Happy Birthday Sarah!

Amazing concert! Keith Urban is incredible live. I always liked his music but he wasn't on my top five list; until I heard him live. The guy puts on an amazing show. He looks as thought he is having such a blast on stage = he played number instruments, got into the crown (literally), gave away a guitar, dedicated songs to his wife (who was there)...fantastic all=around

And Carrie Underwood has the best voice in female country - hands-down! That girl can belt-it-out. It is so hard to believe that she was just an ordinary college girl, my age, who got a lucky break on American Idol and is now one of the biggest music stars in the country.

Bishop Fishing Trip

A few weeks ago the Hoskings and the Hayes hit up Bishop for a bit of fly fishing and snowshoeing. I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive about the winter camping/cold river fishing, but I have to admit that I had a really great time.
Hot Chick In Waders The Only Way RJ Could Convince Me To Go Winter Camping - New Down Gear...Lots of It
RJ had a "cooler" water pump image on his blog, but I love this one of Camille and I

Hello White Boy
Hello sun in my face
Hard-core Nighttime Rock Climber

SBIFF Event

I wrote a post about this event awhile ago but I never got around to posting the promised photos. They aren't very good, but they're still kinda fun.

Emmelia Grove

Welcome to the world baby girl!



So precious!

RJ and I met Brian and Joelle (Emmelia's parents) in a small town in Cinque Terre, Italy. I was up in our "hotel" room when Brian approached RJ on the street asking for a dinner referral. Since we had just arrived RJ couldn't help except to open our Rick Steve's Travel Guide and read Rick's suggestions. Brian had to laugh as him and Joelle were also traveling with Rick in their packs and we had instant travel buddies!

Plus, it turned out the Brian and Joelle were both Christians from California (Carlsbad)

AND

they were engaged on the exact same day as us

AND

married on the exact same day as us!


We've been able to visit them a few times in Carlsbad and we love them to pieces. So, congratulations to the Grove family; what a beautiful baby girl!

Analogy

My friend Holly sent me this analogy yesterday and I just love it.

A few weeks ago, at our home group, RJ asked for prayer for making big decisions. He has a difficult time with decisions b/c he analyzes everything way too much.

Holly's words really struck a cord with both of us. She wanted me to edit her words before posting them but, sorry Holly, I just love them in their raw form:

"Well, you guys shared that you need prayer for direction and decision making (RJ specifically) and I was thinking about surfing because for some reason you two are what I imagined surfers to look like before I came out here and well, you are surfers. Anyway (I write how I talk, a little long winded), I have surfed several times since I moved out here and well, I spend a lot of time just sitting on my board waiting for the perfect wave (well, to be truthful catching the wave scares the crap out of me, so if I avoid catching a wave, I avoid crashing). Since I spend all of my time waiting, I don't actually do much surfing at all. I sit and do a lot of contemplating, but I never actually decide to catch the wave. I sitting and contemplating really gets me no where, but it does keep me comfortable and safe. Decision making is scary, as is trusting in God sometimes, but it is something that we have to do for progression in life. My surfing isn't improving at all, since I am not actually choosing to catch the waves. Life will become stagnant and remain the same if we never press on to make decisions. They are always a risk, but God always uses our decision, even if we think we made a bad decision, God will use that too."

How Many Times A Day Do You Pee?

I counted 7 times during the work day today! Plus two times this morning and I'll go at least 2 times tonight.

Granted I do drink water all day long at my desk. But does this much pee seem unusual to anyone else?

What A Weekend

Last weekend was totally crazy (my fault; I put way too much on my plate), but totally worth it.

First of all, of those of you who haven't heard the AMAZING news...I AM NO LONGER WORKING FRIDAYS! It is awesome; I couldn't be more excited about it. Having that extra day allows me to get housework done, finish up little projects. meet with girlfriends, and then have my weekends available for spending time with RJ (usually). It's only been two weeks but so far this little change has really been life-changing.

Ok, back to the craziness of last weekend.

Friday: I got up at 5:30AM so that I could leave the house by 6 and get to Bakersfield before elementary school started. I rolled into the Discovery School parking lot five minutes before the bell rang. Miss Fries (Kelly) collected me in the office, grave me a Visitor's Pass, and we were off. I spend the morning grading spelling tests, stapling art projects to the wall, preparing the classroom for Open House and teaching the students debate. We debated whether Disneyland or Magic Mountain was the better theme-part. It was a HOT topic. Tempers were flaring and hands were waving! I love it how kids practially fall on the ground in the anticipation of being called on. When they have something to say they really believe that jumping up and down and wiggling fiercely in their chairs increase their chances of being the chosen one to shout out the answer. They are so excited about their news you would think they just discovered the cure for cancer. It's great.

Friday Afternoon: Broke for lunch and meet Miss Skeehan (Sarah). Headed to Endeavour Elementary for some 5th grade Social Studies and Art. SS was boring (the kids though so too...the subject not the teacher) but Art was great. they made leprechauns. Each one was unique and really showed their personalities. One girl made an Evil Baby Leprechaun...

Friday Evening: After a walk and raiding Sarah's closet for new clothes we went out to dinner. We went to one of the Japanese Restaurant where the chef cooks right in front of you. Our Chef was drunk. He spill rice both Kelly's lap and the guy next to her. He also keep kissing Sarah's hand an inviting her out clubbin' with him. If I wasn't so worried about him roasting his hands on the huge burner in front of him, or missing one of the knives he keep flinging around it would have been hilarious. But hot stoves, knives, and drunk Hispanic man cooking Japanese food is scary.

Friday Late Nigh: Drank a few beers with the girls and checked out the Bako night-life. Interesting crowd.

Saturday: After going to bed at 1AM I woke up at 5:30 to drive to Oxnard for Elijah's T.Ball Hit-a-Thon. Dave was out of town so Raegan asked if I could be her spouse for a day. "E" hit the ball 69 feet; we were proud. The scary "we-must-aways-win-even-though-we're-a-team-of-5-year-olds-and-we-signed-up-for-fun" coach was satisfied. Whew.

Saturday Afternoon & Evening: Raegan, Hannah (8 months) and I went to every single story in Oxnard trying to find the things we needed for the baby shower we were hosting on Sunday. An entire county of stores later we still only had 2/3 of our stuff.

Sunday Morning: Raegan called my cell phone much to early in the morning so I ignored it. She called again 15 minutes later. I pick up. SUPRISE - she tells me about daylight savings time. First time I've thought about it all year. We miss church.

Sunday Afternoon: Raegan and I are running aroung her house with sweaty pits b/c the baby shower ladies are due to arrive any minute and we are not prepared.

Sunday Afternoon a bit later: They arrive. We pull it off. The shower is great. And I manage not to cry b/c I'm jealous of the baby bump - miracle.

Sunday Night: After 3 episodes of Lost to unwind I finally call it a night!