I have known Colton for a few years and have spent time with his family. I love Colton.  He reminds me of myself in so many ways.  He is confident, cocky, charming, funny, good looking, and is always pretending he has everything under control.  Like me, I knew he would be able to marry way, way up.   15 seconds into meeting Kylee, I knew this was 100% true.

OK. So technically, they are not sitting in a tree, but they ARE  k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

When I first talked to Colton about how they met, he mentioned that they were introduced via a mutual friend.
“I saw a great opportunity, so I took advantage of it.”  GOLD.  Solid gold.

“The whole time I was a thinking… this is a super good idea.  She’s like 50 times out of my league.”  He eventually started to tell me about how he loved being able to have spiritual conversations with her, and how that is what is at the core of their friendship.  Kylee had listened to a podcast that encouraged her not to throw out “I love you” early in a relationship.   That led them to make the agreement to hold off on that. (Which led the them saying “Man. I’m just so crazy about you” quite a bit.)  She wanted to make sure he felt the same way and was waiting on him to say it first, even though she knew that “he was the one”.  About 6 months in, the first “I love you” was spoken. And if you are around them today, it’s pretty evident they are in love, without either of them needing to mention it.

In all seriousness, these two are perfect for each other.  Kylee does a great job of keeping him in check, and he is constantly pushing her just a bit outside of her comfort zone.  Like the time he encouraged her that it would be ok to sneak into a closed amusement park for a few quick photos.  (Wait, what?)

Were we eventually kicked out/asked to leave? Yes.  Was it worth it?  No doubt.

Last thing I’ll tell you about Colton–he thinks he’s a baller.  He’s basically like Steph Curry.  If Steph went and played in a 8 year old league.  Colton always seems to look for the toughest competition around.  (True story.  He missed that jumper.)

You know who didn’t miss? BOOMSHAKALAKA!

And if I may speak to you, Colton, personally for just a moment.  As a young groom, the first few times my bride dunked on me in any situation in life, it offended and frustrated me.  I soon realized this would be a common occurrence, and I have learned to take joy in it.

It’s going to happen a lot.
Get used to it.
Embrace it.

I first met Cassi on a mission trip to Haiti back in 2013.  It was her first trip and she jumped right into doing the hard work as well as playing with the kids.  One of my favorite things about her was how welcoming she was to anyone she met.  My oldest son Joseph was also making his first trip overseas.  Over the course of the week, they developed a bit of a friendship and she gave him the nickname J-Money; partly due to his skill on the basketball court, and partly because nicknames are cool.

The next year, a trip to Belize brought more hanging out with J-Money as well as more basketball.

Last year, she met Sara and right away began investing and pouring into her life throughout the week.

(Even though they only see her about 7 days a year, our kids think Cassi is the best.)

A few weeks before our trip last year, I noticed a LOT of a certain boy showing up on Cassi’s Instagram feed.  I checked in with her mom about the lad, and she assured me he was legit and might stick around.  I knew Cassi would not be able to go a WHOLE week without seeing him, so I brought along a little cardboard cutout of Justin-the mystery boy.  Much fun was had.

Fast forward about 8 months and guess who is engaged and getting married?!?!  That’s right.

Cassi & Justin!

We started out by hitting their favorite date spot.

Cassi is a basketball coach way far away in Nazareth and her schedule is pretty tight.  That left us only with a Sunday to shoot on.

Well, Chick-fil-A is all like… “We are closed on Sunday.”

Did that stop us?  Nope.

Justin, being the winner that he is, went and bought food 2 days before and kept it nice and fresh for our session.

We then went on a little tour of San Angelo where these two met and went to school.

This was by far one of my favorite engagement session moments ever.  While shooting, Justin reached into his pockets and found this piece of paper.

It was a note Cassi had left him from when she did his laundry a few weeks back.

And now we are getting to the good stuff.  This is actually where these two met.  They were on the same intramural flag football team.  As Cassi tells it, this is a great team.  To be on the team you either have to “know someone” or “be really good”.

Cassi said she knew someone, that’s how she joined the team.
Justin is just really good.

Look at that catch.  I told you he was really good.

His second week on the team, they had an out of town trip and she made sure she ended up sitting at his table.  Her excuse was that she didn’t want to have her “back to the door”, but hindsight being 20/20, we all now realize it’s just that she wanted to have her face facing his.

These two love to compete at everything.  (Cassi is a killer basketball player having played for SanAngelo and now coaching at Nazareth.)

Cassi with the quick first step.  Justin with the foul.

I think my favorite thing about these two is how comfortable they are with each other.  Justin’s love for her is super obvious, but his respect for her is what really stands out.  He values her input and treats her as his equal.  Cassi is one of the most confident women I’ve ever met, but I also see the trust she has in him and the security she finds in him.  I love seeing how their story, which began on separate but similar paths, has now joined up.  Last year when Cassi was in Belize, Justin was on a mission trip to Africa.  This year after the wedding, they are heading back to Africa together.  As great as these two are as individuals, I can already tell they are going to be even better as teammates.

Jo & I had the privilege of taking a trip to Belize last week with some friends of ours and their church group.  Our goal was to love on some kids by doing a little Vacation Bible School, building part of a basketball court, and teaching them some basketball skills.  I took 3.8 million photos and made a little movie.  The photos will be ready later this week, but the video is ready now.  Enjoy.

