I feel the earth move under my feet!

We've had lots of small earthquakes here in Reno recently. We hadn't actually felt any of them where we live until Friday night. It was 11:30ish and the house began to shake, the windows creeked, and the glasses rattled in the cupboard. For us midwesterners, it was a pretty freaky experience. Feeling the earth move under us and feeling our seemingly "indestructible" shelter shake over our heads made us both realize just how small we are and just how truly BIG our God is. He is in control and I am thankful He is on our side watching out for us.

This earthquake was "only" a 4.7 and originated on the W/NW side of Reno. We live on the SE side of town so really didn't feel it as badly as they did up in the NW. We had no damage but some friends that live near the epicenter said everything fell off their walls, books fell off shelves, etc. They said they know of others with large wall cracks, etc. We had a 4.0 early this morning too but it was shorter and not nearly as bad as Friday's. They are predicting a larger one very soon. Please keep Reno in your prayers!

What Judah's Up To These Days

Judah has become a real jabberbox. He is talking really well these days (I understand him pretty well anyway) and pretty regularly uses 5 word sentences. One of his favorite and well-used phrases lately is, "I do it self." As you can imagine, life can be pretty slow moving and frustrating at times with a 2 year old that wants to do everything themselves and makes that known to anyone within screaming range. He's got a voice and he's not afraid to use it! I'm sure the neighbors all think I beat him regularly because of his "frustrated 2 year old" screams. :) As a side note, I decided to take a break on potty training back in March. Life was just too crazy and the training wasn't going so well. We'll try to start up again in May or June. Judah still loves his cars and Leggo's. He likes us to build him towers and garages out of Leggo's so he can incorporate his cars into his play. Daddy recently made a sandbox for Judah and he LOVES going outside to play in the sand and walk around the backyard exploring. While he's out there, he frequently comes to the back door to bring me "fowfers." Usually they are dandelions but, hey, I've never had a man give me flowers so regularly so I'm not going to turn them away just because they're weeds! He is really a sweet and tender hearted little guy and we are so thankful God blessed us with such an amazing son.

An Overnight Away

Steve & I took advantage of Grandma & Poppy's free babysitting and took off for a 24-hour escape. Don't get me wrong, we love hanging out with the J-man but it's good for us to get away occasionally too. We spent a few hours having lunch at an old pub and lounging outside at a coffee shop in our favorite little town, Truckee, CA. It was an incredible day--75 degrees and sunny. Gotta love it! We then drove to another fave town of ours--Auburn, CA--to drive/walk around and have dinner and margaritas outside at a Mexican restaurant. We spent the night in Auburn and drove to Folsom Lake the next morning for Steve's debut DUATHLON. Steve did GREAT at the 4 mi. run, 13 mile ride, 4 mi. run. Finishing in 1 hour 33 minutes (4th place overall!). It was another spectacular day--80 degrees and sunny! We drove the 2 hours home feeling relaxed and revived, having spent some much needed quality time together doing some of our favorite things. We were sure glad to see Judah though and I think he was happy to see us too. Thanks Grandma & Poppy for being such great babysitters! We love you!

Grandma & Poppy Meek's Visit

We had a great time having Grandma & Poppy Meek visit us for two weeks in early April. Judah was finally old enough to really connect with them and vice versa, which was nice for everyone. He still occasionally asks, "Where Grandma, Poppy?"

Here are a few pictures from our time with them.

The Big Boy Bed

Several weeks ago we decided it was time to switch Judah over from his crib to the toddler bed. Partly because we wanted to make it easier for Steve's parents to get him in and out of bed during their visit but also just because it was time. Judah has done amazingly well in the toddler bed! In fact, I've only caught him "out of bed" when he was supposed to be sleeping TWICE. He knows that if he gets out of bed, he gets a spanking. He always says, "No Pank!" when he knows he's done something wrong. :) Anyway, I snapped a few pics of him sleeping the other day. We're proud of him doing so well in his big boy bed.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program...

Sorry we've been off the air for a while. We were preparing for company for a few days, then the company arrived for two weeks, then we played catch-up for a week...we're now ready to catch you all up on what's been happening in our lives. Read on...