I am not really going to write a whole lot about our midwest trip, since it was like a month ago now. But I'll give you the highlights and a link to pictures.
We very much enjoyed our time with Matt's family, whom we have missed a lot. It was especially nice to see Mel, because we hadn't seen him since we left last summer. We got to spend one day in Chicago with Grace, and one day in Chicago with Matt's fam. We saw a whirlwind of people in GR. I visited my old daycare. We stayed with our friends Zach and Sarah and their new little guy, Brandon. We miss them so much! We saw Matt's grandparents, friends Marcia and Nathan, my old babysitting kids, a few college friends, and our old small group. It was a great time, but very bitter-sweet, as we were reminded of what wonderful friends we left behind and how much we miss them. God blessed us more than we knew, especially in that last year in GR.
Pictures...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
LA Adventure
Our friend Andrea got married near Anaheim at the end of June. The wedding was on a Saturday and we decided to leave on Thursday to drive down south (5 hour drive... which became 6.5 in traffic, ugh). In Visalia, on our way, Matt's grandparents graciously let us trade our car, sans air conditioning, for their old Mazda 323, with air conditioning. Thursday also happened to be my birthday, so after we got checked into our hotel, we went to Red Robin for my free birthday burger :). And since it actually was my birthday, I got a free sundae too, yum!
On Friday, we got Grace from the airport, helped with wedding set up, and had a great time seeing everyone at the rehearsal dinner that night. Saturday we went to the beach for a little while, then it was wedding time! The ceremony was outside on the church lawn, with cute white chairs, and the reception was right next to it all. We had such a great time with our college friends and were so glad to be a part of Andrea and David's special day.
Sunday was Disneyland day!! I can't even describe to you how excited we were for Disney, and we were not disappointed one bit. I hadn't been there since I was 12 (neither had Grace) and Matt had never been there (although he had been to Disney World). Imagine, the happiest place on earth with like 7 of your great college friends (who know all too well how to be silly and have fun... we may have reverted back to college-like obnoxious behaviors...), for one long, amazing, exhausting, fun-filled day! We were there from opening at 8 am to closing at midnight :). And thanks to Fast Passes, the best invention ever, we never waited in line for more than 30 min (also thanks to the Disneyland app to give you wait times for rides, hee hee).
Monday we drove back home with the addition of Grace for more fun, evidenced on my previous post.
It's not letting me put pics on here right now... here is a link to the album on facebook, I will try again later.
On Friday, we got Grace from the airport, helped with wedding set up, and had a great time seeing everyone at the rehearsal dinner that night. Saturday we went to the beach for a little while, then it was wedding time! The ceremony was outside on the church lawn, with cute white chairs, and the reception was right next to it all. We had such a great time with our college friends and were so glad to be a part of Andrea and David's special day.
Sunday was Disneyland day!! I can't even describe to you how excited we were for Disney, and we were not disappointed one bit. I hadn't been there since I was 12 (neither had Grace) and Matt had never been there (although he had been to Disney World). Imagine, the happiest place on earth with like 7 of your great college friends (who know all too well how to be silly and have fun... we may have reverted back to college-like obnoxious behaviors...), for one long, amazing, exhausting, fun-filled day! We were there from opening at 8 am to closing at midnight :). And thanks to Fast Passes, the best invention ever, we never waited in line for more than 30 min (also thanks to the Disneyland app to give you wait times for rides, hee hee).
Monday we drove back home with the addition of Grace for more fun, evidenced on my previous post.
It's not letting me put pics on here right now... here is a link to the album on facebook, I will try again later.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
A Visit From Grace
After our weekend in the LA area (see next post, I am working backwords), Grace drove back to spend the week with us in Merced. We got back Monday night, Tuesday we slept in, lazied around, got some sun, ran errands, and watched movies.
Wednesday was actually our anniversary, but since we had Grace in town, we decided to postpone celebrating it much. We drove about 1.5 hours to Mission San Juan Bautista, where I will be taking my class on a field trip next year. I am slowly visiting a bunch of field trip sites for next year to get a feel for them first. There is a historical museum that stretches through an old hotel, house, and a couple of barns. Then there's the mission itself with a museum as well.
