The Reynders Family

Our Little Evelyn

2012-02-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

It seems that I am a terrible Blogger! I just can't keep you all up to date with our little family like I wish I could. I just don't care to go online very much. It's not that I don't like to go online or that i don't like to keep a blog, I just find myself wanting to do other things instead. I like to have a clean, orderly home, I like to write in my handwritten journal (personal and family), I like to sit and read books for an hour with my son, I like to cook dinner... there are many things I would like to accomplish or do before I will get on the computer and write a blog post. This is the reason I am a terrible blogger and will probably be forever! I am not giving up though, we have family spread all over and this blog is one of the best ways to keep them all up to date with our little family.

Well, a lot has occurred since the last "catch-up" blog post, but the most important and exciting news I will share with you all is the birth of our little girl, Evelyn Deline Reynders. Evelyn was born January 27th 2012 at 4:35 am. She weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. She is doing great! Although she has her night and day schedule a little confused... we are all doing well. Peter is adjusting OK, he is pretty obsessed with Evelyn though. Well, we put together a short video of her arrival for those of you that would like to meet her. Enjoy! :)

Here are updated pictures of Peter and Evelyn, taken on Sunday, February 5th.

Catch-Up

2011-10-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I last posted... I have lost the charger to our camera! I was hoping to find it so I could post pictures and video from our trips this summer. We have decided that we will need to buy a new charger... Anyway, we have travled to Southern Utah the Thorley Family Reunion at the cabin, with a stop in Lancaster, CA to visit with the Blair Family. Then we took a flight into Bellingham, WA and drove across the border into Vancouver, BC Canda to visit with my sister, Vanessa, and her new little girl, Brooklyn Pearl (who is too cute for words). We had a blast exploring Vancouver and Langley, BC. We got to see the Beautiful temple that was dedicated last year in Langley. Vanessa lives less than five minutes away. We actually walked to the temple from her house! It was nice to see so much family and create memories this summer.

Peter is getting sooo big! He has learned so much and continues to learn new things each day. It is a joy to see him grow. He knows how to say mom and dad well, and a few other words not so well. He knows several signs. He will sign eat/food, milk, juice, more, all done/finished, bird, light, and he does some of the cutest gestures and facial expressions. I love it when he comes and grabs my hand to take me to something he wants. He definitey knows how to communicate his needs and wants. We sure enjoy being Peter's parents and feel privledged to have been entrusted with such a wonderful, sweet spirit and son of God.

For those of you who do not know... we are expecting our second child. We are having a little girl! Her due date is February 4th 2012. We are excited and anxiously preparing ourselves for her arrival. We know it is a big change form one child to two. We just hope we will be as prepared as possible to make this change.

Camping at Dinkey Creek

2011-07-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Peter loves nature. He loves to play with plants, he loves to watch birds fly, and he loves to explore. So, David and I decided to take him camping. We only stayed one night, but Peter had a blast! We drove up to Dinkey Creek, a campsite near Shaver Lake here in California. I grew up coming to Dinkey Creek Campgrounds every summer with my family, so it was easy for us to decide where we would camp. However, preparing for the trip was not so easy. There are so many things required for a family to be able to live a day without the convenience of a kitchen with a fridge, stove, oven, and microwave. But we ended up surviving. Actually we did better than survive, I think we ate pretty good :).

We arrived at the campgrounds around 11 on Friday the 15th and left at 12 on Saturday. From the moment we got there up to the minute we left, Peter had a blast! He explored everything. It is amazing how a one year old can be so easily entertained by rocks, sticks, and dirt. Peter loves water, so we took a hike over to a waterfall and let him play in the river. He had a great time. I think we may turn this into a annual family tradition :).

See the post bellow for a video of highlights from our trip.

Camping at Dinkey Creek 2011

2011-07-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the video of our camping trip to Dinkey Creek :)

Happy Birthday Peter!

2011-06-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

We can't believe a year has passed since we first met little Peter and welcomed him into this world. Time has sure passed quickly this last year. Peter is walking pretty good now. He is still a little wobbly, but he can get where he wants to go. Here are some pictures that our friend Gwen Hawkins took of Peter at one year. Enjoy:)

P.S. - June 9th was his birthday... we're a little late in posting this.

Graduation

2011-05-31T14:45:00.001-07:00

All went well with the graduation. It sure felt good to walk across that stage. I was able to see and feel that my goals had been realized. After the graduation, I was stopped by a 10 o'clock Fox News camera man. He was interviewing random graduates and asked if he could interview me. I said sure. He asked what I received a degree in and what I plan to do with that degree. I told him that I graduated with a Bachelors in Child Development and told him that I plan to use my degree to help me be the best mom I can be. He then asked what I could do with a degree in Child Development. I explained the various options and stated that if there ever came a time where I needed to use my degree I would. It is a good plan B. David and I hope and have faith that I will not need to get a job, that I can stay at home and raise our children in truth and righteousness. I feel that there is no better way to improve and help society than to teach children correct principles so that they can grow and contribute to society in a good productive manner. Anyway, it sure feels great to be done. Now I can more fully focus on my dream job... being the best mom that I can be with the help of the Lord.

