Meet the Mr. and Mrs!

Momma B's Birthday/Labor Day

2010-09-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

August through September is birthday time around here!
Kate's birthday is August 2nd, Jon's is August 6th, Jesse's is August 20th, Papa Don's is August 22nd, Bianca's is September 8th, and mine is the 27th. Fun stuff!
Our "holiday weight gain" has already begun--so much birthday cake!!!

We celebrated Bianca's birthday on Labor Day up in Oxnard with the Mueller clan. What a beautiful day!

It was such a gorgeous day to spend at the beach!

The weather was perfect, the sand was warm, there was more than enough pizza to go around, and we enjoyed catching up with each other, laughing over old times, and watching a pod of dolphins dance on the waves. Perfect!

Jesse and his birthday Momma ♥

Just chillin'

Dad and Mom

Silly Jon...who wears cowboy boots to the beach?

After spending a loooooooverly afternoon at the beach, we headed back to Mom and Dad's for some of this:

Happy birthday, Momma B!

It will be months until she needs it, but Jesse and my gift to her was a handmade cap and keyhole scarf (gee, I wonder who made it?) in gorgeous hues of orange--her favorite!

Gotta love these two!

I have quite the collection of silly pictures of Jesse and Lou.

These are the only two pictures I have of the scrumptious spare ribs barbeque we had later that evening, but you can take my word for it--it was delicious!

It was a wonderful day of celebrating Momma B's birthday, relaxing with family, and enjoying good food!

Jesse's Birthday

2010-09-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

My handsome man is 24!

We drove up to Oxnard a few days before his birthday to celebrate his birthday and Papa Don's birthday with the Mueller clan. Our fun family celebration was paired with an opportunity to see Laura and Dad perform in the musical, 1776. What a fun day!

Mmmm...ice cream cake!

The birthday boys!

How can a day not be fun when surrounded by all of these crazy people? :-)

<><>

Kate is still in love with her monocle, and Jon is sporting his new "steampunk" goggles

Just a liiiiiiiiitle special :-)

After a wonderful dinner, lots of fun conversation, and some gift-giving (don't forget the cake!), we all drove up to Ojai to watch 1776. What a talented group of people. We were all so impressed by the musical that was directed and choreographed by high schoolers. Laura played Martha Jefferson, which was so much fun to watch, and Dad got to play the part of the Reverend (man, that takes some serious acting!) ;-)

On Jesse's actual birthday night, we got together with friends for dinner at BJ's and movies at the drive-in movie theater. It was a great night! (These photos are compliments of the amazing Greg Wilson)

Gathering friends

Mmmm...birthday pizzookie!

Cute birthday boy :-)

Since there was such a large group of us, we all brought lawn chairs and left the tailgates of our cars open so that we could hear the movie through the radio. It worked!

Watching The Expendables at the drive-in
(do squinty eyes mean that another Brubaker needs glasses?) :-)

The weekend after Jesse's birthday, we went to Redlands to celebrate with Momma B, Jan, and Bob. We went to a teppan grill (my first time!) It was amaaaaaaaazing. The food was so good! And it was fun to watch the chef put on such a great show for us.

Bob, Jan, and Jesse--excited about food!

Onion volcano--so cool!

Sushi and teppan grill in the same place? Amazing!

Happy boy with some birthday ice cream :-)

Such a fun night!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time celebrating Jesse's birthday!

Thinking Back to Five Years Ago

2010-09-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is what we looked like way back then.

An energetic sophomore RA

and a quiet transfer student.

It wasn't love at first sight,

just a simple camaraderie.

No fireworks,

(at least, not until a year later!)

but lots of laughter that first night

as we sat on a lawn for a group outing to listen to the LA Philharmonic play under the stars.

Isn't it fun to look back?

That 18 year old girl had no idea
she was sitting next to the guy

who would change her life.

And now, I can't imagine going back

to life as it was before.

Anniversary Trip: Days 5 & 6

2010-09-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

Our last two days of our vacation!

One can't stay at the McClelland-Priest Bed and Breakfast and forget about it! We were so excited to find this place. Jesse and I still hold onto our common dream (one we each had before we even met!) of having a bed and breakfast someday, so we love treating ourselves once a year to a night at one that fits into our budget. We absolutely loved this one!

The house itself was built in 1879 and just breathes of Victorian beauty and richness.

Our room was so beautiful, and it was quite the treat after spending most of our vacation in a tent!

I looooved the beautiful jet tub

The B&B was in quaint little downtown Napa and was a short walk away from anything we wanted to see. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant, and then walked around some of the shops and down to the river. It was such a beautiful night! I'm excited to go back again sometime. (I think we learned the lesson that you can't really pack Napa into a one night experience!)

Thank you, Celeste, for a wonderful time at your beautiful B&B!!!

After we said goodbye to our new friends in Napa Valley, we headed back down Highway 1 to Big Sur. We had passed it days before on our way up, and the coastline was sooo beautiful that I couldn't wait to get back to it!

Cute little squirrel!

Jesse kept having to remind me to keep my eyes on the road while I drove. I couldn't help it! There were so many beautiful things to see! My heart just soars whenever I see the ocean. And to drive up and down it for five hours at a time is like inland-dweller's therapy. We need to do this trip more often. Or just move. Hmmm.... ;-)

We had time that night to set up camp...

and walk around a little bit...

see a pretty waterfall...

and a beautiful little shady glen...

...but we saved our exciting excursion to McWay Falls for the next morning. We had seen reviews about it pop up many times during our online trip planning, and knew we had to go. I'm so glad we did!

If I could pick any location to place my dream house, I think it would have to be with this view:

The McWay waterfall cascades 80 feet off a cliff before landing directly in the surf during high tide. What could be more beautiful?

Jesse and I thoroughly enjoyed every sight we could see. So many gorgeous things!

Jesse's first gift to me was a pair of Scottish thistle earrings with amethysts.

Seeing the real thing on our anniversary trip made us both smile.

Taking in all of the beautiful scenery

I just don't think that seeing this every morning would ever get old!!!

Jesse running back from seeing what was up the trail.

(isn't he cute?!?)

*Just* another gorgeous view

We loved our 2nd anniversary trip!!!

Anniversary Trip Day Five: Goodbye San Francisco and Hello Napa!

2010-08-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

We began our fifth day with a visit to the Painted Ladies. We had seen these them on all of the visitor brochures, and being the lover of beautiful houses that I am, I didn't want to leave San Fransisco that day without seeing them.

It cracked us up that the playground in Alamo Square had little Painted Ladies, too!

Beautiful fountain in Alamo Square right across from the Painted Ladies.

After walking around the houses and enjoying the rest of the neighborhood, we went back to the harbor and ate sushi while filling out postcards for our family.

YUM!!

Once our postcards were in the mailbox, we got back in the car and waved goodbye to San Francisco

and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge

Kind people at the church we had visited on Sunday told us how to find the picture-taking spot on the other side of the bridge, so we got out of the car in Marin County and walked back across the bridge (just to say we had) :-)

It was ~~just a little~~ windy!

Pretty view on the Marin side looking over the gate

It was just a gorgeous day! I loved the colors.

Jesse was being goofy around the control box

Who's that good looking guy?

Still walking across the bridge...

Jesse was excited that someone had already marked his place for him

It was fun to walk past so many people who were doing the same thing.

Can you really feel like an adventurer when walking across the Golden Gate Bridge?

Maybe :-)

One of the most exciting things was that some dolphins put on a show for us. We have about 60 pictures that look exactly like this one.

We also saw pelicans, sea lions, and a whale. It was so much fun!

And the rarest of all sea creatures, the helicopter.

♥

Back across, victorious, wind-blown, and...apparently sideways.

View from where we parked

Hello, Jesse!

We had a wonderful time in San Francisco!

Now off to winetasting in Napa!

We enjoy Beringer wines at home, so when we decided to try wine tasting in Napa, Jesse was very excited to find that we could go on a relatively inexpensive tour of the Beringer Winery.

It was absolutely beautiful!

The Beringer Brothers Estate greets you as you drive in.

Our tour guide took us to one of the vineyards.

This is the vineyard for sauvignon blanc grapes.

Sampling some wine

Baby grapes!

Rows and rows of grapes. So pretty!

The back of the Beringer Estate and its grounds

Heading in to the wine cellar and tasting room

It smelled so good in here, and was so nice and cool. Very refreshing after the heat outside!

Tasting Room

Sampling merlot straight from the barrel

We enjoyed our first wine tasting tour!

Here is a list of what we got to try

So glad we didn't have to pay for all of that!
We had a lot of fun on our wine tour. We'll look forward to doing something like that again!

Anniversary Trip Day Four: The Sights of San Fran

2010-08-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

After church on Sunday, Jesse and I did the 49-mile Scenic Drive of San Francisco. It was good to do once, and to remember that driving around the crazy streets of San Fransisco is not my cup of tea! My tummy and I were very happy to get out of the car and see things on foot instead :-)

I can't read maps in the car without getting sick, so Jesse was our fearless leader!

Some of the sights of San Francisco

Lombard Street is waaaaaaaaaaaay up there

Good Ol' Alcatraz

Pretty Golden Gate

Happy couple

I liked the lighthouse

(I also like being able to wear hoodies in the summer!!!)

Lunch at Boudin's Sourdough Bakery (yum!)

At the top of Lombard Street

Check out the view!

We ended our night with another trip to Ghirardelli Square for a chocolate sundae and another opportunity to watch the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge

(this picture cracks me up because we forgot to ask that they not put chopped nuts on the sundae since Jesse is allergic. Oops! Oh well, here is a picture of Jesse trying to blow them all off!)

On our drive back to our hotel, I was determined to get a picture of the Bay Bridge all lit up at night. It's kind of hard to get a good picture from a moving car, though!

Here is attempt #1...

...which was much more successful than attempt #2...

But check out how perfectly I centered that palm tree!!!

That takes TALENT from a moving vehicle, let me tell you ;-)

Anniversary Trip Day Three: The Mystery Spot and San Francisco

2010-08-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Here we go...finally, day 3!

We began our third day with breakfast at Denny's and then a trip to The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.

Jesse questioning the mystery

They're really big about bumper stickers around here!

