Weekend Fun

Andrew and I spent the weekend in Napa, California, attending an event with Strategic Renewal, one of the ministries I volunteer for. The former pastor of our church, Daniel Henderson, is the President of Strategic Renewal, and it was great for Andrew and I to be able to spend some time with him and his wife, Rosemary, while at the event. They are a great encouragement to us! We were in a beautiful location, surrounded by wonderful people, and able to spend quality time worshiping the Lord and being reminded of why this ministry is so worthy of our support!

After the event ended on Sunday afternoon, Andrew and I drove to the nearby town of Calistoga to see California's Old Faithful Geyser. Every 20-40 minutes it erupts, shooting a stream of hot water high into the sky for a few minutes. It was pretty cool! Here's a video:

There were also some animals at the same location...goats, sheep, and llamas. Here's a video of me interacting with some of them!

We had a relaxing drive home, thankful for the chance to spend a few fun days together exploring some places we'd never been before!

(Don't worry...that's not a working well! The bottom of the well is level with the ground!)

What God has joined together...

While in Oregon, I was privileged to be part of a vow renewal ceremony held for my parents at the Christian counseling center they've been attending for a while now. My parents would be the first to admit that they have not had an ideal marriage relationship over the years -- both of them were dealing privately with various issues in their lives and neither of them put much effort into keeping their relationship strong. Through God's grace and following the counsel of Scripture and wise believers, my parents have made great strides over these past few months, both personally and as husband and wife, and we (their children) could not be happier about it! It is so refreshing to us to see the changes in how they interact, and especially in how they now hold hands and hug often (something we rarely saw before). All I can say is, thanks be to God! What we sometimes thought could never happen is now unfolding right before our eyes!

Just for fun, here is a picture of my parents on their wedding day, January 3, 1975

L-R: Al, my dad's counselor and head of the ministry; my brother, Nathan; Dad; Mom; me; my sister, Anna; my sister, Elisabeth

Dad and Mom...33 years of marriage and counting! :-)

In sickness and in health...

My poor hubby has been sick for the last few days. He came home from work early in the afternoon yesterday and was on the couch for the rest of the day and most of today. It's 5:00 PM and he just got up a little while ago. Last night he even fainted in the middle of the night! He had gotten up to get a drink of water, and he remembers feeling somewhat light-headed at the sink, and the next thing he remembers is waking up on the floor in the livingroom -- we're both very thankful he didn't hit his head on anything on the way down, or break any bones when he landed!

He could not get warm today (even though it's not that cold outside)...so he put on his slippers and a sweater over his pajama top and got a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon, and I put a snuggly hat on his head to help him warm up even quicker...here's a picture of my suffering sweetie:

So even though we won't get to go out for a romantic dinner or anything to celebrate Valentine's Day, I am so thankful for the privilege of being married to this wonderful man and of loving him "in sickness" today. On this Valentine's Day I'm celebrating true love (better than anything those fairy tales try to convince us we need to be happy). This is a love that picks up used tissues off the living room floor, takes a trip to the store for headache medicine, and brings glasses of water, juice, or tea when needed. This is the love I signed up for when I said, "I do." And I wouldn't have it any other way!

Lazy Sundays

My brother snapped this picture of Andrew and me on a recent Sunday afternoon...one of my favorite ways to relax is to nap on the couch with Andrew while he's watching football... when football is on the TV it always makes me very sleepy, for some reason....

Gilligan enjoys Sunday afternoon naps, too!

Ah, nothing like a catnap on the couch!

Us!

Andrew and I celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday... how is it possible that we've been married that long? The years just seem to fly by...

After all this time, we love each other more than we ever have, and are both so grateful for the years the Lord has given us together...we look forward to many more!

On Saturday we spent some time in San Francisco...here's a picture of us at the Botanical Gardens there...such a beautiful place!


Thank You, Lord, for giving me such a wonderful husband! I am so, so blessed to have him!

Celebrating our 11th anniversary

Andrew and I had a lovely vacation to Southern California last week to celebrate our 11th anniversary, which was on the 8th. We drove down on Wednesday and spent two nights at a KOA in San Diego, staying in one of their one-bedroom Kamping Kabins. While in San Diego, we explored Seaport Village, Point Loma, Coronado, and the San Diego Zoo.