Here are some fun photos of the big day!

We Can Breath!

2011-05-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

David and I each turned in our last finals today! We are glad for the semester to be over. This week has been so crazy! We have a plaque in our living room that says, "In the strength of the Lord we can do and endure and overcome all things." by Elder Bednar. This is so true. Without the help of our Savior and of the angels he has placed in our lives, I don't think we could have made it through this week. I also know that without this help, I would not be graduating tomorrow. But it sure feels good to be through this rough patch and to be able to breath again.

Just in case you missed the line where I said I am graduating tomorrow... I'm GRADUATING! I get to wear that big black gown and the nifty cap and tassel. Wohoo! It feels good to be done!

Peter's First Easter

2011-04-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Despite how busy we were, we still had a pretty good Easter. On Saturday, after the Baby shower for my sister, we had a nice family gathering at San Gabriel Park. It was nice to see so much of my family. Peter was a celebrity! Everyone loves his red hair, and he is just too cute! We ate some yummy food, talked, and played. We had a good time.

Peter ate with us too :) Strawberries, yummy!

Peter found the egg jackpot!

His first experience with Easter eggs...

Too cute!

Easter Morning:

I put together a little Easter basket for Peter. Since he can't have candy yet, I gave him "Puffs." These are pretty much like little cereal pieces with yummy fruit flavors. He hadn't had them before, but he loves them. I think they are candy to him.

David's talk went great. He did an amazing job. We also got to participate in the choir. We sang a great song, perfect for the beautiful Easter Sabbath. After church we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the entire Murphy clan. It was nice to have everyone together again. We sure have missed my sister and her husband.

On Friday, we had the opportunity to take some family photos. Our good friend Gwen Hawkins knew that Vanessa and Ryan were coming down from Canada for Easter and offered to take family pictures for us, for free. The photo I placed with our title to this blog is one of my favorite photos of our little family. Here are some more photos...

In the picture above:

Right to Left on Top: David, Peter, Yvonne, Dad (Daniel), Mom (Cynthia), Ryan, Vanessa

Right to Left on Bottom: Nicole, Pierce, Kamilah

Another favorite!

Spring Break?

2011-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

We were hoping to breath a little over Spring Break, but it seems we are just as busy as ever. It doesn't quite feel like a break. We have loads of school work, David is giving a 20 minute sermon on Easter Sunday,my mom and I are throwing a Baby Shower for my sister who is coming down from Canada with her husband, we have to find a way to get our car to pass smog, and there are a few other menial things to take care of. Needless to say, WE ARE BUSY! But, it is good. We are excited to see my sister and brother-in-law. I am excited for the shower. We are excited to celebrate Easter with family. It's Peter's first Easter. There are a lot of good thing happening this week, so the busyness is good, right? Also, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I graduate next month! and David only has one more semester till he graduates! Then he will be off to some Doctorate program for physical therapy and I will be able to more fully enjoy motherhood. I know we are supposed to enjoy the now and not wish for the later, and I feel like we do this most of the time, but I just can't wait until school is over for me and David is further on his way to becoming a Physical Therapist. Anyway... Life Is Good! We love you all. And wish you a Happy Easter and a great Spring Break.

Here is a picture of Peter just because we think he is so cute! And you can't have a post without a picture, right?

Keeping Busy

2011-02-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

School has consumed most of our time and thoughts for the last month, but we found time to relax and enjoy family this past weekend. Annie, Adam and their three kids, Ryan, Natalie, and Jason, came to visit for a week. So over the three day weekend we enjoyed spending lots of time together. We played a lot of Pinochle, other card games, dominoes, ladder ball, and even some basketball. We had a blast! Unfortunately, we were having so much fun that I didn't get any photos taken! But I assure you we enjoyed ourselves. Now we're back to the grind stone and working hard to catch up on the work we should have been doing over the weekend. Life is good though. It is good to be busy :)

Peter is growing so fast! He now has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom. He is rolling and scooting all over the place. He isn't quite crawling yet. He can get up on all fours and move backwards and lunge himself forward, but he hasn't quite figured out how to crawl. Peter had his first haircut on Saturday! He had the comb over look going on so we gave him a little trim. It looks kind of good, I think. Here is a picture...

Love to all of you. Here are some more photos of Peter being cute...

All bundled up to go for a walk!

Hang'n out in his Johnny-Jump-Up.

Being cute!

Being silly... a face only his parents can love ;)

Our little Peter :D

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-01-26T10:46:00.000-08:00

We know we're a little late with this, but here we go...

