Homeward Bound

Well we’re getting ready to leave for California tomorrow.  We’re headed to downtown L.A. first, for the Sushimasters competition on Sunday!  The California Rice Commission (who hosts the event) is one of our clients and they hooked us up with free tickets.

Last month, our friend/client Steve came out to visit us again (he also came in June).  Steve works for the International Agri-Center and we do all of their websites. We had a sushi-making party at our house and it was tons of fun! Steve really knows his way around the kitchen. Check out the photos if you haven’t already.  (Did I mention how much we love sushi?) We’ll be sure to take lots of photos this weekend.  We just got a new DSLR camera that we’ve been having a lot of fun with.

Monday morning we’ll head up to Sac to stay with family for the week. Hope we can find a way to see everyone!

This was sort of an impromptu – but much needed – trip, and we don’t have a whole lot planned other than relaxing and hanging out with our nephew’s belly.

Baby-cam

Honestly, would you expect anything less at the Matthew house?

‘Family Ties’

A interesting combination of families have begun to fill our lives.  This past weekend, for example, we were visited by several families –  both ours and others.

Lori’s dad dropped her mom off on Friday so she could spend another weekend with her new grandbaby while he attended a conference at A&M.

On Saturday, we met our friend Jason’s family. Jason and Brandon have been best friends since they were kids, which makes Jason’s family sort of like Brandon’s second family, which I suppose ties them to us in some way now, too! Here’s a photo of Jason & Rachael, with Jason’s parents and sister. (Jason & Rachael are the parents of Sam, our favorite over-sized doggie.)

David came to spend the night on Saturday, which is always a treat. Sunday night, he went to his Gramma and Grampa’s, his favorite place to take a bath, as you can see!

Sunday night, Brandon’s mom arrived with her parents, so Caden could meet his ‘great’ grandparents for the first time.

We’ve come to consider Brandon & Lori part of our family, and it’s been really sweet to get to know their families, as they get to know ours.  Fortunately, there’s usually a vacancy at the Matthew B&B, so any and all are welcome! Just be sure to book your reservation in advance.

Exactly why we made the shallow beach area

‘Life Goes On’

Well, we officially closed out the summer with a big Labor Day bash on Monday. (Just kidding, I think summer lasts a couple more months here.)  Anyway, it was a great party — good food, good friends, and good entertainment!

I’ve just been thinking about how much has changed in our lives since our summer opening party on Memorial Day.  David was born (two days later, in fact!), we adopted Tiki, Bella was successfully treated for heartworms, Brandon and Lori moved in,  Caden was born, and all the while we’ve grown closer to all our wonderful new friends we absolutely adore.

Also, I’ve gained 10 pounds. Thought that was important to mention.

We’ve also gotten more and more involved in our church, which we really enjoy. We’ve even gotten to play with the band a couple of times. We’ve just now been asked to join a new band who plays for a youth group at a large church in town. Our two first official “gigs” were last week, and we’re really excited to get to play every week from now on (it forces us to actually practice!)

The summer has been really fun, and fortunately, we’ve stayed very busy at work. We’re extremely thankful for that, and for all of our blessings. Life goes on (oh blah dee, oh blah dah) and we just hang on for the ride.

‘Happy Days’

Well, in case you haven’t heard by now, Caden Cole Phifer has officially joined our family! Caden was born (to our housemates) on August 22. He’s just a precious little boy and we are really having fun having him here.

I had the honor of being with Lori in the delivery room until she was finally wisked away for an emergency c-section. Turns out, little Caden had his cord wrapped around his foot, and the poor guy just wasn’t going anywhere. But he arrived healthy and happy, and came home a few days later.

We’ve had a lot of guests since Caden’s arrival! Lori’s mom came to stay for the first week, and her dad and brother joined us for a night as well.

Brandon’s mom took over after that, and we all appreciated all the extra help the mamas gave!

We’ve all settled into the new routine – well, it’s easy for us since we can’t hear a peep from the baby when they’re upstairs! But we love having Caden here. David gets to use the downstairs nursery for now since Caden is sleeping upstairs for awhile. We’re like one big happy family, and having a blast! (Between naps, that is.)

‘Dogtown’

Our home has been a hub for non-stop activity. We regularly have 4-5 dogs here, family, babies, friends, you name it! When Jess & Paul were out of town, we watched Chester for 9 days. A large part of our family room has now turned into what we like to call Crate City. (It so happens Tiki is the mayor of Crate City, but that’s beside the point.)

