Lots of Catching up to do!!

Well, hello there blog. Have you missed us, it has been awhile.

Well, all good have to come to an end. We are getting ready to say goodbye to Dustin's sabbatical in about a week. Dustin has been at CCV for almost 9 years now and was due for a break. So starting Nov 1, he was off for 2 months. We have had SO much fun with Daddy home and all kinds of free time. We spent most of our days together as a family and had a blast. We stayed in a local hotel for a week, took a trip to Flagstaff for another week, then went to Payson to visit Dustin's mom, then back over to Flagstaff with some friends. We came home a few weeks before Christmas and Dustin surprised me with a trip to New York City. It was a dream of mine to go there and I have been beggin him for years to take me. We left the kids home with family and friends and enjoyed 4 days alone in the big city. It was AMAZING and so so much fun!! It was the greatest Christmas present ever.

Now Christmas is over, though it was such a wonderful time I am happy that the madness is in the past and we can really focus on how amazing God truely is!! Our life will go back to normal in a few days and I am thankful for our "normal". God has given Dustin a job he absolutely loves and has given us these two amazing little people we call Kyla and Strius that I still get to spend my days with. So as we say farewell to the sabbatical, we are also so excited to live the life God has given us and can't wait to see what else he has in store for us.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a good new year!!

The Resort Life

Last week we were able to stay in a time share in Scottsdale for FREE!! Dustin inquires about time shares quite often, we like to buy a week from people who own them. A woman who owns a timeshare that he inquired about a year ago emailed him out of the blue and asked if he wanted to use one she was unable to sell for free. Well, Tappans don't pass down free, so we did it. It was so fun and now I am home missing the resort life. Above are the pics from our adventure...

Daddy Daughter Dance #4

This past Thursday night was a very special date for Kyla and Dustin. It was Kyla's fourth daddy daughter dance with her favorite person on the earth, her daddy!! She got all dressed up and even let mommy do her hair for the night. Daddy picked her up at 5:30 and they headed over to the church to dance the night away. At the event they had a mac and cheese and chicken dinner with cupcakes for dessert. Kyla was mostly excited about the treasure chest every little girl got filled with jewels. On the back of each jewel was a promise that came straight from their very own daddy. Dustin made three very special promises to his Kyla. He promised to always pray for her, to always protect her, and to always love her. Makes me tear just thinking about it. It is amazing to see how much daddies can impact their little girls just by loving them, so cool!! Needless to say, they had a blast. Kyla came home and said, "Mommy, it was so so so fun!!" I am so blessed to have this beautiful family but I am mostly thankful for a husband that would do anything for me and his children. We love you Daddy!!

We are proud of our AZ Cardinals!!

Well the Super Bowl came and went and the Steelers came out on top. This was the VERY first year we have ever been into the Super Bowl but it was very exciting!! We had a lot of fun rooting on our team at the Garage (the youth building at the church). We all got decked out in our red and cheered them on!! I have posted some pics of the cuties!!

Christmas, New Years, and Kansas

We hope everyone had a chance to really sit back and enjoy God's goodness over Christmas. We were constantly reminded in 2008 how important it is to rely on Christ for our needs, the world is so unpromising and our hope is in Jesus and HEAVEN. Ahhhh, Heaven will be nice!!

But as far as our little Heaven on earth...our babies and just our simple little life..... We were able to spend the holidays with both of our families this year because we spent Christmas Eve and Day here and then headed to Kansas on the 26th. The kids did really well on the flights with layovers each way, God (again) was VERY good to Dustin and I. We did sleep great the night we got home, though. We had a lot of fun with Nanny (Dustin's mom) and Mammaw and Papa (Dustin's grandparents) on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a Happy Birthday Jesus chocolate cake and showers of gifts from the family!! Kyla's favorite was her Barbie Horse Drawn Carriage...she calls it her "Beautiful Horsey."

We woke up to Santa's gifts, opened stockings, and headed out to Black Canyon City for Omelets and cinnamon rolls at Dustin's parent's house. We were also showered with lots of love, and a HUGE puppy for Kyla. It was really a relaxing and enjoyable day!!

We then flew to Kansas and enjoyed some time with My (Megan's) family where the kids enjoyed their 3rd Christmas and loved every minute with their aunts, cousins and Oma and Opa. We had some GREAT friends get married in Wichita, KS. A three hour drive from my parent's house. Dustin officiated the wedding and Kyla was the flower girl (well, sorta). She attempted to be a flower girl by taking four steps down the aisle, then looked up to see everyone looking at her and took the adorable flower basket filled with petals and spiked it (like a football player) onto the carpeted church floor, screamed at the top of her lungs and ran straight to daddy. Mommy was not laughing, Daddy was. While Dustin, Kyla, and I were at the wedding my Mom and Dad kept Strius and had the time of their life with him. He is turning into such a goof-ball and he is SO MUCH FUN!!

Happy New Year, we look forward to hearing all about what is most special to you in the new year!! God Bless!!

Kyla's Preschool Christmas Party!!

This was so cute and so much fun!! First they all sang some Christmas Carols and then said a poem to the parents and gave us a gift, it is an ADORABLE calender and I LOVE IT!! Then they sat and waited for Santa to arrive, suddenly he was here and they all got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Kyla and Caleb were scared so they agreed to go up together. They did GREAT and Kyla told Santa that she wanted a Mermaid. Mommy is not sure what she is talking about, hopefully Santa can figure that one out:).

Just wanted to share the cute pics, Merry Christmas!!

Kyla's Straight Hair

Today I went to my FAVORITE hair stylist, Kristi, and had my haircut along with both of the kiddos!! I had chopped Strius' with Dustin's clippers and it looked terrible, so Kristi cleaned it up for me. Then it was Kyla's turn and we talked her into letting Kristi straighten all those curls of her's. She looks so grown up and so BEAUTIFUL, so I had to share the pics with everyone. Hope you all are "Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!!"

AND

My sis was here, we had a great visit and I miss her terribly!! I just wanted to take this moment to say HAPPY 40th SIS!!:) Don't you hate me now?