After that we continued west to the coast to Santa Cruz. I love Santa Cruz! It is one of my favorite boardwalks because of it's old fashioned classic appeal. They have this amazing old school wooden coaster called the Giant Dipper. We didn't go on any rides this time, but it's still fun to watch and listen to the click, click, click of the cars, just the same :). I just love the buzz of excitement there. I could people watch there all day. We just walked around and then walked on the beach and down the pier. There were a bunch of seals that were very fun on the pier.
We had one more day in town in which I got a little school work done while Grace got some sun, then we made amazing tacos, and went to see Eclipse. Friday we headed out for Yosemite. Oh how I love that place! We stopped in the Indian museum and village there, another field trip preview :). Then we walked about a mile to the trail head for our hike on the 4 Mile Trail. It's 4 miles and 3500 feet up to Glacier Point from the valley floor. We didn't have as much time as we would have liked, so we went 3 miles and 2500 feet up (and down) to Union Point instead. This hike was a bit more difficult than the last few that we have done, but it had the most amazing views!
Yosemite Falls from the valley
Yosemite falls from the hike
Half Dome
Grace had to fly out of Oakland on Saturday afternoon, so we left early to make a little stop in San Fran at Pier 39 beforehand. We walked around, basked in the character that is Pier 39, and shared a loaf of amazing, Boudin, San Francisco original sour dough bread.
The whole album on facebook
Wednesday was actually our anniversary, but since we had Grace in town, we decided to postpone celebrating it much. We drove about 1.5 hours to Mission San Juan Bautista, where I will be taking my class on a field trip next year. I am slowly visiting a bunch of field trip sites for next year to get a feel for them first. There is a historical museum that stretches through an old hotel, house, and a couple of barns. Then there's the mission itself with a museum as well.
After that we continued west to the coast to Santa Cruz. I love Santa Cruz! It is one of my favorite boardwalks because of it's old fashioned classic appeal. They have this amazing old school wooden coaster called the Giant Dipper. We didn't go on any rides this time, but it's still fun to watch and listen to the click, click, click of the cars, just the same :). I just love the buzz of excitement there. I could people watch there all day. We just walked around and then walked on the beach and down the pier. There were a bunch of seals that were very fun on the pier.
We had one more day in town in which I got a little school work done while Grace got some sun, then we made amazing tacos, and went to see Eclipse. Friday we headed out for Yosemite. Oh how I love that place! We stopped in the Indian museum and village there, another field trip preview :). Then we walked about a mile to the trail head for our hike on the 4 Mile Trail. It's 4 miles and 3500 feet up to Glacier Point from the valley floor. We didn't have as much time as we would have liked, so we went 3 miles and 2500 feet up (and down) to Union Point instead. This hike was a bit more difficult than the last few that we have done, but it had the most amazing views!Indian Village
Yosemite Falls from the valley
Yosemite falls from the hike
Half Dome
Grace had to fly out of Oakland on Saturday afternoon, so we left early to make a little stop in San Fran at Pier 39 beforehand. We walked around, basked in the character that is Pier 39, and shared a loaf of amazing, Boudin, San Francisco original sour dough bread.
The whole album on facebook
Playing Hookey on the 4th
I think this is the first 4th of July in my life that I am/we are doing absolutely nothing to celebrate. We have had such a crazy last several weeks that we decided to excuse ourselves from the festivities to have a relaxing day at home. The first day like that in a LONG time! Plus, Samson was already freaking out last night from a few small pops of fireworks. He was hiding in our room, so we thought it would be nice of us to stay home with him too. We had our own little BBQ with teriyaki burgers and corn on the cob, we hung more pictures on the walls, watched TV, and played with Samson. I finally had time to post all of the many pics from the last weeks on facebook, and am starting to write and get caught up on here. You will see in my next posts just how busy we have been :).
