Just Cause....

I took these cute pictures of Katelyn so I had to post them....

Peru

Kyle returned home from Peru last Saturday after being gone for 9 days. He had an amazing trip and was blessed by the opportunity to serve those in need. He said it puts a lot of things in perspective and taught him a lot about how trivial some of our everyday problems are in comparison to the people in Peru. While he was there the group gave away 150 wheelchairs to those to could not walk. Kyle said some of them had laid on a floor in their home their entire lives and had to be carried by their family to where the group was at in hopes of getting a wheelchair. In one of the villages Kyle was able to pick up a young girl about 14 years old who had never been able to walk and help her into a wheelchair. He and his father were both touched by the moment. It must've been amazing to watch her face as she smiled joyfully knowing she was gaining mobility for the first time in 14 years and will forever remember Kyle as the person who handed her that gift. Our prayer is that God will not only touch her life, but he lives of others who received wheelchairs during their trip.

While the group was there they were also able to do some "touristy" stuff and visited Machu Picchu, one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was built around the year 1460, but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. It's been said that it was the only city the Spanish conquistadors were unable to find when trying to take over during the Inca Empire.

Rain, Rain go away, we want the sunshine to come out and play

After raining all day and all night on Friday the sun came out early Saturday afternoon. Katelyn and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and go for a dip in the spa. We turned the temperature down so Katelyn could go in and it wouldn't be too hot. Leah even joined in the fun. Katelyn loves the water and she enjoyed splashing around. Kyle and his dad made it home safely from Peru and Kyle was catching some zzzzzzzz's so he didn't go swimming with us. Katelyn and I had such a wonderful time staying with Kyle's Mom while Kyle and his Dad were gone. I even got a couple hours of "me" time to run errands without having to drag Katelyn in and out of the car. It was great! There's something about being down at the ocean, hearing the constant sound of the waves that's very relaxing. Even though Katelyn battled a cold all week, it didn't stop her from busily exploring the house all day. She's really starting to get into everything!

Making a fruit salad

Katelyn decided she wanted to help make the fruit salad for dinner. She loved hanging out on the kitchen counter.

Katelyn's 7 Months Old

I decided to give Picture People another try for Katelyn's 7 month pictures. Mostly because we're having her dedicated next weekend and I really wanted some pictures of her to show at the party where she's wearing the dress she'll be dedicated in. The photo shoot went great! She was all smiles and every picture came out great. I didn't order them all, but here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

Getting ready for Bidwell's Chain Reaction show next month

Life at the beach...

As many of you know Kyle is away in Peru on a mission trip through Mariner's and the Free Wheelchair Mission. He is having an amazing time and God is really ministering to both him and his father. Meanwhile, back in California, Katelyn and I packed up the car on Tuesday and headed down to my in-law's beach house for some R&R. It's been great being down here, enjoying the sunshine, the sound of the waves, barking of the seals, and the gorgeous sunsets. We are so blessed to have been invited down for the week. Katelyn is loving having so much more space to crawl around and explore. Speaking of exploring, now that Katelyn is getting her 2nd bottom tooth she is exploring everything with her mouth. Poor thing, she's just gnawing on everything!! She's even taking her pacifier as of late. Well I decided to go out and buy her some teething biscuits and some Gerber fruit and veggie puffs. She is loving the teething biscuits. In fact today she sat in her little highchair, naked, enjoying one of them. What a messy treat they are!! I know babies are supposed to get messy and it's so much fun watching her enjoy herself. She just kicks her feet, smiles, and talks to us as she eats. Today she made such a mess that I decided that a wet wipe wouldn't do the trick and ended up putting her into the sink and giving her a bath. That biscuit got everywhere... her hair, diaper, hands, feet, nose, ears.... hahaha. 

Katelyn loved being in the sink, she played with the faucet and splashed in the water, all while I was diligently trying to get her cleaned up. Of course my mother-in-law and I had to get some pictures. At one point I ran downstairs to grab her towel and Jan said she decided to stand up in the sink, on her own! Oh boy! My baby girl is growing up so fast.

Arbonne Spa Party

Last Sunday afternoon I had a couple of my girlfriends over for a spa party. My friend Christine is a consultant for a company called Arbonne and they recently released a detox spa line and she had asked me if I wanted to throw a little party where we would do mud masks and pedicures. I love Arbonne products, I use the entire baby line on Katelyn and I use their face products for myself so it was a no brainer... of course I would get some girlfriends together. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we all had a wonderful time pampering ourselves. All we talked about was how we should do this more often. My friends had so much fun that 2 of them are having parties of their own next month. Arbonne is a great company and all their products are truly natural, containing elements of the earth that revitalize your skin and body. After the party Christine and I got to talking and I decided that I was going to become a consultant myself. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but have just never done. Check out their website and let me know if you are interested in trying any of their products; I'd be more than happy to order them for you. Or you can order them yourself, just plug in my consultant number 18060128. Happy Shopping.

p.s let me know if you'd like to come to my next party or host one yourself. You won't be sorry. It's so much fun to pamper yourself once in a while.

1st Meal in my Highchair

From the Bumbo...

to the highchair. 

Our little girl is growing up. Today Katelyn and I went to Target to buy a highchair. She's starting to try and get out of her Bumbo and Kyle and I were worried she'd figure it out, fall out of it and hurt herself. This one was on clearance, so we got a great deal. Of course I had to get a few pictures of Katelyn sitting in it.

Mommy's helper

Yesterday Jessica came over to go walking and after our walk our kids played on the living room floor together for a little while. Jessica had to change Brooke's diaper and Katelyn decided she would help her out. We got a good laugh out of it. Jess, thanks for keeping me company for a few hours to keep my mind off Kyle being gone.

