Nana's Visit

It's always so great when grandparents come to visit! Grandma Annie was here for almost 2 months before and after Belle was born and was a tremendous help to us. Unfortunately due to the craziness that was going on then we didn't get any group pictures (at least good enough for others to see)! :( So with Nana's visit I wanted to try harder to capture some moments of her visit.

Nana's visit was planned specifically to be here for Annabelle's baptism. It's my mom's influence along with her father's (my Grampie) that drives my faith so it was important to both of us that she be there for her baptism.

Belle's Baptism - May 29, 2011

She's probably going to kill me for posting this one but I couldn't help it! Here's Nana with the girls (& Duffy) watching morning cartoons. It was great not to be super busy that we were able to enjoy a few mornings like this while she was here!

The big trip the kids have had planned since December was taking Nana to Seaworld! Sean wasn't able to come because he had to work but it was a great day regardless! We saw and did a lot and actually got a decent group shot at the end of the day!

Seaworld - June 2, 2011

Our final outing was to Seaport Village. It's a cute little area right on the bay with lots of shops and places to eat. It was a typical beautiful San Diego day, a nice send off to Nana who was returning to almost 100 degree temps and probably 1000% humidity!

Seaport Village - June 4, 2011

It was a great week filled with lots of fun! Wish it could have been longer! We are looking forward to the next grandparent visit in July - Grandpa Jon & Grandma Pat!!

Sea World 2011 - Take 1

So since we are lucky enough to live in San Diego we are regular visitors to Sea World. They have an awesome program that gives free tickets to active duty military & 3 dependants each year. Today's trip however was a result of winning a door prize through MCCS Miramar. Not sure we've ever paid admission at Sea World...

Sean had to work so this outing was the three kids, me & my mom. I had planned one big kid to walk & Belle to ride in the stroller but they had different plans. Belle was cozy in her sling most of the day & my mom pushed approximately 100lbs around all day!!

First thing we stumbled upon was some animal encounters. Peyton got out of the stroller but didn't want to pet the turtle. We also saw a porcupine from Africa that was the size of a medium dog and two llamas. Very awesome to get up & close to these exotic animals!

Shows are always a must on a Sea World trip. Peyton has fallen in love with "The girl in the pink swimsuit". Blue Horizons, the dolphin show, is a tad too theatrical for my tastes but she loves it & watching the dolphins is always awesome! We also went to the Pets Rules show which I always enjoy, although after 6 or 7 times even Logan is beginning to remember whats going to happen... Regardless it is a great show, you never knew cats were that trainable! And has an awesome message for adopting animals. The last show we made it to was the new Shamu show, One Ocean. All I can say is I'm SO glad they finally replaced Believe! Again, I know we are lucky to have the opportunity to visit this awesome theme park as often as we do, but there are only so many time you can watch the same show before it becomes redundant. One Ocean is a great show and there is more audience splashing which lets face it, that's what we want to see! I was disappointed that the trainers are still not in the water with the animals but I guess the plans they have to make it safer do take time. Hoping that before we leave San Diego we will be able to see trainers in the water again because I know that's where they want to be too!

Sea World isn't all about the shows, we were able to squeeze in a few exhibits too! The penguins were cute and a few were probably the size of Peyton! We took this picture outside the exhibit, look over Peyton's shoulder, those are penguins! (gotta stop to give props to Angela Williamson for the sling! Belle loves it and it worked great today!) We also went through the Wild Arctic Exhibit where we saw begula whales, Arctic dolphins, a walrus, and most importantly, the polar bear!!!

The Sesame Street Bay of Play is great for the little kids! They have a few rides & an awesome play structure. With Belle the rides are harder because she's too small so only one adult to ride rides.

But that face makes it all worth it! She did so awesome, a few cranky fits but she slept most of the day in her sling! Two months old & a Sea World veteran!

And proof of a good day! All three kids slept all the way home...almost makes me wish we lived further away! ;) Thanks to MCCS Miramar for the free tickets and to Sea World for an awesome day!!

Evel LOGAN!

