Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas family and friends!  Here is a collection of pictures for those who are interested.  A  little glimpse into our year. 

JANUARY

Deliveries of big boxes were a frequent occurrence in January.  Lots of equipment for our upcoming church launch in February! (The kids loved the boxes!)

A little time with Grandpa and Grandma.  And the cousins.  :)

FEBRUARY

The biggest highlight in February was (of course) the launch of Ignite Church! 

After many months (well, years, actually) of preparation, we were so excited to see this happen  :)  (Fun fact: Ignite's launch date was also Steve's 30th birthday!)

MARCH

After browsing for over a year, we finally got serious about house hunting.  Eventually we bought this one!  A great fit for our family (and minutes from the church).

The kids learned so much in school.  We had a lot of fun too.  Here they are counting one hundred "things on strings".

APRIL

 

 After the snow melted, Haddie finally became confidant enough to ride her little bike without anyone holding on.  ;)  This made bike rides a more frequent occurrence!

On April 10th Seth turned 6 years old!  It's amazing how the time has flown.  We love his enthusiasm, creativity, and zest for life.  He is so special to us!

Easter morning.  :)

This is just a picture to show you how frazzled my brain was at about this time.  Long days, short nights, trying to figure out how to grow a church, and packing to move again.   ...Yep.  Poured orange juice on Haddie's cereal.
(Don't worry, she got a new bowl.)  ;)

MAY

Seth (orange shirt) finished up his first year at Children's Music Academy!

JUNE

June 8th our little Haddie turned 4 years old!  She is such a sweetie, so joyful, and always a big helper.  We can't imagine life without her!

Spending time with cousin Scarlet!

JULY

Though the year was very challenging and stressful, we found plenty of times to laugh and be silly.  ;)

Enjoyed a visit with Aunt Marian from Alaska!

 Summer isn't complete without a little fun at the farm.  Here's Seth and Hidalgo.

Haddie twirling.  :)

                                                             Exploring the bean field.

Steve spoke at a Bible camp this summer, and they were kind enough to take us tubing during free time!

AUGUST

Seth earned his first stripe in his belt for Tae Kwon Do in August.  He's the little one in the second/third row.  ;)

SEPTEMBER

First day of school, action shot.

Ignite hosted a fall kick-off at a local park.  We were excited to serve a meal to about 300 people (and 112 of them returned for church the next day!)

OCTOBER

 Straw bale maze at a nearby pumpkin patch! 

We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful fall weather this year.  Here are the kids on a day we took a hike. Cooling off in the river - in October!  

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER

Special time with Great-Grandpa Dufour

Welcoming cousin Owen!

Early Christmas celebration at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

As we look back at the year, we have so much to be thankful for.  We are humbled by the blessings of good health, a home, our marriage of 8 and 1/2 years, two very special children, great family and friends, the amazing people at Ignite church, and especially God's presence and guidance with us through a challenging year of new things.  He is so faithful!  To him be the glory for all that transpired in 2011 and may he be glorified in all we do in 2012.

Hi friends!  It's been a busy fall for us!  We've been working hard... but we've also managed to squeeze in some fun.

 Our friends Sid and Peggy invited us out to their country home to learn how to press apples into cider!

                                                               Turning the press

 

 Washing apples

                                    First field trip of the year to a children's science     
                        museum

Lots of picnic lunches

 A business trip becomes more fun with a detour to Hutchinson to visit friends and then Underwater World at the Mall of America (here they are on our hotel balcony).

                                                   Haddie being a lady bug

             Running through a straw bale maze with cousin Tony

                                                Those pumpkins are heavy!

 Haddie expressed much desire and was able to communicate what Communion at church means, so she took part for the first time this month.  She was very excited.  Here she is that morning.

               Hiking on a beautiful Fall day, enjoying the colors

                       We ventured off the path because it was so warm.  ;)

                                  Checking out animal tracks in the mud

                             Making an Irish recipe from great-great Grandma

Praising God for health, guidance, protection and provision!  We are very blessed indeed.

Here we are in September again!

Fairs, visits, farm and camp!

 As we began our second July here we remembered the fun we had at the local fair last year.  So we went again and enjoyed four hours of sunshine, petting zoo, lemonade, cotton candy, rides and SNAKES!  :)  Yes, that is Seth in the orange shirt helping hold this gigantic reptile.

He was delighted to have a ball python around his neck too. 

 I loved this sweet little calf.  SO cute!  (We could fit one in our yard, right honey?!)

 Someone gave us a handful of tickets for rides as they were leaving - how fun!

The last month has been filled with visits with sweet friends and family.  Here are the kids with Grandma Aggie.

Steve was able to see many of his cousins at his Grandpa Boyd's birthday party in Wisconsin!

 Steve with his folks and sisters at the birthday party.

 Seth and Haddie with baby Norah!

 Haddie and Kimber!
We also enjoyed brief but lovely visits with Barb Smith, Shannon and her girls, Heather and Aveyn and Megan's family while we were at Oak Hills camp in Bemidji this past week.  Wish I had pictures of all of them!

 While Steve settled into Camp Oak Hills as speaker of the week, we took a couple days at the farm to escape the crazy heat and humidity.  Here's Haddie with some of mom's flowers.

 Getting a tractor ride!

 Watching Grandpa Dewey do some leveling.

 Feeding Hidalgo.  :)

 Seth and "Ash".

 Ahhhhh!  Breeze from a barn fan on a hot day!

 Grandma Sheila giving a mower ride. 

 They loved feeding "Avatar" and the rest of the peacocks!

 Following our time at the farm we spent four days and three nights at Camp Oak Hills with Steve.  Scott was gracious enough to take us tubing and fishing while we were there!  Here's Seth and Steve tubing.

 Having fun on the boat!

Biking to the beach!

Seth spent most of his time at the beach under water looking for shells.   :)

 We loved the quiet sandy swimming area.

The kids loved our gift of matching t-shirts from Camp.  What a wonderful week!