I finally learned how to blog from my phone! I also got the slideshow working for our Flickr pictures! Yay!
Monday, May 12, 2008
New Improvements
Slowly but surely we are adding things to our blog to make it amazing! I finally figured out how to have a slideshow (top right hand corner). If you click on a picture, you can see all of our pictures that we've uploaded to Flickr. So amazing! I'm so glad I figured that out! I'll try to document more pictures with my cell phone, even though my camera is kinda lame. Hope you enjoy!
~Kristi
~Kristi
Monday, May 5, 2008
Anniversary Celebration Part 2
In case you haven't noticed, Issac and I like to celebrate things for an extended period of time. Birthdays are usually "birthday weeks" so why would our anniversary be any different?! Issac has Mondays off so I planned to be off too because we usually need a day to recover from our vacations! We decided to head to Albuquerque for lunch and to stop by the Apple store (Issac wanted a new iPod). We went to Bravo!...AMAZING.... and had a very yummy lunch! Issac and I each enjoyed the petite filet and jumbo shrimp with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies (Issac got pasta instead of veggies). Ikey joined us since Courtney and Caleb had school, so we ordered him a nice little kids meal, only to find out that the kid's cheese pizza was the size of a small pizza at Dion's! I was cracking up because of the size of the "kid's meal." It would have definitely fed all three kids, no problem. He must have had a huge appetite because he finished 5 of the 8 slices! Needless to say, he was pretty stuffed after that. Not too stuffed though to enjoy some coffee and vanilla bean ice cream that our waitress brought out for us - free of charge for the happy couple!
After lunch we headed over to the Apple store. I've been wanting to get an armband for my iPod Nano so I can workout with it, but since I have an "obsolete" Nano (an older version than the nice, new Nano video iPod) I couldn't find an armband anywhere. They had one at the Apple store - a sweet Nike one that is super comfortable. I also got a nice new pair of Nike head phones. I can't wait to workout tomorrow!
So, while Issac was browsing the 80 gig iPods, I was looking at the iPod Touch. It does everything that the iPod Phone does, except minus the phone ability. I told Issac he should get a Touch. So, for his anniversary, father's day, and birthday presents for this year, we got him a iPod Touch! It's so sick! I'm sure it's going to take a while for us to figure out all the functions it can actually do. What we know so far is already worth it!
God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful for everything He has done in our lives and marriage. I'm so excited to see how He will use us in the year to come!
~Kristi
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Our Final Days
We are home! I'm typing this on Monday morning after a good nights sleep in my own bed! It's good to be home! Let me tell you about the last two days of our trip.
On Friday, after my wonderful anniversary dinner with my wife, the park was going to open early and stay open late. All week long, because this is a slow time of year, the park hours were 10am-8pm, which was plenty of time to enjoy the parks because the crowds were SO low. But on Friday the hours were 9am-midnight! The plan Was to hit the park at opening time and hit some of the rides that we hadn't yet done and wanted to do again, while grabbing some fast passes for some cool rides for later! So thats what we did; we rode Peter Pan (which is always like one of the longest lines in the park) and Star Tours which we just hadn't gotten around to as well as Matterhorn and some of the other ones we wanted to ride again! Meanwhile we grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Soaring over California and the Grizzly River Rapids! So now we were going to go to lunch, swim, and take a nap and then come back at about 5 and stay till midnight! We finally left the resort, for the first time since we arrived to go eat at In-N-Out Burger! It was the best! If you haven't tried In-N-Out, you need to get to California and try it! After swimming and a nap we went back to the park, starting off at California Adventure! Spent a few hours there rockin some new and repeat rides, and then went back to Disneyland so that we could catch the fireworks, fantasmic, and use our fast passes. We also ate dinner at a place called rancho Del Zocalo in frontierland. It's a Mexican place. It wasn't as good as home, but still was pretty awesome! So from that point it was directly over to the castle to see the fireworks which is always a sweet way to end a day at Disneyland! Fantasmic was right afterwards on the rivers of America in front of New Orleans Square. That is great show as well. The only problem now, is that after sitting through 2 shows the exhaustion is starting to set in with the kids and they want to call it a night. We've got three more fastpasses though. Well, Courtney wanted to use at least one more of those fastpasses, so we did (Big Thunder) and then we made our final walk out of Disneyland for the last time this trip. It is always a sad feeling because we love that place so much, but we have a great family, great friends, and an incredible church to look forward to when we get home!
