for being picked...

That was until we got a call saying, " A--- Kinney has won a digital camera, a very nice one in fact, and it's at the church for you to pick up!" Oh happy day! We began to ask ourselves how nice a digital camera for the kids drawing would actually be - so we reserved our emotions until after the pickup of the camera in question.

Let's just say I'm signing up next year for the kid's drawing!

The camera is nicer than our "fancy" one we bought a few years ago - and I googled it to see how much it would cost to go buy in the store...$150!! Nice job baby! Not bad for your first door prize :D
The fancy new camera!
The boys loved the firemen hats we got from the local firefighter booth at the show
The boys and I went for a bike ride later that afternoon - it was SO beautiful outside! And I had every good intention of going for a really long bike ride, but due to lack of physical leg strength, our ride was cut a few miles short...

You so crazy!

2009-01-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Sorry it's been awhile! Things have been going full steam at the Kinney household! With the start of preschool again with Big Boy, there have been some new changes to our lives in general as a sort of "new years resolution" of sorts. As you can tell from the previous post, our house is now on the market (resolution #1). But our big goal this year was to eliminate credit cards completely, and strictly stick to our cash budget - oh, and knock $100 off of that budget per month! Yikes!! Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper at first in thinking of these big changes! Oh, and in order to really start making any sort of dent on our monthly expenses (mainly mortgage payment) I needed to start bringing in some substantial amount of money per month (another hard moment for me - because I that meant I needed to find the perfect job to accommodate my staying at home with the 2 kiddos!)

Anyways, you know, God is really in control! Thank goodness, because I tend to freak out a bit when it comes to change and the unknown. But in another light, I really started to become excited as to how it was all going to work itself out, ya know? So here's the scoop on our crazy, busy, full lives that we're living everyday for God in complete trust for His provision:

1- Husband is still busy, working for Cornerstone! The current project will last about another month, and then we'll really need to find the next job. But while he has work, and looks to the future, my husband has been a Rock of unwavering faith.

2- Husband is also selling bottle caps on Ebay and Etsy in his "off time" and bringing in a substantial amount per month that has helped significantly with our budget!

3- Our boys are growing up SO FAST! I almost can't keep up with them! B is learning so much in pre-school and can already spell his first name! He knows his last name is Kinney, but we're still working on the spelling...Don't even ask about his middle name - he has no clue!

4- I was asked by the church to be their "web management support" person, in which I will basically be running all the web-stuff for the church! This was a HUGE answer to prayer in that it will also bring in a significant amount per month to help with budget.

5- I am currently the marketer/promoter for my good friend Julie Turner who is pursuing a music career! I get to call around and get "gigs" for her - and she currently is going to have a CD release concert the end of Feb that I've gotten to help with! Check her out at www.julieturnermusic.com

6- Peanut has reached a new phase... It's called I want what brother wants, I want it now, and oh - I want to get into everything I'm not supposed to phase! It's really common in 2 yr olds! Who needs to exercise when you've got a toddler?

7- My bottle cap biz is still going but currently has a new phase being produced, which is my "paper goods" part of the business. I am SO EXCITED about this! I have asked 3 other designer-friends to come on board with me to produce a plethora of cards that I will put into our catalog, and website in hopes for many orders! These ladies are so talented, and I can't wait to share more with you in the coming months on this development!

8- The boys are still growing every day, and Big Boy eats more than husband anymore (we think it's a definite growth spurt of some kind...) Oh, and Peanut is keeping up right along with him and showing his ever spunky personality everyday! We love them SO MUCH!!

Sorry for the HUGE list, sometimes I work better in lists, I don't know why? I think it allows all of my jumbled thoughts to cohesively make sense in a random sort of way :D Anyways, I hope that your new year is looking bright - and that you're trusting God with your future. Change is good, really, even if we have to tell ourselves that ALOT, God is still by our side walking us through each season.

Maverick
Ice Man
Off to school...Wait, only Big Boy - Peanut only wishes!
We need a better back pack, or "pack pack" as Big Boy calls it for Peanut
Big Boy has been watching alot of the Veggie Tales Pirate movie, thus the Pirate ship built out of blocks :D

Saying goodbye to say a new hello

2009-01-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2008! Hello brand-new, 2009.

Feels refreshing, doesn't it? To have a clean slate, wiped free from all the "yuck" of last year. I don't think I new how possible it was for God to move in my life - all in one year's time. A lot has changed for me, for our family, and for our country. But more than ever, I am rocked to my core at knowing that ultimately GOD is in control (thank goodness!). But change is hard for me. I'm realizing that more and more as life throws it's punches - I find myself wanting the old and familiar more than the new and unexpected

We're putting our house on the market today.

For most of you, you are probably not surprised! We've moved 6 times in our almost 7 years of marriage - the life of a builder, right? It changes when you through kids in the mix. You become attached. You become more dependent on stability - which in essence is that of "getting your roots deep" and staying awhile. I've had a hard time letting go of our home. You see, in my mind, it's ours to keep forever, right? We put a lot of work into this place - we DESERVE to stay... Can you sense the self-pity?

Yesterday something brilliant happened to me. I started talking to God, telling Him my insecurities about our finances, our mortgage, etc. And in this dialogue, I started understanding a deep and hidden truth I had put to the side quite a bit this last year. Support for my husband. You see, this last year, I've gotten really good at dragging my feet - putting my best pouty face on - and just being plain old selfish when it came to talking out our financial situation and the suggestion of selling our house. It was only until yesterday that I finally had dragged the ball-and-chain around enough that I was ready to LET GO.

The funny part is that it really wasn't that hard; the letting go part. It was actually quite easy to let go, and once I did it was instant release. I was headed to a meeting when God and I had this little "chat." While I was at the meeting, husband was at home with the kiddos, meeting with a realtor to go over our options but not to necessarily sign papers and list. When I called husband to tell him I was coming home, he said he thought we should sell the house.

Silence.

No instant clutching at my heart, no feel of remorse at having handed that over to God just minutes before. Nothing. I felt complete peace. Because God truly is in control. He can choose to sell our home, or if by His amazing grace we end up getting to keep it - He gets all the glory!

So, as you look to your new, 2009 year I pray that you will choose to trust the one that created everything that we have, and everything that we enjoy. He wants to share the sweet stuff of life with you - all it takes is a little dialogue and openness.

Some last 2008 photos to share

2008-12-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Ya'll,

I know I bid you a farewell in my last post, but I have a few more photos to share before the New Year. We have been enjoying many lazy days, and lots of moments together as a family. We have never felt more blessed. Enjoy - and have a wonderful and happy New Year!

Our 2008 Christmas card
They boys got their first big boy bikes this year!
A house we had been hearing about from everyone...Pretty amazing display of lights!
The boys in the tunnel of lights!

Some of my favorite things...

2008-12-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

Just for fun...

10. Peppermint Hot Chocolate with LOTS of whip cream (and marshmallows!)

9. The smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree, and then the sight of it after it's lit up!

8. 2 little boys, and the wonder of Christmas in their eyes as we talk about the season.

7. Our annual TLC Christmas party & White Elephant gift exchange - I always end up laughing until my big Christmas belly hurts! My all time favorite prize was the stylin' "buffalo touch-lamp" from the Marchants! Love it and still have it!! This year's coveted prize was a belly dancing cd with some rockin' Moroccan tunes - WOW!

6. Egg Nog Lattes with a little vanilla, and yes - you guessed it - LOTS of whip cream! Tis the season, right!?!

5. Christmas music! I limit myself to starting to listen to it beginning in November - otherwise Husband would go crazy!

4. Going up to the mountains for weekend getaways - sledding and snow!

3. Teaching our kids about sharing, giving, and the real reason for the season...JESUS!

2. Baking the traditional holiday treats...Sugar cookies, fudge, candy cane cookie drops, and my mom's famous cheese ball.

1. The blessing of an amazing family that I get to spend this holiday season with!

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas season! See you next year!

Michael Dubya Smith in Boise

2008-12-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas, and what better way to get into the holiday spirit than with a 60 piece symphony orchestra led by Michael W Smith? And just to add a little frosting to the cake, let's have Melinda Doolittle come along and sing too - oh man, husband and I were feeling quite festive TONIGHT!! I bought these tickets back in Oct for Husband's birthday, and let's just say tonight has been a long time coming! So, yes - I know Michael (we are SO on a first name basis!) has been around for awhile, and he's a bit old-school, but he puts on a pretty good show. So if you are snickering on the other end of this line - maybe you should give old Michael another chance because he's still as good today at singing gospel than he was back when I had braces-parachute pants-and yes, headgear!

On to another completely different subject altogether...

Things have been a-changing for me lately. That has probably been a long time coming too. I feel like God has been preparing me for change for awhile-and I thought I knew what direction that was-until I lost his voice. Have you ever been there? Feeling like God is silent for a time is a scary place to be. I feel like for me, God was silent in order for me to see that I was trying to direct what I felt was the "right path" instead of letting Him lead - and show me the right way, along with the blessings that accompany it.

So, without going into a novel length description, I will say my plans have changed - and I feel like God is moving me in a very exciting direction with my greeting card business. Things are still evolving, so give me some time to explain as I am still basking in God's awesomeness and really still trying to comprehend why he loves me so much? I feel so undeserving of His love - that at times I fall flat on my face in complete and utter reverence to His grace. Why did He send his only son to die for me? Especially with how much I have sinned, fallen short, and even knowingly disobeyed all to look back and see that He was there the whole time.