Our guide

I think this amused me a lot more than it did Jesse!
Still, it's really funny to do a pull-up and end up diagonal.

One of our favorite things about the Mystery Spot was how the little kids would roll across the floor. They just kind of gave up on standing up straight and decided to have fun with it. There were several times I almost got knocked over by someone rolling into my legs!

After a drive up to San Francisco, we did something Jesse has been wanting to do for years: go to The Stinking Rose. He's been telling me about this place since we first started dating! Jesse went there when he was little with his mom, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle Tom. It's a restaurant filled with garlic! Absolutely brilliant. We had such a good time!

After our amazing dinner, we drove down to Pier 39 and walked around the shops.

Look! Baby seal! It's hard to see, but it was super cute :-)

"Happy 30th Anniversary, Sea Lions!"

My handsome man

From there, we walked to Ghirardelli Square

San Francisco has always been special to me, because it's where my Granny, Papa Don's mom, was born and raised. She lived through the Great 1906 Earthquake, and always had so many stories to share! She was born in 1900, lived until she was 98 years old, and had an incredible memory. I wish I remembered more of her stories, but I love hearing about them from Mom, or Papa Don, or Gramma.

Granny grew up as a friend of the Ghirardelli family. She told stories about how Mr. Ghirardelli would hold her hand and walk her to his chocolate shop, put her on a stool and hand her a chocolate sundae.

I smiled and thought of Granny as a little girl when I saw this hanging in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop:

Jesse and I have some good history there, too!

Look at this picture of us from January 2007 when we went to San Francisco with our orchestra on tour:

It's so funny to think back to that time. We had only been dating for a month...and I had already set up a savings account for my wedding dress!!! It wasn't hard to know that he was the one I wanted to be with for the rest of my life ♥

We've grown up just a bit since then, haven't we?

Everything at the shop is pretty expensive, so we decided to share a triple berry sundae. Oh my gosh! It was soo good. Strawberries, raspberries, and lingon berries, cheesecake, chocolate syrrup, chocolate-dipped waffle cone, and chocolate-covered blueberries. WOW!

When we went to pick it up from the window, the nice guy behind the counter said, "Hey, do you guys want an extra chocolate shake? Someone ordered it and then changed his mind. You can have it!"

Jesse's eyes lit up :-) So here we are, enjoying two amazing treats for the price of one!

We went out to the park to sit on the lawn and watch the sunset. It had a perfect view from all around.

It was the perfect place to watch a beautiful sunset

and to give Jesse a chance to do his "Dancing Matt" impression

and a little bit of shenanigans...

lol...life with Jesse is never dull!

Nope, never dull. Just...wonderful.

♥ ♥ ♥

Anniversary Trip Day Two: Hearst Castle and Monterey

2010-07-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

Friday morning: view from our tent in Morro Bay

Good morning, Sunshine!

After a yummy breakfast of campfire bacon and eggs, we packed up our tent and got on the road. It wasn't a far drive to Hearst Castle...but I was so excited! Thankfully, there was lots of beautiful coastline to keep me occupied until we got there. I love the ocean!

On our way up to Hearst Castle--do you see it at the top of the hill?

We got there with enough time to eat lunch at their cafe. We sat at a table and watched tour buses make the climb up the hill to the Castle. Even got to see some of the zebras in the pasture!

We took Tour 1. Since neither of us had ever been there before, we figured it would be a good introduction to the Castle. Also, I've been dying to see the Roman Pool for years, because it's all people ever talk about when they come back from seeing Hearst Castle! Very few people call it "the Roman Pool," though. It's much better known as the GOLD pool! It lives up to its name...

Check out the entrance! The crazy thing is, our tour guide told us that when William Randolph Hearst invited guests to the Castle, this wasn't the entrance he used. There's an even more elaborate entrance on the other side. (I like this one better, though!)

So excited to finally be here!

All of the architecture and landscaping is so gorgeous!

Neptune Pool

Those are all Roman columns from ancient temples and other buildings. They're all different sizes because they all came from different places. Just amazing!

Pretty statues

Just breathtaking!

From the top of the steps

Jesse and I decided that we need to become volunteer tour guides here someday. See the modern looking pool ladders in the pictures? Yeah, they're there because swimming in the Neptune pool is one of the tour guide perks!

Steps leading up to the Casa del Sol guest house

Entering one of the guest bedrooms

No flash photography allowed...sorry these are kind of dark.

I loved this room...almost as much as I loved the beautiful white summer dress on the bed :-)

I want one!

I really think I belong in the era of white gloves and lace parasols...

A more manly room...

I would love to have a patio with a view like this!

Casa Grande

This is the grand entrace to the Hearst Castle. It was a big deal because, right after the discovery of King Tut's tomb, Egyptian artifacts were very fashionable. Hearst researched these two, purchased them, and made sure that everyone who came to his castle knew he was hip :-)

I'm pretty sure that Jesse's favorite part of the whole tour was seeing that W.R. Hearst always made sure there was ketchup and mustard on the formal dining table!

The Roman Pool was spectacular--just like everyone said.

Walking on gold :-)

None of these mosaic pieces is larger than 1". Can you imagine how long in took to lay these beautiful patterns? Floor, walls, ceiling, everything.

We loved the diving platform. Everything about the pool was just breathtaking.

It's expensive to get to see Hearst Castle, but I'm really glad that we did. I'm thankful that I don't live in as ostentatious a place as that, but I enjoyed getting to see such an incredible collection of antiques and treasures, enjoy beautiful architecture, and see such lovely landscaping. It was worth it!

A few miles down the road from Hearst Castle, we saw seals!

I insisted that we pull over to see them and take pictures, but as soon as I opened the door and put my foot out, I pulled it back in with a scream and closed the door. There were little chipmunks everywhere, and those little beggers wanted to eat my bright pink toe nail polish!!!

They were really friendly with Jesse, too...hoping for handouts!

Check out how they would stand up and reach for him

Jesse loved it! I was more concerned about rabies than cuteness, but...I have to admit, it is pretty darn cute! (when you're not wearing flip flops!)

It was incredibly windy out there.

I could barely even walk

I felt like Wilbur the Albatross from Rescuers Down Under

Jesse nearly died laughing at me!

At first, we only found one seal close enough to see very well.

(but we were still proud of it!)

Jesse walked out to see if there were more seals over there

Not much luck over here...

But look what we found over here!

(Somebody's sure excited about it!)

The dark guy in the middle of this picture cracked us up. He just waddled up from the water, decided he wanted to be between two seals, and wedged his way in. The other two barely even woke up. You think he'd look a little more pleased with himself after an endeavor like that :-)

This one was one of our favorites. Look how cute he is, hugging himself!

Heeeeeeeeere, pup!

Back in the car...whew! Where's that hair brush?!?

A little while later, we were in Monterey. We stopped at the harbor for some sightseeing and dinner.

Jesse was excited to get to go to a pub :-)

I was excited for authentic clam chowder.

Pretty view from our table

Enjoying dinner together

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It was a wonderful day!

Anniversary Trip Day 1: Solvang and Morro Bay

2010-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off blogging about our trip because...honestly, going through nearly 600 pictures is overwhelming. But, I'm over it. Here we go!

We began our wonderful trip up the coast by driving to Solvang. Neither of us had ever been there before, which is funny, because I only found out last month that it's less than an hour from where I grew up. What a cute little place! We asked lots of friends before we left about places we shouldn't miss while on our trip, and many of them said we had to go to Paula's Pancake House. So we got to Solvang in time to go there for brunch :-)

We were a little surprised, though, that as we drove into Solvang, we saw lots of people dressed up like this:

Since when is red lingerie suitable cyclist attire? Especially when the majority of them are male cyclists?

Turns out, there was an AIDS LifeCycle June 5-11th from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We were thankful that we were going exactly the opposite route (Los Angeles to Solvang, Morro Bay, Hearst Castle, Monterey, San Francisco, Napa, Big Sur, LA). Otherwise, we probably would have had these guys in ALL of our vacation photos! As you can see in the rest of our pictures from Solvang, they were everywhere.

We were excited to get to go to Paula's Pancake House! It lives up to its legendary status :-)

So cute with the pretty patio and little umbrellas...just an adorable little place!

We enjoyed some amazing pancakes, as well as eggs, fruit, swedish sausage, and biscuits. Yum!

We began a tradition last year of buying Christmas ornaments on our anniversary trip, so we were set on finding some on this trip, too. We were so excited to find an entire Christmas shop there! Now we'll remember our fun times on our second anniversary trip each Christmas as we put up our tree.

I still got my craft fix --even on vacation!

This is such a cute little store...owned by the sweetest lady!

Jesse was very excited for find a family heraldry store. We bought him a proper Brubaker stein (should be arriving any day) and had a lot of fun learning family history from the lady who works there

For example, we didn't realize that although Brubaker is a common German name, it originated in Switzerland.

There we are!

Jesse's Superman impersonation

There were about 50 of these guys all over Solvang. It seriously felt like they outnumbered the rest of the tourists!

We liked the windmill :-)

And this beautiful dolpin bench and fountain

The afternoon was the perfect time for a raspberry gelato and a chocolate milkshake :-)

I love all of the cute little shops!

blond braids and cowgirl boots.

What a day for Jesse to wear red!

Cute little wishing well

Everything is just so pretty

Even the public restrooms!

"Hey there, Hans!"

Farewell, Solvang!

Back on the road...Morro Bay, here we come!

(I have rotated this pic so many times...it's destined to be sideways, apparently.)

Pretty flower fields along our drive

Our tent site was perfect! We were right on the edge of the campground, with the moor to our left, and the bay to our right. The harbor was right in the middle. It was gorgeous!

This was our first chance to get to use our beautiful new tent, an anniversary gift from Jesse's mom. It's so wonderful to have one of our own instead of needing to borrow from someone else! Hopefully, this is the beginning of many memorable trips with our great little tent.

pretty view

Exploring Morro Bay

The Famous Morro Rock

So pretty!

My handome grill man ♥

Travel Scrabble, hot chocolate, and stars...the perfect way to end our first night!

Our Anniversary

2010-06-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Tuesday, June 8th.