The first thing we did was set up the nativity.

Then we went and picked out a tree from a tree lot.

Peter is excited that we have a tree in the house!

He thought he would see if it tasted as good as it smelled ;)

The tree is decorated and ready to go!

Peter chill'n in his festive Christmas sweater :)

As we predicted... Peter enjoyed the wrapping paper more than his presents.

We had a wonderful Christmas as a little family of three. We felt like Christmas took on a whole new meaning this year. Having Peter has helped us realize how special the gift our Heavenly Father gave is. We see how much He must love us. We knew of this love before we had Peter, but I think we are now able to look at the gift of His only begotten Son from a different perspective. Now that we have a son, whom we love with all our hearts, and would give our life if it meant saving his... I think we can understand just a little bit more, how hard it must have been for our Father in heaven to send His Son to earth and watch Him go through the trials, tribulations, and suffering that He needed to experience. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly, it is hard to describe the difference in feeling we had this Christmas... but we are truly grateful for the gift of our Savior, and to our Heavenly Father for sending Him to save us from sin and death, to provide a way for us to return and live with Them again.

It's Christmas Time!

2010-12-19T15:14:00.000-08:00

The semester has ended and Christmas is almost here! Family is coming into town, the tree is decorated, presents are wrapped, and we are on vacation for two weeks! This is one of our favorite times of the year. We both survived finals last week, David is off work for two weeks, and school doesn't start back up until January 19th! We are on vacation! We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. This will be Peter's first Christmas! Though he won't remember anything... we want to make this Christmas special :)

Peter is getting so big! He now has two teeth! His bottom two teeth poked through two weeks ago. We have started him on cereal and plan to introduce him to veggies next week. He is growing so fast and getting cuter every day.

Well... Gwen Hawkins, a good family friend, took some pictures of our little family along with the Murphy family, Yvonne's family. We didn't take a picture of the whole Murphy clan because Vanessa, the oldest who lives in Canada with her hubby, couldn't make it down :( we are going to miss them this Christmas... Anyway, here are some pictures of our little family.

Thanksgiving Break

2010-12-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it to Idaho safely, despite the snow. We had to put chains on twice, each time we crossed over Donner Pass. That was an adventure! It was the first time either of us tried to put chains on. We had never even watched anyone put chains on before. But, David figured it out, and on the way back it went much more smoothly. Peter was a pretty good traveler. Every once in a while he would get a little fussy, but I would too if I was confined in a car seat for hours.

When we got to Annie's house in Idaho it was bellow freezing! I think it was about 7 degrees or so. But we sure had fun! We played games, laughed, ate, took pictures and videos. We had a wonderful time. Annie and Adam have a beautiful home. We were glad that we were able to make the drive and spend time with all the Reynders. Thanks for the fun time Annie :)

We got to meet little baby Jason! Annie and Adams newest addition. He is soooo cute! Here's a picture of him, Peter, and Grandma Jo.

Here is a picture that Paige took of our little family. We went to the state capital building in Boise to take some family photos. I think they turned out great! Thanks Paige :)

And here is a picture of the whole Reynders clan!

Can Hardly Wait!

2010-11-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

We are soooo excited for Thanksgiving! This year we are going up to Annie and Adam's home in Idaho. It is going to be a really long drive, but we are actually looking forward to it! We will stop about half way and spend the night at Yvonne's aunt's home in Nevada. It is going to be great to get to see so much family! This will be the first time in about two years that all the Reynders will be together... it is going to be awesome!

Pumpkin pie, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes! Here we come!

LIFE

2010-11-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our lives are exciting and busy right now. We are both in school full time, David is working, and Peter is a full time job for both of us. Yvonne is almost done with school. One more semester! and she will have a B.S. in Child Development! David is close to being done with his undergraduate work, but then has to go on and get his masters and possibly a doctorate in Physical Therapy. Anyway, life is busy, but oh so wonderful. Peter is growing fast! He is such a great kid. We love him so much. We feel blessed that our Heavenly Father entrusted us with one of His choice spirits.

Because we are busy, we are not doing that great at keeping up on our blog. BUT, we have made a goal to improve. So hopefully we can keep this goal and keep all who care about our crazy lives updated. We love you all! Thanks for your friendship, love, and support.

Pictures of Peter: From 2 to 5 Months

2010-11-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

4 - 5 Months

3 - 4 Months

2 - 3 Months

A whole new life...

2010-06-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well, it is settling in a little more... life will never be the same. This isn't a bad thing, and we expected this to be the case, but it is now really settling in. We love our little Peter Allen. He is the best thing that ever happened to our little family, but things sure do change when you add a little one.

We are getting used to getting up a few times each night, taking turns changing diapers, and claening up spit-up. We are getting better at preventing Peter from peeing on us every time we change him. We are excited that his umbilical cord fell off this week and that he is gaining weight. We love his little gas smiles and all the grunting noises he makes. Who knew that such things would consume our thoughts all day every day.