The day we left, we slept in until we all woke up, and then started packing to get out of the hotel by 11:00am. We don't normally stay at nice hotels, so we felt all special when the bell hop came to our room, loaded up our luggage, and took it it down to the bell desk where he was going to hold all of our bags until we were good and ready to pick them up. That was really cool because we had lots of time to kill before we had to leave. After we were all checked out, we went to In-N-Out one more time! I can't tell you how amazing that place is. Then we came back to Downtown Disney and went to a movie; Nim's Island. That was a pretty good movie. The kids really liked it. I would probably reccomend it as a family friendly movie. Next, we took one more stroll up and down Downtown Disney and then brought the car up to the front of the hotel for the bell dudes to load up our luggage into our car and then we were on our way. We stopped at Target for some snacks, and Subway to get some dinner to take on the train, as well as Chevron in Los Angeles for gas. Gas was like 4.33 a gallon there! Enjoy the "low prices" we have here while you can. Sheesh...gas prices are crazy! Anyway, we loaded onto a train and had a wonderful trip home. After all the excitement and fun we had, we ALL slept very well on the train and the trip was very short; felt like we were there in no time.
All in all this was a very great trip! We really missed having Savannah with us, as this is the first trip we've taken since she has been living with her Grandma Connie. Please don't let Savannah be out of sight and out of mind. Please pray for her. I'm glad that she is where she wants to be, but I also hope and pray that she will not depart from all that we have taught her these many years that we've raised her. We love her and miss her very much. Maybe one day she'll want to come be a part of this family again. You never know. But God is so good. When we experience a great week of fun and excitement like we did this past week, we have only to consider what heaven will be like! The bible says, in Psalm 16:11, that in your (God's) presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. All good things come from God, that is a fact, but nothing can compare to God Himself! When we are in His presence, experiencing FULLNESS OF JOY, and we can experience the pleasures that are at His right hand, everything that we consider awesome in this life will pale in comparison! I pray that we will all gaurd ourselves against exalting the gifts above the giver. We are sinful people that have a tendency of doing that. God is all satisfying apart from His gifts! Taste and see that the Lord is good!
On Friday, after my wonderful anniversary dinner with my wife, the park was going to open early and stay open late. All week long, because this is a slow time of year, the park hours were 10am-8pm, which was plenty of time to enjoy the parks because the crowds were SO low. But on Friday the hours were 9am-midnight! The plan Was to hit the park at opening time and hit some of the rides that we hadn't yet done and wanted to do again, while grabbing some fast passes for some cool rides for later! So thats what we did; we rode Peter Pan (which is always like one of the longest lines in the park) and Star Tours which we just hadn't gotten around to as well as Matterhorn and some of the other ones we wanted to ride again! Meanwhile we grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Soaring over California and the Grizzly River Rapids! So now we were going to go to lunch, swim, and take a nap and then come back at about 5 and stay till midnight! We finally left the resort, for the first time since we arrived to go eat at In-N-Out Burger! It was the best! If you haven't tried In-N-Out, you need to get to California and try it! After swimming and a nap we went back to the park, starting off at California Adventure! Spent a few hours there rockin some new and repeat rides, and then went back to Disneyland so that we could catch the fireworks, fantasmic, and use our fast passes. We also ate dinner at a place called rancho Del Zocalo in frontierland. It's a Mexican place. It wasn't as good as home, but still was pretty awesome! So from that point it was directly over to the castle to see the fireworks which is always a sweet way to end a day at Disneyland! Fantasmic was right afterwards on the rivers of America in front of New Orleans Square. That is great show as well. The only problem now, is that after sitting through 2 shows the exhaustion is starting to set in with the kids and they want to call it a night. We've got three more fastpasses though. Well, Courtney wanted to use at least one more of those fastpasses, so we did (Big Thunder) and then we made our final walk out of Disneyland for the last time this trip. It is always a sad feeling because we love that place so much, but we have a great family, great friends, and an incredible church to look forward to when we get home!