WOW.

I hope that God is moving in ways that make you stop, appreciate, and want to give back as He so humbly did for you thousands of years ago in sending his one and only baby son. Alleluia Christ has come! God bless you this holiday season.

Trip to the coast

2008-11-26T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Yes, we are still here... It has been a busy couple of weeks, and thrown into the mix was a last minute trip to Newport, Oregon. A friend of husband's family passed away, so that was the main reason for going, but we thought we might as well make a mini-vacation too! So, husband's folks graciously hosted us while we were there, and husband's grandma also let us stay a night at her home in Eugene - so we had tons of fun! Since I volunteered to host Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (I'm still scratching my head on this one!) I had better get going - so enjoy some pics I took over the weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!
Getting ready to cut down our Christmas tree!
The Tindall's girls and our little guys hanging out!
Christmas tree hunting gang!
Three Kinney Boys
Grandparents strolling on the beach
Our Family

Hair Train

2008-11-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so growing up, you would quite often find me, my cousins Mandy and Carrie, my mom and aunt Linda in what we liked to call a "hair train". Any girl who's been to a sleepover when they were young knows what I'm talking about! But for those of you unassuming readers, I will indulge you by explaining the "hair train" concept.

It's really very simple, and VERY GIRLY!

You sit with one person in front of the other, kind of like a train would look. Then comes the brushes, and most important the accessories! The more accessories the better! The most coveted spot in the "hair train" would be the very front, because you get to totally relax and let the person behind you play with your hair and just pamper you. I don't know about you, but I LOVE it when I get my hair done! There's something about letting someone else do the work that makes it so relaxing!

Ok, so here's my little secret that I'm going to share with you, but don't tell my husband (or our boys for that matter-until they're about 18, then you can tell them!). I witnessed my very first GUY "hair train" the other day in our bathroom. I walked in unexpectedly to the three adorable guys in my life combing away! At first I was a little jealous that I wasn't asked to join, since I would be offering SO MUCH expertise in this area, but my job was obviously to capture the event so that all would be able to witness its first time EVER being caught on camera! I'm surprised the picture even turned out, to be honest, because I was laughing so hard it was shaking the camera! I think what got me was how serious Big Boy was about stylin' daddy's hair :D

On another monumentous note: Our little Peanut went potty in the toilet TWICE tonight!! This is our first attempt at potty-training him, and we're still in the middle of potty-training Big Boy, but how nice would that be? Two at once? I can't tell you what a relief that would be to not have to buy diapers anymore!

That's all for now! Chow!

Apparently when guys do the "hair train" they feel the need to do so with their shirts off...We were much more modest!

Trick or Treating Kinney Style

2008-11-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last night our boys embarked on an adventuresome journey to find treats from our neighbors. At first they weren't really sure what to do - Big Boy wanted to go inside of the houses for a nice chat and maybe a cup of hot chocolate, that was until we told him that wasn't quite how it goes... From there it was the polite one piece grab of candy.

Then one of our neighbors made the mistake of asking the boys if they'd like 2 pieces...It just snowballed from there into who could grab the most - and they got away with shameless amounts of candy, all because of their definite cuteness and young age. It was the perfect night for strolling the neighborhood, too, at around 60 degrees.

Now we have the privilege of teaching the boys why we don't eat all of the candy in one sitting. When asked this morning what Big Boy was going to make for breakfast (jokingly of course - we don't demand that until he's 5) he thought about it for like 2 seconds and then with a HUGE cheesy smile yelled "I make candies!"

We've got some work to do on that kid!

Brothers
Just lovin' on eachother! Of course they're always this way...
Running down the sidewalk for the first house of the night
Big Boy would always have to check to make sure someone was "comin'" and then ring the doorbell at least 5 times
This is Peanut's nose - the night of our Redneck BBQ he took a tumble off of the couch and into the coffee table. Apparently he landed dead on his poor little nose. I'm not sure if he cracked it a bit, or just bruised it up really bad, but each day we get a fabulous new color to look at!

A life well lived

2008-10-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post today. Yesterday, around 3:30 my friend Karmen Stuart whom I've mentioned before - who has struggled for almost 2 years now with pancreatic cancer - has gone to be with her Lord and Savior. When I turned on the radio this morning, it was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise to hear Christmas music playing. The radio station's reasoning is to have a positive message of life to be playing on a day that symbolizes death to so many.

But, I know different.

They are playing these uplifting songs of new life - found in Christ - and the celebration of that in memory of Karmen. I can't help but think of her as the radio plays songs talking about "fallling on our knees - oh hear the angel's sing" and how Karmen is surrounded by nothing but that this day. But more importantly she has no more pain, no more sorrow, and is in the arms of her savior.

That doesn't mean it isn't hard, for her husband Scott, & their three kids Payton, Blaine and Kendall, who are no doubt missing their momma. Please be in prayer for this precious family.

What an example of a life well lived, especially in showing true joy through hard circumstances. We love you Karmen!
Karmen and daughter Kendall at Disney World this past summer

1st Annual Redneck BBQ

2008-10-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

So today marked another year on my mother's calendar - as it was her birthday - so we decided to spice it up a bit...

Redneck BBQ Style!

Can I get a WOOP WOOP? That's right, we all came in our finest attire - mollet wigs, bushy mustaches, and wild and crazy clothes. My husband has been growing his mustache for about a month and a half all for this night of laughs! Best costume award was a close one with my brother Scott as the big winner, and my mom coming in close second.

We held the BBQ at Scott and Corine's, and boy did they deliver! We arrived to their house to see tires in the yard, Christmas lights up, lawnmower parts all over, and empty beer bottles in the planter bed. I wish I could say this looked different than normal.......Just kiddin :D

Anyways, thought I'd share some of our evening with ya'll! Happy Birthday Mom!
Redneck Family Portrait
Mom blowing out her candles w/peanut's help
The Haverfield Jr.'s
The Parents
The Kinney Clan Bringing it Back!
The Grandparents
The guys showing off their farmer's tans
The girls showing off their duds
Yes, this is me combing my husband's HUGE and really gross mostache!

Surprise Party!

2008-10-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Birthday party, eh? Just imagine in your minds a very strong Canadian accent with this post, ok? That is what we had the pleasure of experiencing yesterday with the boys and about 35 other people, a surprise birthday party for our Canadian friends the Muirs. Brian and Tina along with Bryson and Cole drove all the way here from Alberta and are staying the week here, visiting old friends. Tina planned all by herself to have this be a complete surprise trip for the boys for Brian's 40th birthday party. So up until the day they left they had no idea that they were all coming here for the week! Brian was my husband's baseball coach in college - and Brian and Tina went to our church and are just an all around awesome couple. Brian is especially known for initiating all of the "ultimate challenges" that would end our bible study group time, and were usually things like getting dared to eat a worm/rotten egg/or a spoonful of salt (YUCK!!)

Anyways, the party was a fun time - but also a very tiring time for husband and I because we were on the constant lookout for our kiddos with the river being so close to the house. We're excited for the days ahead where the boys are more self dependent and less needy of us during outings like this one. We still love them in their dependency, though!

Well, enjoy the pics, eh!

Baseball buddies
Muir cutting the HUGE cake!
Our little peanut holding hands with Trav, trying to play volleyball with the big kids!
Peanut trying out Chan as his playing partner
In the action!
Muir's boy Bryson, and our Big Boy chillin
Big boy
The most beautiful sunset!

Star gazing & midnight rude-awakenings

2008-10-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

The infamous "glowstick"

Well,
The other night when we celebrated my hubby's 34th birthday - the boys ended up with some pretty sweet gifts from Grandma laurie and Papa. They are these crazy little light sticks that have brought endless hours of enjoyment and even mass hysteria when one is lost and we have to learn to "share" all over again :D (I'm talking about the kids! Of course husband and I share things no problem...)

Anyways, another thing the boys have been wanting to do more lately is star & moon gazing. Whenever we've been out for the night and we get home after it gets dark we always have to go out and find the moon and the stars. On the night of husband's birthday, the guys thought it would be so much fun to test out their new glow sticks AND look for the moon/stars at the same time!! Needless to say, we agreed, but only after bundling up with like 7 layer of clothing/hats, extra socks, etc because we've all but lost our warm summer nights.

On another note, our Big Boy has started a weird new phase of toddlerhood that has driven husband and I bonkers the last week or so. First off, he screams bloody-murder when we put him to bed, saying things like "you forgot to take my toothbrush" or "leave the light on in the hall" or "I need a band aid"...So, once he's finally worn out all possibilities of going to bed - and falls asleep, we are then startled awake by the noisy clanging coming from the living room, anytime between the hours of 3 -6 am. This morning was quite classic, in that he decided to come downstairs around 6-ish, husband and I are in a zombie-like trance from many nights of inconsistent sleep.

So, I was taking the "preventative watch" of checking on our Big Boy every so often to make sure he was staying out of trouble while we tried to catch a few more winks... Well, as I walked out into the living room, one eye open the other glued shut I scanned the room for our little morning glory. It wasn't until the flashing of a shiny object channeled my direction to my youngster, and as I walked closer to my proud little guy, I had found what he had gotten himself into... The day before our children's paster had given both boys a sheet of shiny, metallic stickers. I was hoping to use these as incentive for Big Boy's potty chart, but he had another plan in mind all together! He had emptied the sheet of about 25 stickers, and had what looked like a protective coat of armor on his entire right arm :D Let's just say he wasn't having as much of a good time when we had to peel them off of his tender, baby soft skin :D

Our star gazing boys
what we see a lot more of these days...Peanut trying to fight back!
Chillin with my birthday boy and all our layers of warmth!
Our sticker arm model - such a lovely pose don't you think? He did the hand holding thing all by himself! We're thinking of entering him into some contests....

