Summertime with the McAlpin side of the Family

This is by far one of my most favorite shots of the girls with Grammie Pammie and Pop, they are both looking and smiling....and that can be a rare occasion with 2

little ones to capture in one photo!! They love their grandparents very much! It is really fun to live so close and get to share so much of life together!!

Cousins and sisters are a wonderful thing!! Having Caelyn become apart of our family just 2 years ago has been one of the most wonderful things to ever have happened to us! She is so energetic and full of life, she is my sunshine. And then to have Aliyah and Naomi become part of our families this year, and share that experience with my sister...it couldn't be any better! Right now when you look at the little ones 4 months apart seems like a big difference (although someone has asked us if they were twins)...but when you think of how they will both go to kindergarten the same year and then graduate the same year...how much fun will that be! They very much enjoy babbling with each other and touching each other's face (more so Aliyah trying to pull Naomi's paci out of her mouth :))

I am so glad that the girls are all so close in age, it will be so much fun to watch them grow and change and (hopefully) be close friends...as we very much treasure the friendship we share with the Paradis family!

One of the best things about summer is the chance to get a snow cone from the Snow Biz! Here are some pictures of Aliyah's first "ice cone"! She LOVED it, couldn't get enough!

Jason's mural and Wild Animal Adventure park in San Diego

So it has been awhile, a VERY long while since I updated the blog...but when you have two little ones sometimes that happens!! We had a good summer, a very busy month of August. Jason had been asked to lead worship for a church plant in Southwest Bakersfield, called Rock Harbor Church that was starting August 28th. This is a very exciting opportunity and we have been so blessed, and so excited to be apart of God moving and working in this endeavor. Caelyn turned 2 on August 3rd!! She got her cast off the day before her birthday swim party!! 2011 has just been an incredible blessing to our family...the addition of Aliyah Noelle, the church start...we have seen God answer so many prayers this entire year. We are doing great and just loving life, throughly enjoying our girls!

It is my desire to update the blog so we can catch back up...so here are some pictures of the rest of our adventure in San Diego...the Wild Animal Adventure Park and the mural Jason painted at the church.

Tram ride out to see the animals in their natural habitat

This was amazing, the baby gorilla had been born in the past month and the mom was nursing her and cleaning her baby, it was one of the most incredible things we saw there, probably because you were so close to them...so here is a picture of me with my little baby too :)

We LOVED the zoo and the Safari Park, so glad that the Tucker family blessed us by allowing us to go with them as their guests!! At the Safari Park Jason got as close to a cheetah as he has ever been, that made his day!!

And here is the mural... it made a huge difference in the hallway!

well nap time is ending so I better get going...will post more soon :)

First Baptist Church Mira Mesa

Elisha Rimestad is the pastor of First Baptist Church in San Diego. Elisha and Jason were on staff at Valley Baptist Church together before the Rimestads moved to San Diego. He asked Jason if he'd be interested in painting a mural in the nursery/preschool hallway of the church. My office was closed the week of the 4th of July, so we got to go to San Deigo and stay for 11 days, got paid to paint, and had extra time to have a family vacation too!! It was WAY WAY fun. Here are some pictures of the girls playing at the church.

*peek a boo I see you!*

wheeeeee.....Caelyn loves to slide over and over and over!!!

the love of my life!

This past weekend we've been married seven whole years!!! Yea...it's been the best time of our lives, marriage is truly wonderful. We both graduated from college, bought our first home, got jobs that are very fufilling and we love, and the VERY BEST part of the seven years...having the two little chickadees that bless our lives and make our home so much more joyful and entertaining! I'm looking forward to a lifetime more with him. Jason you are a keeper, I love you more than words could ever express!

I'm going to try to get up the pictures of the completed mural, our trip to the Wild Animal Park and hopefully a picture of Caelyn with her cast off (our next appointment is Thursday and I am really hopeful), before we leave for camp next Monday. But I don't know if it's is too ambitious because the rest of the week is pretty busy with work, doctor's appointments, getting Caleyn's birthday party all put together and celebrated, and packed to be gone for a week (as long as there is a cabin available for us)...but if not I'll have a ton of posts ready to go when we get back! :) Ang

San Diego Zoo

We were really blessed on our trip to San Diego...a family at the church where Jason was painting at offered to take us as their guests to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Adventure Safari Park since they have annual passes and are able to take one guest a day!! It was a huge huge blessing to our family. Thank you Tucker family you made our day!

Caelyn LOVED the zoo! It was pretty hot so at lunch time we decided to get our hand stamped and go eat lunch and go back to the hotel so that the girls could nap, and then we could go back in the evening when it was cooler. But Caelyn couldn't nap, she just stood in the pack and play saying every name of all the animals she had seen "Giraffe (her fave), lama, zebra, kitty kitty, lion, donkey, cheeta..." Needless to say the only nap she took that day was on the way too and from the zoo, she was just so thrilled to see all the animals! It was way fun!!

looking at the monkeys...making monkey noises with daddy :)

"wook mommy, wook!"

Flamingos...lots and lots of flamingos

Fun times with our chickadees

In the morning when we saw the lion and lioness they were both sleeping. But when we walked back by their cage in the evening they were up, and the lion started pacing!! We stood behind the glass...he is known to spray up to 10 feet, there is a sign posted!! He came right up to the glass before I was taping so we really got a good look at him, it was amazing!