The day we left, we slept in until we all woke up, and then started packing to get out of the hotel by 11:00am. We don't normally stay at nice hotels, so we felt all special when the bell hop came to our room, loaded up our luggage, and took it it down to the bell desk where he was going to hold all of our bags until we were good and ready to pick them up. That was really cool because we had lots of time to kill before we had to leave. After we were all checked out, we went to In-N-Out one more time! I can't tell you how amazing that place is. Then we came back to Downtown Disney and went to a movie; Nim's Island. That was a pretty good movie. The kids really liked it. I would probably reccomend it as a family friendly movie. Next, we took one more stroll up and down Downtown Disney and then brought the car up to the front of the hotel for the bell dudes to load up our luggage into our car and then we were on our way. We stopped at Target for some snacks, and Subway to get some dinner to take on the train, as well as Chevron in Los Angeles for gas. Gas was like 4.33 a gallon there! Enjoy the "low prices" we have here while you can. Sheesh...gas prices are crazy! Anyway, we loaded onto a train and had a wonderful trip home. After all the excitement and fun we had, we ALL slept very well on the train and the trip was very short; felt like we were there in no time.
All in all this was a very great trip! We really missed having Savannah with us, as this is the first trip we've taken since she has been living with her Grandma Connie. Please don't let Savannah be out of sight and out of mind. Please pray for her. I'm glad that she is where she wants to be, but I also hope and pray that she will not depart from all that we have taught her these many years that we've raised her. We love her and miss her very much. Maybe one day she'll want to come be a part of this family again. You never know. But God is so good. When we experience a great week of fun and excitement like we did this past week, we have only to consider what heaven will be like! The bible says, in Psalm 16:11, that in your (God's) presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. All good things come from God, that is a fact, but nothing can compare to God Himself! When we are in His presence, experiencing FULLNESS OF JOY, and we can experience the pleasures that are at His right hand, everything that we consider awesome in this life will pale in comparison! I pray that we will all gaurd ourselves against exalting the gifts above the giver. We are sinful people that have a tendency of doing that. God is all satisfying apart from His gifts! Taste and see that the Lord is good!
Friday, May 2, 2008
6 Years of Joy
So, Yesterday, although a little early, I celebrated 6 years with my beautiful bride! It was a great day. Here are some of the highlights!
Our day started off with more celebration of Courtney's birthday. Sheesh...must be nice. Today we had breakfast at the PCH Grill with Lilo and Stitch! (another really cool character dining experience) It was really fun. Lilo and Stitch joined us for breakfast and brought the kids in for hula lessons, as well as a couple other cool games and activities. All of the food was really yummy and and the kids had a blast. I was really excited today because, although she has riden it before quite a few times, Courtney began to fear Splash Mountain and refused to ride with us until yesterday! I really wanted her to ride wuth us so she finally did! The picture that was taken was priceless; it really captured the sheer terror on her face as we plunged down the 50 foot drop. She lived to see another day, contrary to what she had expected. We also caught a few of our very favorite shows at Disneyland yesterday; The Aladdin Musical at California Adventure, and Billy Hill and the Hillbillies in Frontierland! Both are REALLY great entertainment! If you ever get over to the happiest place on earth, I suggest you check those two shows! The next highlight of my day came in the form of communication with a great friend of mine from home; Preston! It was so cool to get a call from him just to say that he hoped we were having a great time! We also talked a little about some exciting ministry opportunities we have coming up in the future. I love Preston and his family and I'm SO looking forward to serving along side him. I can't wait to get back; The Weekend 2008 at Calvary Santa Fe is only a couple weeks away! I'm really looking forward to it! Anyway, as a perfect end to my day, I settled the kids at the hotel with dinner and a movie (the hotel room has a dvd player) and then I took my wife on a wonderful date to THE BEST meal we've had yet; a little place called Steakhouse 55 here in the Disneyland Hotel. We had, probably the best filet mignon I've ever had with a couple really killer side dishes. This was definitely THE highlight of the trip for me. Just a little alone time with my wife, over a really great meal, at one of our favorite places in the world. I can't tell you how much we both enjoyed our time together. It has truly been an awesome six years with my best friend on this earth, and it seems to get better every year. One of the cool things about marriage is that it points to something much greater; our relationship with Christ! As Christians, we're called the bride of Christ. Although our marriage relationship should point to Chrst, my fallen and flawed love for Kristi, as great as it is, could NEVER in a million years compare to God's unconditional and unending love for His bride; the church! Be encourgaed to know that, if you belong to God, He loves you with a special and jealous love! Just like I am a jealous husband, and want all of my wifes affections to be for me, so God wants all of our affections to be for Him; not the things of this world. And even though we don't live up to that expectation, and we DO desire "stuff" more than we desire Him sometimes, His perfect love remains steadfast for us! As we realize how we fall short in this, let us be quick to repent of our sin, and seek to be satisfied in Him alone! He is so good to us! It's been a great few days but it's almost over and we'll be glad to go home and be reunited with all of the family and friends that we love SO much! We missed seeing our church family on Wednesday! Well, I'll go ahead and post some pictures from yesterday. We'll be at the park till about midnight tonight, so I'll blog and post pics about today sometime tomorrow morning. Thanks for caring enough to read our blogs. Hi Dad, Mom and Felicia! It's been fun keeping in contact with you guys! I wish you guys were here with me! God bless...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Pretty Sick Day
So as we were on our way to California, on the train, all of a sudden Issac started sneezing and sniffling. We were like, you gotta be joking! Luckily he hasn't gotten too bad. He's been sniffling and sneezing just a little bit, but he's held out like a champ. Well, last night and this morning I have started to feel a little cold-like symptoms coming on. (the same ones Issac had) So I wasn't at 100% today, but still a good day over all. Here's what happened.
