Luke's life lately

Boys are different than girls:

Lukey's Kettler ride from Lauren Bergon on Vimeo.

Meet Ellie

Tim has always loved cars. He has many cars in his imaginary garage. One of those cars has always been a 4x4 vehicle. After months of casually--but consistently--looking he had his eye on a few Land Cruisers. We had gone from Broncos, to Jeeps, to CR-V (my idea…some pumped up off-road CR-Vs are awesome!) to FJs in all years, price ranges and conditions. He finally settled on the Land Cruiser because of the ability to have 3 carseats in the middle row and the available third row. He was in talks with a guy in San Diego for a charcoal grey one, but I was sick preventing him from meeting up with the guy; his next scheduled meet-up was postponed because his Dad needed some help chopping wood. To me, it seemed frustrating but to my trusting husband it was just fine that it didn't work out. The Lord prevented that purchase and instead sent us on a trip to LA to visit my friend Christina, who had just delivered her first baby girl. On the way home from that trip, we were able to stop in Whittier where we met “Ellie”, a forest green 1995 Land Cruiser that was pretty much ready to go. We weren’t going to need to lift it, do a bunch of repairs, change out tires or much of anything. Because we don’t have a bunch of time for projects around here; our kids are the work of our hearts-it’s hard to squeeze in too much more. “Ellie” was so dubbed by the owner previous to the guy we bought her from. The guy who sold us the Cruiser was really cool, about our age and told us that the man he bought her from had cried when he sold her. He was totally attached the the vehicle but had to sell her for some reason. He had named her “Ellie” and it was just girly enough for our girls to latch onto. Plus, the chance to tease Tim by calling his manly truck “Ellie” was just too good to pass up. So, we’ve been out and about enjoying our blessing. The sale of our Chevy covered the entire cost of this purchase, including registration, taxes and insurance and we’re very excited to have a third vehicle. Tim was tired of me heading out for groceries in his 1989 Toyota truck. If he took the girls somewhere in the Honda and left me at home with Luke, I had no option but to take him in the truck somewhere. It wasn’t the most preferred situation and we are so thankful that now we have a safer option for off-road and the occasional separate driving issues.

The hills behind Temecula Creek Inn:

Our girls love being out bumping around:

All 5 of us went out on a really cold and windy day. I love Luke's face in these next two (well all kids' faces but especially my sweet baby's expressions!)

It was a very cold day (poor baby Lukey):

On another trip, we went up Nate Harrison grade to Palomar Mountain. The pic is blurry, but Madeleine had the best look of anticipation on her face. She rolled her window all the way down and braved the cold to enjoy her ride. 

At Palomar State Park we checked out Doane Pond. I was frozen, but the girls loved splashing in the puddles. The clouds were like phantoms through the trees and they were moving very quickly.

My poor baby: I forgot to pack him gloves, but he didn't seem too bothered. He just cooed and talked and looked all around, he seemed to enjoy this trip too. His little personality with preferences in coming out more and more as he approaches one year old and I'm still surprised he's so OLD already. When he starts walking, I think it will really start to hit me.

Doane pond with my cubs:

Speaking of cubs, Tim told us that for the first time in over a decade, they have had a bear sighting on Palomar. Madeleine latched onto the idea and used it to excite herself and her sister by pretending to be followed by bears, or hope to see a bear and even had a bear hopping on our roof. Although we didn't see any bears, we enjoyed watching some deer. Our dogs went almost out of their minds (see Roscoe in the mirror) but the deer didn't spook and we were able to watch them graze. They are so beautiful and graceful. I love their large soft ears. 

At the Palomar Observatory, we watched a video on SOFIA, a 747 NASA uses to take pictures of star formation and interstellar medium. We saw the 18" telescope and the 200" telescope which Corning/Pyrex made. Well, the glass was made by Corning/Pyrex and it took over a year just to cool once it was cast! 

This boy is THE cutest. I adore him. He is my sonshine….just lights up my life.

 Our ride home through Pala:

Thanking God for Tim's patience and persistence to find us a wonderful vehicle within our budget parameters and with all the details he felt were important. I'm learning to value his patience more and more when it comes to buying vehicles. Every one of his decisions has brought good to our family, and I am sure that "Ellie" will continue the pattern.

