Zion Miles is 1!!!!

Our dear, sweet, amazing, handsome, brilliant, hysterical, loving, precious gift from God turned 1! Where oh where did the time go??? He was JUST the little bundle laying in my arms!

How, in only a year, did that little baby grow into the little tyke that's now crawling up the windowsill and trying to eat bugs?! Time truly does fly when you become a parent... I can't even imagine when we have more than 1! Yikes. But yes, our Zizi is now 1 year old. He thinks of himself as a big boy now! He loves it.

We were blessed with the opportunity to have Amy take some birthday pics of Zion and we are thrilled with them all. Enjoy these shots of his first experience with cake and sugar! HE LOVED IT! :) I think he was shocked that I let him make a mess like that, lol. It was so fun. I haven't downloaded the pictures from his birthday party and actual birthday yet, but i'll do that soon. For now enjoy these fun shots! You get to see them in reverse order b/c I can't figure out how to move them around... :)

Thank you Lord for this year that you've allowed us to have the privilege to be Zion's parents. He is such a blessing to us!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ask that You continue to give us wisdom while we raise Him to love You with His whole heart. You are so good to us! We know that you will protect and keep Zion in Your hands every single minute of his life. Thank You, thank You, THANK YOU Jesus for our Zion. We praise You! In Jesus wonderful name, Amen!

Our Handsome Little Big Boy

The Guys' Fishing Adventures!

Here are some pics of when the guys went fishing. They got some big halibut! Brandon's fish came in second in a fishing derby(it was first until an hour before the derby closed) and Josh's fish came in 3rd! Way to go guys! :) My mom, Zi and I met them at the dock and Zion got to take some good close up looks at some big fish! :) He didn't know what to make of these slimy things that were bigger than him!!! And then Brandon made Uncle Ty put on some fishing gear that was a bit too small... :) had to put that pic in here! Love you Tyler! :) Enjoy these pictures! Oh! And here is a video of Brandon pulling up his fish! Enjoy!

This is just from one days worth of fishing! Yikes! (we've been giving it away b/c no way can we eat that much fish!!!)

WoW! Haven't blogged in a while... Sorry!

Yikes! Sorry it's been so long! My family was able to come up for a good long visit and I completely spaced the blog! So sorry! :) Zion has changed SO much!!! When my mom got here the end of May Zi had just started taking a few tentative (yet VERY proud) steps... fast forward to today and he literally is RUNNING! Look out world because Zion is on the loose! :) After going to the Dr. yesterday for his 1 year appt. it has been confirmed that we have a MOOSE on the LOOSE! :) He is 25lbs and 32 inches long! He is in the 95th percentile in both height and weight...height?!?? How did that happen? :) Lol. He is a big boy and proud of it! He greatly enjoyed his 1st birthday! We had a little party while my family was still here about a week before, and then on his actual big day it was just Momma, Daddy and Zizi celebrating his first whole year of life! I'll put up pictures of everything later... just wanted to write a little blurb first.

Life has been great here in Kodiak. I'm staying busy teaching some private swim lessons, taking a couple of online college classes, and of course keeping up with the ever busy Zion Miles. He is just a bundle of energy lately and LOVES playing! He is just a busy, busy bee! :) He is also FULL of character!!! I don't think anymore personality could fit into his little body. He is also QUITE proficient with the word Peez! (aka PLEASE) It is the most rewarding word in his vocabulary and he uses it quite well! :) Such a smarty! Brandon is working extremely hard at the boathouse! He works 2 on 2 off in the summer, but those 2 on days are LOOOOONG! He is gone from 6:30 in the morning to roughly 9 or later at night. He works hard! (and it makes for a long day for Momma and Baby Boy) But God is good and at least Brandon is able to come home every night and not miss any Zion milestones by being out at sea. We are blessed! Our home in AZ is officially OURS and has been for a about a month! We are in the process of finding renters to be in there until we move in next year!!! We know the right people are out there. A job in Customs & Border Protection is looking good for Brandon. He is greatly looking forward to being on officer. ( And I am trusting that the Lord will take care of him in whatever it is that he will be doing.)

Well, I plan to post more about our house and all that jazz, I just wanted to give you a little blurb about every thing that is going on with the Derton's! :) No matter how crazy life gets we will forever proclaim the greatness of the God we serve and I just want to take a moment to thank Him for all He has given us!!! We are so overwhelmingly blessed! Thanks for reading this! :) Much Love!

~Cortney

I've uploaded a couple of pics of our visit with everyone! :) More to come! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Grandma Miles!

Grandma Miles~ We just want you to know how much you mean to us! You spoil us, love us, make us laugh, and we are just SO blessed that you are our Grandma! We cherish every moment that we get to spend with you and pray that soon we will be able to have more wonderful visits! We miss you! Hope you've had a super duper blessed birthday!!! xoxoxoxoxo















This was a little impromptu photoshoot that I did behind our house for mother's day! I was so tickled at the results! He is just so darn cute! :) How is my little man getting to be so close to a year old already?!?! 10.5 months old. Wow. He is such a blessing to us. He took 2 steps toward Brandon yesterday!!! He is awesome and So proud of himself! :) It's great!

Oh! AND 2 days after I found my last $20 bill we were walking home from Sesame Street and I found ANOTHER $20!!! How awesome is that??? It was a totally different spot and 2 days later! I was so excited and just feel that when we give all the glory and honor to God He is so faithful to us! So... Thank You Jesus for providing us with this extra $40 bucks from You! :)

Okie Dokie! Enjoy all of these pictures! Happy Birthday again to Grandma Miles! Also, Happy late Birthday to Grandma Reed and Happy early Birthday to my Momma! You are all such wonderful blessings to our family! We love and appreciate you all and may God abundantly bless you today!

Beautiful Kodiak!

Kodiak is finally reminding us of her beauty today! It is our first day above 50 degrees and Zion and I most definitely took advantage of it! (Only the picture of Zi in the stroller was taken today, but I thought I'd add one from a few weeks ago too!) It is just PERFECT out and we are enjoying every minute of it! Psalm 89:17 says, "Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside of us- you've been SO good to us." That is how I feel today. I am just in awe of His beauty. I don't want to take it for granted and I pray that HIS beauty shines through our lives as we live each and every day for Him. God is SO good to us!!! Oh! And I just remembered something else! God showed me a little bit of His awesomeness in a cool way on our walk today! We have no idea how God is going to bless us. As I was walking I thought I found a dollar on the street. I was SO excited and was praising Him for it. When I picked it up it was a $20! How awesome is that!!! It really blessed me! Yup yup. He is SO good and we have NO IDEA all that He is capable of! I encourage you to trust God today that He is going to meet ALL of your needs!

Slick Peaches and Sideways Dancer Dude

Happy guy!
Static hair! :)
With Daddy at work!
(Sorry I can't figure out how to rotate it!!!) These were some slick peaches! :)