Then we headed to Riverside for two nights at the Mission Inn. On Saturday, our anniversary, we attended the wedding of Andrew's cousin's daughter, then on Sunday we visited the Slavic church in Hollywood and then had lunch with friends afterwards before driving home to Sacramento.

I'm so grateful to the Lord for giving us 11 years together. The years have gone by quickly! I look forward to many more years together as we continue on in this journey of marriage.

A few pictures:

The view from Point Loma














Us (the happy couple) :-)














Andrew enjoying the Pacific Ocean

Ahhh, sunshine...

Yesterday afternoon Andrew and I went to a park and sat on a blanket in the grass by a pond to have a picnic lunch. Ducks, geese, and seagulls (yes, seagulls: there seemed to be a seagull convention in our part of town) added the background music. Then, while Andrew worked on his laptop in preparation for the evening service, I took a nap in the sun. I can't even remember the last time I took a nap outside! It was so peaceful. I'm loving this 70-degree weather we're having right now...blue sky and sunshine make me happy!

This is the park we were at; I found this picture online, but it gives you an idea of our afternoon:

God knew California weather was perfect for me, so in His providence He moved us here. I don't miss the Oregon rain (sorry Anna!) and would never be able to live on the East Coast and deal with all the snow and ice (you all who live over there are made from hardier stuff than I am)!

Praising God for beautiful weather today...

Pictures!

(See previous entry for explanation!)

I'm back!

I wrote up a nice, long blog entry last Thursday evening telling you all about my great plans for the weekend, but by the time I went to publish it, Blogger had stopped working. So I will just have to tell you about it now, after the fact!

On Friday morning, I flew to Kansas City, Missouri, where I spent two nights at a hotel with seven other ladies from Hannah's Prayer, the online community I am a part of (see link to left). We spent two days talking, laughing, shopping, eating, and just being women! On Saturday night, we all dressed up in retro-style formal gowns, donned tiaras, and went out to eat at an Italian restaurant! We had such a fun time! Here's a picture of all of us at the restaurant, and one of me in the dress I wore for the occasion:

On Sunday afternoon, when our event ended, I went to stay the night with my college roommate, Becky Johnson, who has been living in the Kansas City area for a month now, working as a nanny. I was privileged to be the first guest in her cute little apartment! We had a great time shopping, visiting, watching chick flicks, and finding good places to eat. On Monday evening, she took me to the airport and I flew home to Sacramento, arriving around 11:00PM.

Andrew picked me up at the airport and we came home. I was very tired (it was going on 2:00AM Kansas City time) and ready to go to sleep. I went to put something in the garage, and when I opened the door I saw a completely gift-wrapped vehicle with a heart-shaped balloon on top that had "I Love You" written on it! My old car had been giving me problems, so Andrew had bought me a new one! (It's not NEW new -- it has 3,000-something miles on it.)

So now I am driving a four-door hatchback 2005 Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid! A guy at church who sells used cars gave Andrew a great deal on it. Some of the highlights:

*Gets great gas mileage (about 50 miles to the gallon) and is better for the environment
*Has a 6-CD changer!
*Voice-activated GPS system

It's also a "smart" car, so when I have the special key in my purse, I don't even need to take it out to get into the car. As soon as I walk up to the door, it unlocks. Then I don't even need the key to start the car. As long as the key is just in my purse on the seat beside me, I press the "Power" button and the car starts -- like turning on a computer! I can't get over the fact that you don't have to turn a key to start the engine! This is a fun car to drive!

So YAY for my sweet, thoughtful husband, and for the many blessings God pours out on us that we don't deserve, but that He so graciously continues to give. :-)

(I apologize for the lack of pictures of the car, but for some reason, Blogger is being a pain and not letting me insert them here. I will try again tomorrow...)

Surprised after all...

When I discovered that Andrew was flying my family down for my birthday, I assumed that they were coming on Sunday morning. On Saturday evening, Andrew and I left home to "go out for dinner together," but first he stopped by the grocery store to buy something while I waited in the car. Then we drove on a little further; I had no idea where we were going. Then he got a phone call and said that he needed to go back to the house to fax something to one of his company's drivers, and that it couldn't wait. We got back to our house (we had been gone about 25 minutes at that point) and he asked me if I wanted to come in with him. I said I'd just wait for him in the car. He came back out about a minute later and said he thought one of our cats had "made a mess" in the living room, so I figured I should go in and clean it up, since we'd be having company the next day.