Ami used to always leave "cards" on the bathroom mirror for Papa...following suit made me smile this year :)

On each little heart, I had written something I love about Jesse.

Jesse had to work all day, and the school's 8th grade graduation was in the evening. It was a busy day, but we found time to sneak off for dinner together at our favorite sushi place.

♥ ♥ ♥

Jesse even gave me a corsage!

Two roses for two years ♥

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...Sushi!

I was surprised by how quickly we left church after the graduation...usually we're there forever after any event! I was even more surprised when Jesse drove us to a classy restaurant for drinks and dessert instead of driving straight home.

The waitress who served us bustled around whispering to everyone "It's their second anniversary! How cute are they?!?"

We enjoyed a yummy raspberry cheesecake. So good!

I felt so loved. Even though it was a busy day full of work and big events for Jesse, he still found time just for the two of us. I love him!

4 Years of Loving My Guy, 2 Years of Being Married to My Best Friend

2010-06-06T08:41:00.001-07:00

Jesse and I celebrate our 2nd anniversary on Tuesday.

Here are pictures from the 4 years we've been together!
(We just put these up in our new, beautifully painted living room, so I thought I'd share them with you here, too!)

There's a big gap since I'm not posting any pictures past April 2009, but they're all on my old computer (internet card is broken) and I haven't transferred them over yet. But you know what we've looked like recently!

Homecoming Junior Year

Tree swing at the church I grew up

Visit to Kansas 2007

Kansas, taken by Jesse's dad

Our Engagement, 12-24-2007

March, 2008

Graduation Day! May 9th, 2008

Two weeks before our wedding, on Jesse's return from Handbell Tour

Cancun Honeymoon ♥

A Summer full of weddings! Alina's wedding, July 2008

Labor Day family bbq at our house

Valentine's Day 2009

April 2009

June 8th, 2008

♥ two years of being married to my best friend

♥ two years of cuddles

♥ two years of creating a home together

♥ two years of serving side-by-side

♥ two years of laughter

♥ two years of burned food

♥ two years of reading books together

♥ two years of dragging each other into craft stores and sports arenas

♥ two years of making reality of the dreams we had stored up while dating

♥ two years of the most wonderful love I have ever known, deepened every day with God's grace and humility toward one another.

♥ two years of Happliy Ever After with many more to come!

5:37am. Saturday.

2010-04-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

The one day I could sleep in past 5 this week definitely didn't happen that way. Jesse and I are still house sitting for our friends, and something got into the dogs last night. I never got past a doze last night, because I kept being awakened by the dogs at the foot of our bed. Usually, they're really good through the night, and I have no idea why they were so noisy last night.

By 5:30, I'd had it. I climbed out of bed and struggled in the darkness to find the latches on their little dog kennels and let them out. Jesse woke up to the sound of their freedom barks, and he offered to take them outside (those adorable little fluff balls pee--or worse, leave us gifts-- everywhere if they aren't taken straight outside). I was thankful for his offer and headed into the bathroom. "Don't forget to turn off the alarm," I said over my shoulder. "Ok," He said groggily, as he followed the dogs out of the room.

20 seconds later, I nearly fell off the seat when I heard the shrill siren-like alarm blaring to the whole neighborhood. I heard Jesse run from the backyard and hastily punch in the code, then go back outside with the dogs.

As I climbed back in bed, the phone rang. It was the security company calling to make sure everything was ok. I told them who I was, and that we were house-sitting for our friends. That my husband had gone outside without disengaging the alarm. As I'm saying all of this, I hear a groggy voice coming from the phonein the kitchen. "Hullow? H-hullow?"
"Jesse, I've got it!"

Crisis averted, my handsome, tired man climbed back in bed and promptly passed out. The dogs settled down and went back to sleep. And two hours later, I'm still staring at the ceiling.

We're not allowed to have any pets at the house we're renting, but Jesse is very much looking forward to having dogs some day. Things like this are definitely hurting his chances. :-P

Last Night

2010-04-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I like to treat house sitting like staying at a resort...a really cool resort where you can grill carne asada in the yard and enjoy sunsets from the top of a beautiful hill.

Look at that handsome man I'm married to!

Happy for the first quiet night all week

yum!

Enjoying Jesse's amazing grill-skill: carne asada!

Gorgeous view

Such a wonderful night!

Murder Mystery Dinner

2010-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I participated in Hope Lutheran's annual Murder Mystery Dinner last weekend. We were 2 of a cast of 8, and it was put on like a dinner theatre with an amazing feast of tri-tip and salmon for all of the guests.

It was a 1930s Hollywood movie premiere style theme, and everyone was supposed to get really dressed up. That posed a problem for me: how was I supposed to find something 1930's era-appropriate that fit my tall frame AND was affordable?

I went to seven thrift stores over three months looking for just the right thing to wear, but couldn't find anything. Mom and I looked at dress patterns, and found a beautiful one! Jesse and I went to JoAnn's and used a booklet of coupons to buy everything we needed for a beautiful midnight blue satin evening gown--for $35! The dress pattern came with two styles, and I liked the front of one style, and the back of the other. My mom is an amazing seamstress and was able to piece the two patterns together to get just the look I wanted--as well as adding inches in all the right places so the floor-length style actually reached the ground on me!

Jesse's character was Stu Dyron (play on words: stud iron) and he was a dashing stunt man turned star of the silver screen. He was supposed to be a womanizer who sought out every new starlet who came to Hollywood. The funny thing was that my character was the only girl he had not been in a romantic relationship with!

I was Denise N. Dayer (Da niece/the niece and heir), assistant director and niece of the weathy Hollywood producer who was murdered. It cast a bad light on me the whole time, but I turned out innocent :)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures that Jesse's mom took:

Outside right before the dinner began

The others in the cast were Loraine, the wife of Hope's principal, Nel, one of the school secretaries, Ben, the 7th grade teacher at Hope, Pastor, and our good friends, Tyler and Stacey Stover. (Not that you can see everyone in this picture!)

I feel bad that my back was to Momma B, and Jan and Robert the whole time...but isn't the back of the dress pretty?!? :-)

Jesse and Stacey were supposed to be in an intimate relationship. Stacey and I shared a red lipstick, and at the end of each round, I would sneak off with Jesse to add another kiss mark to the womanizer's face. It was funny how many people from our church were genuinely concerned that the lipstick was coming from Stacey!

Taking a moment to smile with Robert and Jan

(Momma B, I'm sorry that we don't have any pictures with you from that night!)

Here is the entire cast from the evening!

We had a lot of fun. Thank you, Momma B, Jan, and Robert for coming to see us, and thank you, Mom, for a beautiful dress that was made just for me!

Our Day at Universal Studios

2010-03-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Universal Studios have the coolest deal going on right now! For the month of March, all teachers and school employees can get in for free. A good friend passed that tidbit on to us, and since neither of us has been there in the last 5 years, Jesse and I decided to use our free day last week to take advantage of the deal!

Here we are loving that we both have school IDs!

Jesse gets one as a DCE (he works at both the church and school), and I've been subbing at the same school all year, so I have one, too. Let me tell you, teacher IDs have PERKS!

Happy just to be together :)

We had an absolutely wonderful day! The weather was just perfect--not too hot, and just right for breezy summer clothes. Let me tell you, I was only too happy to unearth my flip flops for such an occasion!

We figured that since we got in for free, the day was a gift, and we didn't have to worry about long lines or not getting all the rides in. We simply enjoyed holding hands and relishing every moment together since we knew Jesse would be leaving for the week in a few days (he's currently at a camp with the 6th grade class at Hope--just like last year).

God was good, though! We were never in a line for more than 15 minutes (except for when the brand new Simpson's ride broke twice, so we got out of line and came back later!) We were able to fit in everything we wanted for the day.

Especially things like churros that make Jesse a very happy guy

Well, ok...churros can make two people very happy!

Here we are after Jurassic Park

I survived the 84 foot drop!

(I haaaaaate drops)

Conscious oblivion... :-)

One of our favorite things about the day was the Animal Actors show they have. This picture is for Laura: it's Kevin from The Proposal! Actually, she is Nanu, and is super adorable--even though she isn't the tiny little cottonball from the movie :)

Also, this little orangutan was a real cutie :)

We also enjoyed the tram ride around the backlots. That seriously is the coolest thing!

I'm pretty sure the best part of Jesse's day was finding out that there is a Hard Rock Cafe on the Studio Walk. He was so excited! Jesse loves Hard Rock and has been collecting shirts from every one that he visits. He's got a pretty impressive collection, too, since he has one from Hong Kong that he got when he was on handbell tour freshman (I think) year, and one from Canada from the junior year tour (I think). Now he's looking forward to picking one up in New Orleans this summer!

Anyway, here we are!

It was my first time going to a Hard Rock

Following tradition, Jesse got a new Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood shirt, and I got to join in on the fun with a Hard Rock hat. I don't have a picture of the two of us sporting our new apparel, but I will soon!

You can't really beat getting into Universal Studios for free and spending the day with your love!

So Happy

2010-03-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

This week marks a huge turn around in Jesse and my life together: Jesse has moved his schedule around so that he will be home more nights in the week!

All that we've known since we've been married is that Jesse is never home before 9pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and of course, busy with church and school events on most Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays. We haven't known what it's like to have more than one sit-down dinner at home a week, or what it's like to have hours to look forward to spending with each other before falling asleep.

At the beginning of March, Jesse moved his schedule around so that instead of meeting on Monday nights, the high school youth group now meets on Sundays before the evening service, and instead of meeting on Tuesday nights, the college/career group now meets on Wednesdays right after the jr. high youth group. That takes 3 groups that were originally each given their own night, and condenses it down to one night a week and being at church allllllllllllll day on Sundays. (Not even kidding. Our Sunday now goes from 8am-8pm, and since we live 30 minutes from church, it doesn't make sense to go back and forth in one day).

Since I was so sick last week, we didn't really get a taste of how wonderful this change is until this week. It's so exciting!

I can still count on one hand the number of Monday evenings Jesse and I have spent together since we've been at Hope. Since Monday was his high school youth group night, he was with them every week--holidays included. Having him all to myself on a Monday is something entirely new!

