Engagement day THREE!!

Yep, the fun continued! Isaac picked me up before church on Sunday morning to take me to our favorite Renton diner, Tony's.  It's family-run and has an excellent breakfast!  Afterward, we leisurely made our way to church, listened to an excellent sermon, then headed off to Biblical Marriage, our pre-marital counseling class.  (Yep, we started early in anticipation of what was to come!)

Afterward we finished off the evening at my most favorite restaurant, Anthony's Homeport for a delicious meal overlooking the water!  It was glorious!!

Finally we went back to the condo to relax and revel in the joy of the weekend!  We looked at pictures, laughed, cried (well, I did for pure joy!), spent some time in prayer, and finally toasted to our future!

I love you, Isaac McPhee! 

Engagement Weekend: day 2!

Shortly after he proposed (and I stopped crying and thanking him and the Lord for loving me and providing so well), Isaac told me that he had an entire engagement weekend planned for me!  I was all atwitter with anticipation!  We rounded out our engagement evening with a delicious dinner made by my man, a visit from the couple that set us up on a fake double date to set the engagement stage, and a little Harry Potter action!

Day two dawned and I was off to my women's Bible Study.  Isaac asked me to be ready a little early, so he came and picked me up from there and we were off... To the Arnolds' it turns out!  My family was all there to celebrate with us.  It was so wonderful to be able to show off my ring and my fiancé, of course, and most of all to thank the Lord that He was faithful to provide such a man!  

Some of the men that vetted Isaac: 

What can I say? I can't get enough of him! 

Uncle Lonnie definitely approves! 

Caleb was not impressed with our engagement. Tough crowd!! 

Lael was happy to celebrate, though! 

Mother of the bride (round two)

My sweet flower girl! 

Amaris was excited to show off her full princess outfit courtesy of Auntie Peggie

It's tough being this beautiful! 

Jade opted for the curtain skirt Auntie Peggie made her

We LOVE the posters (and still have them!)

"Oh Aunt Rose, you're so funny!"

Papa giving a toast! 

Fighting back tears of joy! 

A family celebration isn't complete without some good eats! 

Gwenna: The princess of quite a lot! 

Noah needs some boy cousins!  (Caleb man, ya gotta start walking and talkin!)

"Hey Caleb, why aren't you swimming?"

I love him!!! 

He is too much! After a nice nap he decided it was time to celebrate! 

So happy together! 

EEK! 

"Hey Auntie, you can take my picture....riiiiight here!"

"Come again soon!"

And we were off!  We spent a (mostly) glorious (and slightly gory) hour at the waterfront before heading to "get my car".  While walking along the beach, admiring the beautiful scenery and generally being smitten, I had a definite NCIS moment.  There was a ribcage...on the beach...still rather bloody. I kid you not, I seriously had to calm myself down before I asked Isaac if he saw it.  Turns out it was likely a harbor seal that had been skinned by some other animal.  While still gross, this was decidedly more interesting/curious than terrifying and Isaac spend the better part of 10 minutes investigating it. 

Moving along, we went to "get my car" from Brook's house (where I had left it to go to Bible study).  When we got back it had been painted and there were several friends waiting for us!  (That Isaac! So thoughtful! He knew I would want to celebrate with family first and then immediately after with dear friends!! 

Some of the soon-to-be wedding party: 

one of my beautiful bridesmaids: 

Trigger the wonder dog! 

Good ol' Toesy!

Future brother-in-law! 

How could we help but ask them to be in our wedding? They're so photogenic! 

And him too...he's just too special to not be in the wedding! 

I'm getting MARRIED!!!

Aaaaaah! I know, right?  I was thrilled!! Isaac is the most amazing, godly, sweet, thoughtful, generous, loving man that I have the privilege of knowing and loving.  He's made me want to pursue Christ more fully, he's teaching me patience (by example), he's learning what it is to shepherd and do it well. He's handy and loves plumbing, which Papa LOVES!  What can I say?  He's a catch!

And he wrote me my very own book to propose!!! It was wrapped in this cute envelope! 

I could not have envisioned a more PERFECT ring!!! It's exactly what I wanted! 

The man knows me so well! 

My sister is so thoughtful!!! She had this waiting for me when I got home that night!

We capped off our celebratory weekend with a toast! Champagne for me, sparkling juice for him! 

Happy 4th Birthday, Noah!

Noah's 4th birthday comes just 12 days before his sister's 6th, so instead of doing two big parties, Sarah wisely decided on a joint birthday party the day after Ava's birthday.  We couldn't completely ignore Noah's big day, though.  It isn't just any day that a young man turns FOUR.  We opted for a family dinner and McQueen cake to welcome him into his fourth year with style.

Isaac and the kids dueled...

...and played baseball...

*quick break for a birthday call from Uncle Seth -- Noah: "sometimes I get bad pitches" -- explaining why he'd missed at his last at bat. (The pitch was perfect!)*

---aaaand back to baseball!

That girl can keep her eye on the ball! 

And always swings for the fences!! 

Meanwhile, daddy and Nana were perfecting a McQueen cake! 

Sarah created a birthday scavenger hunt for Noah. Everyone drew a picture of an item in the house and had him go look for his next clue there:

It took a couple clues for him to really get into it, and then he was OFF! 

Hmmm...where does monkey sleep? 

On the bed, of course! But there's no present there...hmm...this bears investigating! 

A real life fishing pole!!! 

Dodge ball vests from auntie and Isaac were a hit!

Sarah made each of the kids their own photo book from birth to present! 

Happy mothers' day!!! 

It didn't take long for him to master the glider! 

Happy birthday, McQueen! We love you!