When I got inside, everyone jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!" I saw Andrew's family, my family (who had flown in that evening), and some friends of ours. I was truly surprised that my party was at my own house! And I was very glad I had cleaned the place up!

I had a WONDERFUL weekend with my family. It was so cool for the four of us siblings to just hang out, and for all of us to enjoy the togetherness that we rarely get to experience anymore with us living so far away. We made a lot of good memories this weekend. They flew back to Oregon last night. I miss them!

And by the way, being 30 isn't that bad!

For more great pictures and my sister Anna's description of the weekend, visit her blog by clicking on "Anna and Matt's Page" under my links!

Here's Andrew and me with the beautiful birthday cake my mother-in-law made, and my whole family after church on Sunday (minus my sister's husband):

I love surprises (even ruined ones)!

In order to understand this story, you need to know that my 30th birthday is coming up this weekend (scary, I know).

So I was sitting at my computer yesterday afternoon, checking e-mail or something important like that. Unlike my dear, sweet husband Andrew, I'm not oblivious to the world when I'm working; I still pay attention to what's going on around me (one of the perks of being a woman).

I heard Andrew make a phone call in his office, right across the hall, and then, while he was still talking on the phone (trying to keep his voice down, I noticed) he walked down the hall and went into the garage to continue the conversation, shutting the door behind him. He does not usually conduct his telephone conversations in the garage.

Immediately my sharp little mind concluded he was planning something for my birthday that he didn't want me to hear. Maybe he was ordering flowers to be delivered. Maybe he was making reservations for a nice dinner or a trip somewhere. My mind immediately jumped into Sherlock Holmes mode, and I thought, "Maybe the phone number for whatever place he called is still up on his computer screen (assuming that he looked something up online)." So without stopping to think about the implications, I rushed across the hall to his office and looked at his computer.

On the screen was a confirmation e-mail from Southwest Airlines. Again, not pausing to think about the fact that I was about to ruin a good surprise, I glanced down at the passenger names and saw my parents' names -- at that point, I began to feel guilty and didn't read the name under theirs (although I saw that there were more names there). I jaunted back over to my office as Andrew came out of the garage, still on the phone. I heard him give a confirmation number and ask about adding another person for the same rate (why he thought I would not be paying attention to his conversation, I have no idea).

At this point, I had a decision to make. I could pretend I didn't know about the surprise, keep it in all week and then act really surprised when I saw my family this weekend, or I could come clean with Andrew and admit that I had peeked. The idea of such deception didn't sit well with me, so I decided to confess. I jokingly tried to blame Andrew for not being more careful about calling the airline with me in the house (I notice EVERYTHING, especially anything out of the ordinary). But I had to admit that I was also to blame for giving in to my curiousity about who he had called! I told him it was still a surprise, whether I found out now or on Sunday, and that it was a really great gift (which truly, it is). I know he was a little disappointed, because he had been looking forward to my reaction when I saw them. To be honest, I was a little mad at myself for spoiling such a great surprise.

But in the end, I think that my knowing about their coming will work out for the best. My mom, dad, brother, two sisters, and baby nephew will all be spending Sunday night here, so I am glad for the chance to clean my house and get the guest room ready and have enough food in the fridge for them! It'll save my dad some money on postage, too, as he was going to mail me my birthday presents so they'd arrive by my birthday (which is Saturday), so I wouldn't get suspicious.

Moral of the story for Andrew: Always conduct secret surprise conversations at the office where curious wife cannot overhear!

Moral of the story for me: Learn to ignore secret surprise conversations I might happen to overhear!

P.S. I'M SO EXCITED THAT MY FAMILY WILL ALL BE HERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I can read his mind!

Andrew went outside this afternoon to load his stuff into his SUV. I was checking e-mail in my office. A few moments later, he came walking in with his hands behind his back.

Andrew: Guess what I found?

Me: Um...a package?

Andrew (a bit disappointed that I guessed so quickly): OK, three guesses who it's from.

Me: I don't know! (Pausing for a few seconds.) Anna?

Andrew (looking a bit shocked and then laughing): Did you see it?

Me: No!

Andrew (setting the package from my sister Anna on my desk): Were you expecting a package from Anna?

Me: No.

Andrew walks away, laughing in disbelief that I guessed correctly on the first try.

What a sandwich!

