Easter Eggs

Halloween 2010

Anderson Island

Abby's Dream Come True

Abby has always loved horses, but we have never really had the opportunity for her to enjoy one up close and personal. Until now!

Our new church, The GraceWorks, has been such a huge blessing to our entire family is so many ways. One way is that I feel like our whole family is truly worshiping and ministering together. That, alone, is amazing. But we have also had the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful people, and are so blessed to be able to call them our friends.

Among those new friends is Erika - who, along with her husband, Scott - has become so dear to our family. They are in our weekly small group that meets at our house, and they are so amazingly great with our kiddos. And, as any parent knows, when other people love your kids, they automatically gain a very special place in your heart!

And, to make things even better, Erika has a horse! Her very own horse! And she generously let Abby and I come along to help take care of Bree one evening. Abby thought she was in heaven, and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I'm pretty sure this first visit will not be our last.

Tacoma Rainers

Cole is so loving baseball this season. And, it's actually been really fun for all of us to enjoy something other than football for a bit :-)

Thanks to Cole's good buddy Caleb's family, he and Mark were able to enjoy a Tacoma Rainiers game with them on Saturday evening. It was a gorgeous evening and the guys all had a blast!

Seabrook 2010

Easter Sunday at The GraceWorks

Port Orchard

Another fun Sunday in Port Orchard...our new favorite get-away spot...mostly (ok only) because of some really great people we know who live there.

port orchard play-time...

ethan, mattie abby and biz with some big wooden fishing man...

ethan looking at the birds...

noah and colton looking at the ships across the harbor...

cole checking out the boats...

abby and biz...

cole and mattie...

More Upward Photos

We had never heard of Upward basketball and cheer camps until Centerpointe Church, a church plant here in DuPont, offered the camp (completely FREE of charge) at the DuPont Middle School this summer. It was completely amazing! The kids were all able to attend and had a fabulous time. They learned about basketball and cheerleading, but also had Bible studies and the gospel message was shared every day to many, many unchurched kids.

Mark and I were so amazed that not only was the camp free for the kids, but they also received a ton of free stuff. Abby received her cheer top, pom poms, a megaphone, a backpack, a basketball, a water bottle, and a duffle bag. The boys each received reversible basketball jerseys, water bottles, basketballs, and duffle bags. The camp also offered a free bbq meal on the last day of the camp for the kids and their families, and is also making a highlight DVD that they are hand-delivering to each home that had a child attend the camp.

What an amazing way to show Christ's love to our community! Going above and beyond what is expected, and asking nothing in return.

'upward' basketball and cheer camp...

abby and biz attended the cheer day camp...

noah, colton, ethan and cole attended basketball day camp...


(will post more pictures later)

friday night ZA...

tonight was real nice... chris , monica and philip came over for some homemade ZA... and they brought a big surprise...

funfetti cake!!!
oh yeah... we had some ZA too... it was an awesome night....

memorial day weekend...

memorial day weekend at anderson island...

what are you doing?

dunk tank follow-up

everyone threw softballs at me...

dan... (my brother)
noah... neil... (my friend)

ethan....

abby...

and i got wet... raised 130 bucks during my half hour... for the childrens miracle network...

fujiyama...

we bumped into some friends... we ate like kings... and there was fire...

disneyland family photos...

2009: (left to right) uncle greg, uncle dan, papa, cousin justin, frank and jill maxwell, ethan, gramma, abby, auntie holly, uncle james, cousin tyler, noah, andrew (friend), cole, gwen and me...


2007: (left to right) sarah, skyler, clara, david, lu, emma, ava, candace, ivana, mark, zane (friends), noah, cole, me, ethan, gwen and abby...

2006: us...

2005: us with uncle greg...

2003: us...

post # 3 from sunny southern california...

jedi training... the kids have loved this over the last couple of years... this year was coles first time... he was in heaven...

uncle greg, me, gwen, ethan, abby, uncle 'd', noah, cole, auntie holly, justin, uncle james, tyler... ready for a day at the park...

an excursion to seabrook... #1

neil and karla pose with gwen and the kids for this photo...

me and the family...

abby writing a note to send out in a bottle...

karla helped seal the bottles with wax...

abby and cole looking cute...

abby and ethan looking into the frog pond...

ethan and cole in a little tree trunk we found...

we had a great day adventure and cant wait to do it again soon.... thanks neil and karla...