A few updates before I get on with rewinding to all of our recent adventures. We have a few days of work for next week! What an answer to prayer to have some payed work, and perfectly during the only 2 weeks we had left to do it in. We will be doing some painting at my school :). Another answer to prayer is that my ER bills are going to be MUCH less than we thought! On our way to Chicago at the beginning of June, I began having severe abdominal pains, and ended up leaving the seatac airport (where our layover was) to go to the ER. The pains eventually subsided, and the doctor really didn't know what was causing them. Her best guess was irritable bowel syndrome, which cannot really be diagnosed nor treated. Anyways, we were kinda worried about how large the bills for the ambulance, er, and cat-scan were going to be. God sure is providing for us, because they are less than half of what we were expecting! One last update... we haven't had a dishwasher in this house since we moved in (well, it's there, but doesn't work), and a new one is FINALLY coming this week!
A few updates before I get on with rewinding to all of our recent adventures. We have a few days of work for next week! What an answer to prayer to have some payed work, and perfectly during the only 2 weeks we had left to do it in. We will be doing some painting at my school :). Another answer to prayer is that my ER bills are going to be MUCH less than we thought! On our way to Chicago at the beginning of June, I began having severe abdominal pains, and ended up leaving the seatac airport (where our layover was) to go to the ER. The pains eventually subsided, and the doctor really didn't know what was causing them. Her best guess was irritable bowel syndrome, which cannot really be diagnosed nor treated. Anyways, we were kinda worried about how large the bills for the ambulance, er, and cat-scan were going to be. God sure is providing for us, because they are less than half of what we were expecting! One last update... we haven't had a dishwasher in this house since we moved in (well, it's there, but doesn't work), and a new one is FINALLY coming this week!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The House
So sorry I haven't put any pics up yet of our house, I took them a while ago, but here they are now! We still haven't done much in so far as decorating and putting things up on the walls. I thought we would have more time for that this week, but we have had a lot more to do than I realized. And we're already leaving tomorrow morning for the midwest!
The living room from the other side.
The living room/kitchen have high vaulted ceilings,
so there's this normal height partial wall/divider between rooms.
We got that storage cube organizer to have more space to put
things and take up some wall space (since there's so much!)
Around the wall into the kitchen.
Our last kitchen had so much color... we need to get some in here asap!
This is really a formal dining room, attached to the kitchen,
but we only have one small table so we chose to make it the office.
Down the hall is our bedroom, which is very spacious
Master bath (we had never had one before!
But then we had to buy stuff for another bathroom)
Master walk in closet! AKA: Erica's closet!
Guest room (tiny)
Spare/storage/craft room (also tiny)
My most talented husband built me these shelves in the garage!
Backyard
That's all folks!
This is the view when you walk in the front door into our living room.
The living room from the other side.
The living room/kitchen have high vaulted ceilings,so there's this normal height partial wall/divider between rooms.
We got that storage cube organizer to have more space to put
things and take up some wall space (since there's so much!)
Around the wall into the kitchen.
Our last kitchen had so much color... we need to get some in here asap!
This is really a formal dining room, attached to the kitchen,but we only have one small table so we chose to make it the office.
Down the hall is our bedroom, which is very spacious
Master bath (we had never had one before!But then we had to buy stuff for another bathroom)
Master walk in closet! AKA: Erica's closet!
Guest room (tiny)
Spare/storage/craft room (also tiny)
My most talented husband built me these shelves in the garage!
Backyard
That's all folks!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Seattle Birthday Weekend
We had a wonderful weekend trip to Seattle, 2 weekends ago. We got to babysit both little nieces, celebrate birthdays, and go for a hike. We had the most perfect, sunny, 70 degree days, with clear blue skies and glorious views of the mountains all around. For anyone who doesn't understand how anyone could live in Seattle with "all the rain," THAT is why! Those magical days when you are in the city, yet surrounded by God's creation (mountains, blue sky, sun, glistening lakes, green trees), as He wraps His arms around you and declares IT IS GOOD... those days make all the rainy days in the world worth it! When you come around the bend on I-5 and see Mt Rainier standing tall and looking more like a painting than real life. And then to drive a mere hour away for a fun hike (Rattlesnake Ridge) with great views of the hilltops, trees, and lakes... not to mention the smell of forest along the way... all of these things make me miss the Seattle area so much! I sure hope it is in God's plan for us to return there someday! But for now, California aint too bad either ;). Here's to contentment and enjoying what you have while you have it! Even though our California sunshine and warm temps have seriously been lacking...
