Not Picking Apples.

Weekends are great. I love weekends. Matt loves weekends. Our friends love weekends. And weekends in the Fall? Great! And weekends with friends, in the Fall?! Even better!
I know, we live in So Cal. you're thinking, "Fall?! This chick is clueless!"
All I have to say to that is: we had Santa Ana Winds here the other day, and that makes it "Officially" Fall to me, ok!! (just ignore the 92 degree weather part).

I have a friend that is from the Mid West and is missing her Fall weather immensely right about now. So we decided we could do some "Fall Activities". You know the type, pumpkin patch, apple picking, cider making, hay rides, corn mazes... All that good stuff. Especially apple picking, how fun does that sound?! We also thought it would be a great idea to wear boots and scarves and cozy clothes since the web site said it's usually 15 degrees cooler there than where we live.

Pumpkin Spiiiice!

So we left Orange County, on a mission to Oak Glen, which is about an hour (or much more) away from us. First we had to meet up with our friends. Then we had to grab some lunch at Chickfale`, at which we decided we might as well sit inside and eat, then hit the road...And then half way there of course, we had to stop at the drive through Starbucks off the freeway to get our yummy Pumpkin Spice Late`s.

We arrived at the Oak Glen area around 3:45pm. It was 81 degrees. We ditched the cozy-cold-weather-wear. Found the pumpkin patch and some very over-priced pumpkins were chosen. Since it was so hot and dusty, we didn't feel like getting lost in the corn maze and thought we'd go pick apples real quick instead. (I say real quick because apparently, the Apple Picking Trees go to bed at 4:30pm. At this point, it was 4:05). Here is where we learned it is twice as expensive to pick your own apples in 80 degree weather than to buy them at your local store. "$15 bucks for the smallest bag?! Forget it!" So we continued down the road to the little country store where they sell the same amount of apples, pre-picked, for $7 dollars.

a beautiful Apple tree, full of tiny left over apples.

Go figure, they were out of the apples we wanted. However! This little store had walls full of beautiful little jars with fresh jams, sauces, pickled vegetables, BBQ sauces, pancake mixes, waffle mixes, pumpkin and apple butters, etc...

Heaven!

This little Country Store was amazing and we spent a good hour walking around looking at things we really wanted to buy, smelling amazing BBQ smoke from the restaurant next door.
We caved. Pulled Pork and Tri Tip sandwiches dripping with BBQ sauce? Yes please!


In the case of looking like slightly retarded idiots,
we have straw in our mouths in the pic on the left. I swear.

a close look at some married couples' wild weekend. haa

You can imagine the yumminess of the meaty meal. But it was getting dark by the time we finished eating so we hit the road, determined to get home quick and start carving our pumpkins.

Now is the part in the story I'd like to introduce you to something called, the Completely-evil-91-freeway.

About 2 hours and 20mph speed limits later, we arrived back at our starting point. Tired, upset, ready to relax. We were happy for the fun day outdoors, yet, really perturbed by the freeway. Pumpkin carving will have to wait just one more day.

 

So to sum it all up, we had a great Fall(?) day, full of... not picking apples.

6 Years in the Making!

10/14/06

6 years ago, I was waking up at 6am, freezing cold, looking at the rainy weather outside. I usually don't mind the rain, except for the fact that I had an out door wedding at 4pm. I just figured if it was still raining during the wedding, maybe we could pull out some water balloons and just go with it? Hey, that might be fun!

The day went by at the speed of light with the usual issues of a wedding day. Bridesmaid drama, car drama, dress and hair drama... I look back at the photos we have of all the groomsmen getting ready and they look kinda bored. Must be nice guys!

After all the months of planning, our wedding fell through beautifully, and the rain stopped just in time for the service! (Which also made for beautiful photos!)

Anyway, long story short, it's been an amazing ride these last 6 years of marriage! Here are a few photos just to sum it all up for ya!

Being married by my Grandpa and Pastor Ron :)



 

 







Helicopter ride in Oahu on our Honeymoon!
(yes, Matt used sun-in gel and had orange hair the entire trip.)

