creative outlets

I feel like I always need to be working on something creative. When I don't have something I'm working on, I feel depressed.  Is that strange? :)  Recently I became obsessed with pintrest. It. Is. Amazing.  Such a good place for inspiration. So from there I decided to start lettering.  I'm just beginning, but you got to start somewhere!  

 Fun, right?! 

Let me know if you have any envelopes that need pretty lettering! :)

 Sophie girl 

Silly face! 

how deep...

"How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure. That he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure." 

I absolutely love this song. It's been such a good reminder for me this week. With Easter right around the corner, I'm trying to be more reflective about my salvation and what it really cost. (That is, when I can get 3.5 seconds of peace, which doesn't come very often!) Being a mommy, I cannot fathom giving up my only son for someone who clearly does not deserve it. What a sacrifice. I find that I often have a hard time wrapping my mind around how much the Lord really does love me. Every once and a while I have these "big picture" moments when I realize how trivial this life really is. I love when that happens! The Lord is truly faithful. 

"His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished."

Thank you Jesus! 

 Pajama babies :)

 Can you believe this child has strep throat? Why is she so happy?! 

My visual reminder for the week! 

here's to new beginnings

Wow! I can't believe I have actually started a blog. I told myself I would never do this, but alas, here we are. I realized today that my sweet Sophie is already FIVE months old. I can't believe how time has flown. I hate to say it, but I've been terrible at documenting her little life. Then I thought that since I'm on the computer 92304982 hours per day, it would be easy for me to document little updates on life that I know will be treasures one day.

Life has been a little crazy the past few weeks. Over the last month or so my little family has had a combination of 4 cases of strep throat, an upper respiratory virus, and several colds. Does it ever end?! I thought since we lived in SoCal we would be able to escape all the winter sickness since there's not really winter here. Well, apparently that's not how it works. Who knew? Noah, Sophie, and I are on antibiotics now (thank you papa!), so hopefully we'll be in the clear soon! In other news, we're so blessed to have family that wants to come out and see us and the babies frequently. Mimi (Lisa) was just here for a 10 day visit. She's a lifesaver! We did lots and lots of fun stuff, including going to Disneyland. I'm pretty positive that I was more excited than Noah. Actually, I'm certain. I think it's so funny how the Lord works. The "happiest place on earth" is literally 15 minutes from our apartment. A dream come true for me! I'll leave you with some wonderful pictures from her visit. :)

Ok, totally random, but this is us on Valentine's day. Isn't my hubby cute?! :)

 One day while Lisa was here we went to Santa Monica to walk. It was heavenly. :) 

 Noah Carsten 2 1/2 years old 

 Sweetest baby I know! 

 Sophie Grace 5 months 

 Why is it impossible to get both kids to at least look at the camera? 

 Noah helping Mimi make a cake 

 These are precious precious days! 

 Disney! 

 Totally excited! 

 We still have that map. Noah thinks it's a book or something...? 

 Little family :) 

Could she be any sweeter? 

Love my Noah man! 

Thank you Mimi and Papa!