To celebrate, we went to the Staples Center to see a Clippers game. Jesse found some really great tickets for seats right on the floor. He was so excited! And that was my first NBA game, so I was excited, too :)
We invited our friends Jon and Mary, and even tried a new Italian restaurant before the game. It was a great night!

Last night, we had a barbeque at home. I figured it's the only way to deal with an 85 degree day in the middle of MARCH! Anticipating our yummy feast, Jesse had marinated the steak the night before, and it was the juciest, yummiest steak I think we've ever done! We also enjoyed roasted corn on the cob and buttermilk rolls.

The whole night just felt like a celebration. I'm so happy that Jesse was able to move things around to make more time for us. I know it means that Sundays are more busy, but to have Jesse at home two more nights a week is amazing. I'm excited just thinking about the things we will be able to do together now. God is good!

Our Valentine's Day

2010-03-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

I know this is late, but here it is!

After church on the 14th, Jesse and I drove up to Santa Barbara for a beautiful day in my old stomping grounds. Since we had both been sick that week, we waited until the last moment to make the decision to go. We didn't make dinner reservations, and didn't book a hotel. We figured that we were flexible as far as food goes (who says Valentine's Day has to have a candlelit dinner with roses?) and that if we decided to stay in the area (loving that the next day was another holiday!) we could spend the night at Mom and Dad's house instead of fronting a hotel bill.

Last year was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, and the first one that Jesse wasn't sick! Our very first Valentine's Day, we spent in the emergency room because Jesse had a fever of 105! We're not against laid-back holidays :) As long as we're healthy, we're happy!

Anyyyyyyyy ways, Valentine's Day was beautiful. The weather was just perfect, and we enjoyed every bit of our day.

We got to Santa Barbara around 3:00, and drove straight to the pier so that we could sit and enjoy the breeze and waves.

I love that we spend so many of our special days at the beach!

Santa Barbara is a special place to us, because it was one of the first dates we went on as a couple.

I made this shirt as a 'gift' for Jesse

(only a guy wouldn't notice that my tag was sticking out!)

The writing on the bottom of the shirt says "He's my #1!"

My handsome man, being in four places at once :)

I love the Santa Barbara pier, because it's not just a pier. It's a community! Musicians bring guitars, keyboards, harmonicas, fiddles, steel kettle drums. Fishermen bring their rods and chatter while waiting for their catch. Artists set up easels and get to work, with plenty of pieces for sale nearby.

Even the homeless are creative:

(these blankets were set out right below the pierwalk so that people could toss coins while the men slept in the shade.)

"Make a wish!"

"Why lie? Need Beer."

"I know the other guys have bigger blankets, but I'm new at this."

I remember this man from years ago. He makes a new sand sculpture every day. Each one is a piece of art.

My family has been going to Palazzio, an amazing Italian restaurant on State Street, for about 10 years. Whenever we had a special occassion to celebrate, we would go to Palazzio. Somehow, though, it had never worked out to be able to introduce Jesse to this special tradition. I was bent on bringing him on Valentine's Day!

When we called Palazzio to see if it was possible to make reservations, they said that they were completely booked. They suggested that we put our name on the waiting list when the restaurant opened at 5, and see what happened.

After enjoying our lovely sunset on the pier, we went over to State Street to Palazzio. There was already a line of people outside, waiting to put their name in. Jesse looked at me like this was a hopeless cause, but I was determined. We stood in line, put our name in, and were told that it could be anywhere from one hour to two. We found cozy little niche in the wal that was still warm from the sun's heat, and enjoyed a local keyboardist as he played "My Funny Valentine," "Moon River," and other classics.

Jesse was so hungry that his food radar was going off and he was pointing out all of the other restaurants that didn't look as busy. I told him to just be patient :)

Fifteen minutes into our wait, they called our names and seated us on the patio. I was so excited! The weather was still just perfect outside, and this way, we could still enjoy the beautiful music coming from the sidewalk. Pretty soon, a man with a saxophone walked up the the guy with the keyboard, and they started playing "L-O-V-E" together. It was so perfect!

I absolutely love the family-style dinners at Palazzio, and was happy that Jesse enjoyed the food, too. (Of course, there aren't many people who wouldn't enjoy that food, and there isn't much of anything that Jesse won't eat!)

Here we are with our delicious pasta and amazing tiramisu--yum!

At the end of dinner, our waiter came by and gave me a long stem rose! It was a perfect touch to an incredible meal. I'm so glad that it worked out that Jesse and I could come spend another special day in Santa Barbara. We don't need much to enjoy each other, but we were thankful that God worked it out that we could have a candlelit dinner, romantic music, and even roses on our Valentine's Day!

Jr. High DYG

2010-03-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

My very first DYG (and Jesse's 8th or something like that!) was this last weekend.

For those of you who don't know what a DYG is, don't feel bad. I didn't either, until I met Jesse! DYG is the Lutheran Missouri Synod's "District Youth Gathering" that happens once a year (well, twice: one for Jr. High, one for Sr. High)

Jesse was on the planning committee for this year's DYG, so he had to leave a day earlier than I did. (You can read about how sweet and amazing he is right here )
This year's Jr. High DYG was held at the Hilton in Costa Mesa (not sure whose bright idea it was to bring 250 10-14 year olds to an airport hotel!) They had fun activities for us, an awesome band, a service event, a great speaker, and lots of down time for the kids to go crazy :)
My camera died 2 hours into our time there, so these are the only pictures I have right now. Hopefully, I can steal some from others to share!

Jesse playing some indoor/on the floor volleyball with our group

Some of our girls decorating a sign for Hope Lutheran (represent!)

Everyone was given some of these crazy slat shades...

Matt definitely rocked them the best!

Jr. High girls are all crazy about Justin Bieber right now. They found Sharpie pens and wrote "I ♥ J.B." on their shades. I teased them that they weren't allowed to be in love with my husband!

I think this weekend did a pretty good job of wearing us all out!

But we had lots of fun, and I've already heard the kids talking about going back next year :)

Oops!

2010-02-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Oh dear me...what did I do?

In a delirious fit of boredom and fever, I accidently deleted my beautiful blog settings last week!

It's all a blur, but one moment, I had a layout that I loved, and the next, it was all gone, and in its place was a template. A template! A boring, old, run-of-the-mill template. My picture slide shows, my music playlists, my links, my quotes, EVERYTHING is gone.

What did I do?

This is my plea for help.

If you're sitting on your chair laughing at me for being so clueless, if you know that there is an easy fix, this is your cue. Tell me what I need to do to get my beloved blog back in order.

If you're a family member who only reads my blog in email form, don't worry about this one (unless you have secret blog skills I don't know about!)

I don't want a template, I want my layout back! Darn you, blogger. Darn you, fever!

The Best Way to Begin a New Year

2010-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

One solitary day during Christmas break...

Where we didn't have a place we needed to be...

A thing we needed to do...

Other than just be.

Corona Del Mar is our favorite escape. We come alive at the water's edge--even if it's too cold to think about going in.

There's just something about sitting on a blanket in the sand, with Starbucks, favorite bagels, good books, and your best friend.

Thank You, God, that even during a Christmas break as crazy as ours, You gave us this day.

A day to smile...

And to be silly...

A day to enjoy the world You created for us.

And to enjoy the love You created for us

New Years'

2010-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I camped out on Colorado Blvd for the second time with our friends Jesse and Kelly.

The fun thing that was different between this time and last time was:

(ta daaaaaaaaaa)

Last year, when they were just dating, Jesse and I slept in the middle with Kelly on my side and Jesse on Jesse's side--this year, we all got to experience the beauty of double sleeping bags!

Here we are just after midnight:

The Sipans

My nose was so cold, I'm lucky that it didn't fall off!

These are the British party crackers that Kelly and Jesse brought. Our crazy tissue paper crowns came from inside of them!

The next morning, we were all set for the parade!

Pilot Chesley Sullenberger (The "Hero of the Hudson") was the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade

This is the float that Jesse's youth group helped decorate...but the day they did that was the same day as Papa's funeral

This was one of my favorite floats...I just think it's so cute!

This was also one of our favorites...
How do you not smile when you see a pug dog snowboarding on Colorado Blvd? :)

And check it out--it's Jackie Chan!

We had a great time watching the parade

Happy New Year!

Christmas

2009-12-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas 2009 was shadowed by Papa Chuck's death two days before, but instead of being filled with sorrow, we rejoiced in his homecoming and celebrated a quiet little Christmas.

Jesse, Momma B and I drove up to Oxnard on Christmas Day to be with family. It was a very different kind of Christmas, but we were all blessed by being together.

Bianca brought the tamales we had made together, and we enjoyed those while opening gifts and sharing memories. Ami, Uncle Todd, Aunt Paula, and Uncle David all came, too.

Even though I didn't manage to take any other pictures, here are some pictures of the Brubaker's Christmas Eve!

Our second married Christmas!

I had told Jesse that when I was a little girl, I always used to "forget" to bring my pajamas whenever I went to visit Ami. She loves satin pajamas, and has a beautiful collection of delicate, soft, cuddly satin pajamas. I was so surprised when one of his gifts to me was my very first, very own set of satin pajamas! ♥

Merry Christmas!

Kansas Trip! (it's about time...)

2009-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

We've been home for over a month, but here it finally is! What a crazy month this has been!

Momma B rented a car for the trip, and the three of us made the 24 hour drive together. We left good ol' Cali on Thursday, November 5th, and arrived in Derby, Kansas, the next day. We met Aunt Leann and Uncle Tom (Bianca's sister and brother-in-law) there, took a quick nap at their house, and then caravanned up to Kansas City, Missouri, where we spent the weekend with Momma B's cousins from all over the country! It was fun to meet them and get to know more about Jesse's side of the family (of course, he hadn't met most of them until the same day I did, so we're kind of even in that respect!)

We went with the cousins to a really nice steak restaurant the first night (Friday), and on the way home, the hotel chauffeur who had driven us there took us on a mini tour of Kansas City's historical homes. It was quite the tour! He seemed to really enjoy being able to share the homes with us. Some of them were so big, I couldn't believe it. Very ornate and old. We don't have homes that old around here!