David started his summer Chemistry class last week and started working summer school this week. He is a busy guy... I'm not sure how he does it. This means, however, that I am at home alone with this little baby who is not quite three weeks old! It was a little overwhelming at first but we are getting the hang of it.

We are learning a lot and love to watch Peter grow. We can't wait till he can give us real smiles and laugh and play!

2010-06-17T20:57:00.001-07:00

He's Here!... Peter's Birthday

2010-06-17T20:46:00.001-07:00

Peter Allen Reynders joined our family June 9th at 6:51 am. He came into this world at 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches long. He is perfect in every way. We love him so much!

2010-06-17T20:45:00.001-07:00

Still Waiting...

2010-06-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sneak peak at our son's room. His name is not noodle, that's a little inside joke between David and I, but when we name him we plan to place his name in wooden blocks over his crib. We are getting more and more anxious for him to come. Our doctor had us thinking that he would be here by now, but we are still waiting. His due date is this coming Saturday, June 12th... but we are sure hoping he comes before then. We are anxious to meet our new son and start on our journey as parents.

Maternity Shoot

2010-05-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

HELLO!

2010-05-18T13:57:00.001-07:00

The post above are some pictures that Gwen Hawkins took for us, she had never done a maternity shoot before and wanted some practice, so we gladly allowed her to...

Well It has been a while since we last wrote... life has been busy! This week is finals week for both of us at Fresno State, so we are at the end! We can see the light, summer here we come! We are also getting very close to our son's due date :) We are now at 36 weeks and 3 days! This means only 3 weeks and 4 days to go! June 12th is right around the corner... and who knows, he could come early... We are excited for his arrival to our family. We are still preparing ourselves in every aspect. We feel so blessed to be able to be parents.

We are also anxiously awaiting the homecoming of Sister Kate Reynders! We can't wait to see her again and hang out with her every day till she leaves for school. She is great and we are exited for her to come home. Also, this means that Paige, Robert, Reagan, Annie, Adam, Ryan, and Natalie will all be visiting us in Fresno! We are going to have a blast next weekend!

The Baby Bump is Here!

2010-02-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

David and I are getting more and more excited about our little boy on the way. We are now in the 26th week! Our boy is jumping and moving around all over the place, it is sure fun... David got to feel him from the outside for the first time one week ago today. He is getting bigger and stronger. It is so fun!

We had an ultrasound done on Friday and we actually got to see how big our son is getting. They did all the standard measurements; the circumference of the head, the abdomen, and then the length of the femur bone (the thigh bone). When she measured the femur, she was shocked at how long it was... she told us that our boy is going to be tall, then she looked over at us and said, "Well, I can see why. You were probably expecting him to be tall." Which I guess we were... We think it is so neat how advanced technology has become. She also showed us that he has a lot of meat on him. He already has chubby legs. We also got to see the four little chambers of our baby's heart beating and working together! This is definitely an exciting time!

School Is In Session

2010-01-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! School is in session! We are busy, busy, busy! Work, school, and church sure keep our minds and time occupied... It looks like this is going to be a tough semester for both of us. But it will also be fun!

Well, we are now in the 20th week and the baby is moving a little, it is fun to feel him move around. The belly is not too big yet, you can see a little baby bump, but mostly I just look fat! I am right on schedule as far as the recommended weight gain goes, but since I have such a long torso the baby can hide and spread out a little more.

We still have a lot to do to prepare for the baby... We have cleaned out our second bedroom for the baby. We organized the closet and put boxes away into our little storage closet outside. We are so excited, it is sometimes hard to concentrate on our school work!

We sure love all of ya ;)

We're having a BOY!!!

2010-01-15T17:16:00.001-08:00

We just found out this afternoon that we are expecting a boy! We are totally excited! We already have a little pair of swim trunks, thanks to Paige :). We feel overwhelmed with joy and with responsibilities. We are looking forward to this June! Man, there is so much to do...

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-29T18:14:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! We hope you all had a great Christmas... we sure did. We stayed in town for the holidays because both of our families were here. We spent very little time at our home. We spent the bulk of the day bouncing back and forth between the Murphy's home and the Reynders' home. We loved being able to spend time with both families, and with each other.

If you want to... feel free to take a look at our Christmas album on photobucket. I think you can just follow the link at the bottom of the slide show we created.

Well, have a happy new year!!! Here we come 2010!!!

We're having a BABY!!!

2009-12-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that most of you know this already, but i wanted to officially post it for all to see... David and i will be parents in June 2010. The due date is set for June 12th. We are so excited! I am 14 weeks along and feeling great ;) I have been really lucky... I haven't really been sick at all... We are going to find out what gender the baby is, but we probably won't know that until the beginning of January. We will let you know when we know... Well, we love you all... have a wonderful Christmas!

