Engagement Photos

Zach arranged a flight to Catalina Island. His former teacher from Mt. Sac was the pilot. After flying around the island to enjoy the breathtaking landscape, they landed and took a shuttle to the quaint little town of Avalon where Zach proposed. They spent the afternoon sightseeing, and then took the Catalina Express back to the mainland where we had an Engagement Party waiting for them at home.

We are all very happy and excited for Zach and Andrea. We all love her and think Zach chose a wonderful girl!

Engaged!

Marriage Retreat

Ron and I just returned from a weekend marriage retreat that we take annually with our friends. We went to Temecula this year and spent the last day here at The South Coast Winery Resort and Spa.

After driving the country side for a while we went to the wine tasting room and then had a leisurely lunch outside on the beautiful patio overlooking the grounds. We had a relaxing and refreshing weekend away - spending time soaking up the beauty of the wine country.

We discovered that the South Coast Winery has great deals during off-season weekdays, so we will come back another time for a private getaway.

The Girls Practicing Photography

Musical Pursuits

Capturing the last moments of childhood...

Thought it would be fun to post some pictures of Taylor and Ashley's Room. A friend, Garth Fout, painted the trees for us a couple of years ago. Some of the extras (bunnies, faeries) were painted by our niece, Brianna Anderson.

The girls are getting older, so I'm not sure how much longer they'll enjoy this style. Wanted to capture it before they grow up and want to change it.

My First Car Crash

I was in an accident yesterday-- a couple of doors down from my house. No none was hurt. Everyone is doing fine - except my van!

An ambulance, making an illegal u-turn from a parked position across the street ran into me as I was backing up to parallel park. (no lights or sirens - it was just a routine transport of my neighbor who goes to the hospital 2xs a week for dialysis).

Seemed pretty straight forward that the other driver made an unsafe and illegal turn and rammed into the rear of my van.

Now we've found out that the ambulance company is bumping this up to an "injury claim" because there was a patient in the ambulance (who wasn't hurt) but protocol dictated that he needed to be transported to emergency to get checked out.

Ambulance company doesn't want to take responsibility so we may be in for a long and bumpy ride. We'll keep you posted.

New House Mate(s)

Tomorrow, my sister Tiffany will be moving in with us. After her job was reduced to 20 hours per week, she could no longer afford to keep the house that she was renting. She will be staying with us while she looks for another job - whether here in California, in Spokane, or any other area that might have an open door.

We have been busy this week, getting more organized in order to make room for her. Zach has graciously relinquished his room (something he's done many times over the years as we've housed both relatives and foreign exchange students.) This will be a good transition for him as he prepares to leave for the FAA Academy and then on to his own apartment soon thereafter. So he's boxing up his stuff and packing up his room, and roping friends into helping him move her appliances.

It will be cozy for a while, but we are grateful to have the opportunity to have Tiffany here with us while we can. Who knows where she will go from here...we'll just enjoy this time with her now and think about that later.

One Thousand Gifts...

Lenten

Easter is about 6 weeks away, April 12. Many times, this holiday sneaks up on me. This is the Christian's most important day to celebrate, but I often feel under prepared.

We spend a lot of time on preparing for and celebrating Christmas, with advent calendar, wreath, candles and readings, special traditions and decorations. Yet, for Easter, we don't experience the same anticipation and preparation- at least, not to the degree I'd like.

This year, I've done some reading on Lent and have been challenged to spend the six weeks prior to Easter to focus on preparing for celebrating this glorious holiday.

Here are a couple of things we are doing this year:

1. We are each choosing one thing to give up (fast) for 40 days that we feel is a hindrance to our devotion to the Lord. (Examples: TV, media, reading novels more than the Bible...etc.)

2. Use this lent season for self-examination and evaluation.

3. We are making a Box of Repentance. Throughout the day, we will write down on a small piece of paper sins we've committed and place them in the box as an act of confession. On Easter, we will take all the papers and burn them as a symbol of what God does to our sins because of what Christ accomplished on the Cross for us.

Another resource for ideas: Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper