It's been a while...

Life has gotten busy and there just hasn't been much time for blogging because of it. Finally tonight while our friends Cheryl and Casey, and Brent are all sleeping, I decided it was time to get some new blogs up. I've heard several complaints, or maybe just concerns, from our fans. To all, I apologize for the delay. :) I do love blogging, it just takes time. In the midst of Brent starting a new job and embarking on a crazy schedule we are well. The Lord has been so good and faithful to us in the process. It's not easy to do what he's doing, yet the Lord has sustained him beyond what I've prayed for. I am grateful for his new job and for mine. Overall, things are going well there too. We are starting to get ready for summer already. Spring is always such a busy time at work, but really fun too. So many new and old faces. I truly enjoy it. Love to you all. Enjoy the new blogs!

Paige Panfilio...

My cousin Laura, and her husband, Aaron, also came in to OC for the weekend. And with them comes little Paige these days! She is getting SO big, 5 months old now! After all the busyness of Adam's party I got to slow down a bit and spend some time with Paige. She is so much fun, making adorable little noises and entertaining all the time. I spent the night with the Panfi's at my parents house on Sunday night (no work on Monday) and had lots of time to hold and play with Paige, it was great. They put her in this swing on Monday morning while we were sitting in the family room talking and she entertained herself for a while sucking on that toy, spinning, and talking to herself (screeching, see video below!!!). It was awesome!

Just look at that little face... mmmmmm!!!!

Adam's Birthday Party...

The idea for Ashley to come out here in the first place came from this little book. For Christmas she gave this cookbook to Adam and that gift birthed this idea of have a Texan feast for his birthday this year. And was it ever a feast...

Fried okra (yes, we actually purchased a mini fryer of our own), Chicken Fried Steak (which I did not try), Liver and Onions (definitely did not try), mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean bundles, macaroni and cheese, salad, and poppyseed rolls... just the way LUBY'S makes it! I must say that the mac and cheese was great... and so were the green bean bundles (Thanks Karen)!! I liked those items but Adam LOVED it all... and that's all the matter since it was for his birthday. He had a bunch of friends to my parents house and we just hung out...

LOTS and LOTS of cooking was done... so much that you really couldn't see much of the counter afterwards as it was covered in dishes.

Jill and Ashley enjoying all their time together!

It was great to see Huy and Holli. Brent and I got to talk to Huy for a while and it was awesome to catch up... it's been a long time.

It was a great time... and I believe fun was had by all. We had to say goodbye to Ashley that night. She spent the night with Jill in her new apartment in Long Beach and then went kayaking with Adam and Dani the next morning before she got on a plane back to Texas. It was a really quick trip and we were SO grateful that she made it. It was such a treat! We love you Ashley! Come again soon... even if we are just eating CA food! :)

Jill's surprise...

This is the breakfast where we surprised Jill with Ashley's visit. We didn't get any actual photos of the surprise because, of course, we only took video. To view, please scroll down and see it, just a few blogs before this one. It was the best surprise I have ever seen. It was SOOOOO much fun to surprise Jill and wonderful to have Ashley here. We just love her.

Adam and Dani

After breakfast at Wilma's patio, which was amazing as usual, we walked down to "Brent's pier" on Balboa Island. When he was working at Wilma's he used to take his dinner down to this pier and eat and watch the stars. It was day time so we didn't see any stars but we did get to watch a little girl catch her first fish with a little pink, plastic fishing pole. It was so funny. It was just the most beautiful day... we've had so many of those lately!

Yes, this boat is actually named "whatever"... hmmmmmm

Sarah Jean is 30... and a Valentines Day Party!

On Friday night after Valentines Day we drove up to Pasadena to see our friend Sarah and her new husband, Tom. It was a quite a feat getting to Pasadena on a Friday afternoon, but we made it and it was so worth it. We had a wonderful meal, got to hang out with some of their friends, saw their apartment for the first time, and got to celebrate Sarah's birthday a little late. All great things to do on a Friday night. We really enjoyed getting to know their friends and it is always a treat to be with Sarah. We just love her! She was the cutest hostess. We hope we get to spend some more time with them soon! Love you Sar and Tom!

Brent and I had a lot of fun talking and laughing with Sarah's friends, they are really great. We got to sit at the end of the table with Tom which was great. We are enjoying getting to know him.