Happy Times!

2009-11-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since David and I last posted anything. We did have a fun Halloween... We dressed up as Where's Waldo and his girlfriend Wenda. We actually won the best couples costume contest at our ward party... wooohooo! That was a great accomplishment :) Mama Reynders made the shirts for us, and fixed up the hats a little. She was quit a big help in convincing David to dress up. He wasn't to keen on the idea at first, bu he had fun with it. My stockings were the hardest part. We had to use red duck tape and apply each stripe individually.
Well... We are excited for Thanksgiving. It is one of our favorite holidays. We will be staying in town, since we both had classes yesterday, Monday, and today. My mother's side of the family does a huge reunion every year here in town. We are excited to see all sorts of family and of course food! We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and we will try to post more often. Love you all!

1 Year Anniversary!

2009-08-23T16:13:00.001-07:00

This last week David and I went on a cruise for four nights on the Carnival Paradise Ship. We visited the Catalina Islands and Ensenada in Baja California Mexico. We had a great time shopping, site seeing, eating free food available 24 hours a day, and relaxing. We both tried to get a tan too, but we are so white that we weren't too successful, though I think we might have gone from florescent white to neutral white... Anyway, we had a wonderful time. The Crew on the ship was wonderful, the service was great, and the food was to die for. It is something we would definitely enjoy doing again.

Camping the Murphy Way...

2009-08-23T15:17:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago, David and I joined my family in some great traditional Murphy camping fun. We camped on the Dinky Creek camping grounds in a tent for three nights! We had fun hiking, swimming, eating, and hanging out. We had a blast! It was especially nice to have the whole family together. My dad is a truck driver so he isn't home too often but he was able to make it. Also, my sister Vanessa and her husband Ryan were able to come down from Canada. It was great to have everyone together again.

2009-08-09T13:15:00.001-07:00

Hey there everyone! Summer has been great so far... last week was the Thorley Reunion. This is an annual event where everyone from my mother-in-law's side of the family gathers for an extraordinary reunion on the Thorley Mountain. It is a beautiful place to be... I was so excited for the reunion I must have lost at least 3 nights of sleep over it. We had a great time hanging out with family and getting to know each other better. There was great food, fun, entertainment, and projects to do. We had an absolute blast!

Right before the reunion, the immediate Mark and Jo Linda Reynders family had a little reunion. That was a lot of fun too... The last day of this reunion, all of us kids and our husbands and wives went on a hike. We hiked through the Subway in Zion National Park. It was a great hike. We had to jump in some nasty water, repel about five times, and go up and down steep mountainsides. After that hike we were all dead tiered. We had a lot of fun though. We weren't exactly sure where we were supposed to be going and the trail wasn't marked that well, so we had fun trying to figure everything out. The only directions we had were telling us to scamper, and look for the hoodoo or something of that sort... they weren't very helpful. Here is a little video that david put together from our hike...

Summer Has Begun

2009-06-18T21:13:00.001-07:00

David and I successfully finished another semester of school, and since we work for the school district we have a little 2 week break from work. Both of us are attending summer school and working summer school. We started our summer by taking a trip to Arizona to witness the sealing of Tom and Megan Thorley for time and all eternity. It was a beautiful thing to witness. We had a great time visiting with family and friends. One of David’s old missionary companions, Heath Wilcock, lives in Mesa, Arizona so we were able to meet up with him and his wife Emily at the wedding reception. They are a great couple, it was great to meet them and listen to David and Heath reminisce about their mission in the West Indies.

We left Arizona around 5:00 am Sunday morning and made our way to Lancaster to attend church with the Blair family. It is always great being around the Blair's, Aunt Martha is the best. We love her to pieces. Not only because she made us a delicious dinner and homemade ice cream... but because she is always so kind and fun. While we were in Lancaster we visited Poppy or Coach Reynders. This was actually the first time I got to meet him and talk with him. He is such a cute man, I could feel his sweet spirit just being by him and talking to him. We also went to the hospital and visited Grandma Reynders. She always makes us laugh; it was great to see her again.

Before this wonderful trip, David and I got to see our sisters graduate from Buchanan High. Janet and Nicole are now all grown up and moving on to bigger and better things. Because of this exciting event my sister Vanessa flew in from Canada, where she is living with her husband, and my dad was able to make it home too. It was great to have the entire Murphy's together again. Yesterday, I drove my dad and Vanessa to the Oakland Airport. We had a little time between when my dad left and when Vanessa's flight was to leave, so we spent some time at the Oakland Temple and in the Visitors Center there. We had a lot of fun.