The next morning, we got up bright and early to meet the cousins at the Midwest Genealogy Center so that we could do research on the Jackson side of Bianca's family (her grandparents). It was an interesting 6+ hours of research! Here's a picture of Jesse pouring over family records:

And here we are outside of the Genealogy Library where all the research was conducted.

That night, we enjoyed some amazing food at Jazz. These are the only pictures I have of it, but we had a blast! Just a fun atmosphere with a live jazz band, and amazing Louisiana-style food. YUM!

The next morning, after being treated to a beautiful brunch at the Westin by cousins Susan and Celia, we said goodbye to Momma B's side of the family and headed down to Wichita, Kansas, to see Jesse's dad's side of the family.

But not before finding a Crayola store right next to the Westin!

Or playing in the fountains right out side of it... :)

Farewell, Kansas City, Missouri!

And...hello, Charlie!

Jesse just loves his one and only cousin (who you may remember from our wedding)

Who wouldn't? He is just the cutest thing!

We stayed at Aunt Alice's on Sunday night and enjoyed some Charlie-time, as well as hanging out with Jesse's dad and Diana when they finished their bridal expo that afternoon. Can't believe that we hadn't seen any of them since our wedding! (And that didn't really count as quality time).

For some stupid reason, I don't have any other pictures from that night. Guess they just weren't as cute as Charlie :)

The next morning, Jesse's dad picked us up and took us to Wichita's Museum of World Treasures. It was a really cool experience. We happened to be there on the 20th anniversary of the coming down of the Berlin Wall, and the museum had a segment of the wall. We met the founder of the museum and talked with him about the wall's history, and then while we were upstairs, we got to watch as three different news crews filmed him talking about the importance of the day. It was pretty cool!

Here are Jesse and his dad outside of the museum:

And the two of us

After enjoying hours at the museum, we went over to Dad Chris's house for a while. On the drive over, he mentioned how they had put a picture from our wedding in their living room. I applauded them and admitted that we hadn't gotten that far yet.

Imagine my surprise when we walked in and I saw THIS!

I was speechless. This is the biggest I've ever seen myself. And in my in-laws' living room! Granted, it is also their studio, and this is one of their newest products they are advertising, but STILL! It was so big that I could see my contact lenses :)

Pretty funny!

This is the view from Chris's back door. Isn't it gorgeous? I think more Californians would be at peace if they had backyards like this.

Our short visit with Jesse's dad's side of the family was at its end that night.

Goodbye, Charlie!

Goodbye, Aunt Pam!

Goodbye, Dad!

That night, Jesse and I drove back to Derby, Kansas, to join Momma B again and spend our last night out in KS with Aunt Leanne and Uncle Tom (and their 12 black russian terriers.) We did an early Christmas gift exchange, enjoyed some time catching up, and got some much needed sleep before beginning our 26 hour trek back homeward.

It really was a wonderful trip. It was great to see family we hadn't seen in 1.5 years, exciting to meet new family we had never seen before, and enjoy the beautiful countryside that was outside of windows the whole trip.

Thoughts from Two Years Ago

2009-11-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

I found this today, and it made me smile. I'm so thankful for the changes that have taken place in the last two years--that I've gone from breathlessly anticipating an engagement to being the happy wife I am today. Thankful for those changes, and thankful that some things haven't changed!

November 22nd, 2007
So many things to be thankful about...

I remembered this morning back to a year ago today...I was so completely in love with Jesse by then, but hadn't told anyone yet (nor had we shared those feelings aloud with each other). It was a secret that made me smile, blush, and ache at the same time. I remember baking cookies for Thanksgiving, daydreaming about him the whole time, and losing track of how many teaspoons of salt I had added to the batch. My heart was singing about him, and I couldn't share it with anyone else!

Now we are soon to be celebrating one beautiful year of dating. I love him so much! And I am so thankful for him. Every day of this year has truly been a blessing. I am in love with my best friend. And now, this Thanksgiving, I'm holding another secret: we're getting married! We're not announcing it until we are officially engaged. But in my heart, I am engaged to him. I've already made that promise to him. All I want is the opportunity to love him and cherish him for the rest of my life. And he has shown the same promise to me in a thousand different ways. The only thing we are lacking is a physical symbol of our promise. But it's coming :)

I am so thankful for him! God, I thank You for putting him in my life, for giving him (and me!) the patience to wait until the right time to begin dating, for the beautiful relationship we have together, for the times we've shared with friends, and for the times we have to spend together alone, for the laughs we've shared together, and for the way that he holds me and prays with me in hard times, for the way our hands join automatically whenever we're within touching distance, for our conversations about the future, for the way You allow us to find time to spend together even in the midst of our hectic schedules, for the quiet times we share together reading, for the teamwork you've created in us--helping each other with homework and projects and commitments. I thank you for the relationships we have built with each other's families, and I thank you for Bianca. I thank you for the joy we find in merely being together, for the thrills I feel whenever he looks at me, and for the dreams we have of all of our "somedays." Thank you for providing for our every need, so that even when we don't see an immediate answer to a situation, we can trust in You and know that everything will work out with Your perfect timing.

I love looking at last Thanksgiving and comparing it to this Thanksgiving, with all of the changes that have come this year. So much joy, and so many blessings. Thank You, God! Last year, I knew I loved him, and wanted to date him. This year, I know I love him, and that I want to be his wife! Looking ahead at next year, it fills me with awe to realize that we will be married, and we will be sharing our first Thanksgiving together. So many things have changed in the last year, and so many changes will be made in the year to come. Who knows? Next year, we could all be celebrating Thanksgiving at OUR house!

And we did :)

On Tuesday night at Bible study, one of our friends was talking about us and said how he "went to dinner with the Brubakers." A thrill went through me, and when I looked at Jesse, he had a big smile on his face. We're not just Jesse and Bethany--the newlyweds. In the eyes of others, we're beginning to be seen as one, a set, a family. It's a beautiful thing. We are so happy!

Catching Up

2009-10-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month, and the snowball effect always detains me from blogging when I feel like I get too far behind! I've got to work on that habit...

Anyway, by the end of September, we were all birthday-ed out! In the span of a few weeks, my family celebrates my Sister Kate's birthday on August 2nd, my brother Jon's on August 6th, Jesse's on August 20th, Papa Don's on August 22nd, Momma Bianca's on September 8th, and my birthday on September 27th. Whew!

On the Friday before my birthday, Jesse came to the school where I was subbing for 7 weeks (over as of Oct. 16th--I miss them). He surprised me with a vase of flowers and cookies for all of my students! What a guy :) The kids loved getting to meet "Mr. Brubaker" (the formality really threw Jesse off, but how can they have a Mrs. Brubaker who is married to Jesse? It doesn't work in their brains!). Jesse even read Green Eggs and Ham to them, to the delight of all!

Birthday flowers from my handsome guy!

That evening, family gathered at our house to celebrate the September birthdays--Momma B's and mine.

Here are some pictures from that evening:

Laura and Kate chilling on the couch

Then Mom stole Kate away to go over financial scholarships and all that fun stuff...

So Laura and I played with the camera.

Jesse joined us and started telling us to pose for different scenarios.

"Smile like someone just said you're pretty."

"Smile like someone just said your brother is cute."

...yeah...

Birthday cake!

Das Mommas

We had a good night!

On my actual birthday, Jesse and I went to Disneyland (yay for free birthday passes!) with our friends Tyler and Stacey Stover. The Stovers go to our church, and have been married about the same time we have. We love them!

Jungle Cruise!

Jesse was a dork and turned his hat inside out for Mr. Toad's crest ("Semper Absurda")

Group shot!

They gave me a birthday pin!

Jesse tried to get me to go out and do the birthday dance with all the birthday kids, but I'm a boring person.

I would much rather be right here!

More of Jesse's Birthday

2009-09-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm catching up! This was only...what, 3 weeks ago? ;-)

The Sunday after Jesse's birthday, Momma B, the Mueller clan, and Jesse's godparents, Jan and Robert came to our house to celebrate with us.

We had a wonderful dinner of parmesan chicken, garlic bread, fruit salad, and Momma B's famous baked beans.

Here's the clan

In the kitchen with a smile--best way to be!

Somebody's excited... :)

Here comes the cake! I was so proud of my first layered cake (even if it did have its quirks) and the first trick candles I've ever used. Jesse's too pro, though!

We were both laughing so hard!

It was a wonderful day with family :)

The next weekend, we celebrated with our friends at BJs. We had a great time! Here is the only picture I have from the night:

Wedding Pictures

2009-08-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I have spent hours going through our digital wedding photos today, and just posted five albums. Thought some of you would enjoy these too!

Reminiscing...June 8th, 2008

Girls Getting Ready

Guys

The Ceremony

The Reception

Details

These albums are all uploaded to my facebook account, but you can access them even if you don't use facebook.

These pictures remind me how truly blessed we are with how many wonderful people gave so much to help it be a very special day!

Jesse's Birthday

2009-08-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Jesse's birthday was a wonderful day!

It began with a restful morning at home, and a huge birthday card from my kids as soon as he walked into work. Here's a picture of him with the early morning kids who worked on his card!

It says, of all hilarious things, "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Bethany's Husband!"
They all know full well who he is, but one of the girls coined the name a couple of weeks ago, and it's stuck ever since!

We were so excited that his birthday happened to be on a Thursday, because Thursdays are the only weeknight that he is actually home! We took it as a date night and watched GI Joe in at the theater (am I a good wife or what?!?) and went out to our favorite restaurant--Miyako Sushi!

One of the girls there offered to take our picture

Somebody's excited about his food :)

They even brought him ice cream and sang a Japanese "Happy Birthday!"

Kisses for the birthday boy!

23 ♥

2009-08-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Jesse!

23 things I love about you...

