Happy Birthday Taylor!

I haven't posted anything in a long time.... life is just so full. Full of laughter, tears, homeschooling, training four hearts, a toddler who won't sit still. I have to break my silence to recognize that Taylor has been apart of Chris & I's life for ten years today. A whole decade!! Oh how I love this girl. She is my daughter and year by year becoming my friend. I have so much fun with her and am beyond excited to see what God has in store for her these next ten years. Although I admit it is bittersweet to see my baby grow up. I've spent the past month looking at pictures of her and just marveling at how fast the time has gone. So, so fast. Here is a slideshow I put together, quite quickly I should add, of her over the past ten years. Love you Tay.

Who wouldn't....

Who wouldn't want to spend all day with these three?

Carlsbad in Pictures

So many memories to take back from this years trip.

Things we will remember fondly:

Watching Alexie take in the ocean, sand and sound of the waves crashing for the first time. She LOVED every minute on the beach!!

Remembering that it was this time last year we decided on the name Alexie Jane. How last year I was big and pregnant and now she's here. Adorable and healthy... PRAISE GOD!

Helping the kids learn to boogie board and see them go farther than any year prior into the ocean! SO FUN!

Having my husband around for TWO WEEKS!!

Trips to get frozen yogurt as a family.

Kids sleeping in to as late as 9am! Lexie too!

Due to their sleepign in... my early morning walks on the beach, listening to the new Matt Redman album, reading the word, sipping starbucks. Being alone :) Ah how I miss those mornings now that we are back home!

Playing cards with my parents and Ryan & Danae.

My nephew Owen saying, "B-EEEA-CH" to anyone that would take him out to the ocean.

Walks with my mom on the boardwalk and coffee with Danae. We FINALLY got that coffee date Danae.

Having my husband around TWO WEEKS!! (it's worth mentioning twice)

Seeing the kids play with their cousins AND second cousins.

Walking hand in hand with Taylor to get pedicures together on a mommy/daughter date.

Al's Cafe. Coconut Macadamia French Toast and Mickey Mouse Pancakes!

Taking walks through the town and watching the kids dance their heart out to live music being played.

Thanks to my friends at Radiant, my picture editing is finished up! Here's a video combining the photo's they took with the ones I have.

Carlsbad, Ca 2011 from tara daukas on Vimeo.

*the video may take a few minutes to upload

It's back to real life over here. We hit the ground running with Blackstone every morning this week. Have the closing banquet tonight. Now it's time to gear up for school and the fall church calendar. Lots to look forward to this fall.

Alexie's First Laugh

Alexie more then made up for having a fussy week by giving us her first laugh! She gave me one little giggle and I had Taylor quickly grab the flip. Lucky us she did it again and gave us a little more.

I just love baby's laugh's they are truly one of my favorite sounds on this earth!

Happy 10 Years Chris

10 years ago I married my best friend. Today he is that and so much more to me.

Through the joys, through the trials.
Through the conflicts, through the resolutions.
Through the changes and stability.
You are the one I want to walk it all with.

Life with you is half as hard but twice as good.

Here's a look back...

Rylee

This week my baby turned 3. What a joy Rylee Grace is! She is a bundle of energy, athletic, extremely tough, yet still has a girly side. She loves playing with her baby dolls & dress up like a princess with Taylor. She will pull you close and whisper something inaudible in your ear, then pull away and laugh! You end up laughing with her because her laughter is infectious. She is tenderhearted, always wanting to pray for someone when they are hurt. She'll fold her little hands and scrunch up her eyes tight to pray. And although it was her birthday, she gave her mom a nice present too :) The Daukas' home is officially diaper free!

Rylee is beautiful, quite stunning I think. But to appreciate Rylee is to know her high pitch voice. The other week Chris was playing guitar in his office and Rylee came in wanting to sing with him. They started doing this back and forth thing and Chris hit record. I'm so glad he did! I'll treasure this little voice for a lifetime!

The first song is one Chris wrote for a children's scripture cd our church put out a few years back and the second is God of This City. It was used in a sendoff video for our church plant team. I think Rylee has watched this video close to 50 times :)

Singing Fun

The other night Chris' twin requested that we learn this song. It was late. Real late. Hence me having no makeup on. ANYWAY, we couldn't sleep so we checked out the song, learned the song and also learned that imovie can record, nice :) It was a lot of fun! What you don't see are all the goofy outtakes that happened while trying to record.
So here ya go Scotty. Maybe if this church planting thing doesn't work out we can get a job singing in coffee shops :)

Hope everyone has a great week! We are taking our act on the road and hitting the beach :)

*song Terrified written by Jason Reeves

Church Plant Sendoff

Well good news, I got my computer back up & running today and did not lose any pictures. However before I add anymore pictures to my computer I'm going to work on backing up the ones that are on there! You only need that scare once :)

I've been wanting to share this video that a girl Sarah did for our send off Sunday a week ago in Gilbert. I seriously bawled through the whole thing. She did such an amazing job! Not only does Sarah have one of the sweetest hearts for the Lord & the lost that I've seen in a long time but she is one talented girl! Sarah I'm so glad you & Matt are on this journey with us!

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Taylor Singing on Easter

Yesterday we got a call from our friend Jon, who is the worship leader for our church. He asked if Taylor would be up for singing a little solo at church for Easter. We talked with her, taught her the song, prayed with her and walked her on stage. What joy it brought my heart to see my little girl singing to Jesus on Easter morning. Taylor has had such a sweet, teachable heart towards the Lord. We took some time to go over the meaning of the verses and chorus words she would be singing. I praise God for her and pray that the Lord would only increase her love & knowledge of him.

I also realized, about a few minutes before walking her onto stage, that she had never done anything like this before. Because she's always singing for us at home it feels like she's an old pro. So for our San Francisco friends and others who missed it, here's a little recording compliments of my dad :)

When it Rains it Pours

Styrofoam pieces that is. My kids have had a hard time getting their hands around what was happening this week. Pretty much since Monday night they have had non-stop babysitters. And when I was home, I was getting ready for the next babysitter. So it's early Thursday morning and Chris gets a phone call and goes back to our bedroom. I eventually follow him in. We both come out crying and quickly getting ready to go to the hospital again and walk out to this:









If you've never had the privilege of trying to pick up tiny Styrofoam pieces- it's near impossible. It's full of static so every time I'd sweep it would just blow around in circles. For the kids to clean up the only way was to throw them in the bath... to which there's still some in there. Thankfully my vacuum's suction part took care of the rest. We are still finding random pieces here and there and probably will for awhile. But hey at least the kids can say they saw snow this winter!