Yesterday, after church, Andrew and I decided to drive up to Auburn, one of the historic mining towns in the Foothills around here. It's about a 40 minute drive from our house. The weather was beautiful -- blue sky, sunshine, and temps around 60 degrees.

We actually stopped in "Old Auburn," the historical, "touristy" part of town. We had lunch first, at a little place called Mary Belle's Restaurant. Then we window shopped for a while, and got some specialty coffees to drink while we walked. Here's what part of Main Street looks like:













It was very relaxing, and one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon...just Andrew and me, exploring a town we've never explored before. If you can call walking up and down Main Street checking out all the little shops "exploring!" We actually did have to walk a ways up a side street to get to the coffee shop someone told us about, which took us past the Placer County Courthouse -- isn't it impressive?















But back to Mary Belle's Restaurant. When I first opened the menu, nothing was sounding good. I wasn't extremely hungry, which didn't help. I decided on the Reuben sandwich. That turned out to be a very good decision.

This Reuben sandwich was delicious! The rye bread was grilled to a point of crunchy, buttery perfection and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. The sandwich was filled with a warm, tasty combination of chopped corned beef, sauerkraut, grilled onions, and melted Swiss cheese. What I especially loved was how they didn't pack the sandwich so full that I could barely get my mouth around it. The amount of "sandwich filling" was just right. The Reuben looked something like this (although this is not a picture of the actual item I ate):









As I began to eat the sandwich, I commented to Andrew how good it was. I offered him a bite, and he agreed that it was, indeed, very tasty. I told him I would be craving this Reuben from Mary Belle's in the future. I speculated that someday, I will be at some restaurant, and order a Reuben, and it will arrive at my table, and I will take a bite, and I will comment that "it's nowhere near as good as that one I had in Old Auburn." I said that one day I'm going to say to him, "Can we go back to Old Auburn for lunch so I can have another Reuben sandwich from Mary Belle's?"

(Alas, my prediction came true, for I am craving another one of those sandwiches as I type. I even stopped by our local family restaurant on the way home today to see about getting a Reuben to go -- although I knew it would not surpass the one I had yesterday -- and they didn't even have them on the menu!)

The waitress at Mary Belle's came to the table and asked how everything was. I told her, in short,

"This is pretty much the best Reuben sandwich ever made."

(I know, I know...like anyone could even know that!) :-)

May all your sandwiches be delicious!

For less than $20!

Andrew and I impulsively decided to go out and see a movie tonight. The new Wallace and Gromit movie (rated G; always a good choice) seemed like the best option at the cinema closest to us, so we headed out into the brisk night, grabbed a quick chicken dinner at El Pollo Loco, and made it to the 9:20 showing.

We were the only ones in the theater!

Granted, it was one of their smaller theaters, and the movie has been out for a while now. Most people were there to see newer movies. I suppose everyone who might have wanted to see Wallace and Gromit late on a Monday night was either at a Halloween party or recovering from trick-or-treating. So it was a good night to go!

I commented to Andrew how cool it was that we rented a whole theater for ourselves, for a private showing of the movie, for less than $20!

And the movie was pretty funny, too!

A Date Night!

The other day a friend of mine gave me two tickets she had won for an advance screening of the new movie Oliver Twist, which comes out this Friday (she couldn't go). The screening is tonight, and Andrew kindly canceled his regular Tuesday night meeting to go with me so I wouldn't have to go alone (I didn't want to waste the tickets, so I would have gone by myself, but I've never done that -- to me, it kinda defeats the purpose of seeing a movie). I heard that when you go to an advance screening, they make you sign a form saying you won't talk about the movie online until its official release date. So I guess I won't be able to tell you anything about it until Friday! ;-)

I'm editing this post at 10:15PM to add that we are back from the movie now, and they didn't make us sign anything (I guess all screenings are different), so I am free to share my thoughts! I had read the book, so I knew what was going to happen, but I still enjoyed seeing it played out on screen. Well, as much as one can enjoy all the exploits of the evil and wicked villians in the film. And it was not fun to see poor, innocent Oliver mistreated by so many (I just wanted to take him home and feed him and give him a soft bed to sleep on), but of course, in the end, he gets to live with really nice people, so it all turns out well! If you enjoy Dickensian tales, I would recommend it! It was an enjoyable date night, and then afterwards, Andrew filled my car's gas tank (it was pretty much empty) and took it through a car wash, which it badly needed, so I felt "taken care of!" I sure love my hubby!