Our newest addition to the family........

She doesn't have a name yet, but here's our new little family member. She's just so cute. And the boys love her already.

winter is here

Here are some pictures from the trim the tree party on the base this past week. We decorated cookies, made ornaments and just had a lot of fun.

Moving hotels

here are some pictures of moving the hotels and the work that was done pouring foundations.

The bad, no, very bad haircut

So we've been telling Peter that we're going to take him to get his haircut and he keeps freaking out saying he just wants David to cut it. Last time he had a haircut, David held his head and I held his body. It was not pretty! So I get the sissors and I'm getting ready then David gets the great idea that he can just cut a bowl cut with the clippers. As peters' twisting and squriming. David and I were laughing so hard we could hardly finish. And then I think I teared up a little when I saw just how bad it was. And the best part is the Peter thought it was great. I'm just thankful that hair grows. And thanks to the Garrigan gene's, it grows very quickly. I reminded myself that maybe there is something good about living where it's so cold--little boys wear hats all the time.

The search for a "church"

We live here in a place where we are basically living out "church" as God created it. Meaning we live in true community, have daily worship/teachings, but we often feel the need to go to "real church". So this morning we decided we were up to the challenge. Every few weeks we decided to try another church from the list. So we get up and start the process, some of the conversation this morning was this: no, you can't wear those pants, they have too many holes in them; it's 25 degrees out, no you can't wear shorts; again, it's cold, no you can't wear a t-shirt, long sleeves please; you've been wearing that shirt since fri, no you can't wear it to church. Wew, so then I get Allie dressed. Oh my, I had no idea who complicated tights are. Do they go under the onesie or over? and then do you still put a diaper cover over the onesie which is over the tights? So, we're dressed and loaded up. Doing ok on time and we're off, hoping that maybe we'll like this church and the searching can be over. We're almost there and I hear grunting from Allie, this can't be good. Thankfully I threw a spare outfit. So now i'm in the back of the van with a baby that has pooped all over the tights, the onesie, the dress, oh my! So instead of looking really cute, she's now in an outfit with no feet and has no socks on, and it's still 25 degrees out.
We got situated and the boys were all being good, not so bad i'm thinking. Then it's time for communion, They start passing the plate with the little pieces of really bad tasting crackers and the little cups of juice. Our boys have never seen such a thing. They've only seen where you dip the bread in the glass, oh the excitement. It was at this point that David and I start wondering if we should abort the mission and escape before we cause a scene. Flint is so excited about the little cracker he could hardly stand it and Luke is wiggling around and i'm just thinking i'm about to get a lot of grape juice on me. Luke is convinced that they are little pieces of gum, not crackers. I kept saying, "sush, it's a cracker Luke, just wait". Well, he couldn't. he squeezed it as hard as he could, and yes it crumbled into a million pieces on his lap. It's finally time, Flint's trying so hard to dip the cracker in the little cup while somewhat dancing in the row. David and I each have several little cups in our hands and trying to contain the caous as much as possible. Ok, we made it. Oh no, wait, Allie has pooped yet again. So I take her to bathroom to find that now i've left the wipes in the van. We get back in the service and now Flint and Peter are done. Barrett and Luke have gone to Kid's church, which they informed us was "not fun at all". Allie's crying, Flint and Peter are antsy, and David and I are both outside in the hall with kids. I'm not sure why we do this to ourselves.
It makes me so appreciate our church at home, where we go and just feel comfortable. I so wish we could find that here. Maybe we'll muster the energy again to try again from the list. I think we've been really spoiled in a good way with an church that we really love, but it sure makes it hard for any other church to measure up.

Building remodel update

Allie's 5 months old

It's hard to believe she's been here for 5 months already. She's such a happy baby and such a joy to our family.