Happy Birthday Babe!

2008-10-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

That's right, husband is a whoppin' 34 yrs old today! So, in honor of my sweet man, I thought I'd take you all down memory lane...Happy Birthday Babe! I love you more!!
Cutie Pie - at about 1 yrs old
Looks just like someone else I know...
I guess he was always a ladies man :D
Stoic football poise
The baseball buddies
Paragliding in Venezuela (I took this pic! This was before our dating days)
Wedding day with friends Oscar and his wife Auda
Proud Papa

13.1 miles = sore legs, & fun memories!

2008-10-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Well, today ended my 4 months of training for the "City of Trees" 1/2 marathon adventure. Man, I am SO GLAD it is over!! It's just one of those things that excites you a little bit because you can't believe you're crazy enough to do it (twice-I'm a glutton for punishment!) But mainly you know it's going to hurt and be the longest couple of hours of your life. Well, needless to say, it was a great day, the weather held out for us - and I had way more friends doing it this time than last year, and that makes it all the more fun! My brother Scott decided to kick some butt a little bit earlier in the race this time around, ditching me and my old college room mate Lys at around mile 3... Needless to say, he shaved 16 minutes off of his race time from last year! And he just had knee surgery earlier this year. Pretty amazing.

Yup, as for me - well, I was in no big hurry to beat my time from last year, but I did shave off 6 minutes, so that was pretty cool. I'm thinking that maybe a little knee surgery might improve my odds if I'm ever crazy enough to do this again! I will say, though, that seeing my awesome hubby, and 2 adorable boys cheering me on every few miles was the highlight of my race. They are so amazingly supportive, I don't know how I lucked out! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we did have quite the entourage of fans (3 cars to be exact!) between my parents, my hubby, and my SIL - we were definitely the spoiled runners of the bunch. Thanks guys!

My speedy brother and the amazing landscape we got to view as we ran
Lys and I cruising down the sidewalk (she is a stud!)
My faithful, and absolutely adorable fans!
Closeups
Getting the munchies :D

See this movie!

2008-10-04T20:43:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

Ok, ok... So it's been awhile since I've checked in with you all - but sometimes the necessities of life come a calling and well, that is just my excuse! So here's the deal; tonight, husband and I, along with most of our "home group" of church friends decided to do a date night of sorts - kid free. After scarfing down Costa Vida's amazing sweet pork salad, husband and I and everyone else with their full tummies headed over to the Majestic to see the movie "Fire Proof."

I would love to tell you that the only reason I went was because Kirk Cameron from "Growing Pains" was starring in it, and I still had a crush from 6th grade on that guy - but I would probably only be telling you 90% truth there :D We all decided to go because we heard it was a compelling movie dealing with marriage. And from what I have learned in all of my almost 7 years of marriage, is that you can never get too much good advice, or wise counsel to make your marriage better. But even more than that, marriage is a huge commitment between oftentimes 2 very different people - which struggle to make the time necessary to invest what they should to make a marriage successful.

I'm not going to say that this movie competes with the "big time" movies out there with unlimited budgets to spend on outrageous cinematogrophy, but I will say that this movie was compelling to both husband and I and our group of friends in that it spoke truth in ways we don't see or hear anymore in society. And, to see a packed house was also very cool. I think my 9$ movie ticket (gulp!) was very well spent tonight in that I invested that much more in my marriage.

So - all that to say - I am challenging you to go see this movie. Invest a little in your spouse, your loved one, yourself... And in a way, you are standing up for better movies with good messages in the years to come by showing your support for a good flick!

That's all for tonight ya'll, I've got to mentally prepare for my 13.1 mile race in the morning (yikes!). More soon...

Now these three remain:
faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love
1 Corinthians 13:13

For every season...

2008-09-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll (can't you hear my impeccable Idaho accent?)

Sorry it's been so long. I've been cheating you all out of really nothing too special - except today when we got a bunch of ladies together to celebrate Scott and Korri getting their kiddos! Nothing like some good food, good friends, and a really good reason to celebrate! And I do, in this season of joy for Korri and Scott, celebrate their new roles as "mom" and "dad". Love it.

Here are a few party shots:

In other news - I have in turn started a new season of trying to get better wellness wise, and after consulting with a dietition, I am on a trial "gluton-free" diet. I never knew that gluten could be such a bugger of a thing until I went off of it and realized what I was missing (in that gluton is in just about everything!) But, I must say, has made SUCH a difference in just a week. I am getting some lab work done this next week to tell me for sure, so that should be interesting.

I have figured, that if this is to become a new lifestyle for me - which in turn affects how I then cook for my family - I am really ok with that change. If it makes me feel better as a whole, affecting then how I can be functioning 100% better as mom, wife and friend - Um - yes, I'm ok with it.

"What is gluton," you ask? Well, I got super ambitious for this post and looked up the definition for you (mainly because I didn't exactly know myself!) Here it is: "Gluten is a special type of protein that is commonly found in rye, wheat, and barley. Therefore, it is found in most types of cereals and in many types of bread." All I can say is "BUMMER" cause I really like bread!
But we'll see - it's not over yet - not until test results come back....I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, hide the bread if I come over for dinner :)

A great day

2008-09-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, do I have an exciting story for you! Today could be considered a "historic", maybe even "monumental" day in my life. An unexpected surprise developed just a little while ago when I was out-and-about, kid-free for the day (thanks mom!). I decided to pop my head into one of my friend's clothing consignment stores, called "Again". I have been doing some design work for her, so she graciously "padded" my account with some additional spending money - so I was thinkin it was time to go find something cute, because money doesn't seem to stick with me very long!

So, I'm browsing - taking my time, enjoying the solitude of no interruptions while shopping....it was a good feeling! I checked out the $3 bargain rack, and found a few things starting from the back of the stack (where they keep the larger items :D) and moving my way forward...All the while thinking somewhat negative thoughts, like "should I even go there?" You know, when you pick something out to try on all the while knowing that it is a size too small - but it definitely looks like it will fit? I do this WAY too often! It was in that moment of irrational thinking that I saw it. A really cute pair of khakis from Abercrombie that were, "what?" Size 2?? I was seriously out of my mind. Not only is that on the completely opposite size of the spectrum of where I usually shop, size wise, but com' on! They just looked like a possibility, and I was feeling a bit spicy at the moment...

So, eventually I made it to the dressing room, and definitely went for the "size 2" first - because I figured I'd get it out of the way, and maybe everything else would seem even better in comparison. So, I slipped on the first pant leg - and normally my leg would get stuck about mid-thigh, but I found that I was able to pull the whole pant leg on.........Then the other pant leg was on, and before I could shout out a "sweet Jesus-thank you Lord" I was buttoning the front and definitely wearing a size 2!! What the...Those Abercrombie people are either messing with me, or maybe I got a factory reject, but I was pretty happy with the whole thing!

So I bought them.

$3 never looked so good! I think that may have made my whole year - and has made my 1/2 marathon training seem a little more worth it :D So, what blog post would be worth anything without a picture of my accomplishment? So here they are...

And after words, I went into another cute little boutique store called "Beau Monde" where I found a fabulous pair of soft soled shoes for my little peanut-and they were on sale for $10 - and the cutest little boots I've ever seen! Since his feet are rather round and chubby I have found it hard to find shoes that fit very good, but the soft-soled shoes have always been a success!

I also was checking out my good friend Melissa's blog-and totally felt a connection to a cause she is contributing to over in Ethiopa - so you can check that out here
The September Campaign Trailer - www.borninseptember.org from charity: water on Vimeo.

And way to go Melis for posting about your passions, and raising awareness on such important issues in our world. She is one of my hero's when it comes to following one's passions (as she does so well with her creative ability), AND she's such a great friend from college that is one of those people we could go months w/o talking and be caught right back up. I love inspiring, fun-loving people!!

Ok - I'm off to go fold laundry! Peace out!!

The zoo, a party & art in the park...Oh my!

2008-09-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, how's that for a title, eh? Came up with that one all by myself :) So, today could be the day of all days, in which we (the Kinney Clan) tried to cram as much stuff into one day as humanly possible! Here's a quick rundown...

8:30 - awoke, and headed out the door to the Original Pancake House for some belly-busting breakfast

9:30 - were wheeled out of the Original Pancake House because of how many pancakes we consumed, & then decided to head on over to the Boise Zoo...

10:15 - Get to the Zoo area, and can't figure out why there are so many people around? What is going on??? Is there some awesome, totally new exhibit at the zoo, causing mass hysteria to come from swarms of people in every direction??? Nope, it's just the same weekend as "Art in the park" in the park right next to the zoo - I have never seen so many people! (Talk about good people watching!!)

12:00 - After wandering aimlessly through "Art in the park" we decide that we can no longer quiet Big Boy's questions of "where are the lions?" Or "where are the penguins?" (thanks Happy Feet!) So we head on over to the zoo for some quality animal time.

1:15 - Tummies growling, we leave the zoo, where I truly believe the boys would have rather moved in with the monkeys than ever leave because it was so much fun...But, alas, we left - and headed back into the mass hysteria of people and smell of Pronto Pups and popcorn to find a sunny spot in front of the ampitheater to eat our sack lunches and listen to a little blue grass band...