♥ Your laugh
♥The way you can befriend anyone in 3 minutes flat
♥ When you sit next to me and play your guitar
♥ The way you know what I need (even when I don't)
♥ What an amazing job you've done at Hope
♥ What an indelible part of my family you have become
♥ The way you know that the two of us are now our own little family
♥ Watching you play with the kids at Hope--they adore you
♥ The way you respect others
♥ That you get up early with me to make breakfast for me before I leave for work
♥ The thoughtfulness you put into loving me
♥ Your smile
♥ Your excitement for things in life
♥ Holding your hand
♥ The way you and your mom are two peas in a pod!
♥ How cute and excited you get when you do something nice for me
♥ Your big hugs when you get home at night
♥ Your big hugs--in general! They make everyone smile :)
♥ Sitting next to you at church
♥ Spending days with you at the beach
♥ How willing you are to do things for other people
♥ What a wonderful leader you are
♥ How you take care of me in every situation and remind me that you love me

I can't believe this is only your third birthday that we have celebrated together. I'm so thankful for you, and I'm looking forward to being by your side for many, many more!

I love you!

God's Timing

2009-07-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, this isn't a deep one. The title sounds like it, but seriously, God's timing is crazy!

Jesse and I discovered last week that even though we try not to plan events for my summer program and his youth groups on the same day (so that kids who are involved in both don't miss out on one or the other), we accidently did it last week. Generally, my group goes on field trips on Wednesdays, but our trip to the Orange County Fair was moved back a day since kids get in free to the fair on Thursdays (can't pass that up when you have a big group!).

Jesse tries to keep his youth groups busy over the summer, and has been averaging a trip a week to the beach lately. Last Thursday was his Jr. High group's turn, so I encouraged all the Jr. Highers that I have in my summer program to join the beach trip instead of the fair (and possibly implanted the idea that Jesse might be able to take them to the fair later...don't tell him that!)

I was bummed to miss out on a trip to the beach, but there's nothing I can do about that when they go during my work day! Sigh...I miss living by the beach.

Anyway, Jesse's group left long before I loaded my little ones into the cars and headed to the fair. We had a great day, seeing everything from Nellie, the "World's Smartest Pig," to Weird Al's new 3D brain movie. Quite the experience.

We shoved our worn out kiddos into the cars around 3:00 to enjoy a 2 hour long tour of Orange County's traffic. Don't miss that!

When we were 20 minutes away from church, my car overheated and lost power. I was in the carpool lane, so I just moved over to the emergency lane, hopped out, locked the doors (had to keep my curious Disney-singing quartet out of the car lanes somehow!) and check under the hood. All fluids were present and accounted for. With my beloved old car, I've become quite the queen of grumpy engines.

I had just hopped back into my seat and asked the boys what we should sing while we gave my car a break, when my cell phone rang. Noticing that it was one of the Jr. High girls, I answered it assuming that she was wondering when I'd be back at church.

"Bethany," she said, "we're right in front of you."

Confused, I looked over my car's hood to see Jesse's car hauling down the emergency lane in reverse.

You can't imagine the smile that broke out over my face! Jesse leaped out of his car and confidently strode toward mine. He checked everything that I had and then sat reassuringly with me until the car had cooled down. Then he took the keys from me, handed me his own, and said he'd see me back at church.

The boys in my car whooped and clapped when they saw that Jesse was going to be their driver from here on out. Instantly, he was their hero.

Mine too!

How crazy is it that we happened to be on the same freeway at the same time from two completely different locations?

I only know of One who can orchestrate something like that.

Our 4th of July Weekend

2009-07-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Long overdue, but here it is!
My computer has been on the fritz, and I just haven't felt like dealing with it lately. Loading pictures seems to be the main problem causer, so until I get a new computer (I'm thinking Black Friday deals? This will be a lesson on patience for me!) we'll see how the blog comes along.

Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend around the 4th! On Friday the 3rd, Jesse and I drove down to San Diego to visit our friends Kelly and Jesse. They became engaged a few weeks ago, so we went down to celebrate with them. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sights of El Cajon, complete with a trip to Mt. Helix. I had been there years ago with the Dinwiddies (when they first moved to San Diego) but haven't been back since, and Jesse had no idea what it was.

Here we are near the cross!

Mt. Helix has a beautiful view of San Diego, and on a clear day, you can see all the way to Mexico!

Our next friends to be married!

Isn't the sky just beautiful?

We had fun dining at a great mexican restaurant, and then did dessert the "El Cajonian way" by going to the Yogurt Mill. We took the yogurt back to Kelly's apartment and played several rounds of Sorry! before crashing for the night.

Kelly and Jesse made my Jesse's year by asking him to be a groomsman in their wedding. They also asked me to play the harp for the ceremony. We are both excited to be involved!

The next morning, Jesse and I joined Kelly and Jesse for a hearty breakfast at a cute diner nearby, and then headed for Ocean Beach, San Diego to visit Emily and see her new home. She bought her very first, very beautiful condo that is about a mile from the beach and has ocean views. It is so perfect for her!

We got over there early on Saturday so that we could hang out with Em and meet her new boyfriend before the rest of the family came over. We walked to the beach together, did some last minute errands, and got things ready for the family party.

July 4th is also Emily's birthday, so it was a double celebration. We had a great time playing games and hanging out when the rest of the Dinwiddies arrived, and had spectacular views of fireworks from Emily's balcony. It's really the perfect spot to watch fireworks--we could see at least 8 shows going on simultaneously, including Sea World's, Lego Land's, Ocean Beach Pier, two colleges, and more. It was awesome.

Here's a pic of Em modeling the apron I made for her birthday. It wasn't even what I was intending to make for her, but when I saw American flag-printed cow material, I KNEW I had to make something out of it for her! And now she has her very own kitchen to dance around in :)

I didn't think to pull out my camera until around 11pm, which is why we all look tired.

Going on 18 years of friendship!

The die-hard partiers (the only ones left by the time I remembered to take pictures!)

All in all, it was a very exciting weekend. Getting to celebrate an engagement, a birthday, a new house, Independence Day, and meet a new boyfriend is certainly enough to pack into two days! But we had a blast, and it was wonderful to spend time with such special friends.

God is good!

It's Official!

2009-06-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I forgot to share some very important news: last week, Jesse was officially contracted to be the DCE at Hope!
We've sort of known that we would be staying here, but it had to be through an official vote from the church members. They kicked us out during the voter's meeting last Sunday (or, 2 Sundays ago--the 14th) so that they could vote on it.
Jesse and I sat in his office waiting, but it wasn't long until one of the girls from Jesse's youth group trotted in and told us we could come back.
When we walked into the fellowship hall, everyone was smiling and laughing, and they all began clapping as we walked back to our seats. The president of the assembly laughed and said "I guess you don't need to ask us the verdict!"
Even though we had a pretty good guess that they would be contracting Jesse at the end of his internship, it's a wonderful feeling to know for sure!

Our wonderful landlords have extended their welcome for us to continue living in the little home that we love so much, and now we're getting ready to settle into another year in the Valley!

On a side note, Jesse is running VBS at Hope this week, and it's turning out to be a great success! It's keeping us both busy, and very exhausted, since we have to leave our home at 6am each day to set things up! All of Jesse's evening commitments (youth groups, board meetings) are taking a break this week because of VBS, and we're enjoying being able to come home together for dinner every night and experience a week like "normal people!"

I'd better not get too spoiled :)

Our Anniversary Trip

2009-06-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

We are home!
And although it's good to be home, part of us wants to freeze this last week and be able to return to it whenever we want to.
I guess that's what pictures are for...and boy, do I have a lot of them! (351, to be exact).

What a blessing to be able to escape for the world for a week and just be together. No youth groups, no church council meetings, no summer planning, no cellphones, nothing to take us away from simply being us. It was so wonderful!

The trip was so packed and I have so many pictures, that the only way I can really do this that makes any sense is to tell you our adventures day by day.

Please don't be overwhelmed by the amount of pictures and stories I have included. I don't expect anyone to make it all the way through this in one sitting! It took ME three days to put it together, so don't feel pressured to do better than that!

Wednesday, June 3rd
Jesse and I woke bright and early to pack up the car and set out on the road. Since I get migraines as a passenger in a car, Jesse let me drive and he entertained us by reading aloud and playing Catchphrase with me (our own one-sided version).
We drove for about 6 hours up to Zion National Park in Utah, stopping along the way to stretch and take pictures of whatever fancied us.
Here we are minutes after entering Zion. What a gorgeous place!

I don't remember if I've said this before or not, but the reason that inspired the trip was that Jesse had never been to Zion OR the Grand Canyon. This trip made it my 4th time to each of them, and to me, going through life this long without seeing either is a crime. Jesse was in awe of the majesty of Zion (why do you think they called it Zion?)

We set up our campsite that night and then spent some time looking around the visitor center and planning our activities for the next day. So many beautiful hiking trails to do, it was hard to make the choices!

Back relaxing at the campsite...

Jesse has decided that this is the life!

Enjoying my "camper stew"--beef, mushrooms, carrots, onion, and bell pepper cooked over the campfire. Yum!

Beautiful moon rising over Watchman mountain

We saw a mule deer out in the woods that night, but the picture came out really dark since it was after dusk. Just take my word for it!

We also went for a walk by the Virgin River which was steps away from our campsite. It was a gorgeous walk!

Thursday, June 4th
The next morning, we got up bright and early, packed up all of our things (even though we camped in Zion for two nights, we had to move to a different campsite for the second night), and hit the trail.
Our first destination was the Emerald Pools Trail. It's a 3 mile trail that weaves around the mountain and leads to you the upper, middle, and lower pools that are emerald green from algae and the reflection of the trees surrounding them. Water from the upper pool cascades down to the others from beautiful waterfalls that are apparently usually a lot more active than they were while we were there, but they were still gorgeous.

Best way to begin any day :)

I loved this bridge! Gorgeous view of the Virgin River and the mountains of Zion.

Isn't it pretty?

Middle Emerald Pool is the first one you come to on the trail.
Here we are testing out the self-timer on our camera!
I tried being the one who had to run at first, but we ended up with about 3 or 4 pictures of me mid-way to the rock before we decided to let Jesse be the running man :)

Pretty wildflowers along the trail

Jesse at Upper Emerald Pool. See how green it is?

No panicking, Mom! We made it back safely, right? :)

I really wanted to take my chaise home with me!

Lower Emerald Pool

My little friend.

View of Emerald Falls before we walked under it.

We got a couple to take our picture for us. I love this picture except for the way that Jesse's leg looks like one of mine and makes me appear very unlady-like!!!

