Spiritual Retreat in Los Osos, California

Last weekend we headed out of town for a spiritual retreat in Los Osos, California. Rob has been wanting to organize a spiritual retreat for some time and the pieces fell into place so that we were able to have one!

The "theme" and activities were planned for Rob. One of his seminary classes focused on the Spiritual Disciplines and one of the projects was to plan a spiritual retreat curriculm. This worked out perfectly and Rob decided to focus on Solitude & Silence.

We headed out of town on a Friday afternoon around noon. Our friends Andi & Joe, Amber, Rob, and myself piled into a van borrowed from a friend and headed out to California. It was a 9.5 hour drive but it flew by. We had fun driving through L.A. trying to see if we could spot a celebrity (we didn't). We stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant right outside of L.A. and then finished off the last 2 hours of the drive.

We meet our friend Barry at the house that night around 10. He had joined us from Cananda! That night, we settled in and most of us went straight to bed. We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, then headed up to the upper deck for our first study. We had a time of quiet time with God and search for passages in the Bible were God talks about the value and importance of rest.

We ate lunch outside on the upper deck and then headed out check out the town. We took a walk around Morro Rock in Morro Bay (original, right?) :) Then wandered over to Montana del Oro State Park and took hike to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. There were some mountains in the background, it was really green, and the fog started rolling in. It reminded me of Hawai'i! We headed home tired and suprisingly sunburned! The weather was so cool and we spent so much time outside, we didnt even think that we might get sunburned...but we all were!

The next morning we all slept in much later. We got up, repeated the same routine as the morning before, and in the afternoon headed out to check out a couple of wineries. The first winery we went to was actually the first winery Rob and I ever went to! It was fun :) We checked out on other winery and then headed back to town. We wanted to check out a local seafood restaurant so we did that, but not before Andi and Amber found this amazing taffy shop and bought lots of taffy!

The drive home wasn't as quick as the drive to California bc we were tired but very relaxed and rejuvanted from the weekend. It was wonderful. God is good and it was great to spend time with Him.

School Bells Are Ringing

I have started back in school! Second day under my belt and I haven't broken out in hives yet so I'm doing good. At the moment I'm kinda tired so I don't have much energy to type but I think often about updating here, I just haven't lately. Sorry :(

Till I feel up to it!...

2nd Wedding Anniversary!

Rob and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by taking a weekend vacation to Livermore Wine Country. We decided to drive since it is only 10 hours from here. (We saw only until we started the drive back...whew, that's a long one!)

We left Thursday evening after dropping Sonora off at our friends house. (Thanks Lanni for watching our energetic puppy dog!) We headed out and stopped in Pasadena, California for the night. We wanted to get out of town so we could have pretty much all day Friday for vacation and Pasadena was a great 1/2 stop.

We left Pasadena at 7am Friday morning and pulled into Livermore around noon. We settled into our hotel and then headed out to the vineyards. The weather was 85-89 and sunny. We visited 3 wineries and that evening headed to Rob's cousin house. Anne and Craig live in Livermore and they have a beautiful home right in the middle of wine country! We enjoyed a great bottle of wine, a pork tenderloin from the grill, and great conversation. We ended the evening sitting on the front porch in cool weather watching the kids play out on the front lawn. We then headed inside for pictures then headed back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to a local city park for a walk/run/hike. It was a great workout and a fun time with Rob. That afternoon we headed to a few more wineries and just enjoyed being in wine country. That evening we headed to Concannon Winery to watch the play The Seagull. The play was held outdoors in front of this old house on the property. It was perfect!

Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed back home! We got back into town around 10pm Sunday night. Tired from the long drive and wishing we were still on vacation!

It was a great way to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. I'm glad that we have had the opportunity to "get away" for both of our anniversaries. It really is so great be so close to California! We love it!

Monsoon Season

Right now we are just beginning Monsoon season. It's awesome! around 6 pm every evening the wind starts blowing, dark clouds roll in and sometime it rains. I know this sounds crazy, but that is different weather from what we are use to hear in Phoenix. Usually is little to no breeze, cloudless skies, and definitely no rain!