I woke up a little early and wanted to use the gym here at the Disneyland hotel. Some of you guys know we've been working out. (Kristi didn't work out today) It's a pretty nice gym and I got a really good work out. (not to mention all the walking around we're doing) I was rocking the new Hillsong United double CD and worshipped God while I worked out. I really like to do that! Some people like to listen to hard rock or something when they work out. I like to worship! Anyway, when I finished I grabbed a cup of coffee on the way up to the room. The fam was almost ready to go so I just cleaned up quickly and we were off. We had a light breakfast at "Whitewater Snacks". It is a little snack spot at the Grand Californian hotel that has killer breakfast burritos for a good price. We all shared two burritos while Issac had a bowl of Fruit Loops. We had a light breakfast because we had an early lunch reservation today. After breakfast we entered California Adventure from the Grand Californian hotel. (a benefit reserved for those who are staying at the resort) It was nice! The entrance is right by one of our favorite rides in that park. (Soarin' Over California) We rode that, and hit a couple other things in that park before it was time to head over to Disneyland and have lunch at the Blue Bayou. (A restaurant INSIDE the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) It is one of our favorite places. Good food, good atmosphere, good times. We spent a lot of time in the California Adventure park today, as we hadn't spent much time there before today. I finally got to ride Tower of Terror! (like my favorite ride of all time) One of the highlights of today was that both Issac and Caleb were chosen to participate in the Jedi Training Academy! This is an interactive show where a Jedi Knight trains up a bunch of younglings with a light sabor, and then after their training is over, they have an opportunity to put their skillz to use as Darth Vader and Darth Maul unexpectedly show up. (yeah...unexpectedly...no one even saw that comin'....) Courtney said she didn't want to do it, but after she saw how cool it was, she wished she had! They had a blast doing it! You should have seen how seriously they were taking it! These younglings weren't playing around, I'll tell you that much! You'll have to see some of the pics I captured! It was too funny! One of the cool things that happened yesterday, that God encouraged us with today, was that, as we were in a large crowd, Caleb wasn't paying attention and sparated from us for a few seconds. Luckily, I keep an eye on my kids because they're not always keeping an eye on me. I saw him realize that he didn't see me and start to panic until he looked in my direction and saw that I hadn't lost sight of him at all. I was calling out for him to come back to me. Tonight we talked about that experience a little more and were reminded of how sometimes we slowly stray away from God, not realizing it until one day we feel lost and abandoned until we look to God and realize that He never lost sight of us. He's right there calling us back to Him! (The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous... ~Psalm 34:15) As believers, we are His children, and He is our Father who loves and cares for us, and will never take His eyes off of us! That was so comforting and encouraging. We have a great God with a great love for us! If you haven't recognized your sin and need of a Savior, and responded to that by giving your life to Christ, I pray that you would do that today! If you would repent and belivere the gospel (that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins) then He would adopt you and make you His child, and He will be your Father who will never let go of you. Being a child of God, and having the hope of being with Him for eternity, is better than a million days at Disneyland. I love you guys! Check out todays pictures!
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