Afton Elle

Well, it's been a while since I last posted and much has changed. Our beautiful baby girl was born on May 21st at 6:50pm. She weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. My delivery went well (even though I had no drugs) and she came out perfectly healthy. She's now a little over two months old and she is such blessing in our lives. We love to stare at her and inspect every little part. She's just started smiling a lot more and we are loving it! She has two dimples on her right cheek. We're not sure where they came from, but they are adorable! Many of you have met her this summer and we are so grateful for all of our visitors. For those of you who haven't met her, we can't wait for you to come down!

On another note, I have some VERY exciting news that just came to fruition today (this is hot off the press!). My granny has purchased a three bedroom, two and a half bathroom townhome. It is two stories, has a two car garage and also has a large bonus room. You're probably wondering why this is exciting for us.......we're going to be living in it! It's MORE than enough space and leaves us plenty of room to grow. We are so excited and very humbled at the same time. So....it's looking like we'll be moving in about a month!

Sam and I are doing really well. It's be so neat to have him home during this special season of our life. It is so sweet to watch him with Afton, especially when he doesn't know I'm looking. Sam is looking for jobs. He's in "interview season," so we're praying for the right job to come along. I've been working two days a week this summer on some projects for next year. We decided several months ago that I'll be working part time so I'll be done at noon each day. My work also gave me a promotion. I'll teach two sections of English and I'll be doing some administrative work as well. I'll be responsible for curriculum and instruction and working with our teachers. I'm really excited and a little nervous. I'm definitely not a pro at that stuff, but I'm willing to learn along the way.

We miss and love all of you!

Sam & Kyle

Maternity Leave

Not much to report here....just hanging out waiting. :) I thought a few pictures might be fun though. The big group picture is from Mother's Day. Sam and I drove up to Disneyland to meet Eric & Stacey and the kids and Regina and Josh. We had a yummy lunch at Rainforest Cafe and then Sam and I drove home down the 1 (or is it the 101)? It was so fun to see everyone, especially knowing that we'll be seeing them again soon!

The other picture Sam took of me last Wednesday at the mall near us in La Jolla. It's a belly shot so you can see how big I am. :)

Hope all is well with each of you!

Love,

Kyle

Maternity Pictures

Let's see....since I last wrote I had a couple of showers in Fresno the weekend of March 12th & 13th. The Friday night one was another literal shower, but the rain wasn't terribly heavy. My two wonderful friends, Christina and Lacey, threw it for me and it was perfect! The next day was my family shower hosted by six of my family members. It, too, was wonderful. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

About two weekends ago Sam and I did our maternity pictures. The caveat with that is that his friend Nick, who is not a photographer, did them. That being said, I think they're awesome! We met Nick at La Jolla Cove beach and 30 minutes later, we were done! Love it!

As for an update on us, we are actively looking for our next place to live since our lease is up May 9th. We can stay here but we want to go more north to make my drive time shorter to work. Work is another thing we're working on. My boss has offered for me to work anywhere between 50-100% so now it's up to Sam and me to decide what we want to do. What else......in terms of big stuff, I think that's it. I'm home today because I ended up getting what Sam had last week (cough, sore throat, etc.). It' s nothing major but I thought a day of rest would be good.

Hope all is well with each of you!

San Diego Shower....Literally

This past Sunday I had a baby shower in San Diego. Now normally the weather is beautiful, complete with blue skies and sun. Not the case last weekend. It rained a ton but even so, my shower was wonderful. It was held at the clubhouse in a community called Fairbanks Ranch and outside the windows (in the picture that has the fireplace) there is big beautiful lake. Two of my friends, Autumn and Teresa (white sweater), hosted it for me. It was simple and classic...just the way I like it. Teresa made fabulous desserts and Autumn brought her chocolate fountain. Yum! My favorite was the pound cake. :) It was a great afternoon and I'm so thankful for all of the amazing friends I have in San Diego.

PS. My college roommate Jessica flew down from Sacramento. She is above in black.

Week 27 (and a half)

Here I am at about 27 and a half weeks along. For those of you who don't speak in weeks (I thought it was really weird before being pregnant), it means I'm just now 7 months. Sam took this today as the two of us and Granny were waiting to eat breakfast at a little place in an area of San Diego called Normal Heights. The food was really good....I hope we go back soon. :)

Nothing terribly exciting to report on the pregnancy. All is going well and I am VERY thankful. As you can see, I'm getting (much) bigger but I still feel really good. Sam and I regularly do a 1.5 mile walk in the canyon behind where we live. Half of the walk is uphill so I definitely get a good workout!

Other than that, we are still keeping very busy. At this point I have about 2 and a half months left before I go out on maternity leave. My kids are really wonderful so being with them is a breeze. Sam is plugging away at Azusa. He's doing really well and hasn't gotten anything less than an "A" on anything so far. Even though he's not working, he manages to keep himself very busy. He and a friend are working on a really great project that I won't go into detail about, but it's pretty exciting. I too am plugging away at school. This semester I have a school law class and it's really informative. I will be able to finish this semester because it ends at the end of April so it still gives me several weeks to rest before my due date.

We are definitely entering a crazy time, not just because of the baby, but because we are both in school, I'm working full time, Sam is working on a project, we're moving at the end of April, we don't know if I'll work full time or part time next year, etc. That being said, we definitely appreciate your prayers for everything to work out as the Lord intends. Sam and I were talking about this a few days ago and it seems that since we've been in San Diego, which is almost two years now, we have lived with the unknown constantly. If we let it, it can be stressful, but instead we choose to trust that the Lord has it figured out for us and we are along for the ride. And what a ride it is!

We hope all is well with each of you and hope to see you soon!

Love,

Kyle (and Sam)

21 weeks

At the beach this past Saturday...right before getting pooped on by a seagull. :)

Pictures from Christmas