Pebble Beach

We just got home from Pebble Beach, CA with our wonderful friends Trine and Sharon. It was an amazing trip! We fully relaxed and enjoyed every minute! Really, anytime I have to wear a fleece in July I'm happy! Get ready for a ton of pictures:) I don't have a lot of time to write a lot but I wanted to get these up for the Owens to see!

These were from the Owen's original house in Pebble Beach- so pretty! Both houses were amazing but they have tons of special memories of this one

This is Forge in the Forrest- a precious little cafe we ate at 2 times- so cute!

Those are some of the amazing restaurants we ate at. We seriously gained a ton of weight but everything was SO good!

The Lone Cyprus

Seals just hanging out on the beach:)

One thing I learned this trip was how much of a marine biologist Sharon is:) She LOVES all this sea life! (The sea otter is her favorite, in case you wondered)

The plants and flowers were amazing!

He was just swimming along in front of us:)

The cutest little store "Cottage of Sweets" Yum!

My favorite thing to do was shop in Carmel. All the stores were so cute! We found lots of good deals (Sharon said she had never seen any kind of sale in Carmel before but I guess the economy has even hit Carmel!)

One day we drove through Big Sur on our way to San Simeon and Hearst Castle. It was a breathtakingly beautiful drive!

We went through the Carmel valley and stopped at Bernardus Lodge for a wine tasting and a little bocce ball! It was such a fun day- we played for over 2 hours and laughed a lot!

Had to get a picture of the grown-ups drink of choice and then mine:) Give me a coke and I'm happy!

This is my FAVORITE picture of all! It is the exact spot where the Parent Trap was filmed. Mitch (the dad) has just picked up Sharon (who he thinks is Susan) from the Monteray Bay airport and they are driving back to the ranch in Carmel. Don't think I didn't quote the entire movie several times (I'm sure they loved it:)

 

 

 We took one day to spend at the beach- and it turned out to be the hottest day! It was so wonderful and relaxing!

We brought our lunch- I'll let you guess which side of the blanket was mine:) I really do have the taste buds of a 4 year old- but I've come to terms with it and have embraced it!

We rode surrey's down the beach- so fun!

I'll leave you with the bagpiper from Spanish Bay. Each night he appears from the beach (with the fog rolling in) and plays for a while. We spent time here, and looking out over the 18th green of Pebble Beach but no golf was played the whole trip- crazy!

Gotta run and pack because I leave for Rwanda TOMORROW! I am so excited! I have lots of mixed emotions since the kids are not coming and I've been away from them so much- but I am praying for peace over all of us! I'll be updating the blog (hopefully) often!!

GORT 2011!!

We just got home from GORT! This was our 14th annual college roommate reunion! yes- we are old!
 These 5 guys were roommates at good ol' ACU (and Kathryn was my roommate!) but the 5 wives are just as close as the men and we all LOVE our time together each summer! (when we moved the reunion to Tennessee Dave kept calling it "Good Ol' Rocky Top" hence the GORT name, and it just kinda stuck) Normally we stay at a lake house but this year, Dave and Candice offered to have it in their home in Cookeville, TN. Let me tell you, these people can host! It was one of the best GORTs yet!

We played games (the ladies play Nerts all weekend long!)ate, relaxed, ate, went on the lake, ate, watched movies, ate, and talked, and ate. We went to Bobby Q's- our favorite little place in town.
 And we all got to share with each other what has been going on in our lives the past year. There are always struggles, triumphs, job losses or new jobs, new babies and miscarriages, families doing great and families that are struggling, but we always feel so much better being around each other and being prayed for by these friends! We are all always lifted up and feel spiritually fed each time we leave.

We all went on a walk- this is their FRONT YARD! It goes on forever and it is so beautiful!

These are the kinds of things you see on a farm in Tennessee!

by the bridge on our walk

The guys took a 2 hour walk through the creek- this is still their yard:) My kids would LOVE to live here!

It was wonderful to spend some time talking to Kathryn about her roller coaster ride of a year. She had precious Nathan (her 4th!) only 8 weeks ago, and he is just the cutest thing ever!

Kathryn has been dealing with some major, life altering things these last 9 months. Her life at times has seemed to be threatened but her faith never has. She is so amazingly strong and faithful and although a lot of this has been scary, unknowing, and just too much to take in, she has ridden this out with courage that could only come from the Lord. I am so blessed to call her my friend. I am so thankful that the diagnosis COULD be something completely different and not as altering as we first thought. I am thankful that we serve a God who can handle it either way. Even though I knew everything before I came on this trip, just hugging her and seeing her in person made it SO much better! Love that precious friend!
   The older we get the less skiing and tubing we do and more made-up games like bocce/tennis/golf. Poor Candice- we were literally throwing tennis balls from upstairs down to the basement!

Such great memories! Thank you Lord for the blessings of friends!

Happy 4th!

I have always loved the 4th of July! Always been patriotic, loved our country, and loved celebrating with family! This year we had just a small gathering of family over to our house to cook out and then some of us headed out to watch some fireworks! Always fun!

 It is just SOO hot outside and since the boys were cooking out we thought we'd at least get the slip-n-slide out for the kids to play with so they weren't just melting the whole time they were here! Bridge was a little skeptical at first, but ended up loving it! Never slipped or slide-ed:) but loved playing in the water!

We watched some old home movies and just sat around and talked (and ate:)) and had a great time!

LOVE this kid!!!

shootin' some hoops! yes, that is jeff in a giant cowboy hat:) I mean, why not?

Uncle B sportin' the awesome shades!

Sweet aunt Chelsa and sweet Chandler

Then it was off to the fireworks! It was looking like it might be a huge fail but we moved spots and all was well!

Awesome Grami!!

And I'll leave you with this gem of a pic- ah Patton- how you make us laugh! Love that middle child- his parents are both middles, what can you expect? There are just really no words...

Happy Independence Day!!!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!

We were invited to go to the Ranger game tonight to celebrate a very special 12 year old girl.....

Phoebe!!!!

Phoebe is one amazing, smart, hysterical, beautiful girl! We adore her and love being around her! Her dad offices out at the ballpark so for her bday the whole family got to come and watch a game! It was a GREAT game but we ended up losing:( But not before lots of fun was had!

little shot of Wilson and Kinsler in action!

Chandler and Phoebe

Once the sun went down it was a really pleasant evening- lots of good talks with old friends and new! I will have the priviledge of spending almost TWO weeks with Phoebe and her family because they are all going to Rwanda with me!! We are all so excited and most of our talks always end up in Rwanda:)
Phoebe is going to be awesome there because she already has such a servant heart (she scooped out and handed out her own ice cream tonight before getting hers!)

this is the mini-field out in center field where kids can swing at a wiffle ball! Phoebe's brother, Judson, did an awesome job down there!!

Such a fun night and more fun to follow tomorrow! Happy 4th everyone!!!