After our hike through the Emerald Pools trail, we took the Zion shuttle all the way through the park. It's a great system--free transport and a tour-like speech the whole drive!

Here is a view of one of the most photographed areas of the park:
The Pulpit and the Altar

That beautiful river again...

We got off the shuttle at the Weeping Rock stop, and hiked up the trail to see the beautiful waterfall there.

Standing under Weeping Rock and looking out at the Great White Throne

My handsome guy under Weeping Rock

A little damp from standing under the fall!

"Just" another beautiful view!

Wow, and these pictures are only from one day of our trip!

Friday, June 5th
We got up early again and packed up our site. Friday was a busy day! We started out with the 3 hour trip from Zion down to North Rim, spent a few hours there, and then drove 5 hours to get down to South Rim.

On our way out of Zion National Park, we stopped on the side of the road to pose with the amazing arch there

And, of course, we had to stop at Checkerboard too!

First shot of us at the Grand Canyon!

If this brown hoodie starts looking familiar, you have to understand how cold and windy it was! I packed shorts and tank tops for every day of our trip, and only at Jesse's suggestion included a pair of jeans and that sweatshirt. Little did I know how chilly it really would be! Those two things ended up being my wardrobe for pretty much the rest of the trip.

Just beautiful!

Jesse taking in his first views of the Grand Canyon

I've never seen Titanic, but this is my Rose impression :)

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

A view of the Grand Canyon Lodge where we had lunch

I have fond memories of spending time there with Papa and Ami for my 16th birthday, and it was fun to return to the same spot where we had eaten lunch together and sit in the same lounge room where Papa and Ami and I had sat watching clouds float over the canyon changing the colors of the rocks from orange to red to purple.

Jesse and I sat in the lounge (which has huge floor to ceiling windows and couches set up for perfect views) drinking coffee and hot chocolate and writing post cards. It was such a pleasant and peaceful time!

After spending a few hours at North Rim, Jesse and I got back in the car and drove the long drive down to South Rim.

When we drove up to Mather's Campground, we were surprised to see two elk sitting in the middle of a campsite right down the road. We hurriedly parked the car at our site and dashed back to see the biggest elk we'd ever seen.

Here's the ironic part of the story: after all of the crazy hikes we did the day before, jumping over rocks and climbing across streams, I twisted my ankle in my haste to see the elk! Nothing impressive like getting injured during a perilous hike, no...I had to fall off of a curb while rushing over to see two silly animals! Definitely ironic.

I was so excited to see the elk, though, that even though my ankle hurt insanely and Jesse tried to convince me to go back to camp so he could check on my foot, I just clutched onto him and hobbled over to the elk.

Here we are anyway!

After I was appeased, we went back to our campsite and set up camp. We enjoyed a night with a campfire-cooked meal and s'mores, then went to sleep so we'd have lots of energy for the day ahead.

Saturday, June 6th
This--I think--was the only day on our trip where we slept in past 6:30. It was wonderful! We were well-rested and ready to spend the day seeing all the sights along South Rim.
First, though, we made a run to the general store there and bought an ace bandage and some advil to help reduce the pain in my ankle. There was no stopping me this trip!

Our first stop was Desert View. It's a beautiful spot with a watchtower that was built in 1930 by Mary Colter. We loved it! It provided a gorgeous view of the canyon, and the architecture alone made the trip worth it!

Standing in front of the Watchtower

This sign just cracked us up!

Beautiful paintings inside the Watchtower

Incredible view from the Watchtower!

From Desert View, we drove to Navajo Point.

Look! You can see Watchtower from here :)

Just bein' silly

Next was Moran Point

Jesse "ho humming" the Grand Canyon

I'm pretty sure that the following pictures are also from Moran Point, but I don't have any way of knowing! The cool thing about the following pictures is that they were taken on an old trail that was used by miners to carry up coal from their mines. We hiked a good way down it, but due to my ankle, turned around after a little while.

Another couple took this picture for us.

Painful ankles can't keep me down!

Check out how steep it is!

Mather Point is such a popular point that it was very difficult to get a parking spot. The parking lot was completely full, and cars were lined along the highway for nearly a mile. I was freaked out about how we had to park our car.

Jesse took a more humorous approach!

He is a bit of a ham...here is his literal impression of "camping at Mather's" (we're staying in Mather's Campground)

Enjoying the view from Mather's Point

That night, we ended the day by watching the sunset at Yavapai Point. It's a walk away from Mather's Campground, and has a beautiful view of the southwestern portion of the Grand Canyon.

Beautiful!

Sunday, June 7th
We got up bright and early on Sunday morning because we were determined to conquer the Bright Angel Trail before the 11am community church service. By 7:00, we were standing at the brink of the canyon taking this picture

Not even 5 minutes down the trail, we ran into mountain goats! It was the funniest thing. There were two of them just chilling out on the trail. We had to get within touching distance before they got out of the way and let us pass.

Jesse standing in the first tunnel on the trail.

Look how far in we are!

Hiking down the Grand Canyon. I am Woman!!!

Aww...

Mule train (man, it is NOT fun waiting on the side of the trail for all of them to pass!)

How beautiful is this?

We made unexpected friendships on the trail when we ran into two travelers: Jan ("Yahn") from South Africa, and Ben from Ireland. We enjoyed talking with them while at a rest stop along the trail, and found out that they were Christians.

Actually, our conversation began when Jan asked Jesse what the cross he wore meant to him. Jesse replied that it meant that Jesus had saved him by dying on the cross and rising again, to which Jan burst out "right on, man, right on!"

Ben and Jan had met each other at the bottom of the Grand Canyon while camping out at Phantom Ranch. They bonded and hiked together up to South Rim enjoying each other's company. What an interesting alliance! A South African evangelist in his 30s and an Irish high schooler who plays in a Christian rock band. They humored us greatly and we enjoyed our time on the trail with them.

Before we parted ways, Jesse and I mentioned that we'd be attending the community church service at the Rim. The guys made no promises, but we were very pleased when we arrived at the church service and found ourselves sitting right behind them!

After the service, the pastor announced that there would be a potluck at the home of one of the church members directly afterward. Jesse and I decided to go, and Ben and Jan were very intrigued at the idea of homemade food after two days at the bottom of the Canyon with nothing more to eat than peanuts and raisins! The four of us drove over to the potluck in our car, and we enjoyed about 3 hours of fellowshipping with other Christians and learning about their ministry in the Grand Canyon. It was a wonderful experience!

When we got back to our campsite that afternoon, we napped, played Scrabble, read together, and reminisced about what we were doing a year ago the day before our wedding. It was such a nice, laid-back afternoon, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We also ran down to Yavapai Point again to enjoy our last sunset at the Grand Canyon, and spent hours that night basking in the warmth of our campfire and toasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate.

Monday, June 8th--Our First Anniversary!

I don't have many pictures from this day, but we did have a wonderful time!
We packed up our campsite first thing, then headed to the showers to feel nice and pretty for our special day.
We spoiled ourselves by eating breakfast at El Tovar Hotel (I can't say "the El Tovar Hotel" without thinking of Mickey Blue Eyes...)
It was delicious! El Tovar Hotel is the oldest hotel at the Grand Canyon. It's where famous people have been staying at the Grand Canyon for 90 years, now.
We enjoyed it immensely. Jesse and I both had a delicious breakfast, made even better with a beautiful cream horn pastry crowned with berries and a shared mimosa.

After our beautiful breakfast, we went out to look at the Grand Canyon for the last time.

How funny is it that with all of the pictures we took during our trip, this is really the only one we have of our anniversary? I have no idea how that happened! I guess we were just so happy celebrating the day together that we really just neglected the camera.

It was such a funny, eclectic day! After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove down to the town of Williams, Arizona, where our bed and breakfast was for that night. Check-in wasn't until 4pm, but we arrived in Williams at about 12:30. Unsure what to do with the 3 1/2 hours we had, we walked around the tiny historical town. The visitor center was about as big as our living room at home. It cracked us up!

Jesse dragged me into a cowboy hat store at one point and had a woman helping me choose a hat for over half an hour. It was so funny! I've never envisioned myself wearing one for anything but a costume accessory, and the shop owner considered a crime that I didn't own one. We eventually left empty handed. Even if it is a crime not to own one, I consider it even more of a crime to pay $174 for what I would use as a costume accessory! Maybe someday :)

Cowboy hats are very common in Williams, AZ, though. Nearly everyone we passed on the street was wearing one. Jesse kept saying how sad he was that he had left his at home.

While walking down the street, we noticed an Old Time Photo studio that takes those funny old western pictures. I managed to talk Jesse into it, and we had a lot of fun dressing up and posing.

It was a funny contrast from one June 8th to the next--from blushing bride and handsome groom to saloon girl and sheriff!

After we had walked through the entire town, we decided to drive up to the neighborhood where our B&B was and look around. We found a dam with a reservoir above it that was actually very beautiful. We sat with our backs against the dam looking out over the town of Williams and reminiscing about our wedding day a year before. It was so serene that we almost didn't want to leave when 4:00 rolled around.

When we got to Firelight Bed and Breakfast, we were warmly greeted by the host, Erik. He was so friendly and made us feel at home right away. Once we had unpacked and settled into our room, we got to look around the rest of the house. We were the only guests that night, so the whole house was practically ours!

It was a beautiful place. I definitely encourage you to check it out yourself! Firelight Bed and Breakfast.

Around 6, we left the house and went to get dinner and see the gunfight show that the town of Williams puts on every night at 7:00. It was a lot of fun to watch, and if you ever go to Williams, you should go see it!

Jesse and I stayed up til nearly 2am enjoying all the things there were to do at that house! Erik entertained us with his accordion and harmonica performance that he does on the historical Grand Canyon train 3 times a week. He's very talented, and it was a lot of fun to listen to him.

The house also has a restored shuffle board from the 20s, an entire Wii system, and tons of board games. Jesse and I had never seen a shuffle board before, and had a blast challenging each other and trying to figure out how to make those crazy little puck things STOP at the end of the run!