Valentines

We celebrated Valentines day at Bandera... mmmmmmm!

Brent was really excited about his meal as you can see! :)

Love to all... happy valentines day... a little late now! I am attempting to catch up on blogs that have I have been meaning to do and have been slacking a bit on.

My thoughtful husband...

The week before Valentines Day Brent sent me roses at work. It was an awesome surprise. He doesn't like flowers on Valentines day because he says "why would we only celebrate on that day when we love each other everyday." Either way, it was an awesome surprise. I enjoyed 10 red roses in my office the whole week and was even able to take them home for a couple of days. They were really beautiful and smelled great! I love my husband.

Ashley Came to Town

Our cousin Ashley came to visit for her brother Adam's 26th birthday.

We made a fully authentic southern-style meal by recreating all of Adam's favorite entrees and sides from Luby's (The Brown) Cafeteria.

We all decided to surprise Jill and not tell her that Ashley was coming into town for the party.

If you watch carefully you can briefly catch her excitement.
(Notice the awkward banter as we all awaited Ashley's entrance)



More pictures of the party to come!

Livin' in the OC...

A few weeks ago I happened upon a new area of open space that exists in Orange County. I've never seen it before, didn't know it was here. I went on a school visit to the Waldorf School of OC and this is right across the street from the school. Its great, hiking trails, and tons of open space. I was excited so I took a few pictures so I could show Brent. What I didn't really notice that day is the brown haze on the horizon. It's pretty nasty...

You can almost see a line where the sky goes from brown to blue... sad!

So I had to work this morning (Saturday) because Nanci Bell (Lindamood-Bell's CEO, founder, and author of several of our programs) was speaking. We did a live video conference so we could all see and hear her at the same time all across the country in all of our centers. It is pretty amazing what is possible these days! Anyway... on my way over the hill into Newport this morning I had to catch my breath as I caught a glimpse of the mountains!!! It was truly awesome. It has been raining here for several days so that haze in the pics above is totally gone and you can actually see what's there. It's incredible. I was instantly SO thankful for living here. I take it for granted (how could I not when I've lived here most of my life). Sadly it is SO rare to see the mountains like this. After my event I drove around Irvine to get to higher ground in order to get some better pictures of this truly rare sighting in OC. It's beautiful.

This is just around the corner from my office... the mountains are just beaming! You can NEVER see this on a regular day.

That is John Wayne Airport... the mountains look like they are exploding up right behind the airport. I drive this way EVERYDAY and I have never seen it like this!

A view from higher ground... thank you GOD!

I feel like we are looking at a completely different city, like Salt Lake or somewhere in Colorado. This can't be Orange County... but it is... today at least!
I know it's unsafe but I couldn't stop taking pictures while I was driving. I just kept getting surprised by these mountains... they are so beautiful against that perfect blue sky.

It's just one of those rare, amazing days here. I know most of the country thinks we have perfect weather all the time. And in comparison, thats mostly true. And I am thankful. But we haven't had a lot of rain here in a few years so we haven't had one of these days in a long time... where the rain clears away all the smog and it is crystal clear and sunny. It is like nothing else. I'm sure those in snowy parts of the country feel this way after a storm and the first sunny days comes. Its great!

When I drove back into Ladera I had to stop again for some photos. The rain and sunlight has done some amazing things with all the hills around here, everything that has been brown and dead for a long time is turning bright green! This is Crown Valley Parkway which leads into Ladera Ranch.

Saddleback Mountain - SO clear today!

And the sky... oh the sky... its SO blue and clear... obviously, I love it!

Thank you God for the beauty of this day... I am grateful and amazed!

Hangin' with Grandma June!

On Thursday we took Grandma June to see the show, "Forever Plaid", at the Curtain Call Theater in Tustin! It was her Christmas gift from us.

We got to the theater around 6:30 for dinner, which was surprisingly yummy. Brent had salmon, Grandma had a large steak and I had pasta. Before the show started this magician came around to entertain us. He was pretty good other than his fire trick which was just too obvious.

It was fun to spend some time with just Grandma. She loved all the music as it is all from the 50s, she knows every word! The show was a bit different than the other time I saw, and different from the ones she saw in Las Vegas. But overall it was pretty good. They are hoping to get "Guys and Dolls" there next!