Oh... Our first flower in our garden bloomed! Yeah! Here is a picture ;)

Pioneer Treck

2009-04-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Life is GREAT! David and I have been busy with work and school, but we are still loving life. Last Saturday we had the opportunity to be a Ma and Pa over a company of 80 youth, for a quad stake Pioneer Trek. There were about 500 youth in total that came and participated. The event lasted all day... we went about a mile pushing handcarts and stopped for some fun stations. There was a station about the saints sacrifices while building the Nauvoo Temple, how the saints would have killed and prepared a chicken, how to use a bow and arrow, we learned a dance that the saints would have done, we sat and listened to stories of great pioneers, and we learned how to cook biscuits in a dutch oven. After we went to all of these stations we headed out with our handcarts. We then stopped to see a reenactment of the sweet river rescue of the Willie and Martin handcart companies. It was amazing! I posted the video at the end of this so you can watch if you would like. After the reenactment we headed onward with our wagons for the place we would end our journey and receive a delicious meal. We had a wonderful time. It was great to feel a little sense of what the pioneers endured and appreciate the sacrifices they made. Well that is all for now. We love you all, and hope all is well with you.

Happy Easter/ Birthday

2009-04-13T14:54:00.001-07:00

On Saturday my mothers side of the family all got together for an Easter family reunion. It was at a park, so we got to play lots of fun outdoor games. It was really nice to see all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had an Easter egg hunt, we died eggs, had an egg tossing contest, played some football, ate great food... it was amazing!

Sunday was even better! David and I had the opportunity to sing in the ward choir. We did a special music program. We had three speakers who spoke about the theme of each song we sang. Everything tied together so well; it was wonderful.

Since Sunday was also David's birthday, we went to the Reynders' home to celebrate. David really wanted me to make clam chowder for his birthday dinner... but not any clam chowder, he wanted his mom's clam chowder. So, JoLinda taught me how to make the best clam chowder ever. It was delicious. We opened presents, ate delicious cake, and played some fun family games. We had a great time. Spring break was sure fun, but now it is time to come back into reality and go to school and work...

We love you all! Have a great week!

Flower Planting & The Zoo

2009-04-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

Spring Break

2009-04-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

This last week has been wonderful. David and I both were off of school and work. It was nice not having to run from school to work and back and forth... We were able to catch up a little with some of our school work. We also went through a lot of trouble to try to get our car to pass smog so we can register it.

On Wednesday David and I planted a garden of flowers. We bought three different kinds of flower bulbs. We hope they grow, we are afraid we planted them a little too late. I sure hope they grow. We have been wanting to plant flowers ever since we moved in. Anyway, that was a lot of fun!

We went to the Chafe Zoo on Thursday. It was a lot of fun! We went with a couple in our ward, Jeremy & Danielle Snow. They live in the same apartment complex as us, and they both graduated with David. We love them, they have been good friends to us. Our main reason for going to the zoo was for me to complete a lab for my Biology class... so I was busy writing down information about various animals. We still had tons of fun. After a couple hours at the zoo we got lunch and played games with the Snow's for a couple more hours.

On Friday David and I worked on homework until five o'clock and then went to dinner and a movie. I got a $50 gift card to some restaurant from the girls I coach and a pair of movie tickets. So, David and I decided to go out on a free date. It was nice to just go out and spend time together.

We Are Still Alive

2009-03-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hello there! All is going well with the Reynders family. We are keeping busy with work and school. This semester has been a little more difficult for us. As you probably know, this is David’s first semester at Fresno State. He is in three hard science classes, each with their own lab. He has to spend many hours studying and preparing for his classes. I am taking eighteen units at Fresno City, so I am pretty busy with school work too. Hopefully this is my last semester at Fresno City; I applied to Fresno State University with hopes of attending there in the fall. I hope I get in; Fresno State is cutting the amount of students that they are allowing in next semester, because of all the budget cuts.

Work is going great for both of us. David is still working with the upper grade autistic children and I am working with the children in seventh through ninth grade. We have learned a lot about autism and continue to learn about it each day we go to work. We really enjoy the kids and staff that we work with. These jobs have been great for both of us.

We have plans to attend summer school this summer and to work in the summer autistic program. We hope we can fit both in this summer schedule. We are also looking forward to going to Tom and Megan’s wedding this summer; that will be a lot of fun.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-25T17:37:00.001-08:00

2009-01-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving and Christmas! We had a wonderful holiday season. We spent Thanksgiving here in Clovis, Ca. The Reynders spent Thanksgiving in Utah with the rest of the Thorley clan, so we spent our Thanksgiving with my family. Every year my mothers side of the family has a huge gathering for Thanksgiving. We do a pot luck dinner, so we always have a lot of food. I made two pumpkin pies that we brought and shared. We had a great time hanging out with my family.

