Christmas Cheer...or Bust!

Christmas is my favorite time of year, hands down. I love the cookies, the lights, the music, the tree, and of course, the cookies! Although it came and went rather quickly this year, we enjoyed every minute of it! And now, I am tired! We spent 3 days with my parents, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and various other relatives, and then came home to celebrate Gabe's 30th birthday. We planned on spending the day at Disneyland, but they actually sold out! Yes sir, booked to capacity - and that means crowds for miles and miles and lines for hours and hours - and, who wants that? So we spent the day at the movie theater (we saw Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and A Christmas Carol!) and had a lovely dinner with friends at The Jazz Kitchen. It was a great way to chill out and relax after a hectic past few days. Here are a few pictures of our holiday fun!Gabe and the in-laws, and Gabe and me and some of our friends at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney for his birthday dinner.

Here are a few pictures of our place, all decked (except for our halls, ironically) out and ready for some Christmas celebrating.


Christmas Eve at my Uncle Russ' and Auntie Gail's...we have GOT to get this man a dog. These are pretty much the only pictures we have of the evening because these irresistible pooches were the main attraction.


Given our vast capacity for immaturity, we ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, have a wicked awesome time at my Aunt Deb's Christmas dinner.
(Disclaimer: though not truly wicked in nature, the Aussie term, "wicked awesome", clearly and most appropriately defines the CRAZY FUN time we have when in the presence of one another.)


Awww, first married Christmas picture!

WEDDING PICTURES...finally, hurray!!!

I don't have much to say here, except hurray for finally getting our wedding pictures! They are posted in reverse order because I really haven't gotten this whole blogging thing completely down yet. Please enjoy them! I know we have!

Saying Good-bye and heading off for the honeymoon in the BEAUTIFUL Auburn - thank you Randy & Diana for letting us borrow your wheels.

Already!?!?!?!?!

The Band - Boomer McLennan and the Midnight Riders...or something like that -
they were great!

The first dance

Getting ready to ride into the sunset..er, Reception.

Communion - First act of Marriage

Yee Haaaaa!!!

One of Gabe's favorites

Taking a moment to watch the sunset

...precious...

One of our favorite shots of the day - look out Top Model 2010 - ha, ha..

Ha, ha, I love this shot!

The whole, new and improved, family - woo hoo!

Awww, last kiss "good-bye"

Beth and her ladies before the ceremony

Gabe and his men before the ceremony

Fall Is Here!...kind of.

I have been home sick the past few days. Not really dramatically sick, but just generally yucky and run down physically, spiritually and emotionally. It is good to take a "recuperation" when you really need it!

I am loving that Fall has finally arrived and I hope it is here to stay until Winter - no more of these sunny, shiny days for me, please. Don't get me wrong; I love Summer. But I love each of the seasons in their uninterrupted, glorious passages and prefer not to revert back to the one on which the page was just turned. But I digress...

So far, Fall has been a whirlwind of activity! I am busier than I'd like to be with school, debate team, Life Group, the community garden, Church, and whatever else gets cooked up in all my "free time"! I do love the ministry and outreach opportunities God has put in our lives like the garden and a variety of other church projects. I am also extremely blessed by our Life Group - a Bible study-esque group of about 8 of us who meet weekly, if not more often, for fellowship, prayer, food, and community. We are really becoming a new little family and I absolutely love it!

Gabe continues to work on his website venture idea from home. It is sparking some interest, which is good, and we are praying that God will truly bless the project. Please keep praying that God will give him strength and guidance career-wise.

We would also covet your prayers for our direction as a team. I have been feeling God leading me away from the school I currently teach at, but I do not yet know where the new landing place will be. I am not worried or nervous - kind of excited actually, but this school year has been quite difficult for me in a few areas, and I need God's strength just to make it through. Please pray for endurance and contentment!

God has been putting missions on Gabe's heart recently, but at this point that is all we have to go on. We have been praying for God to guide and direct, and soon we will start "knocking on doors" to see where God will lead us. Its funny - normally I would hastily jump at the idea of going back onto the mission field, but at this point I'd be just as content to stay here in Long Beach. I'm plenty content to follow God if He leads us somewhere else as well, I just haven't been this content with my present placement in quite some years. We do have a pretty awesome community here!

My little cousin, Katie, is getting married this Saturday and we are SO excited for her and Ryan! They have an awesome story and are an incredible example of God's faithfulness to His children's prayers. We couldn't be more happy or blessed to have Ryan become a part of our family.

We will be spending Thanksgiving at my parent's house with the usual and growing variety of attendees. I love how our Thanksgiving celebration seems to grow each year and I love that my parents are open and willing to host for whomever needs a warm place and people to celebrate with. My mom and I (and Gabe, if I can get him up!) plan on shopping bright and early - 5 a.m. - to hit all the great Black Friday Sales...I am such an adrenaline junkie when it comes to this, its ridiculous! I just have to get THE deal!