2:00 - Head home, put the boys down for a quick nap...

4:30 - Head out, grumpy boys in tow, and leave to go to Makena's 1st birthday party!

7:45 - Leave Makena's birthday party with two cake faced little boys, and a whole day full of memories!

WHEW!

I'm going to bed!
Just like "Happy Feet!"
Annual Zoo family portrait!
Fun Times!
Brotherly Love...
I love this one!
Birthday Girl!

Welcome Home Sid, Sophia, Scott & Korri!

2008-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, they arrived, all in one piece, after a full day of traveling! And I must say, that the kids are more beautiful than I could've ever expected them to be. And now, they are finally here - where their new parents, (surprisingly not looking too shabby after so much going on in one week!) I actually am a bit jealous of how Korri looked - she made it all look so easy, you know gaining two kiddos after one week of getting to know one another and then hopping on a plane 26 hrs in the air...And she looked absolutely radiant. So, my jealousy comes into play in that I am likening her experience to my 2 pregnancies and how I never in a million years looked that good after getting my kids! Let's just say "mommy-hood" looks pretty good on her :) Love ya Korri!

Scott on the otherhand was a prime example of why women have kids...He didn't quite have the "glow" going on, but he did look good wearing his new set of "daddy-pants" (you know, when the man is supposed to wear the pants...now he's a dad...) Ok, if you didn't get that, call me later and I'll pretend that we're still friends :)

So, after much awaited anticipation, I am proud to introduce to you all my new nephew and niece, Sid and Sophia. Welcome home you guys!

In the elevator on the way up to meet the new fam!
New mommy Korri and precious Sophia
Another glance
Sid the "spark plug" Hogan...Let's just say it was hard to get a picture of him that wasn't blurry because of his amazing energy!
He is pretty cute, though, wouldn't ya say?
Sid and "daddy-pants"
Walking out to the car and into their new lives together!

In the air & coming home!

2008-09-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

So, today at 1:30-ish, Korri, Scott, and their two kids will be headed on the long ride home (about 26 hours!) getting in tomorrow around 5:00 pm. We are SO EXCITED!! So, hopefully more news and pictures to follow...

Ok, so I'm not one to do much with having music videos on our blog, but this one is pretty dang funny! Hopefully you'll get a good belly laugh with this one! All in the name of Jesus - (he's got a sense of humor too, ya know?)

Jesus is my friend by "Sonseed" from Peleg Top on Vimeo.

1st day of school!

2008-09-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am still in shock that our Big boy had his first day of pre-school today! Everything just felt so weird - one little peanut to take care of, a much quieter house to come home to for 2 1/2 hrs, and having to worry about things like remembering to bring snacks... I feel really OLD today! Our little peanut was pretty distraught at having to wait another year before his pre-school days start, he wanted to go with big brother and learn a bunch of new things.

I must say, though, that Big boy's whole year of pre-school learning has really been a huge blessing for us. First off, we have one of the best teachers any parent could ask for teaching our little guy; Mrs. Blair. She is one of those women figures in your life that you want to be when you grow up! She has successfully raised 4 kids, all of them love the Lord, and have distinct futures grounded firm in faith. She just has such a neat family, and we love that our boys get to be involved with such wonderful adult mentor-figures!

Secondly, another reason why pre-school with Mrs. Blair has been such a blessing, is that she is one to trade services. SO, I was able to trade creating wedding invites, thank you's, and favors for Mrs. Blair's 2 kids that got married this summer for Big boy's whole year of pre-school! So, for those of you keeping up with our rocky financial year - you can totally understand how a new $120 a month payment being traded away-so that he goes essentially to school for free is HUGE!! Praise the Lord for trading one another's gifting. I am such a huge believer :)

Anyways, we just got back from a 4 day weekend in McCall - where you just feel cleaner because everything seems so clean and fresh up there! We were able to help out on my parent's cabin remodel by helping with their kitchen cabinets and tile (pics to come!). And we got in a little relaxin, a little hot-tubbin, and of course some huge helpings of ice cream from Ice-Cream Alley! Yum!!

Ethiopia Update*-Korri and Scott now have more and more time spent with their kids, and it sounds like things are going awesome! Keep praying, though, as tomorrow they will have their kids full time - and then especially for the 26 hr flight home on Thursday/Friday with Sid and Sophia. Yeah!! So exciting.

Well, I'm off to do something productive now that the boys are napping....not really sure where to start!
Big boy is so excited to get to school!!
Big boy at the front door of Mrs. Blair's house ready for school! *Sob* He's so big!
Teacher Mrs. Blair helping Big boy put his school supplies away...
1st day of school pic-classic!!
Picture of my guys up at the cabin vegging in front of the tube :)

Ethiopia Bound!

2008-08-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks! Today is a very exciting day! Today has been quite a few years in the making (around 4 to be exact). At 10:30 this morning, my SIL and BIL both left good old Idaho to head around the globe to Ethiopia. 32 hrs of travel time, anticipation, excitement...Let's just say, there's a lot of emotion involved with this day, and the proceeding week ahead. About 4 years ago, Korri and I both found out we were pregnant about a week apart. Talk about timing!! Unbenounst to both of us, we were on the journey of pregnancy, until a miscarriage claimed Korri & Scott's little one. This is where I get to sing the Lord's praises today, because these past 4 years have been filled with A LOT of heartache, joys, sorrows, and hopes that never seemed to pan out quite like we all wanted them to for Korri and Scott.

Until now.

As this amazing couple travels on an epic journey to worlds unknown to go and meet for the first time their 2 children, and then take them home - wow - God is so GOOD! Brother "Sid" and sister "Sophia" will be home, to their new home of Idaho in about a week. So here's the crazy, cool, totally God part. The oldest, "Sid", is a week younger than our Big boy. God knew all along, didn't He? He knew that when Korri and Scott miscarried that he was planting a miracle seed of a baby in another women's womb that would one day make his way into their hearts and home. Praise God for His faithfulness!! I am so emotional writing this to you all right now, because I am truly feeling like my faith has not been as big as it should have been through this whole journey with this precious couple. Hindsight - sigh - need I say more? Anyways, as you have spare thought time this week, if you could maybe talk a little bit to your creator about this couple as they head into parenthood with as best of a roadmap as they could find, but truly needing God's guidance and grace as they welcome these 2 kids home? HHHHMMMMmmm.... What a day today truly is.

A call for prayer

2008-08-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

So, I just received a call - a call that breaks your heart, because you know the family involved is hurting beyond anything you can comprehend, and all that you know how to do is pray. I mentioned this family in a previous post, and you can read about them here. This family has shown so much grace in their dire situation, that I stand amazed at their reflection and radiance of what I would consider one of the worst family situations. Carmen was diagnosed almost 2 years ago with pancreatic cancer, and since has been in the fight of her life for complete healing. She's the kind of woman you wish to be someday, because her personality is magnetic, her laughter infectious, and her heart holy. She lost her father to the same cancer only years before.

"For dust you are and to dust you will return..." -Gen 3:19. None of us are guaranteed a long life here on this earth, and we are all just formed out of dust - but I can't help but stand here asking "why?" Why must this 40 yr old wife, mother of 3 small kids be struggling for life this day, bound to a hospital bed - now fighting pneumonia? I ask, boldly, that if you feel an inkling of compassion for this family, to lift them up in prayer this day. We, as the body of Christ, have a strong and powerful weapon within our grasp - and God never tires of our asking. So, I am asking what some might think is too impossible given Carmen's situation, I am asking God to heal her of this cancer, pneumonia, and restore to her health, joy, and rest.

Birthday Weekend

2008-08-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend is over and I'm ready to RELAX!! Do you ever feel like family festivities just leave you feeling worn out after words? I love it, don't get me wrong, but I am one to stress at every little detail - making sure everything is as I would want it. This only happens when I am hosting such an event at our house. So, this last weekend was chock full of celebration over our youngest little guy and his 2nd birthday! And, if you know the Kinney-way of celebrating a birthday, you would know that we spent the majority of his actual birth-day eating good food :)

So we left the house to go to the family favorite breakfast spot "The Original Pancake House" and on our way out of the subdivision we spotted a hot air balloon. This is the lowest I've ever seen one, and it cruised right over our subdivision! We knew it was surely a Happy Birthday Balloon for our little Peanut! After our marvelous breakfast, we decided we should venture over to the fair grounds for the annual summer fair that was taking place. The boys had never been, so we thought "why not?" The boys (all 3 of them) loved seeing the animals, both small and large. It has been a few years since I have been back to the fair, so I had forgotten all of the sights, sounds, and smells that come with it. Back in the day, when the fair was my very own stomping grounds, I was more interested in getting tickets and standing in line sweating out the heat for my favorite ride. But you never forget the only street running down the middle of the grounds, designated just for "fair food". I think it has quadrupled since I've been back, because we literally walked up and down that long street 5 times trying to decide on something to eat, and ended up with the good old stand-by of a Pronto-Pup and Strawberry Lemonade.....mmmmm!