We had a lot of fun :)

Tuesday, June 9th
The next morning, Jesse and I woke up to the smell of food cooking and the sound of Erik's boots stomping across the kitchen floor. He was doing his train gig that morning after breakfast, and was all dressed up for the part.
Here I am with our amazing host!

Look at this amazing spread! We were so spoiled!

Erik left around 9 and welcomed us to stay as long as we wanted. We enjoyed some more shuffle board and Wii, and then tore ourselves away to pack and head home.

It was such a wonderful trip that we barely wanted to leave. But once we hit the California border, I was itching to be home. It seemed cruel to me that the California border was 6 1/2 hours away from home! Once I was in California, I wanted to be HOME, and it was the hardest thing to comprehend that I still had 6 hours ahead of me!

When we finally got home, we loaded all of our pictures onto the computer and just sat reminiscing. What a wonderful time our first anniversary was!

Reminiscing About Our Wedding Day

2009-06-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Who knew that one could be so happy? And two people this happy--even better ;-)
We're less than a week from our first anniversary, and since I won't be in town (HOORAY!) to write about it then, I just wanted to post some pictures and share in some "remember-when" happiness.

All of these pictures are from Jesse's dad, Chris, who photographed our wedding for us.

Mommy love!

Caught peeking!

Gramma came in for a visit before the ceremony

Helping Momma B with her corsage

Hahaha...it was kind of contagious! We had been ready for nearly an hour though, and things were SO much more interesting outside!

My handsome guy and his adorable one and only cousin!

Jesse and his best man, Paul

Beaming Husband-to-Be waiting at the front

Butterfly kisses

Exchanging Vows

Prayer

Our first kiss as husband and wife!

The whole gang :)

Favorite pic of the guys!

Sweet girls

So happy! And in one year, nothing has changed--only deepened. We are blessed!

I have hundreds more pictures, but the silly things take about 7 minutes EACH to upload because they're such high quality. But I'm supposed to be packing and making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow, so I need to stop :)
Have a wonderful week, and you'll hear from us again when we return!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm typing this in bed next to a very peaceful, handsome sleeper. A phone call woke me up half an hour ago, and I figured now is a better time to be blogging than when Jesse's awake and I can be spending time with him!

It has been such a wonderful weekend. Jesse and I woke up around 7:30 on Saturday morning, got up, made a beautiful array of a breakfast, and jumped right back in bed to enjoy the morning. We read together, watched a DVD on my laptop, and enjoyed our first home-made mimosas. Mmmm! :)

We went over to Momma B's house for dinner that night. She is all moved in now to her adorable little 1917 "Faerie" house as we call it, and wanted to have us over for a "finally moved in BBQ." What fun! I wish I had pictures of the house. I managed to leave my camera at home (I know--I know!). It is so cute. It kind of looks like the little cottage Sleeping Beauty was whisked away to with the fairies. It has some beveled glass windows that cast rainbows on the floor, beautiful wispy trees all over the yard, and a perfect little patio to have a BBQ.

Jesse's godparents, Jan and Robert, came too, and we had quite the feast! It was such a lovely time. Quite the way to initiate her new grill and patio table--let alone the cute new house!

Yesterday was Confirmation Sunday. We went to the public questioning that the 8th graders went through on Friday night, and got to see them take their first communion yesterday at church. I didn't grow up with "confirmation" being part of church life. It's a new thing to me!

We were invited to a party hosted by one of the parents yesterday after church. Their grandparents live right down the street from the church in one of the beautiful homes in that neighborhood. They had a lovely home, and it was a perfect place to host a party (I bet they do that often) :)

After the party, Jesse and I went to Walmart to pick up some things for our trip. We're just a little over a week away from setting off, and I want to make sure we have everything we need before we leave! Thankfully, our pastor offered to lend us a tent and anything else we need. Yesterday's shopping spree was mostly for non-perishable food (we're spoiling ourselves with treats that we rarely buy) and things like camping towels (we'd rather not borrow those!) It's going to be a wonderful trip!

We have nothing "planned" for today. Jesse doesn't have youth group tonight, so it's the first Monday he's spent with me all year! He hasn't canceled on any other holiday Mondays before, but after talking to all of the high schoolers, he realized that very few would actually be around. Yay for me!

We might go on a walk to the park, we might take advantage of the sales today and go shopping for summer clothes, we might do some gardening, I have no idea! There are endless possibilities. And it all starts as soon as someone wakes up :)

Oh, Lovely, Busy, Windy Month of May!

2009-05-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

May has been a very busy month! Jesse and I have had very little time to breathe as the school year comes to a close. End of the year events are popping up all over the place, and we are attending Curriculum Fairs, Achievement Awards, Fundraising Events, and all sorts of things! Up next are Confirmation ceremonies and graduations! It has been busy, but each event has been a wonderful thing, so we are blessed. Also, all of this busyness makes us even MORE excited about our anniversary trip in two weeks!

We went to the curriculum fair at church/school on Friday late afternoon. I had subbed that day, so I was tired, and the hot dogs they served outside weren't exciting to me (they never are!). It was fun to walk around the exhibits and see the work of about 80 children that I love and adore. That's one fun thing about being a regular sub at Hope--I'm getting to know all of the kids :)

I was ready to go after a little while, though, and when we got home, I crashed on the bed in Jesse's arms. Tired, hungry, and hot, I was fuzzy-brained and indecisive. After I go too long without food, I'm always that way! Jesse wooed me into a date night, however, and next thing I knew, he had chosen out clothes for me to wear and we were off!

We used a gift card to Applebee's that we had received and enjoyed full entrees (they have this great 2 for $20 deal right now!) and shared a drink. It surprised me, because I had been so tired and out of it, but a surprise date night like that was just what I needed! I love that Jesse knows me so well that sometimes he knows what's better for me than I do!

After dinner, we walked across the street to Block Buster and picked up a few movies (they were having a buy 2 for $10 deal!). After walking around for a bit, we headed home and popped in a movie as well as some popcorn and candy. What a great night!

We spent most of Saturday preparing our backyard for the C&C (college and career) Bible study BBQ that we hosted at our house on Saturday night. Here are some pictures!

Jesse and Tyler being "manly" outside with the grill :)

What a couple of hams!

The picnic table on our back patio worked perfectly! And the weather was great--a little warm, but not sweltering.

Jesse and I are so thankful for this group! When we first came to Hope, there was no
existing College and Career group. Now we have 10-15 people at the Bible Studies--what a blessing! This group is truly what makes me feel at home at Hope (besides my old lady fan club there--they are so adorable!). I'm so pleased with the way the group has developed, and what fun we have together! (As evidenced below...)

Good friends, good times!

After church on Sunday, Jesse and I joined Hope's annual Quakes minor league baseball game outing. The tickets included an all-you-can-eat buffet beforehand.
Jesse's final count:

4 hot dogs, 1 hamburger. (eeeew!)

Smiling at the buffet :)

Ok, but the big news is, Jesse and I are leaving for our anniversary trip in two weeks! Jesse has been over the Grand Canyon a myriad of times (to visit his dad) but has never actually visited it. It was a big family thing for me growing up, and I've been three times. I think it's a crime that he hasn't been there before!

I'm so excited about taking him. I've scoured the web for trip ideas, but I'm not finished yet. Here is a rough sketch of what our trip will look like:

On June 3rd, we'll get up bright and early and drive to Utah. Zion is one of my favorite places, so we'll camp there for two nights. That will give us some time to hike a few of the trails (the Emerald Pool trail looks gorgeous! 3 waterfalls and beautiful "emerald pools"--can't wait!) and do lots of sightseeing.
From there, we will drive down to the Grand Canyon and camp 2 nights there. I want to be there for a sunset and a sunrise (who knows if we'll actually make it to the latter! We'll see!)
For our last night--our anniversary!--we've made reservations at the Firelight Bed and Breakfast I have fallen in love with this place! It looks absolutely beautiful and I am so excited!

I'm really glad that we get to do something like this. Our honeymoon last year is hard to top, so we're not trying. We're just looking forward to some awesome sightseeing and a wonderful roadtrip. It's going to be so much fun!

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Mother's Day. Jesse and I hosted it at our house, which was a lot of fun. We had a full house! Mom and Dad came with Kate, Laura, Papa and Ami, and Bianca came, and Jon drove up from Biola.

Bianca, Papa, Ami, and Dad

Jesse and Kate "helping" with the chips and dip in the kitchen :)

Almost everyone!

There was so much food.

Dessert table...yum! It's always been a tradition to have angel food cake with strawberries on top at special family events. This was the first one I made myself! (Strawberries were still in the fridge)

Jesse brought tears to my eyes with this beautiful arrangement. I was certainly not expecting flowers for ME on Mother's Day! (And no--we're not expecting!)

Isn't he amazing? ♥ ♥ ♥

After dinner, Mom and Papa showed us his new toy: "Pinky" the voice recognition laptop. Mom programmed it to recognize family members' voices so that Papa can "hear" us when we speak to him (/read along. It looks like subtitles on a tv). We are so excited about the possibilities!

Then Jon showed us his newest bit of acting: a contest entry commercial for Tax Slayer. You can watch it here!

Momma B and Momma Mo showing their corsages that I made for them! I wish I had taken pictures of the process. I had lot of fun making them :)

Jon spent Mother's Day night with us to avoid campus for one more day (it's been a year, but we still sympathize with wanting a break at the end of the year!) And he "earned his keep" by helping Jesse install our new ceiling fan in our bedroom. It will make this summer so much more liveable!

Here they are working on the fan...

Jon left on Monday morning after a breakfast of sausage and scrambled eggs, and in the evening, Emily came over to spend the night! She drove up because one of her friends was showing her art at Biola, so I met her at the art show and then we drove back to my place. It was funny to be on campus, because I had just seen Jon that morning, and then I was at his school! He met us in the parking lot and helped us find the art show (we were completely lost--especially since I accidentally drove through the exit instead of the entrance in the first place!)

Em spent the night with us, and then the next morning, we lounged around in PJs literally until it was time for her to leave! But we did manage to be productive: check out her Cookie Pizza!

And a little bit of no-shower friend love :)

Jesse was at work when Em and I made the piece de resistance, but he sure enjoyed it when he came home! I'll put the recipe in my blog so you can try it if you want to!