Other than this, we are just taking life one day at a time - learning how to live with and love each other better, as Christ would have us do. Marriage is certainly not a stroll in the park! It is a strenuous hike up a mountainside. But the view from the top is most certainly amazing and more rewarding than any view you'd get on an old park stroll. So, I think I'll keep on hiking.

Birthdays Galore!

The past month has been a busy, but fun and celebratory one. We have celebrated four birthdays in the past three weeks! Two of them included parties, and one, a camping trip to Sequoia National Park - so much fun!

The first birthday party was my good friend, Lisa's. She had a very creative Superhero themed birthday party. Gabe and I dressed up as Wolverine and Rogue, respectively, from the X-Men series. We had a lot of fun being resourceful and making our own costumes. I think they turned out pretty good! Not everyone dressed up, but everyone had a great "back story" on their character's superpowers, costume or not. We ate, chatted, and played a variety of superhero games - I KILLED at the X-ray vision game! (Don't worry, no people or clothes involved, just a bag full of items you had to identify and describe without using your eyes).

Gabe and me as Wolverine and Rogue from X-Men


Lisa, the birthday girl, and me. She was a personality enchantress...or something!

Next, was my mom's birthday. We had dinner with my mom and dad at their house - wonderful food, low key atmosphere, and just a time to relax and catch up.
The following day we went to my cousin Megan's house for her birthday. It's hard to believe the baby of the family just turned 24! WOW! We had tons of fun, as usual, being loud and obnoxious and rowdy. Good food, good family, good fellowship makes for a mighty fine time!


A fuzzy, but cute pic of the B-day...........................Mom and Dad
girl and her yummy cuppy-cakes.



Ryan & Katie...gettin' married in .........Awwww, how cute!
1 month...woo hoo!!


DeeDee and Aunt Debs...sisters, sisters!............Darren and Momma Fran

I took last Friday off so that Gabe and I could drive up to Ventura Thursday night and meet up with our good friends Natalie and Robeson. We stopped in Simi Valley to pick up some sleeping bags (thank you sooooo much McCartys!) and rolled into Ventura around midnight. We stayed there, then got an early start up to Sequioa on Friday morning for Robeson's birthday weekend. Robeson was supposed to go to the Sequoias when he was around 10 years old, but the trip got cancelled when the family had an accident on their way out. Robeson has wanted to visit ever since, so Natalie organized and planned this great trip for us all. It was really a great weekend! Despite freezing nights and showers by flashlight, the trip was wonderful. Beautiful days, lovely hikes, great food, very few people and quite a few bears made for great memories. We had such a great time with the Tinsleys and can't wait to do it again. Yosemite in the fall, perhaps? Thanks, guys, for a great time! (P.S. Readers, the pictures of this trip are in the next post)

Quick Camping Trip with the Tinsleys

In August, Gabe and I drove up to Ventura to do a quick, before school starts up, camping trip with the Tinsleys. We decided to camp locally at Lake Casitas just outside of Ojai in the Los Padres National Forest, since we only had two days. The drive up only took about an hour, but it probably felt longer for Gabe who literally had to "hold down the fort" packed in the back of the car!

We set up camp late at night and Robeson joined us around 11pm after his shift at the hospital. The next morning we headed out for hikes in the Sespe Wilderness. We did two really great and different hikes - the first one was up to Piedra Blanca. The Piedra Blanca is an outcropping of white sandstone rock formations that rise high out of the deserty landscape. We hiked a couple of miles in and then climbed up the slippery rocks to see the beautiful views and get a much needed breeze. The summit made a great place for us to have lunch!

The second hike we did was up to waterfall in a more lush and verdant part of the Sespe Wilderness. The trail started out pretty brushy, with typical California oaks and such, but soon turned into a very green and lush beautiful waterfall area. This was a wonderful place for us to climb around on the rocks, drink some fresh mountain water and just cool off. Lots of fun and two great hikes!


When we got back to camp, we noticed that a very clever animal (likely a squirrel) had sneaked into our dining tent, eaten through the bottom of a grocery bag and taken some snacks home with him - bold and clever little rodent, I must admit! Oh well, nothing very important was missing and we put together an awesome dinner of grilled chicken and veggie-kabobs followed by s'mores for dessert. Everything was delicious! The next morning we made breakfast, then packed up and headed home. This was a great trip and a perfect way to end summer vacation.

Riviera Maya...Paradise Found

Gabe, chillaxing among the coconut trees


By the beautiful sea


"Prohibit Coco Not"
...seriously, that's what the sign said.


Mmmmmm, yummy! Tapas!


These guys were, seriously, everywhere!
Anywhere from 1 to 3 ft. long, and the bigger they were,
the ornerier they were!


Thankfully, this one was "petrified"


At one of our resort's nightly variety shows


Getting dipped in the ocean while parasailing...so much fun!!!


An ice cream break in Playa del Carmen


The Mayan ruins of Tulum - this was the sacred temple


Our last walk on the beach before we flew out


Awesome little cabanas!


This pretty much sums it up!
Hasta luego, Riviera Maya, te amemos mucho!