The next day was the family Birthday Party for our little guy-and we had a blast! I love having everyone together in one giant chaotic gathering, full of good conversation and food. My birthday caked attempt this year was a "Cookie Monster" cake, because our little peanut is just that - and because I saw one at Albertson's that looked really cute and seemed semi-easy to do. Well, 50 lbs of frosting later, I was wondering "what was I thinking?" as I ended up with a more Bob Marley looking Cookie Monster cake....Oh well! Anyways, all in all it was a fun weekend, and hope you enjoy all the pics!
Our little Peanut
The Happy Birthday balloon over one of the houses in our subdivision
Over one of our ponds
Eating cake, mmmmmm.
Stuffing cake in his little mouth, atta' boy!
My lovely photo-op with the "Cookie Monster/Bob Marley" cake....
The boys on the big tractors at the fair
Having fun playin!
Big Boy's first car
Just like the pig on Charlotte's web!
Goats!
Horses!
Crazy Horns!

2nd Annual Roaring Springs Party

2008-08-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked year #2 of us venturing over to the world's largest and most crazy waterpark ever! (well, maybe not world's largest!)

We have made this sort of a tradition with the Tindall's since Little Peanut and Anna have the same birthday.

We seem to have more and more fun every year with the boy's getting older and more capable of swimming/playing independently - but we're still having to have a cautious eye on the two rascals :) So - enjoy the pics!

Birthday kids!
A glimpse of the craziness during dinner
Little Peanut and Wende
The Boys going down the slide
Mr. Peanut
Big Boy
Mmmmm Gatorade!
Josh and I comparing shades - I think mine are way cooler!

Extreme Makeover - Peru Edition

2008-08-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a crazy/fun/HOT week last week was! I'm trying to get over "the crud" so excuse my coughing! Anyways, husband and I had the opportunity to work on a fun project this last week for the organization "Extreme Nazarene". This is the same organization that we went to Argentina with this last year. So, they recruited husband and I, Travis and Wende, Debbie, and even my Sister-in-Law Korri to come out and work on outfitting a HUGE semi trailer for their marketing this next year for their new project in Peru.

So, the best way to describe what we did was basically to have you watch any episode of "Extreme Makeover" and there you have it-that is what we did in a nutshell, only it was inside of a semi trailer. Basically, some guy donated the use of his big-rig for the next year for Extreme to use as their way to market their next big event in Peru. So they will travel across country stopping at churches along the way, and when they pull up to your church, they'll open up the back of the trailer and from their you enter into another world; Peru. The guy donating the use of his truck is paying for gas and everything! (which is about $1 a mile!) So our job was to outfit the trailer to give onlookers the experience of feeling like they were standing in different parts of peru. So husband and Travis were in charge of framing and some electrical stuff, and the ladies were in charge of the rest. Brian Tibbs, who is in charge of Extreme, took 4 massively cool pictures of 4 different sides of Peru which he then had turned into murals that were basically 3 panels of wallpaper that we glued to the walls-and wall-la you feel like you're standing in Peru. It was pretty amazing to see how God pulled the whole thing together! We had 1 week to finish the truck, which meant paint, glue, decorate, all of these had to come together in about 5 days. And, it is about 90 degrees on average every day here, now, and did I happen to mention that the semi is painted black? I soon began to refer to the truck as the "black beast" because it was at least 10 degrees hotter inside than it was outside. So anyways, the truck leaves tomorrow for it's maiden voyage to Seattle where it's journey begins to spread the good news.

So, if you happen to see the "black beast" entering into your town, I encourage you to stop by and take a tour-it is pretty cool the work that they are going to be doing over in Peru. And who knows, maybe you'll want to get involved somehow?

The "Black Beast"
Korri working hard the first day, which consisted of us mainly painting for 6 hours! Yikes!!
Debbie posing next to her "floating village" mural. Apparently up to 5,000 people can live on these floating villages made up of reeds tied tightly together!
Debbie and her finished "hut"-which is going to hide the AC unit nicely!
The poverty side of Peru (this was part of my room)
This is me laying pavers in the "rich side" of Peru (also in my room)...Don't look too close, I'm pretty sure I have sweat stains on my shirt!
Husband putting up a fake corrugated metal roof in my room
an old motor bike we found on craigslist for the "brothel" room
Our little Peanut :) I had to throw this picture in!

Fruit Basket Upset

2008-08-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ok people, I totally hated that game in my earlier days of being a teen and attending youth group festivities. So today, as I'm trying to unwind my thoughts from the tightly wound ball that they are, I suddenly put it all together; fruit basket upset. Think about it... Most people like fruit, and then most people like looking at fruit if it's displayed nicely in a cute little basket. Wait for it. Keep waiting for it...... Ok, now, someone who obviously doesn't like fruit at all just decided to take that cute little basket and throw it all over the place - making homemade strawberry jam on the kitchen floor. So, you may be seriously scratching your head on this one, and I totally understand! My point, (yes, I have a point) is that my life this week is totally upside down, and I'm realizing that more than my kids, I can really use some routine! Isn't that funny? Because mom is the maker of the routine, so if she's off of it, everyone's off of it. Things are getting better even as I type - Husband has made a HUGE pot of coffee, boys are in bed, we have yet another Redbox movie to watch, and I'm working up the endurance to try to get some wedding favors finished just in time for our friend's wedding this weekend. Oh, and we have been working on another Extreme Nazarene project this week (which is one of the upsets in my schedule) so more to come on the progress and what it is that we are working on exactly. So - if you're reading this, and you're feeling a little sympathy pain for me I have just one note of advice to give... Stay away from the fruit basket, because you might get hit by a flying banana :)

I do on the other hand LOVE coffee, so - just in case you ever wanted to know how I like my cup o' joe - white baby! Oh yeah, heavy on the cream and the sweet stuff :)

A lot on my mind...

2008-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Just a forewarning: This post is a little bit of me with a splash of some real-life transparency, and not the normal light-heartedness that is flowing in most of my posts. So, if you're not in the mood to read something other than the normal I understand! Ok, with that said, here it goes...
Well, normally I feel pretty excited to share with you some new photos - a cool story - something. But I have been dreading this moment, in a way, because it is making me share something with you that I feel I am just now getting over! This past weekend, we were invited to a bbq at some friend's house. They had the coolest backyard any kid would die for; in ground pool, huge play set, in ground trampoline - they had it all! So, of course the biggest attraction for our boys was indeed the pool, since they are practically fish babies we decided that swimming was going to be a must at this shindig. There were about 8 other couples there with little ones, so it was definitely a full house! Great food, great conversations, great setting - it really was all pretty great, until our little peanut fell into the pool - without anyone noticing. I was standing right at the edge of the pool, talking with a friend - husband was on a different side of the pool talking with the "guy group", and all of the sudden I see one of the other mom's running toward the edge of the pool - softball sliding on the ground, throwing her hands in the water, and next thing I know (I keep seeing this in slow motion in my mind ALOT!) she is pulling my little peanut out of the water! Talk about tramatization!! Probably more damage was done to my mind than our little one's mind/body, because he was fine - a little shaken up, but praise the Lord he was fine. What blows my mind, is how quickly something like that happens, and in an instant your life changes. You become more precautious, maybe even more protective, and for me I became fearful. For a good few days after words I couldn't stop playing the tape over and over in my mind - and thinking of how I messed up as a mom! I wasn't there for our little guy, and he could have drown in that lovely pool that day. This is one of 2 incidents in the Kinney Clan history with our boys that has confirmed in my heart that God has MANY guardian angels surrounding these little ones because he has something big planned for them! But, you know, hard as that experience was for all of us - it really brought back to my mind the simple phrase from a Beth Moore "Breaking Free" study I just did that asks the question; "is freedom in Christ a reality in your life?" I had finished the Bible study course, I had answered honestly all of the answers, but in an instant because of a accidental circumstance, I was dragged back into the pit of fear- where the only way out was the freeing truth that only Christ can give. Being out of control, especially when it comes to your kids is a scary feeling. Being out of control with your emotions can sometimes be even scarier! I really think husband was beside himself at knowing what to do with such a blubbering wife for a couple of days. But, through the fog I saw my savior. He was just standing there, ready to hold me and tell me that he has already been there, done that, and that he has already conquered the world - so why worry, or fret? So, in closing to this novel of a post, I am confident in saying that I have learned a few key things the past few days. (a) Never leave your eyes off of your child while at a pool party... (b) get our boys some swimming lessons asap! (c) allow Christ to use our hard experiences to help mold us into healthier, happier, more effective people living lives of abandonment to Him. I hope that someone found this post and has been able to apply it to their lives in some meaningful way! Otherwise, it felt really good to get that off of my chest :)

Rainy Day

2008-07-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

So today was one of those days where you truly get a glimpse of the awesome force of God's hand. At 3:00 am I was snapped out of my usual crazy dream-like state, where I'm pretty sure I was at the grocery store and all of the sudden Julia Roberts showed up as my best friend (only in dreams!). Anyways, that's when round 1 of the thunder and lightening show started. I used to love the summer thunderstorms growing up - and there is still a mysteriousness .about them that makes my heart race a little...(maybe I'm just scared out of my mind that I might get electricuted, with permanent hair damage :) So after about 3-4 rounds of the thunder/lightening show I drifted back off to sleep. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of what soon followed as the "storm of all storms". Yes, it was so magnificent that I had to surround it with quotes. So, no kidding, when it started raining around 11:00 am today - I thought our house may just float away! A part of me wanted to just run outside and let the rain pour down on me - they always make that look so cool in movies :) But as I just looked out the window with my boys and stared at the rain, I thought about God's blessing and how much He wants to pour it out on us like the rain He had dumping out of the sky. I want that. I want to grab one of those huge theme park drink cups (with the extra long straw) and just say "keep the refills coming". How's that for rainy day philosophy? Not bad, eh? So, to go with the theme of "rainy days", I have a pretty good soup recipe for you to try sometime. As some of you know - I am a sucker for good soup recipes. So now you know what to make for dinner tomorrow night! This could be the best chicken tortilla soup I've had in a looong time! Let me know if you try it and what you rate it as!

torrential downpour!

