Thanksgiving with the Reynders

David's sister Kate came to our home on Monday night and then his mom, dad, and little brother Scott joined the fun Tuesday afternoon. We enjoyed having so much family here. David had the whole week off! We had a good break; though it went by too quickly.We enjoyed playing games and showing the Reynders around the little town of Bolivar. My mother-in-law, Jo Linda, taught me how to sew and helped with a few home improvement projects. On Thanksgiving Day, we traveled up to David's older brother's house in Kansas City. It was nice to be with so much family!

There was some singing going on. You can never have the Reynders siblings together without busting out the Hymn Book.

The last full day we had with the Reynders was Poppy's birthday! We had peach cobbler to celebrate. Yummy!

Peter loved having everyone around. He sure misses his Grandma Jo and Poppy. He sure loves playing with them. He misses building bridges and singing silly songs with Uncle Scott and playing with Aunt Kate. We are excited to see them all again at Christmas time. And to see my family! We will be in California for 2 and 1/2 weeks around Christmas! So excited! Just 3 hard weeks for David and then we will have a good, long vacation :)

Happy (Late) Halloween!

Here is a quick video of our first Halloween here in Bolivar:

P.S. - We moved! We are now in a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath Home! Pictures to come later, still settling and decorating :)

Our Silly Kids!

We sure love our little kids. The joy of watching them play with each other is indescribable. I'm glad Evelyn loves Peter even though he unintentionally pummels her from time to time.

I know it! I live it! I love it!

Wow! General Conference was amazing (as always)! We are truly blessed to be able to hear from living prophets and apostles and other general authorities. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful to know of our Heavenly Father's plan for us. I am grateful for the eternal perspective that the knowledge of the truth provides. I am grateful for guidance and commandments that help me be truly happy. I am grateful to know of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Atonement He performed in our behalf. I am grateful for the hope, strength, and power the Atonement affords me everyday; the strength to be a better mom, a better wife, a better daughter, and a better disciple of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for opportunities to improve and progress. I am grateful to be a "Mormon". As Sister Ann M. Dibb said, "I know it! I live it! I love it!"

Here are a few pictures of a little area I had set up for Peter. We rearranged our living room just a little in an attempt to help Peter understand that General Conference is special and important. I put together a little conference coloring book and put pictures of the first presidency and the twelve apostles on the wall (and he actually used them!). I also put other quit toys and activities out for him to do while conference was being observed.

General Conference

General Conference is this weekend! We are so excited to have the opportunity to listen to living prophets and apostles.

Life in Bolivar, Missouri

I decided a blog post on our move to Missouri is long overdue. We have now been in Missouri for a month! Time has sure flown by! Everything went pretty smooth with our packing, traveling, and unpacking. We couldn't have asked for things to go much smoother. We had lots of help from family and friends with packing and loading the moving truck. We left Clovis, California and all our belongings on the 31st of July. Our belongings headed out to Missouri while we headed up to a family reunion in Southern Utah. We made a stop in Lancaster, CA to visit with the Blair family. We sure love our Aunt Martha, Uncle Huey, and cousins. We had a great visit with them. It is always a treat to stay with the Blair's.

After our visit in Lancaster we went to Hurricane, Utah and met up with the rest of the Reynders at Grandma and Grandpa Thorley's beautiful home. We stayed there a day or so and then headed up the mountain. We enjoyed our time with family on the Thorley Mountain. Aunt Lynn and Uncle Paul did an amazing job planning this years reunion. Their kids also helped a lot. Their daughter, Brooke, shared her talents with us. She put together an awesome movie comprised of old family videos, it was beautiful. She then helped make it possible for us to create little movies while we were up there on the mountain. We had a wonderful time. Many great memories were formed. I hope we will be able to attend next years reunion.

David and his sister Kate left Hurricane and drove our car out to Missouri. Meanwhile, the kids and I headed down to Las Vegas, NV to stay at Aunt Pam and Uncle Rollin Thorley's home till I was scheduled to fly out the following day to meet David in Kansas City. (That is where David's older brother Robert just started his residency. It is nice having them only two hours away.) All went smoothly with our travels. The flight with the kids went surprisingly well and our car made it half way across the country in one piece! All I have to say is I am glad to be here. I am glad to be unpacked and settled. So far, so good. Bolivar will be our home for the next three years and honestly I can't complain. We have felt extremely blessed and watched over. Our prayers have been answered. We are grateful for the opportunities we have to improve and progress.

Kate (in graduate school in Kansas, not too far from our new home!) was a great help in our move. She stayed with us for four or five days and helped us get settled. We are grateful for her service. Here are some cute pictures of her with peter at the beautiful Dunnegan Park here in Bolivar.

We love our new home, here are some pictures :)

Family Photos :D

 Thank you Gwen Hawkins!

We're Moving!

We have been busy, busy, busy! David got accepted into the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. We are excited for the opportunity to move forward but scared at the same time. We are moving half way across the country! We will miss all of our family and friends in California, but we are excited to start this new chapter of life. Needless to say, it is a time of much change for us.

We have been packing away. We have made some good progress. We are loading up the moving trailer on Monday the 30th... Only 5 more days in Clovis, CA!

P.S. - My good friend Gwen Hawkins took some family pictures for us! I will post them as soon as she is done with them. But for now here is a cute photo of the kids :)

Update on the Reynders!!!