Love, Lauren 

Mr & Mrs Valencia

January 4th, my brother was married to a beautiful lady that I now call my "sister"! We were all in the wedding, except Luke. My mother-in-love and sister-in-love (Lori, not Leigh) took care of him all day so we could be part of the festivities. Going off Facebook at the start of the year has made it difficult to obtain photos! It's a little crazy how easy Facebook made connecting with people in a convenient, albeit creeper-ish way, so I do admit that I actually had to sneak onto my husband's account and snag some of the photos. Ha! So, enjoy!

(via Photography by Robin)

Photo: Robin Ruckel Curby

This is so cute! My husband is so beautiful, look at the way he is welcoming Leigh into the family with a nice arm around the back. He is the ideal man. Oh, and the baby and the bride are nice too! =)

The girls changed into a little more playful clothes to dance and twirl on the floor.

Photo booth!

Tim was like, "Was that a bug?" Yes, Tim, the race is on to make a bug. HA HA!

Off to married life!

 Congratulations! You both look amazing, but of course, what happened is more amazing: two lives joined as one for the purpose of God's glory. Enjoy all the pleasures that marriage brings.

Love, Lauren

Goodnight 2013

2014

1.Walk In, Work Out, Way the Day

2.                Count Your Blessings

3.                Memorize His Love

4.                 One Grace each day to each cub

5.                Say “No” without apology

6.                Track spending faithfully

7.              Eat Green & Clean

8.                 Finish food by 9

9.                Finish day by 10

10.          Don’t ever, ever, ever yell. Ever.

    Love, Lauren

Why I don't return shopping carts any more

via

I've wanted to write this post for a while. I am reminded of it every time I shove a shopping cart into a concrete diamond island in the middle of the parking lot instead of returning it to the cart return. Being the A+ type that I am, and a recovering smitic (that's smug critic put together), I would always return my cart to the cart return. Sometimes-- if I had the time and I was feeling incredibly superior-- I would walk it all the way to the front of the store. Before children, I was (and still am to a changed degree) fairly certain that most people were watching me and that if I behaved well enough, I could rack up some metaphysical gold stars on my record for doing such noble actions as returning carts, staying off the grass and driving the speed limit. In my world, it's a form of justice to make sure that I am honoring the unspoken code of social conscientiousness (and seething or staring down those who don't seem to know there is such a code at all). Regardless, I would make sure that little cart could not become a nuisance to any driver or car by pushing it to its rightful home. Then, I had a child; and as most things do when a child arrives...it changed. The difficulty in carrying the child, in the car seat with a diaper bag to the cart return and trying mercilessly to pry a cart from the others cannot be described, other than to say that it increases when you have two more in tow. So, I am changed. I no longer walk my cart to the return, but will often leave it in the bushes, dashed up on a curb or out of car's reach in an aisle to save some poor mama who is coming after me. What a delight it is to have a cart, singular and available when I am loading my children into it. And who has the desire to leave her children in the parked and running car so that a cart might be returned to the stall? Me, no longer. So for all those Lauren's of the past wondering why, for heaven's sake, can't she take a few more steps to propagate justice in the world by returning the darn cart, I can only hope things change for you too. 

Love, Lauren 

Safari Park (aka the WAP)

I am way way way behind in postings, considering Luke is now 4.5 months...Hannah and Matthew came to town for three weeks and we went to the Safari Park. It was hot, but between the misters and our spray bottles, we had a fabulous time. 

Love, Lauren

Compassion Sunday

April 21st was Compassion Sunday. Compassion International is a non-profit organization that matches poverty-striken children with sponsors. About a year ago, we decided to sponsor Pion in Burkina Faso. She was the youngest girl we could find and figured she would grow up with out girls.
Compassion does a national event called Compassion Sunday once a year which spotlights their organization and allows volunteers, like me, to present the ministry to churches. My church, Temecula Community, was extremely gracious to allow me to hype the event from the pulpit for the two Sunday;s prior. I then showed the Compassion video and solicited at least nine new sponsors for needy kids. I never really thought the Lord would use me this way, but I guess between I must have a place in my heart for "causes". If you want to sponsor a child, let me know...there are still a few more who need loving, committed people to "change their story" forever.

Love, Lauren