A Fun Day!

Stephen and I had a great day today.   First he got to sleep in while I went to my Excellent Wife study.  I had a great time of fellowship, learning and discussion AND got to see Hillary's brand new baby boy!  Talk about a cute, sweet baby.  

Once I got home, Stephen and I went out to run some errands and ended up spending the day walking around the Northridge Mall and REI (outdoor camping world galore).  We had a lot of fun walking around, looking in stores, and just being together.  Stephen ended up getting a new pair of workout shoes (he's been looking around for a while and finally got some!).  These great new shoes came with a condition though.....working out on a more consistent basis.  

So we stopped on the way home and bought a jump rope and Stephen started breaking in his new shoes pretty much as soon as we got home.  Then he decided he was in the mood for some competition, so we went over to the racquetball court and put them to the test.  

It was definitely one of the best and most competitive round of games we've played.  We both had a blast, and of course Stephen beat me like crazy, all the while telling me what a great job I was doing. Haha.  I've always said that one of the first things that drew me to him was how encouraging he was.  Guess that still holds true!

Then we finished the day off with a great dinner of salmon, broccoli, and caesar salad.  Heatlhy, yummy, and I cooked it...Hooray!  I'm definitely not the greatest cook ever, but I know with practice it will keep getting better and this one turned out pretty good!  Hope everyone who reads this has a good weekend too!

Sister Pictures!

Finally, some pictures!  I blame Sara for the tardiness of these :-)  And I guess I blame myself for not posting anything else in the last 2 weeks...  Stephen and I are sitting at the kitchen table right now, each on a laptop and being semi-productive.  I say only semi because Stephen keeps cracking jokes and breaking out in random song, and I can't help but laughing, which then breaks my train of thought... Anyways, back to the pics.  Sara and Emily had a good time while they were here and we loved having them and getting to spend some quality time together.  

We went shopping in the Fashion District in downtown LA:

Went sightseeing and stopped to take some pics by the Hollywood sign:

And Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills:

And relaxed in the evenings at the good ol' apartment:

Hooray!

Sisters!

Wow!  I can't believe it's already March 21st.  Stephen and I have been pretty busy the last few weeks.  My sisters came to visit during their Spring Break and we had a lot of fun showing them some of the sights around LA.  We spent a LOT of time shopping, and Stephen amazed me with his patience during all of it :-)  It was great to see them for a few days and for them to spend some time with Stephen and I, which doesn't happen very often.  Sara has all the pictures, so I'll post some as soon as I can get them from her.  In the meantime, I'll put a few from the wedding :-) 

Winter Camp!

This past weekend we had our Jr. High Winter Camp at Big Bear Lake in San Bernadino, CA.  It was an awesome weekend of ministry and fun.  We were led through Colossians during our main sessions, and then got to spend some small group time discussing the lessons.  Stephen and I both loved the time with our students.  There were also plenty of fun activities throughout the weekend.  My favorite was the tubing.  I've never done any snow activities, so I feel like tubing was a great start for me and it was a blast!  Stephen is sitting next to me right now and says it was his favorite too.  :-)  Here's some pics from the weekend for your enjoyment.  We might put a few more up later on. 

This was a little hill just outside our cabins that the kids went sledding on during every free moment we had.  It doesn't even compare to the hill we went tubing down.

Look Out!

We've been having BEAUTIFUL weather out here for the last few days, so Stephen and I have been taking advantage of the nice weather and spending some time outdoors.  This week we played a little soccer, went for a walk, and also broke out one of our Christmas presents...racquetball gear!  Now, I realize racquetball is an indoor sport, but we take a little walk outside to get to our apartment's court.  And I think racquetball is so fun, that I want to write about that rather than focusing on the GREAT weather that I'm absolutely loving. 

Now it should be known that Stephen has a good bit of experience playing racquetball from back in the day when he and his dad would play together.  I, on the other hand, have now played racquetball a total of two times.  I remember going to the YMCA when I was a little kid and watching my dad play racquetball.  Then in college we had a ton of courts at the Rec Center, and I always saw people in there crashing into walls, working up a serious sweat, and having a blast. I was always secretly jealous of them because I thought it would be so much fun to play.