Christmas was also a lot of fun. We woke up around 6 am and did our own little Christmas at home. We opened the gifts that we had gotten for each other and rummaged through our stockings. The rest of the day was spent bouncing back and forth to our parents homes. First, we went to the Murphy's home, my parents home, and had breakfast and played games, and exchanged gifts. Then we went over to the Reynders' home and broke through the posters that we made the night before (there are pictures of this). We then played games and hung out. We also exchanged gifts there. Mama Reynders made a delicious Christmas lunch for all of us. It was great! We hung out with Robert & Paige, and Annie & Adam, it was great seeing them again. Then we went back over to the Murphy's and had a great Christmas dinner provided by Mama Murphy. We had a wonderful Christmas!

Prop 8

2009-01-17T14:55:00.001-08:00

2009-01-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Proposition 8 passed in all three states! Woohoo! I know that this was a little while ago but... we want to document all that occurred last year. David and I had a great time helping in all the efforts for proposition 8. We spent some Saturdays walking precincts and handing out fliers... but our favorite memory of our prop 8 efforts was when we went out and put up yard signs. It was a Sunday evening and we had just had dinner with the Reynders. Janet, Scott, Kate, David, and I all decided that we should go out and put up the 100 yard signs that David and I had in our trunk. So, we put together all the signs and headed off to place the signs along some major roads. While we were putting up signs we got nothing but positive feedback... people were honking horns and shouting out their windows, "Yes on 8!", but just as we were finishing up, an angry young boy drives by and shouts mean things at us. We didn't think much of it, we were done so we just hopped back in the car. As we were about to pull out back onto the main road, the boy sped up the side of us and cut us off and started shouting things at us. He had made an illegal U-turn to come and shout at us for putting up signs and told us that they would all be gone tomorrow. He then sped off, once he saw he wasn't going to get any response from us. We went back to the Reynders and shared what had happened and just laughed about the whole situation. It was a great experience to be a part of such a noble cause and to defend the true definition of marriage. We are glad that the voice of the people was heard on this issue.

Halloween 2008

2009-01-06T14:55:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2009-01-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

We had our first Halloween together this last October. We didn't do too much but we wanted to document this happy day. Our ward had a Halloween party before Halloween day. We didn't know what to wear, and David didn't really want to dress up unless we had something really neat, so we ended up just wearing matching pajamas... lame, but our ward still loves us. Then a couple days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. I'm really sad that I didn't take a picture of them; they actually looked really good. Anyway, on Halloween day, after work and school, David and I ordered a jack-o-lantern pizza to celebrate. We then went trick-or-treating... well kind of... the old Lady living next door to us, saw us walk by her door and was so excited to hand out her candy that she opened her door and stopped us to give us candy. We then went over to my parents home and I got a couple hand fulls of candy. We then ended up staying at my parents house and watched National Treasure. We didn't do much, but it was fun!

2009-01-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

WOW! It has been a while since we last wrote! Don't worry... we are still alive. We want to document some of the things we have done since September.

I now have a new job, I am an instructional assistant at Granite Ridge Intermediate in the autistic program there. I now do the same thing David does for work, but I am working with kids who are a little older.

We both finished a great semester at Fresno City College. David is going to be attending Fresno State in a couple of weeks and I will start my last semester at Fresno City in a week. School and work keeps us both pretty busy (hence no blog posts since September).

Now I will write several posts to try and update you on our lives.

Our First Home

2008-09-22T19:46:00.001-07:00

Our Life In Clovis

2008-09-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Life with the Reynders is never boring. There is always something going on. School and work take up most of our time, but I also coach basketball at Clovis High and we both have callings to fulfill. I am the Faith in God Leader for the eight and nine year old girls, and I love it! The girls are always full of excitement. They love to learn and have fun, I can honestly say my calling is never boring. David is an assistant teacher in the Deacons Quorum. He actually taught his first lesson two Sundays ago. He loves his calling as well.

Our apartment is slowly coming to feel more and more like a home. We have more pictures up on the wall and we put up curtains last weekend in our kitchen and living room. We love our little apartment. Above are some pictures of our cute little home.

We had our first guests for dinner on Saturday. We invited the missionaries over for dinner. It was really nice to have them in our home. I made sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and rice. It turned out pretty good, I think. It was the first time I attempted to make it by myself. I added some red and green bell peppers for some more flavor and color. I know the missionaries liked it, they each had about 4 servings! Man those men can eat. Anyway, we love our home here in Clovis, it is a nice place to escape from all the distractions in our everyday lives.

2008-08-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been a while since I last wrote. Our lives have been pretty busy. School started for us at Fresno City College on the 18th of this month. I guess that is just last week, but it seems like it has been longer. Also, this Monday, the 25th, David started his new job at Liberty Elementary as an instructional assistant for the autistic children. We both enjoy school and work, but David and I have conflicting schedules, so it is kind of hard.