Tortilla Soup Recipe
by Eddie Shipman
1 hour | 10 min prep
SERVES 8
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup celery
1 cup onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, diced or 1 fresh garlic clove, diced
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons corn oil
4 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 can black beans drained
1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes, diced (optional)
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel tomatoes & chilies, diced
1 (1.25-1 1/2 ounce) packet taco seasoning, I use McCormicks
8 corn tortillas (broken or cut into small pieces)
12 ounces chicken meat, poached, diced
1 cup milk
12 ounces monterey jack cheese or Mexican blend cheese, shredded
corn tortilla chips, broken into small pieces
Saute carrots, onions, celery in corn oil, garlic, salt and pepper until tender.
Add chicken broth and bring to boil.
Add tomatoes, Rotel, taco seasoning, and chicken.
Cut Tortillas into small pieces and add to broth mixture.
Let boil for 20 minutes or until tortillas are thoroughly incorporated into soup stirring
occasionally to keep from sticking. Reduce heat and add 8 oz. cheese. Simmer for
additional 10 minutes. Add milk and simmer for additional 10 minutes.
If thicker soup is desired, add more diced tortillas and let incorporate into soup.
Garnish with shredded cheese and broken tortilla chips.

Weekend Fun

2008-07-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so full of fun times, that I think this may be the most pictures I've posted EVER! I was a little camera happy - but don't you just love it when there are so many fun things to try to capture? I especially loved getting to capture the little cousins playing together. It just seems like they don't do that very often, and when they do get together they have already grown so much! We got to watch my little niece "Big Mak" this weekend while her parents got a much needed date night - and I just laughed and loved watching our boys with her. They seem to know to be more gentle and sweet to her than they are with each other. Saturday morning we went over to a friend's garage sale, where the boys instantly connected with two shiny red fire trucks that they had to have... Needless to say, that could have been the best $1 purchase I've ever made! And Saturday night, husband mentioned wanting to make s'mores on our newly aquired bbq pit from a house remodel job husband just finished....So, talk about cheap date night for the Kinneys, we "borrowed" some scrap lumber from a build-job next door for our camp fire; husband cut down some branches from our bamboo tree for our roasting sticks, and off we went! We tried to pretend we were out in the forest somewhere cool (literally!) and not in our 90+ degree backyard. Ahhh, I love summer!
Cousins!
Could our boys look any more "cheesy?"

Husband working hard making the s'more sticks
Yum!
Mr. Messy face!
Waiting for mom and dad...What a cuddle-bug!

Now Open - the Kinney Blog Cafe

2008-07-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,

So, some of you may have noticed a bit of changing around the Kinney Clan blog site lately, and well - we're done trying to stay out of the "public eye"... So, no more logging in to see what's new - whew! And, some name changes have happened, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure out who's who in this family :) Anyways, feel free to stop by anytime - leave a quick note - or sit back, drinking your $4 iced coffee (boy that sounds good right now!) and getting the scoop on our crazy/fun/memorable lives!

Here's a quick 5 second update:

-Husband is working like crazy, all the while trying out a new side business venture to keep us afloat...more to come on this!

-I'm still praying, trying to figure out which direction I'm supposed to be heading in my professional life, and so far nothing is getting more obvious out of my 9 different business ventures I have right now! Ok, maybe more like 2. But I'm feeling the need to "KISS"-aka, Keep It Simple Stupid (a term used in my design collage classes alot) and simplify things around this brain of mine before I lose a bolt and my whole head falls off :(

-The boys are growing like weeds, and Peanut has now begun the dreaded toddler "no to everything" stage in which his no's mean yes, but most of the time they mean NO, NO, NO!!! I'm not really sure why the Lord had to keep this stage of life in His planning of all creation - but I'm going with it, I don't really have a choice do I?

-And last but not least...I have decided to once again undergo self-inflicted punishment and start training for yet again another 1/2 marathon! My deadline is October 5th, the race is the City of Trees (same one I did last year) and yes, my brother is punishing me again by forcing me to run it with him...He likes to run really fast, and try to make me pass out before we even reach the first mile...anyways this is yet again another motivation to lose that darn weight that won't go away!

Happy Summer!

The weekend of the 4th

2008-07-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, after a weekend full of lots of excitement, adventure, and of course fireworks, I have finally started to sort out some pictures to share! Our normal tradition for the 4th is to go up to McCall with my folks, but this year we decided to stay home. We were invited to our very cool friends "the Chans" house for the 4th-which was a great time of good food, fellowship and fireworks! And we had the safety of knowing if any of the boys decided to try to blow anything up, we had "fireman Chan" right there at our aid! Earlier in the day we decided to take the boys to their very first big screen movie! It was so much fun :) They both looked so little in their seats, and peanut's seat actually kept folding up on him because it was twice the size of the little guy! I just can't get over how quick they are growing up! Anyways, sob, sob....Ok, I'm back. I also had the chance to hang out with two of my favorite people, Heidi, and Candice. These two ladies have been there for me so many times-and it is rare that we are all in the same town at the same time, because Heidi and her family now live and work in South Korea at a private school. It is so neat to see how God's hand works in each of our lives! Ok, that's it for now, but stay tuned for more fun with the Kinneys!
one of our lovely firework displays at the Chans
Heidi, Candice (and Nolan), and I at our get-together
The boys at their first big-screen venture! Wall-e was a definite hit :)

Stay tuned for your local weather...

2008-06-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday Farmer's MarketWe had a surprise visit from Grandpa Randy tonight, and the boys loved every minute of it!
Screen door kisses...what could be better?

All I can say is, man it's HOT outside! You know it's hot when you walk in from outside, and you feel like you've stepped into some sort of walk-in freezer because of the drastic difference in temp. I don't think I received grades in high school, or college for that matter, as high as it is hot outside. I think I'm being a little overly dramatic (I know you have just laughed out loud a little to yourself in thinking me dramatic...Ok, you BETTER have thought that a joke! Ok, so I can be a little at times...) Wow, anyways, I was able to test-run our "Eagle Farmer's Market" this saturday, and other than the heat, I had a blast! It was so cool to be able to display my Daisy K stuff in an environment that seemed very friendly and fun. The really neat part was being able to meet people within my community that were fellow believers-and approached me because they could tell by my stuff that I too was a believer! I got so much gratification from that in feeling like maybe the Lord was still in this thing! Josh was mr. amazing husband, in that he woke up early with me, helped me set up my stuff, watched the boys the whole morning, and was super supportive of my efforts. I think that I must be the luckiest girl in the world sometimes when I think of what the Lord has blessed me with, in terms of family. Also, with passions/desires with this new business, that He's allowing me to move forward with into this crazy/scary world. And lastly an amazing church family that has embraced our two kiddos (and Josh and I for that matter) and have made us feel a part of the body. God calls us to be "...his ambassadors to the end of the earth..." and oftentimes I wonder if I'm really living at my full potential in being His Ambassador. In everything I do-that my life is so consumed by HIM that all that people see when they see me is the love radiated from Him. It's such a fine balance of things, and I'm finding that most days I'm not so good at being an ambassador of Christ. But, even though we all have alot of "off days" in this life, doesn't mean that we can't have glorious, wonderful, brilliant, shining days in which we give and live our lives to the best of our abilities. Because all that God has promised us is Today, and all He asks for us is to trust Him in how to live our "Today" with the fullness of love that only He can give - and that carries into everything that we do. So, all that said (whew!), I feel like this weekend was a great reminder to me of what gratification we can have when we accomplish that fine balance of His love, and our willingness to be used by Him - and to just sit back and soak up the sunshine!

A Fabulous Friday

2008-06-13T16:15:00.001-07:00

Wow. What a difference a day can make! Beautiful sunshine, VBS is over, it's the weekend, and we have finally gotten out the "alligator pool!" So, in retrospect of my last post, I can honestly say the "manic-craziness" of yesterday has ceased, and all I really care about right now is to say- "Thanks God for giving me two beautiful boys, a wonderful husband who let's me stay home with our boys, a computer with wireless internet so that I can sit in my backyard as I write this post, and oh, thanks for whoever invented cheap plastic inflatable pools! Nothing like cheap entertainment for two wild and crazy guys! Enjoy your weekend!

Just another manic Thursday...

2008-06-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days, if not weeks where you feel like you're laughing one minute only to be close to tears the next? (just go with me on this!) Well, that is me in a nutshell this week. I am on week 3 now of not having my usual 4 hours on Tues morning where I drop the boys off with "grandma Sharon" from church. She decided she needed the summer off (I really can't blame her!) and so here I am-adjusting to non-stop mommy and 2 little boys all the time. So here are a few "highlights" of my week for you to laugh and cry at with me...