Pictured above is the dust storm, that they call them "haboobs" (umm, not sure why, could probably look it up but feeling lazy). This is a phote of the haboob rolling over Avondale two days ago, which is where we live. Along with the strong winds from the monsoon, it kicks up all the dirt and dust to it gets really dusty and the visibility decreases tremendously. Anyone with allergies can definitely tell!

Just wanted to share this because thought the picture was so cool and I am enjoying the change in weather!

july 16, 2009

Haven't updated in awhile and that probably has to do with not a lot has been going on! we are dead in the middle of the intense phoenix summer where things really seem to be at a standstill. i'm doing everything i can to keep the few plants i in the backyard alive. rob gets in the pool more than i do but it definitely is the best way to cool down after being out in the heat.

i'm really enjoying not having anything to do, but at the same time, it's so easy for laziness to set in. i'm just trying to soak it all up because come august i will be swamped once again with school. but...i'm almost done! yay!

sonora and socrates are doing well, of course! last month my parents came out for the weekend. they bought us a grill which was so cool. we've used it 1-2x a week so far. my favorite is having rob throw chicken breasts on the grill for us and then adding it to a salad. yum. it's healthy too!

right now i'm at work...10 more minutes till my lunch break is over. then up to help a floor file some paperwork then back to the icu. i love shadowing the nurses in the icu and even better, they know me now and actually utilize me. it's awesome.

till next time!

a hot summer day post

whew, it is heating up here in phoenix!! i was looking at pictures taken in december and we are outside in t-shirts and jeans and riding around with the windows down. those are the things you have to remember when you are sweltering in this intense summer heat. the monsoon season is starting up so that means humidity with the heat. augh! pro: i don't have to water my few hardy plants as often. con: the vicious crab grass starts it's attack. last summer, rob and i didn't attempt to control it's growth and we ended up with a backyard full of weeds that overgrew on our grass and flowers. we had to pay someone to come in and do the dirty work to get it all cleared out, it was too much for us. not this year though, i'm on top of it! :) i am trying really hard to develop a green thumb bc even though i dont have one naturally, i loved a beautiful yard with lots of flowers and "green". i do have to say, i am much better today at gardening than i was this time last year which gives me encouragement.

right now i have my little brother, brian jr., with us for the week. it's pretty awesome. he's grown into such a sweet and polite young little teenager. actually, little is the wrong word bc he's 5'10, 170 lbs! much bigger than me. both of my brothers are bigger than me, not fair! :D

i was a camp counselor at a camp at the beginning of last week and caught a nasty cold. severe soar throat, swollen and tender lymph nodes, a constant cough, constant thick and green nasal discharge, and sinus pressure like i have never experienced before. it started on friday morning and it is now tuesday evening and i am still fighting it. i can take adult germs all day, but kid germs? i guess i have no defense!

well thats about all from this little part of the world!

Summer Camp!

Just a quick update on our summer! Yesterday after church Amanda loaded up her packed bags, and went off with six kids to summer camp! She is being a camp counselor for 3rd and 4th year old girls from our church - there are 5 girls going, as well as 1 boy and Steve Graham, the Refinery's Children's and Youth Pastor. Hopefully she is having lots of fun and enjoying spending half the week up in Prescott, AZ with the gals! 

As far as other things go - my intership is continuing to go well, getting more developed by the week. We had an informational meeting on The Streetlight Project - which is one cause we are fully supporting - it is aimed at ending Child Prostitution in Phoenix. This is a very serious issue, and unfortunately one that is also very prominent. If you'd like to know more, check out http://www.streetlightphx.com 

Also, I got to get up and do the communion talk this weekend, first time for that at the Refinery! It went well I believe, but I'm sure I was a little stiff, need to get a bit more relaxed! That will come with opportunity to get up there, I'm sure! I didn't want my first time to be my last! Ha! I finished up my Spring classes Friday (2 finals were due) so I'm enjoying my first real break yet - I have a month until the next class starts in early July. I'm sure I'll have some books that have to be read by then, but honestly it won't be too big a deal. I'm looking forward to reading this month, that is actually my goal. I want to get back into reading for enjoyment and personal growth. I have a novel that I've been stuck about 1/3 of the way through, I want to get that done! Also, a couple other books I want to wrap up - as well as just spending more time in Scripture, for personal reflection over preparation of class material or homework or even church!!! Just need to focus in on God a bit, you know?!