On Mondays David doesn't have to work, he just has one 2 hour class at night from 6:30-8:30pm. I work from 9am-6pm on these days, so we don't really get to see each other until David gets out of school at night. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, David has work from 8am-3pm then he goes to school from 3:30-8:20pm. I go to school from 8am-5pm on these days, so once again we don't get to see each other until late at night. On Wednesdays David gets out of work earlier, he gets out of work at 1pm and doesn't have school until 6:30pm and I work from 9-6pm so when I get off work, David leaves for school. On Fridays David just has work from 8am-3:30pm and I work from 9am-6pm so we have the evening after I get off work. This is our new official temple night. With all the chaos of our schedules during the week, it is nice to have a break.

We are verry happy, even though we have these busy scedules. We feel blessed for the jobs we have and the opportunity that we have to attend college. Life in the Reynders shoes is busy but enjoyable. We are still verry much in love and striving to do all that we can now to prepare for our future. I attached one of our engagement photos just because :)

Seasons of Life

2008-08-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, August 15th, my cousin Peter married a wonderful young lady. They are so cute together, in this new season of their lives. He is almost twice her size though. My cousin is about 6'2" and his new wife, Mia, is about 5'0". We attended their wedding reception Friday evening. It was real fun, the theme was Asian, because Mia is Hmong. We enjoyed all of the decorations and interesting food. And of course we had some fun dancing.

On Saturday David and I had the opportunity to travel down to Lancaster for a mission Farewell. David's cousin, Tommy Blair, will be serving in the Houston, Texas mission. Tommy is going to be a great missionary, he has a great love for the Lord and for the gospel. While we were there celebrating Tommy's new season of life, I got to meet some more of David's family. I love having all of these new, fun relatives. I love Family! New and old, it is so wonderful. Anyway I posted here a picture of David, Tommy, and I. We had a great time at the Blair's home. They are great people and I am happy to now be part of their family.

Family Reunion

2008-08-08T16:58:00.001-07:00

2008-08-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend David and I attended the Thorley family reunion in southern Utah. Grandpa Thorley and his brothers own the top of a mountain above Zion National Park. It is covered with beautiful aspen trees. I think that the aspen is now my new favorite tree, they are so amazing. I didn't know that they grow off of each other, all of the trees that cover the top of the Thorley mountain are actually just one big plant. I find that fascinating. Anyway, we had a fantastic time at the reunion. We slept in a tent, ate delicious food, built a mini cabin, danced, four wheeled, hiked, laughed, cried, and enjoyed our wonderful relatives.

On Sunday at the end of our church meeting on the mountain, we had the opportunity to be with Kate as she opened her mission call. It was a real sweet experience. Kate will be serving the Lord in Winnipeg, Canada. Kate is a wonderful person, we know she will be an amazing missionary. From what I see, she already is. We love Kate and are so excited for her.

We have attached a slide show of pictures from the reunion at the cabin. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so these pictures are ones that I stole from Annie and Jo Linda (thanks!). We had a wonderful time. I must say, I am pleased to be a part of the Thorley/Reynders family. I love everyone I have met and I am looking forward to getting to know them better.

The Best Day of Our Life

2008-08-05T14:10:00.001-07:00

2008-08-05T14:05:00.001-07:00

The Reynders Family was officially established on June 28th, 2008. David and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Fresno California temple on this wonderful day. We are excited about life and have high hopes for our future together. For all of you who weren't able to make it to our wedding I put together a little slide show of pictures from our wedding day.

The Hike Up Half Dome

2008-08-05T12:58:00.001-07:00

2008-08-05T12:52:00.002-07:00

David and I hiked half Dome before we were married. Even though it was a while ago we still wanted to share our experience through a little video we put together. We had a great time and it didn't take us that long. We thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the Lords creations. There is a breathtaking view from the top. You can see it in the video, but it is so much better in real life.

Our Honeymoon

2008-08-05T12:41:00.001-07:00

2008-07-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

David and I went on a honeymoon to Monterey. We had a great time! We stayed in Pacific Grove in a cute little lodge. While in Monterey we visited the Bay Aquarium. It was amazing! I had never been there before so I was just taken back by all of the wonderful things we were able to see. We also went kayaking in the bay. We got to wear wet suites and splash jackets so we look real professional in our photos. While kayaking we saw many of God's beautiful creations. We saw sea otters, sea lions, many birds, but the coolest animals we got to see close up was a pair of dolphins. They came up real close to our boat! It was a fantastic experience.

After a few days in Monterey we decided to travel up the coast a little farther to Santa Cruz. We found a nice hotel close to the beach and boardwalk and stayed there for one night. We spent a day on the famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We had a wonderful time. We went on many rides, David got a little nauseous after a couple rides, but we enjoyed ourselves. We lost our keys on one of the rides too, luckily we were able to find them. After we had enough rides we laid out on the beach, it was really peaceful, we didn't want to leave. But we were happy to come home and open our many wedding presents.