Hey hey hey!!!  Long time no personal updates.  Sorry.  I know you all have been dying to know what’s going on with my little herd of people.  Well, here is the rundown since the beginning of 2014.  (Many of these have been pulled from Instagram.  You should follow me there.)

The boys all enjoyed playing a bit of basketball.  Jo was given the nickname J-Money and Luke & Eli loved being teammates.

That one time it almost snowed the kids tried to make snow angles.

2014 is really shaping up to be Eli’s year.  He turned 5 and finally was able to sign Eli Maldonado and thus was granted his very first library card.

One of our favorite parts about homeschooling is all the random field trips.  Our kids love museums and zoos, so we visit them often. :)

Eli thinks he could take on anything.

Jo turned 11 which means birthday parties have transitioned from cake and silly games to going and getting pizza while dad sits at another table.  (This is me crying on the inside.)

Other cool things that happened were Sara’s first dance and Jo getting his baptism on.

Basketball is our favorite sport.  We like the way they dribble up and down the court.  Jo & I made our annual trip to the Texas high school state tournament as well as a Rockets game with young Luke.

Eli is now building Lego sets and trying to sell them to other people.

When the school year came to an end, everyone received their diploma.  Boring diplomas are for public school. ;)

On to some of our Summer Adventures.  1st up was Box Day.  The kids had a blast with this one.  The massive box fort actually stayed up about 5-6 days, too.  Crawling through and in there, totally made me feel like a little kid again.

Danielle left for 2 days and I managed to chip Luke’s tooth and get a new high score on Flappy Bird.  All in all, a good weekend.

We were lucky enough to spend a couple of days out at Lake Tyler Petroleum Club.  It’s super fun out there.  You can also get married out there. (Give them a call ladies.)

May the Fourth.  Big day at our place.

Danielle and I surprised Jo with this double feature.  She took him to see Captain America. Then when they pulled in, I got in and took him to see Spider-man.  By far the hardest part about having this many kids is making sure we carve out time for each of them on their own.  Our kids love hanging out as a family, but when we give them one on one time, it’s like this other side of them shows up and it’s great to just soak it all in.

Sara turned 9 and busted out this new t-shirt.  “My brother has the best sister. (Me!)”  She then made all of them take a photo with her.  Because you know… she’s totally in charge.

Another Summer Adventure.  Beach!!!!

We took this first photo back when Jo was 2; right after Sara had been born.  Anytime we are in Galveston, we try and recreate it. (Photo credit: Sara)  I hope that one day he can wheel Danielle & I up there and sit between our chairs.

I am so proud of Sara.  For just about a year now, she has been saving and earning as much money as she can.  She wants to go on a cruise and has a chart she has been filling in along the way.  Every other month, we have “spending day”  where the kids can spend their salary on what they have been saving for.  Every other month, Sara watches them all come home with new toys/books/games, and she sticks her money in a jar, colors in some squares and inches that much closer to her 5 day dream vacation.

Eli lost his first tooth just last week.  It was kinda of a HUGE deal.

This shot is one of my favorites.  It’s Eli being a little bit sad because it hurt when he pulled his tooth, but it’s Danielle being a lot of bit sad when she realized we’ll never have another kid lose their first tooth.

This is where this post gets kinda creepy but good.  So get ready. :)

When your kid loses their first tooth, you keep it.  Because that’s what you are supposed to do.  Because…. it’s what you do.  Then they lose another one and you keep it to.  Why not.  We have a little baggie.  Just toss it in.  Then one day you look up and you’ve had 4 kids and 3 of them have been losing teeth and you have 3 bags full of teeth.  So Danielle and I looked at each other and thought.  This is strange.  Why would they ever want these?  We should chunk them.  But then in a stroke of creepy brilliance, I decided to wait ’til Eli lost his first tooth.  I had this image in my mind of Eli’s tooth next to all the others he’s had to endure.

You see, Eli has been around to see all these other teeth pop out.  And, as the youngest, he’s always wanted to lose a tooth.  Not for the dollar under the pillow, but more for the status symbol.  I, too, am one of you guys.  I can lose a tooth.  I’m just as big as you.

So month after month, year after year, teeth would come out and Eli would continue to long for his day.  His day when he would also be a “big boy”.

Well, last week, that day finally came.  He ripped that bad boy out just as he’d seen his brothers and sister do 42 other times.

He was now just like them.  He could lose a tooth.

He was excited.  Jo, Sara, and Luke were excited.  Danielle and I were excited.

But then it started to set in.

He’s growing up.

As parents we are always aware of it.  But every now and then moments happen where you can’t avoid seeing it.

That first time they don’t laugh at your dumb joke.

The first time they don’t want to hold your hand when walking into the store.

The first time they are not interested in your fashion advice.

The first time they lose a tooth.

As much as it’s tempting to feel your heart sink just a little, this is when we most need to take heart.

This is our job.

This is what we have been called to do.

Raising these tiny humans is our greatest challenge and doing that job well, means little milestones along the way.

Our family loves to play together.  We are around each other so much, and Danielle and I can’t imagine any other life.  At the same time, part of this life is growing and teaching these kids.

Teaching Jo to understand that being the biggest does not mean he can’t also be the most tender.

Teaching Sara that boys who don’t open doors are not worth opening your heart for.

Teaching Luke that being a good listener is more valuable than being a good dribbler.

Teaching Eli that patience is important.

That there is a time and season for everything.  Even losing your first tooth.