Caelyn was really excited to see the elephants!

We saw them 3 times on this trip to the zoo! :)

Six months old already!

July 8th 2011

Aliyah is already half a year old!! Man how the time flies! She loves talking, watching her big sister, isn't sure what she thinks of rice cereal, likes to roll over and over, is really trying to figure out how to crawl, and we love to hear her giggle!! She is my sunshine, by tiniest beauty, my mini me!

I love you Aliyah.

Hugs and kisses, Mommy

Some pictures from San Diego- Sea Life Aquarium

We got a chance to go to Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad, CA on Wednesday when we were down in San Diego. Caelyn LOVES animals!! She especially enjoys seeing Pop's fish every time she is over at the McAlpin's home...and we figured it would cost us a lot less to go to the aquarium than it would to go to Sea World. We asked her if she wanted to go to the aquarium and see some fish, she squealed "ooooo Pop's house!" We all really enjoyed it! Caelyn picked out a lot of fish she wants her Pop to get...her favorite were the "shrimps".

(notice bottom left picture- We asked a lady to take a family picture of us...somehow I guess she didn't see Caelyn in the stroller because she didn't make the shot :)

Part of the fun of going to the aquarium is just to see their amazement at the handiwork of God!

The aquarium is located right next to LegoLand, so there are a lot of lego creations in the aquarium as well.

Fun times with Daddy, building a lego sand castle and looking at lots of fish

Caelyn LOVED the tunnel where the sharks, rays, and fish are swimming all around you! We went through the whole aquarium twice so that we could go back to the tunnel!! It was cute...she was watching the rays swim around in their tank (pictured-bottom left) and one ray swam up to the top of the water right in front of her and splashed a little and Caelyn told the ray "Careful ray, careful." Ever since she broke her arm she has been telling all of us to be careful...mommy, daddy, sissy....even the fish!!

There was a part where you could climb inside the fish tank and look up through a glass dome at all the fish...perfect video opportunity!! Too bad my battery was low and cut out too soon :( It was so cute she was waving and so excited to see me and Aliyah on the other side of the glass...so here is just the first 10 seconds that I got before the camera died for the day, it's still fun to see her trying to touch the fish!!

I'll post more when I get a chance of our trip to the Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and Jason's fabulous artwork on the church's walls! Hope you have a blessed day!- Ang

Caelyn's fracture and the beginning of our much needed vacation!

On Thursday, June 23rd Caelyn fractured her left arm right above her elbow. This is how it happened:

It was getting close to bedtime, Uncle Greg and Aunt Alyssa were over visiting with little Naomi. We were all visiting / playing in the living room. Caelyn was getting goofy (tired but not ready to miss out on all the fun) and she was playing with Jason on the couch. She fell on her left arm sideways by the arm of the couch and had the worst boo boo of her entire 22 months of life. After a call to the advice nurse they thought we could bring her in Friday morning to be seen...she had settled down, was playing, could move her wrist and fingers but just didn't want to extend her arm the full way. There was some swelling by her elbow...she would hold her left hand and say "Elbow hurts...right here (while tapping her left wrist)." Needless to say it was late...10:30 and we were all tired...we gave her children's motrin and she slept until noon the next morning. When Jason went in to get her up so we could get to the doctor, she wanted him to roll her over from her tummy. They took x-rays of her left arm, wrist, and hand...which revealed the fracture by her elbow. Since she is so young they splinted it while we were in the office and gave us a referral to see an orthopedic specialist at the beginning of the next week. Caelyn was a GREAT patient, super sweet, wanting to blow kisses to all the nurses and doctors as we left!! Needless to say after a long weekend of high fevers (reaching 104...and at 105 you take them to the ER), trips back to the doctor to check the fever, no sign of illness but precautionary antibiotic prescribed (since she already had a hurt arm they didn't want to run too many tests), and a rash that broke out...it was almost more than I could handle. But by the end of the week she was doing much better, had a cute pink cast that she will wear for 3 weeks and we were off to San Diego!!! Jason was hired to paint a mural in a church/preschool's hallway and my office was closed for the week so we got to go paint together and have a fun family vacation down south!!!

When you don't feel good it is always nice to have Daddy around :)

Drawing on the chalkboard only requires one arm :) Caelyn wanted to draw our family so Daddy helped!! The sling they gave us at the doctor was the smallest one they had but still too big for Caelyn. Jason thought I should make her one...so with some help from my mom I made her a sling with some scrap pieces of fabric!

On our way to beautiful San Diego!

The last time we were in San Diego was for our honeymoon!!! Which will be seven years ago at the end of this month! And what a wonderful seven years it has been...looking forward to many many more. When we were on our honeymoon we pulled off of the road when we got close to the beach and took a picture in this exact spot, thought it'd be fun to take another one!

I love you Jason, you make my life beautiful and fun and wonderful and joyous! I'm glad to be on this journey with you :)

The beginning of the project! Had to take a break to eat an apple with Caelyn! We will post more pictures of the finished project and our trip to the aquarium and San Diego zoo when we get home!