I have to be honest, it was pretty hard saying goodbye. On our last night in the Golden State, we brought some needed closure to our lives: we went to one of the greatest places on earth and hung out with some great friends. I think you know where we went... that's right, Disneyland. The only problem with our visit was the fact that, about a month ago, my annual pass expired. And in the busyness of packing and moving across the country, we simply forgot about the ever approaching termination of my key to the magic kingdom. We never, truly, got to say goodbye... well, actually, we half way did. Here's the story...
We had the wonderful privilege of being with our friends, Justin and Krista, one more time. They came and picked us up at our empty apartment; we didn't have a car anymore. We cruised around Downtown Disney, watched all the sometimes crazy, musical acts and walked through all the fun stores, like Department 56 and the Lego store. Then, after having some nachos and desert at Islands, we made our way over to the Disneyland gate. I didn't have a pass anymore, but my wife did, and half of us going in is better than none of us. Chrissy proceeded towards the gate with great fervor, and I couldn't help a little jealousy from rising in my heart as she did. "Why me, why now?!" As they scanned her pass I could hear the faint twitterpations of her heart as the "pass approved" sound rang through the air (if you've been to Disneyland, you know what I'm talking about). She proceeded towards the flower garden that sits directly in front of the train station and began taking pictures of herself... by herself... alone... with my iPhone... smiling and laughing as she took the pictures as if she were with a group of friends having the time of her life. See the action below...
As you can see, she got a little too crazy by the third photo. I think she got a little too caught up in the moment, poor thing. As she was making a giant scene inside the park entrance, a Disneyland attendant began approaching her and asked, "Ma'am, would you like me to take a picture of you?" She was so lost in the moment, she didn't know what to do, so she ran away. She didn't say a word, she just ran away. Towards the exit she sorrowfully drudged. She pushed her way through the turnstyle, walked about three steps, looked back with longing in her eyes, saw the Disneyland pamphlet display, took a pamphlet, and continued walking. To this day, she still carries with her that pamphlet. Whenever she feels alone or that she just can't make it through life, she takes out the pamphlet, looks into the Disneyland map, and pretends she's with Mickey.
We needed the closure. We also needed to hang with our friends one last time, which was truly a blessing. Justin and Krista, we await your plan to get yourselves out here! We have a two bedroom apartment now and the second bedroom is waiting for you.
It was a great last night in California. Keep tuning in daily for updates on our move. There's tons going on and don't forget about the new blog design. All the great content in a better looking blog.
Check out more of the craziness on our last day in California below...
I just picked up a fruit smoothie at the John Wayne airport. It's called Miami Spice. Very appropriate I think. We're boarding our flight to Miami right now. I know I've mentioned this already, but having a one way ticket is very strange. Wherever we're goin', we're stayin'. Fine by us. We're stoked and we're ready for anything.
We're moving today! Tonight, our apartment will be empty, we'll be sleeping on the floor, and then we'll be leaving in the morning with one way tickets to Florida. Calvary Chapel Kendall, here we come.
There's been so many bittersweet goodbyes and farewell parties. Our family members ended up throwing three get-togethers for us, one at my aunts house and two at the beach (our friend Justin is pictured to the left at one of our beach parties). Last night we hung out with Justin and Krista one last time before we left (that's me to the right chillin' on their couch). They've been our closest friends while we've lived here the past six months or so. It's funny how when we first got married we prayed desperately for good friends to hang out with, being that we didn't have that many. And now that we finally found them, we're moving. But we know they're excited for us and I don't really see it as a goodbye. There will be plenty of visits and phone calls and emails. We're so excited for Florida. I have no idea what God has planned, but whatever it is, I'm in. Whatever I'm going to learn, whatever wisdom I am to gain, however much I am to become more like Christ, I'm in. Everything is ready. Our car has already been shipped, they picked it up a week ago and it's already on its way to Miami. My last day at my job was on Friday. The movers come tomorrow morning. Almost everything is in boxes. Our rental car has been returned. The one-way tickets are bought and ready. My set list has been put together for the weekend services. Everything is in place. The new blog is also almost ready. I just have to tweak a few more things. We're very excited about that. Tomorrow I will be blogging photos of our move and all the craziness that's to bring. Mean while, I hope you all are doing well. Please keep us in your prayers as we move. Also, as a reminder, be praying for the Laurie family. We all know the details and the story. It's time now to pray for them.
Chrissy was in desperate need of a new purse (these are her words). So, what the hey, why not stop at one of those crazy kiosks at the spectrum and get one on our way to have dinner with some friends. Those kiosks scare me, with all their muisc constantly pumping at like 80 decibels and their shady salesmen. We got a sweet purse though, that's all that matters.
I guess you could say things have been pretty hectic lately. Quiting my job, farewell get-togethers with family and friends, collecting boxes in dumpsters, packing our stuff. We're moving to Florida, and it's crazy. We're anxious, excited, and eager all at the same time.