Tues-Have husband come home early so that I can go and get my hair cut and colored (happens every 5 months-so I was pretty excited). So I'm driving to the hair salon, and what do ya know, I'm early! I rare occurrence indeed, so I stop and get a peach ice tea for some added pampering. I get to the hair salon, sit down and start reading one of the new magazines next to me. I see Judy-my hair dresser, and say hi-she says she'll be right with me. Ok....I start to unwind, let the stress ooze out of my pores...Then I hear, "um, Kelli - I have you down for NEXT tues at 4?" Talk about all of that stress jumping back into my pores, with a little added humiliation, confusion, sadness, ect. I'm thinking "I have to wait one more week! I need a hair cut now!! Not to mention, I now have to tell Josh that he came home early for nothing, ect, ect, ect..." I was literally in tears when I got to my car like, "Is it friday yet?"

So that was just the beginning of what is ending up to be a chart-topper of crazy weeks at best.

Tues, Wed, and Fri I am helping out with the VBS at church, and that has actually been a great highlight for me, even though the boys are too little to be apart of it yet. You can just see the seeds being planted in these young precious hearts!

And last but not least, there is the new level of tantrums being thrown by my precious 3 yr old. Because of VBS this week, there was no regular Wed night activities, which are indeed a highlight of big boy's week. He loves to go to church, isn't that so cool? So when we had to stop by last night, to grab something, Big boy couldn't figure out why no one was there? So we got what we came for, and it was time to leave. Let's just say, I all but had to drag that little guy out the doors and into the car, while he screamed and suddenly became mr. stiff-leggs and arms!

I guess I should look on the bright side: at least he was wanting to stay at church, and not vice-versus! Praise God for capturing his young heart!

That's all from this frizzy-haired momma!

Fun Times...

2008-06-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

So, I found a few more Kauai pics that I wanted to share, and I had fun taking some "sippy-cup conversation" pictures of Big boy and peanut today. I still can't get over how big they are both getting. *sigh* Well, that's about it for me tonight! Tomorrow starts another day of whirlwind activity :)
Our little "frequent fliers"
"sippy-cup conversations" caught on camera!
This picture just makes me relax! I wanted to share a Kauai sunset with all of you who have never been, or are going soon, or just like sipping pina coladas and watching the sunset with that special someone while listening to the waves, or Kenny G, or whatever floats your boat... Ok, sorry for the cheesiness! I couldn't resist...

Back from paradise!

2008-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Well, we're officially back from vacation! We had a great time relaxing in the sun, swimming with the boys (yes they both swim now!) and hanging out with my fam. The boys did awesome on the plane ride there and back - praise the Lord!! I can't tell you how stressed I was on not knowing what our travel days were going to be like with those two unpredictable guys :) Well, on to what I know you're most interested in...The pictures! Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Our two rascals at the train station at one of the plantations there in Kauai.
husband, peanut, & big mak chillin on the beach
A picture of our favorite little "cove" on Poi Pu beach - it was perfect for the kids because of how shallow it was.
The boys playing at the cove
Our little "suderman" as Big boy would say...And because of this cute little swim outfit that had floatation devices inside, our little Big boy was definitely swimming on his own by the end of the trip! I got so choked up watching him, because he is still my little baby boy-but growing up so fast!
A glimpse at one of the nearby beaches...
The perfect cozy spot for falling asleep in the sun...
And as most of you know, no vacation had by the Kinneys would be complete without a food posting. This is a pic of a "puka dog" one of the islands specialties... It may not look like much to you, but to those who've had the opportunity to sink their teeth into one of these tasty treats, they know how yummy they are! Definition of a "puka dog": aka-hot dog yummy goodness; a long juicy hotdog placed in a hawaiian sweet bread bun filled with your choice of condiment like; coconut sauce, mango sauce, pineapple sauce, hawaiian hot mustard, ect.... I think I could go back for one of those any day of the week!

I will try to post some family pictures once I get some copies of them from my family! Mahalo!

Beth Moore Hits Boise!

2008-05-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend was our Living Proof Live Event with none other than Beth Moore, and Travis Cottrell (who looks like Travis Tindall!) and his praise team. WOW. That's pretty much all I can say! She is so anointed by the Lord that you just want some of her vapor to land on you so that you might feel a little of that freedom she has. It's so cool when the Lord puts events together in our lives that reflect our current situations, struggles, triumphs... And then winds it all together like an orchestra would with the slow beginning which is quiet and peaceful. Then moving into a crescendo of our daily lives, ebbing and flowing together in the craziness of it all. Then to take us down from the mountain top with Him leading us as we begin to take in our surroundings-realizing that this world is a beautiful place, and that even though we are a temporary part of this world, we help to make the beauty that encompasses Christ that which other people see everyday. I just feel like the Lord is beginning to take the blindfold of my past insecurities, doubts, and fears off of my eyes so that I can begin to see the woman that He has always seen in me. Believe me, though, it is a daily reminder to myself to become filled up with Him first, and then go about my day - because I'm beginning to realize that without Him first to fill me up, I am nothing but an empty vessel waiting to be filled by the craziness of this world and all it has to offer. The other cool thing about the Lord, is that when we begin to get glimpses of His sovereignty and power worked out in our everyday lives, we begin to care differently for people who have not yet discovered the power of His grace. And compassion begins to fill our hearts, and also an urgency to reach out to those people in seeing that they are right where you were just a moment ago. The main message of Beth Moore this weekend to me was discovering God's gift for me and beginning to use it-instead of wasting this life, waiting for my A-HA moments to come on wings of flying pigs.... Why not just go, every new morning and take each day with the power that rose God's son from the dead? That same power that made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the ugly to feel beautiful again? We can have access to that same power everyday if only we ask, seek, and find it through Him. I challenge you to seek all that He has for you today. And because I just think this is so cool, here is a link to Beth Moore's blog with a video clip of our weekend. Just copy and past it into your browser and away you go! Enjoy...

http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/2008/05/lpl-boise-recap.html

Happy Birthday Baby!

2008-05-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our Big boy's 3rd birthday. I can't believe he is getting SO OLD!! So, for the last few weeks, without really talking about his upcoming birthday, he started telling me about this "blue happy birthday cake" that he wanted. "With airplanes" he would often add. "Oh, and happy birthday presents!" Somehow, a little bird started to whisper these things in his ear, and soon all I would hear about was this "blue happy birthday cake with airplanes" that he wanted. NO PRESSURE!! Up until now, I could rest assured that our boys wouldn't have a clue what day it was on their birthday, therefore no pressure on having to come up with some fabulous cake to meet a 3yr old's expectations :) Okay, so I didn't stress out too awful much about it...So yesturday, as I'm beginning to feel the deadline of our 5:30 party for our little guy, and it was 1:00-boys were down for their nap-I finally have some free time to think.....I found this cool little cake idea online , and thought to myself "hey I can do that!" Quite like people often say about Jackson Pollock's art pieces-"hey I can do that, with my eyes closed even!" And much like every single person who's ever said that about a very famous artist-I found myself frantically saying as that 5:30 deadline approached "WHAT WAS I THINKIN???" But, all that mattered in the end was that my special little boy had a blue birthday cake, with some odd resemblance of an airplane on it! You can be the judge and honestly tell me if you think that this cake looks like it has an airplane on top (BE HONEST!) Anyways, it was a fun day filled with good food, good family, and lots of love. Big boy loved getting birthday cards in the mail from his great grandma Buela, and great aunt Jeannette. I had painted up a car piggy bank at our local ceramic place and gave it to him yesturday (to go with the new "car" and "airplane" theme in his new big boy room-pictures coming soon!) and coincidentally enough, in great grandma Buela's card, she sent Big boy some quarters that made that sweet clanging sound in his empty bank. Needless to say, he immediately wanted the quarters back-and that is just a whole other story in itself!! Well, that's about it for now on my home front! Less than 2 weeks and we'll be in Kauai!! (Let's just say I had a very small piece of b-day cake last night! Got to fit into my ever shrinking swimsuit, right??)
The infamous blue airplane happy birthday cake!
Big boy couldn't take his eyes off of the silly thing!
Hang on one second grandma, I think I hear singing!!
Birthday candles...
Our once a year family portrait with at least one person not looking! My adorable niece big Mak, with her cute parents Scott & Corine

We Are Two Wild And Crazy Guys!

2008-05-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not exactly sure if I quoted that line correctly-but I know Steve Martin won't mind...So here are the pics I promised from Marie's graduation weekend. We have been having some awesome weather occasionally, and the pictures we took that particular day were set in warm weather. So-just to check in with you all, keeping myself accountable with-well, myself (ya know my whole DIET thing???) So far so good! We don't have a scale (for good reason!) so I'm having to estimate by just how I look-and how my clothes are fitting, but I think I may have shed a few lbs! Another week and a half to go before we're off to sunny Kauai, so I may have to stock up on some more veggies :) I bought some of those diet crazy cow (?) ice cream sandwiches the other day-as a reward for husband and I for eating better, and yup-he definitely asked me last night after he finished his sandwich if he could eat mine too! Tsk, tsk...So, hopefully we're not fighting over the last carrot by the end of this thing! Diets can do crazy things to normally sane people. Okay-that's it for now, I'm off to catch up on my sleep since my lovely almost 3 yr old decided to get up at 4:30 this morning......Oh happy day!
Big boy and his chocolate-stache
Peanut (minus the glasses-"why" you ask? Well, they don't fit so well when you try to tear them off of your face and then twist them in half...)
And last but not least, the kiddy posse-aka future couples-the Tindall girls and our two squirts (check out Big boy's face!)

Oh Happy Day! A day of new beginnings...