Honeymooners! Oct. 2006

first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs! 2006

 

my 22nd b-day trip! April 2007



Beans digs the bunny ears. 2007 I think

Mammoth vacation 2008

Road trip! 2008


 

Lone Pine! 2008

Summer 2009

 

Mammoth vacay, 2009!

 

Vegas 2010!

 

Christmas service at WACC 2010

Chillin' at home, on the couch, with Beans, 2011

Disneyland! 2011

Sept. 2011, Piano Dueling bar!

 

 

My 27th b-day this year at Stagecoach!

 

D-land Summer Fun, 2012!

 

 And now, we are ready for our next adventure! (quick update, STILL waiting to hear from the County to come look at our home and approve us. I've called almost once a week for 2 months now...maybe the squeeky wheel will get the oil soon hmm?!)



Our adoption photos! Waiting for our special someones!





I must say, we have a pretty awesome life! And the best part is knowing there are many more years ahead of us!


So stay tuned!




"Mom said, it's MY Turn!"



Matthew 25:40
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'.

So Matt and I went to Disneyland the other day. It's a great place to forget about the everyday mundane things we do and just have fun. There are kind people crowding every street, stepping on the back of your flip-flops when you try to walk and offering to push ahead of you on the ride you just got in line for. There are bright shiny (burnt) faces filling the Park, along with thousands of children having cute little emotional break downs everywhere you step. There are fun looking lines for everything. Lines for rides, lines for the bathrooms, lines for the exit, lines for ordering food...

Well anyway, I felt like grabbing a Starbucks frappaccino in California Adventure, since we were going to be outside all day, enjoying the humid 95+ degree weather that we've been having in So. Cal the last few months.

As we stood in line for at least an hour (or it could have been about 15 minutes), a mom and 3 kids waited behind us. These young children were obviously not related to each other, and quite obviously not related to the mom pushing the stroller. They were adorable kids, and did a pretty good job controlling their whining (for the first 2 minutes) while in line.

I noticed that the mom was wearing a 147 Million Orphans shirt. And so was one of the little girls. I've read about this organization a while back, and decided I'd have to look it up again when I got home.

..As they left the food counter, two of the little girls started pushing the stroller at the same time. "It's MY TURN!" Yelled one. Then it went back and forth for a minute, "No it's mine! No it's not, it's mine!" Ah, so cute.
 Then the older one pulled out the big guns... "Nooo, MOM said it's MY turn!!"
And they both continued pushing the stroller while skillfully keeping all 4 hands on the handle and roughly elbowing each other in the face all the way to their table.

I apologize for finding this hilarious at the poor mother's expense. Matt and I laughed hysterically, and we continued to snicker about it the rest of the day. We'll never have that problem. har, har.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about that mom. How cool is it to not only be supporting an organization that helps the orphans, and wearing a T-shirt to bring awareness, but is also doing her own part?! How cool is it to see her amazing, loving ministry, even at a place as crazy and crowded as Disneyland?

I hope other people were affected by this little group just as I was. But even if I was the only one that noticed this colorful group of a family, I hope I can also lead by example and do my own part and help spread awareness about the 147 Million orphans. (Yes this seems a little hard when you only have 10 people following your little blog, and no kids to show for all the talk yet... but hey, you have to start somewhere, and it can't hurt to try!).

People often ask me, "So, WHY are you adopting and not having your own kids?"
Ahh...All the different reasons go through my head in a split second and I try to figure out which one would be best, depending on what person is asking. The person is usually a patient at work and I want to witness without putting them in an uproar about "religion" or without sharing too much personal information.

Sometimes I really just want to pull out the big guns and say, "Because, GOD said it's MY turn!"

                                   And that's that.

Please take a minute to check out these organizations (or others like them), and see how you can help! 
http://www.147millionorphans.org/

http://www.cryoftheorphan.org/

http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/agencies-and-ministries/global-orphan-care/