About 4 months ago, I was notified of a worship leading position out in Kendall, Florida. After a very long process, visiting Florida, meetings and phone calls with various CCK staff members, and tons of prayer, we're moving in about a week across the country to be involved in a very exciting work God is doing. Like I said, it's crazy, but that's how God works and I love it. There will be change; there will be trouble; there will be opposition from the enemy, who won't like what we're up to at all. There will be triumphs and trials, highs and lows, banging our heads against the wall in frustration and jumping for joy in victory. We welcome it all. We're stoked out of our gourds to enter into this most exciting venture of our lives.
And as long as I'm on the subject of change, I also want to mention to our blog readers that the good 'ole blog will be getting a little changin' too. Hopefully sometime around our move, you're going to see whole new, redesigned blog, and it will hopefully be much more enjoyable to read and visit. After having this blog for a while and seeing and reading other blogs and sites, we've realized some features our blog should have, and some things it could very well do without (like a header that fills the entire screen). We'll hopefully be implementing some cool features and bringing in a more mature color palette. We also will be, and already have been, working on making this blog something worth reading. Improving our writing styles, blogging about things that actually matter (which seems to be a popular subject lately), posting photos that are actually worth looking at are all part of the plan. My motto is, if there's nothing to blog about, then don't blog. In the busyness of the last few weeks, we barely even noticed that we passed our 400th blog post, but it doesn't matter. It's about quality of content, and that's what we'll be aiming for.
These are exciting times my friends, and we're looking forward to putting only the coolest things on the blog for you to see.
After Regal's computer systems crashed and restarted, we wrestled our way through the hoards of movie goers to acheive our tickets only to discover that the time we purchased our tickets for has an assigned line. The "orange line". And the image above gives no justice to the magnitude of this line.
I actually think waiting is a good thing. I'm paying my dues. When I see the movie, I'll feel justified. Its like a Dark Knight hall pass. We deserve to see it because we've waited in a stupidly long line. Wait... the line is moving now, I have to go. The Dark Knight awaits.
And as it turns out, it's totally not. Not only was it not full, there were plenty of spots. This is cool idea, but it still needs a little work, seemingly. For now, I'm never trusting this thing again, its a big, fat, lying liar.
We're at the Irvine Spectrum trying to see Dark Knight. It's been sold out 2 nights in a row now, but I think tonights our night. We're very excited.
Growing up I was OBSESSED with Saved By the Bell...As you can imagine, I couldn't even believe my husband was on the show!! I've seen EVERY episode including this one many times. He was and still is SO CUTE!!!! I always wanted to marry Zack Morris when I was little and it cracks me up that instead I married Zack Jr! I love you babe! <3 xoxoxo
I've had to make a couple trips to the dentist this past month and for the first time today I realized there was a Biolase machine to my right! I don't know what it does but I just thought it was pretty cool cause Eric works for Biolase! I wanted to say, "You know, our friend works for Biolase...yea he fixes those machines...." But I just secretly took a picture instead
We went to the very famous swap meet today. With our cash in-hand, we traversed the swap meet grounds with eagerness in our hearts but caution in our step. Some people there are seriously weird. Check out the action...
And then we saw this nifty number – artificial grass. Artificial grass? Are we serious people? Only in Orange County. Or maybe not?
Well, actually, not really. I know it's really hard to tell, but we didn't really see the fireworks pictured above. I tried taking a few shots of the fireworks we actually saw, but the camera on the iPhone is poop (poop: bad, useless, terrible, unsuitable) and we were kind of far away from the show. Nonetheless, it was a very exciting evening with family and friends. We saw the fireworks at my aunts and then went to Justin and Krista's place where I conquered in a game of Monopoly. I also got to ride in my cousin's new car. Chris ordered a custom BMW i-series with a twin-turbo six cylinder and a red leather interior. It's very fast and super awesome. It was a fun fourth of July.
It was Aunt Lindy's place for 4th of July this year. My Aunt Lindy is my mom's sister. They have a large and beautiful home on the cliffs of San Clemente – great for seeing the firework shows from the San Clemente pier. Chrissy was appointed the dessert-bringer of the evening and graciously allowed me to join in on the fun. My dessert of choice? Jello. Blueberry jello. I figured I could cut stars out of the blue, bouncy substance to decorate the other scrumptious desserts my wife made – peanut butter-chip brownies and lemon squares. My idea was great and all, but there's one thing I didn't know going into it – after making the jello it takes three hours to cool, three hours! And we only had an hour before having to leave. So as sad as it was, I was forced to leave behind the jello I slaved and sweat over (not literally). Even though Chrissy's desserts were absolutely delicious and plenty to suffice for the night, my heart still goes out to my blueberry stars.
*The images here were taking post 4th of the July.