2008-05-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, over the course of the weekend and yesterday, there has been some new changes going on! So, I thought that I might just fill you all in on those dandy changes-or "new beginnings" because they always seem a little inspiring (at least to me!)

1. My sister-in-law, Marie has graduated from NNU, and her and my brother Shawn are now in the process of moving to Marysville, WA where they will become full-time washingtonians?? (just go with it :) Good luck you guys! Hope to see ya soon.

2. I have made it very apparent to myself, and to husband that we officially have less than 3 weeks before we head our white Idaho bodies over to the sunny beaches of Kauai. Problem is, I realized that I still have those 10 lbs I want to lose in order to feel decently appropriate in my string bikini--I mean full wet suit...Okay, I'm probably going to wear a tankini, but you catch my drift. I'm a little sheepish about my figure, and as of yesturday-I headed to the store, loaded up on lots and lots of veggies, fruits, and some more veggies and fruits. I even upped my exercise routine a bit to where I was doing walking lunges while pushing the boys on our walk yesterday (they kept looking back at me with worried looks on their faces like "mom, are you okay?") And I am okay! I actually feel great today-when every other diet I've done makes me feel drained and miserable, I actually feel good for a change hooray! I'll keep you posted on my very own "biggest looser challenge" (I'm afraid there will be NO pictures!)

3. My best friend Candice Blenker just called me this morning to tell me that she and her husband Shawn now have a 9 lb 2 oz baby boy named Nolan-Yeah!! We were all pulling for a boy-Congrats you guys! I can't wait to meet him.

Okay, that's it for now I'll post some pics soon...

Back From Vegas!

2008-05-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have officially "Left Las Vegas!" And now the wind down begins... So, to give you a brief run-down of our trip here is a quick review of our 5 days on the go:

Day one-

Feeling like we have packed our house in preparation for the show, we fill every last square inch of our car, and head down the road in the direction of Vegas. Aunt Korri is hanging out with the boys until husband's folks flew in that evening to watch them for the next few days (thanks Jerry and Judy!!)

In expectation of our long road trip, I made a special purchase at the store of a 4-disc, "Best of the 80's" music tribute. I was SO EXCITED because I got it for so cheap! That excitement wore off later that night when we started jamming to the music only to realize that I got the poor imitation version-not the real thing! It was one of those too-good-to-be-true moments, and believe me husban is never going to let me live that one down!

Day two-

5 1/2 hours to go, but my heart has been racing in excitement of the day. We arrived at the convention center to start a long day of unpacking our stuff. The hardest part of this day, for me, was the realization that I was in the midst of very talented artists-and at one point I became overwhelmed with comparing myself to them all, that I almost shut-down. I had to have husband stop and pray with me right then and there because I felt fear would overtake me. It's an overwhelming feeling to for the first time, put your "baby" on display for critique, criticism, and review. I experienced a little bit of that in college when we would critique our work, but this was real-life. Husband and I loved the fact that our hotel was 200 yards from the convention center-and a "smoke-free, casino-free" hotel. After about 6 hours of moving stuff in and setting up, we were off to find food, and a Home Depot!

Day three-

The show started at 10 everyday, which was great for allowing us to sleep-in, and have a casual breakfast. I can't remember the last time that I had a 8 hr night's rest with no little kiddos waking me up! I sure missed them though... We headed over to the convention hall hearts racing in anticipation for the "big day" that I had been preparing months for. Today was the first day that I got to get to know our fellow artist neighbors-and that was a bit of a culture-shock for me! Let's just say there were two sets of "alternate lifestyle choices" on either side of us-but they were all very nice. This was probably our busiest day. Tonight we went to a sushi place that husband said "was the best he's ever had..." I think he's finally been converted!

Day four-

A bit of a slow morning, but as the day progressed things picked up and we got another 2 orders today!! I'm pretty sure that the expected 3,000 buyers ended up being more like 1,000-so that has really effected how people are viewing the show-and how well it went. We are feeling like our products might do better at a "gift show" than at this particular type of show-and we've also had alot of other vendors asking why we haven't tried any retail shows.....So I'm thinking about trying out the Eagle Farmer's Market this summer! Tonight we walked down to the strip, went to PF Changs, and did one of our favorites-saw the fountains at the Bellagio, and went and checked out their atrium display (see pics).

Day five-

We are really beginning to miss our boys, and today is the slowest day yet-being the last day of the show. We wrapped everything up at 4-tore everything down by 5 and were out the door headed to our half-way mark in Salt Lake. Let's just say next time I think we'll be flying!!

Day six-

Get home to our two awesome boys! What a great trip of experience, newly found customers, and alone time spent with my wonderful husband. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers as we journeyed on this adventure! We are definitely letting it all "marinate" for a bit, but we feel encouraged by the response and connectivity with other artists, and buyers. Whew! Thanks again family members for supporting us in watching our 2 prized possessions (aka Big boy and Peanut). We love ya!
Our poor car filled with most of my possessions!
What we awoke to the 2nd morning-beautiful Utah!
Husband taking our picture on the road-while driving-he's a multitasker!
Husband fixing the lights on our booth-it's almost go-time on our first day!
The cheesy self-picture of me in our booth with my big-hair! Hey, you have to catch attention somehow, right?
A glimpse of the convention floor from the entrance-their were over 800 vendor/artist there!
This is Husband and I on our night on the town!
AAHHH...The fountains at Bellagio. I love this part!
One of the flower sculptures at the Bellagio Atrium display
On the road again...Our view of the mountains heading home.

1 week to go...

2008-04-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

I can totally relate to this picture right now! I feel like the penguin in the middle with all the little chick penguins running around causing the "adult" penguin to be stuck, unable to move-but in the middle none-the-less. In preparing for Vegas, the vast "unknown world" of retail, I have found that the past week has been a bit of a flurry of emotions. I am a little worried that I am going to live out in real life the dream we've all had, of showing up to an important event only wearing our underwear-while everyone else is decked out in tuxedos and prom dresses. I just hope that I don't show up to this tradeshow wearing only my underwear (hypothetically) while everyone else is decked out in their best (I'm hoping to pack more than just my underwear!). This process has been so humbling to me-and has made it quite a bit easier to chew when I think of it as being completely the Lord's doing and not my own. So, if I strike out-and come away from Vegas empty-handed, I'll know that this was not the direction for me. Wow-sorry to be getting so deep with this post! Today is going to be a spectacular day, though, I forgot to mention that my mom is watching the boys ALL DAY so that I can wrap stuff up with my projects (thanks mom!) Whew! Nothing like a little letting go in order to move forward, huh? Check back soon for more news from my "nest".

Snow, what?

2008-04-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sprouting tulips covered in snow...kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?Not only do their glasses make them look smart, they actually love reading! Future presidential hopefuls, right here folks!
A glimpse at what I try to start my day with-my new Bible Study from Beth Moore-she's amazing!

That's right folks, we woke up this morning first to our sweet Big boy at 6:15 showing us his "choo-choo train" (nothing like waking up to a face 2 inches from yours!), and then we saw that we had gotten a couple of inches during the night. That's Idaho weather for ya! One day you're wearing flip-flops, ready to soak up the sun, and then your digging your winter clothes back out of the closet for the 10th time :) So, I'm going to change it up today-being that it's been awhile since I've blogged-and am going to give you a 10 second Kinney Clan Update so that you can get a quick glimpse at our last couple of weeks....

Ready, set, count!

10...As of last Thursday, Cornerstone has closed on the first 6 townhome lots on the development in Nampa by NNU that they have been sitting on for 8 months-and hope to close on the next 8 this coming week! Praise the Lord for His goodness!!

9....I received an order from an unexpected source (a lady who owns 3 online maternity/pregnancy stores) for my Daisy K Design business-and needless to say, right when I started to worry about how I was going to pay the bills that were starting to pile up (with start-up costs, ect) God provided a solution!

8...I have never seen my husband more happy to go to work each morning, and feel like he's actually "working!"

7...Peanut and I have been apparently sharing germs these past few weeks, because between his constant runny nose, and my on again, off again sore throat we are quite the pair! Yuck!!! I hate being sick!!

6...We had Peanut's 19 month doctor's appointment yesturday-and one of the biggest discoveries of our big guy is that he has grown 4 inches in the last 6 months! He's in the 99th percentile for height right now, and I'm beginning to wonder who the mystery tall person, and far-sighted person is in our family that has recently caused speculation for why our boys have vision problems, and Josh and I don't; and then the height thing seems a little peculiar.....Who's kid is this? Our's of course :) We'll claim him any day of the week.

5...Husband and I leave for Vegas for the tradeshow in 2 weeks, and 1 day!

4...I seriously have a 3 foot mound of clean clothes that has taken over my side of the room-and has still chosen to NOT disappear...Does anyone know any good housecleaning/upkeeping elves that I could adopt?

3...I think we have a future drummer in our midst-as of the last month, Big boy has turned over every pot and pan that we own and used it for practicing his obvious inherent gift....We're pretty sure we have a prodigy among us :)

2...I have recently joined a new Bible Study group with some girls from Eagle Naz, and we're studying Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" it's about freedom from spiritual strongholds-and it has definitely after 2 weeks rocked my world. It is showing me that I do have many strongholds waiting to be broken and released in order for me to experience the abundant-filled life in Christ!

1...Drum roll please....We continue to give God the glory and praise for each new day, and for providing for us in everything we face. We are thankful for our trials, in that we are being refined to look, act, and be more like Christ in everything that we do.

Thanks for tuning in! Have a great rest of the week.