After Christmas the mommies at playgroup started bringing scooters & bicycles every week. Logan doesn't get much practice on his bike in the new neighborhood because there is too much traffic. So this was a perfect opportunity for him to get some much needed practice.

Logan is a very cautious kid. And therefore most of the other kids at playgroup do laps around him but he's been getting more confident on his bike.

This "hill" always intimidated Logan, he started by walking the bike down, then riding the brakes down, but now he's peddling down!!

Although a small accomplishment to you and I, it's a HUGE leap for Logan! You can see how proud of himself he is and he deserves to be!! He said he's fast like Dale Jr!!

Memorial Day

As we all enjoy a long weekend with our loved ones, the official start to summer we all need to realize and appreciate the reason for Memorial Day. I've never been a person of great words so I turn to someone else to get across my feelings of today. This poem has circulated through social media and email but thought it needed to be acknowledged as more than a status update or mass forward. The men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom deserve more.

Freedom is Not Free

by Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze

A young Marine saluted it, and then

he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform

So young, so tall, so proud

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought, how many men like him

Had fallen through the years?

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mother's tears?

How many pilot's planes shot down?

How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, freedom is not free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,

when everything was still.

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times

That "Taps" had meant Amen

When a flag had draped a coffin

of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons, and husbands

With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard

at the bottom of the sea

of the unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom is not free!!

For those who gave all so that we may live in freedom, your sacrifice was not in vain. For those who have served, are serving, and will serve, thank you for your bravery and willingness to give yourself so that we all can be free!

Annabelle's Baptism

When Sean deployed back in 2009 I started going to church regularly and was very lucky to finally, after many years finding a church home for the first time since my grandparents church when I was in middle school. Tierrasanta Lutheran Church is that home. When I got pregnant with Belle I was very excited to have a church, MY church to baptize her in.

Pastor Bohdan is one of my favorite ministers I have ever met. Probably because he's around our age and he can easily relate to younger couples. I'm not sure how many times he said he was happy to share this day with us, and I can't express how happy I was to have him baptize our baby.

We have been stationed on the west coast for almost 4 years now and life away from our family has been hard but the unique thing about the military life is that over time you develop a "military family". My mom flew out from Atlanta for the baptism but the rest of our guests in church were our military family. Each and everyone of them mean more to Sean and me that we could ever express.

Belle's godparents, Bill & Ko Sumption have been a large part of our lives for the past 2 years. Bill & Sean deployed together and Ko loves our kids as much as we do. I can't put into words the special role they have played in our lives and are very honored that they agreed to be Belle's godparents. Their faith inspires us. God truly blessed us by putting them in our lives.

Welcome to your life in Christ Annabelle. We all love you more than you will ever know!

It's almost been a year!

Well obviously it's been awhile since I've been on here. Life has been crazy busy! Since my last blog we found out we were expecting baby # 3, moved to a new house to accommodate our growing family, both kids started (and are about to finish) their first year of preschool, and we were blessed with our beautiful daughter, Annabelle Brynn, just to name a few things! I'm hoping to blog more but keeping up with three kids is time consuming to say the least!

Our newest angel

Annabelle Brynn

The Newest Stamps Family Member

Well it's been about 2 months now since we welcomed our newest member of the family! Duffy Stamps is about the cutest thing around, next to Logan and Peyton of course!

Duffy is about 2 years old, a German Shepard mix. A mix of what is a good question, we think chow & boxer but who knows! We rescued him through Baja Animal Santuary. They rescue dogs in Mexico and bring them to San Diego for adoption.

Duffy is the sweetest, gentlest dog on the planet. He takes everything the kids dish out is stride and has never showed any aggression towards them. He is also mommy's new best friend. He follows me everywhere I go and sleeps next to my side of the bed.

When we first brought him home we bought him a crate to sleep in. However he wanted nothing to do with it unless the kids were in there too. This isn't a great picture but both Logan and Peyton are in there with Duffy. This is less than a week since we brought him home. He adjusted so well, and so did we!

We now know the reason we waited so long to adopt a dog, we were waiting for Duffy to come into our lives! I can't even express how happy we are to have him in our family!