A Hawaiian tradition...

In my family it's a tradition,  since my Dad's family is from Hawaii, for a Grandma or Great Aunt to give a Hawaiian name to new babies born into the family. When I was born, I was given the Hawaiian name Kama Kana WeWehi O'Kalani, which means "precious gift of heaven." I was given this name because my mom had Endometriosis and couldn't get pregnant. When she accepted Christ into her life, He healed her and she became pregnant. They were also blessed with my brother. Because of this it was extremely important to Kyle and I that Katelyn have a Hawaiian name and so we asked my Grandma if she'd give Katelyn one. We wanted to include it on her dedication certificate. Last night my grandma emailed us to say that she wanted to give Katelyn a prophetic name meaning "seeker of heaven:" Kaimilani. It's so beautiful and suits her so well! I couldn't have picked a better name. Thanks so much Grandma Bachran!!

We can't wait to dedicate Katelyn Renee Kaimilani Circle to Jesus at the end of the month.

A Walk and the Park

When Jess and I go walking on the trail by her house there's a great park at the 1/2 way point we love to stop at. The first couple times we were there Jess and I would watch Jake (2 yrs.) run around and go down the slide, but today I put Katelyn in the swing. She loved it!! She even kicks her feet back and forth and holds on so well. Of course, she wasn't so happy when it was time to get back in the stroller and continue on our walk. Guess I'm going to have to make it a point to take her to the park just to swing on the swings. I love that she's getting bigger and stronger and is able to do fun activities, like swinging in the swings. 




Brooke had so much fun watching Katelyn on the swings she decided she wanted to give it a try as well.

Crawl in Progress

Say Cheese!!

When Kyle's away the girls will play....

and clean. Well I'm pretty sure I'm going to be seeing this image a lot from now one. We officially have a mover and she is on the go! I left her for one minute in the living room playing with her toys to put some towels away and when I came back she was stuck under the dinning room table. Yikes! I have to admit it's fun to watch her crawl around and explore what's around her. And she laughs while she's doing it. It's so funny because I was so anxious for her to become mobile and now that she is, I'm asking her to slow down and enjoy relaxing and playing with her toys. I'm sure all you mothers out there are giggle and silently saying, "I told you so." And you did. I had to get some shots of her crawling around.

Oh and here's her new favorite thing to do. And no... she can't pull herself up there yet, but she loves to stand and hold onto tables, chairs, couches.... anything sturdy enough to hold her.

Kyle headed up to Sacramento for the weekend to see the band he manages, Bidwell, play their first home show since they got out of the studio recording. He hadn't been to a home show, so it was great for him to see the band play in their home town and hear the new music. I'm jealous and wish I could've been there too. He said the show was awesome and lot's of fans showed up. While Kyle was in Sactown, Katelyn and I spend Saturday down at the beach house enjoying the company of many of our family friends and the sunshine. I can't believe it's 80 degrees in January. Not going to complain, not many people can say they are heading to the pool in January. Today Katelyn and I woke up, ate, cuddled in bed, took a nap, cleaned house and now Katelyn's napping again as I sit here blogging and watching the Chargers/Pittsburgh game.

Kyle comes home tonight and I'm so excited! We'll have to try and do some fun family stuff this week because on Friday Kyle leaves for Peru for 8 days! Yes you read right... Peru. He and his dad are going with some people from Mariner's Church through the Free Wheelchair Mission to Peru to build wheelchairs for those who can't walk. It's going to be an amazing experience and he's so excited to have the opportunity to go.

Katelyn's being dedicated at Mariner's Church on January 31st and MOPs begins on January 20th so we're excited for the busy month ahead. 

Steppin' it up...

As many of you know I began going to MOPs (Mother's of Preschoolers) at Mariner's Church last fall. I really enjoyed my experience there and have made some wonderful new friends as a result. One new friendship I'm really treasuring is the one with my new walking partner. It's great to have someone to walk and talk with, someone to keep me accountable, and to laugh and pray with. Thanks Jess! The new semester of MOPs is beginning at the end of January and I really felt God calling me to become more involved, so I've stepped up to help out as a table leader. My table leader in the fall is also in charge of the hospitality aspects of MOPS and so I will be helping her lead our table. I'm so excited for this opportunity and can't wait for the new semester to begin. Thanks Amy for letting me step up and co-lead with you! We're going to have so much fun with our group.

Please keep Amy and I and our group in your prayers as we begin this new semester.

Love, 

Alissa

Katelyn's got her 1st tooth...

Kyle and I felt Katelyn's first tooth poke through today. She has spend the last couple days drooling like crazy and voila, it has arrived. As hard as we tried all day we couldn't get Katelyn to give us a peek of her little tooth coming in. 

After a long day...

the best thing to do is pass out cuddling with daddy and listening to Bidwell's radio interview.....

MMMmmmm bananas

Katelyn tried bananas for the first time. She loved them! I put a small piece of banana in a contraption I got that has netting and a handle. It's awesome. You put the food in the netting and your baby can hold onto it and suck the flavor out of what you've given them. Well Katelyn sucked the life out of the banana. We had to get a picture.

6 Months!

Happy New Year!! 2009

This year for New Years we headed over to the beach house the Caston's were house sitting to celebrate with our friends. We had so much fun hanging out, laughing and counting down the new year. There were supposed to be fireworks, but unfortunately it was too foggy to see them. Katelyn had tons of fun and was still crawling around the floor with a smile on her face at 1a.m. Of course she's spent the last couple days catching up on sleep. We hope you all had a wonderful new year!! Love, Kyle, Alissa, & Katelyn

Check this out!!

My brother is in a band called The Archiver and they just released their first single and music video. It's amazing so I had to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

The Archiver - Lost It All (Official Video)