4th of july weekend- Wine Tasting in Solvang

my best friend lindsay's birthday is July 5th so for her birthday last weekend we celebrated in Solvang, CA on a wine tasting weekend. (it was also her mom's 50th birthday too) We had so much fun. We went to 4 vineyards on Saturday. A limo picked us up at 11am and the tour lasted until 3. At the third vineyard after our tastings, We had a yummy lunch of cheese and meat and grapes and bread (perfect w/ wine). After our lunch our great limo driver Luigi (who had an accent) took us to a surprise stop at a field of Lavendar. It was beautiful and smelled amazing too. before Luigi (the limo driver) took us to the fourth and final vineyard he stopped at a strawberry field and got us three baskets of fresh strawberries that tasted amazing (esp w/ wine) :)
After this trip I have a new love for red wines and now enjoy more then a riesling of the white wine selection. The vineyards were all so beautiful. Lindsay's friend Kim who came with us was part of a wine club so we got free wine tasting in town on Friday as well. It was a really great trip. The city of Solvang is such a cute place. All of the buildings look like cottages like you live in a fairytale. We stayed in a really nice cottage that was super cute. I cant wait to go again!

last three weekends and our plans for the fourth!

June 19th my friend Audrey and I took Carson to the Farmers market .. I love that place I got some really delicious pita bread and hummus and of course had to take carson to the petting zoo. They are tricky at the market with the kids stuff they have you purchase tickets to do everything their (petting zoo, bounce house, pony rides, train rides and balloon artist/ face painting) however the tickets are 1 dollar each and each thing cost a few tickets. The petting zoo was 3 dollars plus one more dollar/ ticket if you want to buy food to feed the animals. So it cost $4 to take carson to the petting zoo their and of course i was like I am not paying for myself to go in too. haha i am so cheap. But it was a good time and Carson is getting better at being 'gentle' with the animals.










June 22nd after church we went to Newport beach with some friends and had a good time.
Carson actually went into the ocean (only being held) the waves still freak him out.

Last week was filled planning University Praise' FAM JAM celebration Sunday.. I was so busy Sunday I forgot to whip out the camera and get a shot.
It was pretty good, we had a great petting zoo, western jumper (the theme of the week was western) dunk tank, magician, and we did have a cool game called "panning for GOLD fish" unfortunately the Gold fish died after only 10 min of being in the kiddie pool (which was in the sun).. too bad it would have been a fun game.
We also had the event catered by Blake's place which was a delicious BBQ meal with brisket that was cut and served to us.

This 4th of July weekend I am off to Solvang CA for a wine tasting trip for my bff's birthday.. i will be sure to take lots of pics of the vineyards and post them when i get back, Brian is taking Carson to Laguna beach with his family while I am gone

What's new mine and my families lives...

Hello friends,
carson is at the tail end of his nap so i thought I could squeeze in a post before he wakes up.

I thought I would just give a little update of what's new in our lives...
Currently I placed a hold on my schooling at Grand Canyon University where I was getting my teaching credential/ Masters degree. The program was completely on line and the flexibility it provided me was great! However, more than 12 units into the program I realized that my particular program is really geared to students who are also currently teaching or have their own classroom. It became really annoying that for every assignment that began.."in your classroom how have you..." I would need to go ask my friends who are teaching. This was no big deal in the begginning but after awhile I really felt like what i needed was a real life teacher who has expereience teaching whom i could have face to face contact with teaching me masters level subjects. So currently I am trying to transfer into Hope International University's program that is also a teaching credential/ masters program. I am hoping they accept all my units.

Right now I am working part time for Brians Brother-in-law who is a graphic designer, as his executive assistant.

I have been praying about my future alot, and if I am really honest with myself and God I know my TRUE passion is teaching children in a church setting about the amazing love thier Savior Jesus has for them rather then teaching in a classroom setting about reading writing and math.

However I know that furthering my education will only help me in what ever children oriented postion i end up getting.

I am just going to keep my eyes on the prize (jesus) and see where he leads me.

Brian and I have been attending Mariners church (where Brian's Family attends) It took many months of prayer, and talking with him and my family over making the switch over to Mariners full time on Sundays. We are really enjoying it there and I am excited to be able to get involved in their children's ministry and attend their service in the same Sunday. Hopefully my volunteering will lead me to a position in their children's ministry.... but that's up to God.

It was truly a difficult decision to switch over to mariners full time on Sundays and to leave UP, a church that means so much to me. Brian and I have been torn since I moved back in February of this year about this decision. But I know it is whats best for me and my family. Brian gets excited each week to go and be apart of worship and hear the message at Mariners, and its great for him to go to the same church as his family. I am excited that both Sat night and Sun morning their are two services in which I could serve at one and attend the other.

MOst of you who know me well, know how much I love volunteering and being involved with the kids on Sunday morning and how important it is to also be able to go to church and be fed myself. Unfortunatley UP only had one service that made that not an option.

During my 3 years on staff at University Praise and my 1yr and 4 months of just being a member of the UP community I have made many great frienships with amazing people. The friends I made at UP church have helped me through a lot of really hard times in my life and been their to celebrate many good times with me as well.


For a second I felt as though if Brian and I stopped attending UP on Sunday Mornings then I would be losing friendships with so many people I care so much about.
Then I realized the frienships I have made at UP go way beyond Sunday morning, and that the love I have for them and them for me is not shallow or conditional on where I attend church on Sunday mornings it is uncoditional, like Christ's love for me and that is why their friendships means so much to me in my life.

I am not sure what lies ahead as far as my future employment whether that be at Mariners church, at an elementary school, or some other church, But I full confidence in my God that as long as I continue to turn to Him for guidance and direction that he will set my paths straight.