Well, I've discovered that for me it IS fun...as long as you have the ability to laugh at yourself each time you swing with all your might at this little blue ball flying at you from all directions after bouncing off every possible surface, only to completely whiff and miss the ball.  And also if you swing and completely come short of hitting the ball because you're too scared you're going to crash into a wall or hit the wall with your racquet.  And ending games with scores of 15 to 1.  As long as you can just laugh about all that, you're gonna love it.  :-)

Well, maybe it just takes a few times to get the hang of the game.  At least my wonderful husband laughs with me (or probably at me) and doesn't get too frustrated with my lack of hand-eye coordination.  According to him, I'm getting better, especially if I keep my eyes open when I swing.  Right...  But I'm not giving up yet!  One day I will actually swing and hit the ball.  More than three times in a game! 

We Love San Diego!

For my birthday and Valentine's day, Stephen took me on a trip down to San Diego for a long weekend.  It was WONDERFUL!!!  I officially love San Diego.  Something about being close to the water and sail boats and fun little beach towns just gets to me.  Unfortunately Stephen pretty much hates the beach.  Mostly it's the sand and sun that he doesn't like, but being the wonderful husband that he is, he endured it all with minimal complaining.  See: Plus I think it helped that he had a dinner at this amazing establishment to look forward to:  (if you can't tell, it's Ruth's Chris Steakhouse...AMAZING!)  Definitely the best steak I have ever had.  And it was a wonderful dinner with my husband.  He sure does treat me well!

Some of the things we did while we were in San Diego:

Went to the San Diego Zoo!!!  It was pretty impressive.  We spent almost an entire day there.  I was definitely reminded of God's creativity in all the different, and sometimes very strange looking, animals.  Incredible colors, weird features, all with a purpose.  It goes to show God's infinite wisdom, knowledge, and creativity!

Coronado Island.  You drive on this awesome, crazy high bridge over the ocean to get to the island.  It was quaint, very well kept, and had the best beaches I've seen in California so far.  I'd love to stay here one day (at the Hotel del Coronado, right on the beach!)!

The helicopter you see in the sky is actually a CH-47 Chinook.  It's a military helicopter that looks like this up close:

San Diego and Coronado Island are home to many members of the United States Navy, as well as a huge Navy base (or many bases...they were everywhere!)  It was pretty interesting.  Our hotel was right down the road from the Anti-Submarine Warfare Base.  Stephen thought that was pretty cool.  And we got to walk along the ports and see some awesome ships like:

The U.S.S. Midway

And this VERY old pirate ship!

And lastly, we went to La Jolla, which is a town about 10 miles north of downtown San Diego.  Based on the great recommendation of my mom, who was out here last year with my dad, we knew this was one stop we had to make.  It has a pretty incredible coastline with a great walking path all along it.  Here's one of many pics we took during our walk.  And we also got to see a bunch of sea lions sunbathing on the beaches!

Oh, and we can't forget Stephen's impromptu camera appearance!  While walking by the shops in La Jolla, this lady approached us doing "market research" and asked for Stephen, being the technically savvy consumer that he is, to give an interview.  He did a fantastic job and I stood in the background taking pictures :-)

Well, that's pretty much it for our trip.  I loved it!  Even though it's only been about six months since our wedding, it felt like we were on a second honeymoon.  Or maybe I'm just really in love with my husband and love getting to go away and spend some undivided time with him.  Either way, it was a great!  Thanks for the trip, my love!

Ghetto Bowling

This past Wednesday instead of our regular Jr High service, XChange ministries went bowling!!! Four solid hours of bowling and laughing with some awesome 7th and 8th graders. My favorite part of the evening was being able to spend time having conversations with my girls. There are so many of them on Sundays and Wednesdays, and you want to be able to say hello to everyone and check in on them all, and it's just not possible in that short time. So this was a great chance to hear a little more of what's been going on in their lives and to continue building relationships.

One thing that has been a hard adjustment to life and ministry here in Los Angeles is the fact that everyone is so spread out that it's difficult to be involved beyond just Sundays and Wednesdays (when we're all in the same place). These kids drive up to an hour in any direction to get to church. It's not like we all live in the same town...in fact, the majority of my small group girls live 45 minutes away. So needless to say, getting together with them is somewhat difficult. It was nice to have some hang out time with them! Here's a pic of a few of my girls. They are great and they love Jesus!

Montrose Bowl 2008