So here’s what we have been up to the last month or so...

We went to the Zoo! Peter had a blast! He loved seeing all of the animals. We made a video out of our visit and Peter frequently requests to watch it. He learned how to pronounce many new animal names. He impressed me when he said flamingo after hearing me say it once. Peter is sure learning a lot.

We celebrated David’s birthday on April 12^th.

We went on a little road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for David’s cousin’s wedding. Emily Thorley was sealed to Tristram Jones on the 12^th of May in the Las Vegas temple. The drive went pretty good, except Peter refused to sleep. He probably slept a total of 30 min. in our six hour drive there and another 30 min. in our six hour drive home. But we enjoyed our time with family. It was sure fun to see almost all the Thorleys. Congratulations Emily & Tristram!

May is a busy birthday month! We celebrated Mama Reynders' birthday on the 5^th, David’s sister, Annie’s on the 6^th, mine on the 21^st, David’s brother, Scott’s on the 23^rd, and my sister Kamilah’s on the 30^th. I think one of Annie’s children’s birthday is in May also... It is THE birthday month in our family.

We had a Memorial Day picnic at the park! Peter had a blast!

 

My sister, Vanessa, and her cute little girl Brooklyn came for a visit. They came down from Langley, BC Canada and were here for a week. It was sure good to see them. We had a great time. We went to the Zoo, we went shopping, and just hung out. We enjoyed the time we had 

with Vanessa and Brooklyn. 

Spring Break

Spring Break was great! We enjoyed our time together as a family. To start off our vacation, the Rollin and Pam Thorley family (David's uncle & aunt) came to Fresno to visit with us Reynders. We enjoyed spending some time with them and two of their children. Stone is one of their kids, I think he is eight or so... Peter had a great time playing with him. Peter identified Stone in one of the videos we took while they were here (Peter enjoys watching family videos). Stone made an impression on him, he remembered who Stone was a week after they left! The weekend the Thorley's were here was also conference weekend. As perusal, conference was wonderful. We enjoyed receiving guidance, inspiration, council, and hope from living prophets, seers, and revelators.

On Tuesday David and I took Peter to the Fresno State Farm. We got to see the cows and the sheep. We were real close to the cows, one cow came close enough to touch but neither Peter nor myself wanted to touch it's slimy nose and David was caring for Evelyn. Peter enjoyed seeing these animals and I was glad to see the reaction on his face. We have books with farm animals in them that Peter loves to read and his experience at the farm enhanced his understanding. It was a great opportunity for him to realize that they are real living things.

On Wednesday Michelle and her daughter Lily joined us at Woodward Park. This park is huge. There are several little lake areas with ducks and geese, playgrounds, a small waterfall and stream, tons of beautiful big trees and more. We fed the ducks and geese and played on a couple different playgrounds. Peter and Lily had a blast. Those two would spend all day outside if they could.

Saturday we had a family Easter gathering at the park area behind the Fresno, CA temple. We enjoyed the company of lots of family from my mother's side. Michelle and Lily joined the fun. Lily and Peter enjoyed hunting for Easter Eggs and just running around outside.

Sunday was Easter. We enjoyed a quiet morning together as a family. We had a little Easter basket for Peter and Evelyn. We enjoyed church, as always, but it was a little more special. We are grateful for the opportunity we had to remember more fully the sacrifice our Savior made for us and the gift he gave by praying in Gethsemane, atoning for our sins and overcoming all afflictions, trials, and sickness, and by dying and rising on the third day. We are grateful that He overcame sin and death so that we can become like Him and live with Him and our Father in Heaven again.

We're on Vacation

Peter and Evelyn are doing great! We are on spring break and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We will post a summary of this week when it has passed. For now, here is a great picture captured after about 20 previous attempts at a good photo. If Evelyn was content and smiling in a photo, Peter had a blank expression or was half way out of the picture. Peter didn't want to sit still or smile long enough for me to capture a shot and Evelyn wasn't too happy about me sitting her up on the couch. Inspite of this I was finally able to capture a good shot of both of them together. Well enjoy :)

Come Listen to Living Prophets

Life is good in the Reynders’ home. We are thoroughly enjoying our two children. Peter has adjusted wonderfully to his new sister; I don’t think he can remember what it was like before she came. He loves to give her kisses and pat her back and rub her head as he says, “soft”. He is a great big brother. I think they will be good friends. Peter is also talking a lot! He knows so many words and phrases now. Our favorite thing he says to us is, “I love you”. So precious! He still loves to read with us and on occasion we will find him sitting in his room reading to himself. He also likes to pretend play with cars, animals, and household objects (phone, mommy’s hair dryer, etc.). He already engages in symbolic play too; for example he takes a funnel out of the cupboard and pretends it is a trumpet. He sure is a joy to have around. He has grown so much! He is a toddler now; he is no longer our baby! However, Evelyn is filling the baby role rather nicely. She is also growing rapidly. I can’t believe she is already 8 weeks old! She is more and more alert during the day. She can follow things with her eyes from side to side and up and down. She melts our hearts now with cooing noises and adorable smiles. We are in love with our new little girl, Evelyn, and our big boy, Peter.

Well, here are some recent pictures of our precious kids.

Peter likes to wear daddy's shoes and play with daddy's guitar.