Back to the weekend... we babysat Lucca on Friday night and just had the best time with her! She is walking all over the place now and looks so much bigger doing it! She remembered us this time, which was very special for us. Lucca has even taken on Evangeline's obsession with Uncle Matt and saying his name all the time and having to know where he is... we think a lot of this is because Matt is so easy to say and they get excited to say it frequently, but still very fun. We had a great time playing, coloring (she has the longest attention span I think of any 20 month old that I've seen), jumping, dancing, and even went to the park. That girl LOVES the swings! So much that Grandpa ordered one for their house for the girls to enjoy.
Evangeline is constantly on the move! Her little body the runs all over and her little mouth that never stops talking! What a cutie. She is so much fun, but definitely embracing her twos with gusto! She loves to help with anything you are doing, but only for a minute or two, because that's as long as her attention span will go :). My favorite Evangeline quote of the weekend: she was eating her lunch, grabbed a handful of noodles, continued to eat with her other hand, then noticed the noodles still in the first hand, and said, "Oh, noodles in my hand!" She got all excited because she had forgotten they were there, then hastily ate them up :).
We had a birthday party for our birthday buddies... Matt 25 and Evangeline 2. Their joint theme was polka dots (Matt thought maybe next year his birthday theme would be princesses!). The girls were a hoot... Evangeline got a slide for her birthday that was put in the middle of the living room for them to play on. I couldn't even count how many times she climbed up and went down that thing! It had a para-scope thing on it, and every time she looked in it, she was say, "I see you [name]!" to whoever she saw.
That hike I mentioned was with Natasha and a couple of her friends, and then we also got to see Christina and Dan a bit too. I have missed them and my fam so much! Only 2 more months until we return!
Here's a link to pictures from our weekend on facebook.
Back to the weekend... we babysat Lucca on Friday night and just had the best time with her! She is walking all over the place now and looks so much bigger doing it! She remembered us this time, which was very special for us. Lucca has even taken on Evangeline's obsession with Uncle Matt and saying his name all the time and having to know where he is... we think a lot of this is because Matt is so easy to say and they get excited to say it frequently, but still very fun. We had a great time playing, coloring (she has the longest attention span I think of any 20 month old that I've seen), jumping, dancing, and even went to the park. That girl LOVES the swings! So much that Grandpa ordered one for their house for the girls to enjoy.
Evangeline is constantly on the move! Her little body the runs all over and her little mouth that never stops talking! What a cutie. She is so much fun, but definitely embracing her twos with gusto! She loves to help with anything you are doing, but only for a minute or two, because that's as long as her attention span will go :). My favorite Evangeline quote of the weekend: she was eating her lunch, grabbed a handful of noodles, continued to eat with her other hand, then noticed the noodles still in the first hand, and said, "Oh, noodles in my hand!" She got all excited because she had forgotten they were there, then hastily ate them up :).
We had a birthday party for our birthday buddies... Matt 25 and Evangeline 2. Their joint theme was polka dots (Matt thought maybe next year his birthday theme would be princesses!). The girls were a hoot... Evangeline got a slide for her birthday that was put in the middle of the living room for them to play on. I couldn't even count how many times she climbed up and went down that thing! It had a para-scope thing on it, and every time she looked in it, she was say, "I see you [name]!" to whoever she saw.
That hike I mentioned was with Natasha and a couple of her friends, and then we also got to see Christina and Dan a bit too. I have missed them and my fam so much! Only 2 more months until we return!
Here's a link to pictures from our weekend on facebook.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Operation House Relocation Commences Today!
We start today and have one week to move out of this house and into the new one, yikes! We did get some good news though, a huge answer to prayer, we don't have to paint the walls back in our old house! Or at least we don't have to for now, which means we don't have to by next week, along with everything else. It's going to be a long couple of days! See ya on the flip side.
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