Resurrection Celebration

Happy (belated) Easter!
Our day was full of jubilation and remembrance of our Savior.
To start the day we attended a very nice church, the music was beautiful and the sermon, very thoughtful and had some very good points.

When we came home, we began our Seder Meal, something we do every year.
This year we had a delicious lamb roast. Mom cooked it perfectly!
I gotta be perfectly honest with you. I didn't do so well on capturing everything....
I got some pics of dessert though!

 Almond honey cakes.

 Fig bars.

And peanut butter chocolate cups!

It was a bit rainy and cold that day, but just being able to have this time to thank Jesus for taking our place on the cross and forgiving us our sins is so nice. 

I am nothing, but because of Him, I can be something. He is our Savior, our Strong Tower, and I am so thankful that He is in my life!

HE IS RISEN!

 

How was your Easter?

Love,

Hagen

Life// A Frozen Birthday

I realized that I still hadn't put up this post. So I scrambled to get it up.
 It is a very important post, I'd say.
   Olivia turned four last month. 
                   Her most favorite movie of all time is Frozen.

So we couldn't just throw her a birthday party. It had to be a Frozen birthday party.
                 So that is what we did...

Cake is the beginning to all birthdays. Lets start with that, shall we?

                         A delicious double layered vanilla cake with pink and blue piping accents...

                                                         Aaanndd, cupcakes!

We decorated with streamers and confetti, but sadly I did rather poorly of capturing them... 
We'll leave that bit out...

What's a Frozen birthday without some Frozen garb, right? Mom made her an Anna dress and cape and decided to give it to Olivia ahead of time so she could wear it during cake and such.

                      Isn't she adorable? What's more is that it was even snowing. Perfection!

Most of her gifts had something to do with, you guessed it, Frozen.
 Anna dress, Frozen glow in the dark wand, Frozen mittens, the Frozen movie.... She was ecstatic! There were also somethings not Frozen related (to balance it out a bit...).

        To conclude the day we sat around with bellies full of cake and ice cream watching Frozen.
I do believe this party was quite a success.
Love,
Hagen

Bonus pic! (Just to show her sassy side...)

Life// Layla's Birthday

We have yet again celebrated another birthday, Layla's 21'st birthday was on the 31'st. We all had a great time!

We ate cake, drank milk, and passed around the presents, resulting in a rather large array of gift wrapping and cake crumbs.

After presents and cake, we went out to eat lunch. (Cake before lunch! Whaat?)

 We went to a lovely Cafe and Creperie called The Aviary. It was delicious and super photogenic!

 Afterwards, we walked around in Bass Pro. Watched the ducks and fish, played in the boats and...

...took our annual Bass Pro family photo. Turned out a little differently than usual. (Dad and I are absent in this one)

The day was great! 
I am so thankful that Layla decided to spend her 21st birthday with us instead of celebrating like most people her age do. It is so nice to be able to spend so much time with my best friend!
I love my sis! She's not afraid to be herself and we can always talk to each other when we need a listening ear. I thank the Lord daily for blessing me with her!

Love,
Hagen

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Here we are with January almost over and we are only just now doing a Christmas post....
My, what a whirlwind it has been! But the wind has started to cease and the excitement of the Holidays has started to fade.

         

Layla, showing off the apron I made her...            ...and me, showing off the crocheted goods she made me.

Of course we can't forget about the food!
I must confess, I was too much of a pig to photograph the dinner, but I slowed down long enough to get a shot of Mama's Almond Pie. It was so scrumptious!

The best gift of all,of course, is The Gift. The Reason that we have Christmas at all...  

Looking back, it was quite a day, filled with joy and laughter and love! And naps...
Love,
Hagen

Life// A Baby Boy

Birth is always an amazing thing to witness... 
On November 4th, our Mom gave birth to a perfectly healthy little boy. Well, he wasn't that little... he weighed in at 10 pounds!

 Let me just put it out there, our Mom is amazing! She's a homebirther, meaning she gives birth to her children at home without drugs or being hooked up to an IV. She trusts wholly in the Lord that He will deliver, and He always does! Isaiah 66:9-"Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?", says the Lord, "or will I who deliver, close the womb?", says your God. This is one of many verses our Mom taped to her wall and meditated on for months. She just amazes me and I am still processing how incredible the whole experience was...

 Welcome to the world, little Liam!
With love,
Layla

Life// A Surprise Baby Shower

  We did it, we actually pulled it off. After months of careful and secretive planning, we were able to throw Mom a surprise baby shower. Man, was she surprised! With a lot of help from a friend, it was a success. Friends came from hours away to celebrate our Mom. She really had no idea! You can see from the pictures how happy/ surprised/ flabbergasted she was...

 I bet you want to know how we got her to the party, huh? It's a funny story...
After buying her a maternity dress for the party, we couldn't figure out how to give it to her and get her out of the house without spilling the beans. We decided to give her the dress and say,"We have something special for you at 2 'o clock today." The morning of the party she wasn't feeling too good, but we had to get her there on time! We gave her the dress and said our lines. She thought we were going to do a maternity shoot of her, so we took that idea and ran with it! She got dressed and ready, not too excited since she wasn't feeling that great. But we got her in the car, and drove to the building. When we pulled up, she questioned why we were there. We said we had set up a studio for her shoot and not to worry. Hagen ran in first to "make sure the lights were on" while I helped her out of the car. We walked up to the building, I opened the door for her, and you can see her reaction!

Here I am telling her how surprised and thankful I was that we pulled it off! We feasted and visited, talked and laughed. Then she opened her gifts. From blankets to quilts, diapers to clothes, she was every blessed!

 We are just so thankful that everything fell into place. We prayed hard that it would be a special day for her, that she would feel loved and appreciated, and she did! Our Mom is wonderful and she deserved a day to be honored. If you haven't figured it out from the pictures, she is having a boy! We can't wait to meet our little brother soon. Thank you to all our friends who helped make this possible, and special thanks to the Lord who answered our prayers!
Love from,
Layla & Hagen