Once in awhile, we add Sam to the mix – an 85 pound Weimaraner who we watch when his parents are out of town, and when they come to visit. Believe it or not, he gets along wonderfully and plays like crazy with the little doggies!

Here’s Sam sitting on Lori’s lap. Yep, they weigh about the same!

‘Family Matters’

The last few months have been such an unforgettable time. Such emotion, such joy, it’s hard to describe. Being a part of Jess’ delivery in May was probably the most amazing experience of my life. I’ve yet to write about it, since I inevitably find words inadequate in each attempt.  But each little moment is forever embedded in my memory … waiting in anticipation with my family, helping Jess through the contractions and labor, seeing David for the first time, watching Jess and Paul instantly transform into loving, devoted parents, and seeing my parents forever changed by the birth of their beloved grandson.

We’ve enjoyed each tiny milestone with little David, who’s now three months old!

Jess brings him here every weekend and we all take turns cuddling and loving him. It’s wonderful! Michael and I had our first overnight duty a couple of weeks ago and I was so excited I couldn’t sleep! Little David slept great, however! We’re now preparing for Jess to go back to work part time, which means we’ll be on more David duty which we’re thrilled about! (Well Michael would be more thrilled if he could actually wake up!!)

One of these days I’ll get around to uploading the hundreds of pictures we’ve all been collecting. Check out my parents album now, though, for ongoing pics.

I’m loving watching David’s personality develop. Like his Auntie, he certainly says what he means and means what he says. Just ask his glow worm.

Baby David Exercise Video

Yours for only $9.99 plus shipping. (The exercise video, not the baby)

Can’t tell you how much we love having Jess & David up here every weekend! It’s non-stop entertainment and joy.  He’s just precious! He’s doing well, just turned 2 months old!

For more videos, check out Paul’s YouTube channel.

Kid-Tested, Mother-Approved

This is baby Ty (Tyler), my friend Kecia’s 6-month-old son. Obviously, he loves chillin’ in the water as much as we do!

Come one, come all

There’s now a deer sleeping in our backyard. He’s out there every morning when we let the dogs out, which – of course – makes them crazy. I guess he heard we’re running a bed-&-breakfast over here. Wonder who will show up next?

The cute, the soft, and the snuggly

Counter-clockwise from bottom :)

All in a Day’s Work

Tiki is (finally) earning her keep around here.

‘Full House’

When you attempt to keep a blog, sometimes you feel like your life is so boring you really don’t have anything to blog about. At times, this is true for me. But currently, we have so much going on I can’t even keep up with it in my mind much less take the time to blog about it!

I guess the biggest news is the unique way our family is expanding. Our newest nephew, David, is 6 weeks old already!

I think that’s pretty much the cutest belly button ever! We’ve loved every second we’ve spent with him and look forward to more and more. He’s just precious! Until I get around to posting new pics, you can check him out at PaulJess.com.

So, now we’ve got our own new baby, whom we’ve named Tiki.  We’re not sure how old she is, we think between 6 mo-1 year.

Our friends, Brandon & Lori, found her roaming the streets near their home in Bastrop. She was wearing a collar but no tags. They posted flyers and we called the shelter regularly. No one claimed her, so, poor us, we had to adopt her! She’s been a wonderful addition to the family and we LOVE having her here! Bella is glad to have a new friend.

With our brood now expanding, we’ve decided to add a few more. Brandon & Lori, who found Tiki, have just moved in with us for a few months to save money while they prepare for the arrival of their first baby boy (Caden) in August.  Brandon is the Associate / Youth Pastor at our church, River Valley Bastrop.  They’ll probably be with us for about 8 months to a year. We turned the upstairs music room into sort of a studio apartment for them and it’s working out great so far.

They have a furry son, Cooper, who has happily joined our pack as well. He and Tiki are quickly becoming best buddies.

We just LOVE having everyone around. Nothing like a house full of love. We can’t wait ’til the baby arrives. We have all this extra space until we can start our own family, so we’re thrilled to use it and to get to share this experience with our new friends. We’ll be babysitting David a lot here soon so we’ll be fully equipped on the baby front.

Jess and Paul came and stayed with us last week and brought David and their doggy Chester. Talk about a FULL HOUSE! Somehow, we make it all work and it’s just really fun. Never a dull moment around here any more. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Acuna, Mexico – Go Fish Ministries

I (Michael) went to Acuna, MX with Go Fish Ministries last weekend to help build a church. These are 3 of the local kisd who hung around to help us out. At the end of the weekend I gave them each part of my gear, my gloves, hat and Sunglasses.

Watch the “Go Fish Ministries” video here