Visit to MD

This trip to Maryland involved a 5 year high school class reunion, a wedding, adventures with friends and time with my mom and brother. Jose was unable to come because he's busy with his annual training at work. I took the red-eye flight and arrived Saturday morning. My mom and I had a lovely morning and afternoon in Alexandria, VA. We enjoyed a farmer's market, a little boat ride and lunch at the Chart House.

Saturday evening I spent time with my high school classmates. I went to Covenant Life School and my graduating class only consisted of 14 people. So it wasn't too difficult for some of the girls to throw it together. The homeschoolers who took part time classes were also included. We went to Hard Times restaurant in Germantown. There was a pretty good turnout. More than half of our class is now married, Anna and her husband now have a baby (not able to come), and Meg and Jon are expecting. I wonder what will happen in another 5 years. As you can see most of my pictures are just of the girls.


Meg sure is a cute pregnant lady!
We ate dinner while catching up on each other's lives. Then some of us attempted to play pool (I have no skill in this area).


The girls in this photos include Rose Simpson, Sarah Megorden,Kristie Speelman, Caitlin Woodrow, me and Sarah Simmons.














Sunday, July 15th was a fun filled day. First of all that's my friend Rose's birthday :) I went out to eat breakfast with my bro and mom before church. After the service there was a going away party for the Loftness family, who will be going to serve at the Solid Rock church in College Park, MD. Covenant Life had a big picnic outside for everyone to enjoy. Then my mom and I went to get gifts for Alex & Ruth before their wedding. Alex and Ruth were in my singles care group before I got married. I really respect them for the way they honored their parents throughout their whole relationship. It was a great joy to witness their marriage and I can't wait for what God will do through them! The ceremony was at Covenant Life with a light reception afterwards. It was lovely, Alex wrote the piece of music Ruth walked down to. Ruth chose a gorgeous dress and she looked amazing! The dinner reception was at the Golden Bull. It was fun to cling the glasses and see Alex and Ruth passionately kiss - the moment they've waited for so long has come. Some other highlights include the toast Ruth's dad gave (hilarious, yet honoring), the dancing, and Ruth & Alex smashing the cake in each other's faces (it's fun). The pictures I took didn't turn out that well, but here's a few.

Jess and Mike Somerville both were in the wedding. They are expecting a baby in November!



Here comes the happy couple, Mr.and Mrs. Goodling!
Wedding cake smashing!



Alex & Ruth make a fast break through the bubbles to the limo awaiting. They are honeymooning in Jamaica!






Monday was spent with some of my closest friends, Rose, Sarah and Caitlin. We enjoyed a fun adventure of tubing in the Potomac River. Sarah made us all paranoid before going by telling us the details on an article she read about how dirty the Potomac River is. The bacteria count is high, so basically it's like swimming in feces. So Caitlin wrapped up some cuts with tape (which only soaked up the water), Rose had some band aids on (which quickly fell off) and well I risked it with my little cuts and Sarah was the control. We all made it back alive and uninfected (hopefully). We had gone tubing two years ago for Rose's bachelorette at the same place. After getting all clean, we headed to Annapolis for some good food. We ate at Pusser's located on the bay, which is where the girls took me last year for my bachelorette. We all ate the coconut shrimp, because it's so scrumptious.
Caitlin and I managed to fit some gelato in after dinner. I was blessed to spend quality time with my dear friends! Hopefully they will come to visit here within the next year.




On Tuesday my mom and I were together all day. We spent the afternoon swimming with our friends Maureen, Julie, Kristen and Michael Mstowski. I babysat the kids many times before I moved. They are like family and include us in their celebrations and make their home open to us.
My mom, brother and I spent the evening in DC. We ate dinner at Clyde's. I ate seafood everyday I was in MD (it's a good thing I love it).
We went to a National's baseball game at RFK stadium. They played the Astros and unfortunately lost. The Nationals had an exciting home run in the beginning.

You can keep my mom and brother in your prayers for God to provide jobs. I know the Lord has something better for both of them, and pray God would lead them to new jobs soon.
I love my mommy! Thanks mom for having me and making this time special. I hope it's not too long until we see each other again.
Wednesday my mom and I dropped by the Robb's to say hello. Rachel is in Europe with the MC Scholars, so I didn't get to see her. Then Mom and I had lunch together before she drove me to Dulles airport. Now I'm home just relaxing. I work tomorrow night and Jose is still gone training. Praise God for the fun times!

Jose is 30

Happy Birthday to my hubby! We celebrated his birthday throughout the weekend. Friday night we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse downtown San Diego - thanks to my mom who gave us a gift card there for our anniversary. We sat outside and were able to see the sun go down over the water. Look at the yummy dessert that Jose was given. We were blessed to spend this time together! It was fun dressing up for each other and having a date night.

Saturday I attempted to surprise Jose. Surprises are hard to pull off with Jose. He knew something was going to happen so he went with the flow. He served at our new church building during the morning hours with a group of men who are learning to put up the sprinkler system. Afterwards he went out to lunch with one of the guys from our homegroup. This definitely raised his suspicions because this guy (Cody) doesn't do that sort of thing. I had asked his wife if he was going to be serving at the church that Saturday and if maybe they could go out to eat afterwards, like a last minute "hey, you want to get some lunch?" or something. Well, it so happens that Cody asked Jose almost a week before if he wanted to go out for lunch on Saturday and Cody wasn't going to be serving at the church then. So Jose mentioned how weird it was that Cody would ask him out to lunch and I couldn't really keep a serious face. Anyways, while Jose was occupied I was out with a lady, Kristen, from our homegroup getting food from Costco and running other errands. When Jose came home I could tell he was almost peering around the corner waiting for people to pop out...but the surprise was still yet to come.
I told Jose that we would be going out to eat an early dinner at a place called Jakes located right by the water in Del Mar beach. We talked a while ago how it would be nice to try out one of the places near there. The party started around 4 pm located on a nice grassy area right above the ocean. The Kitabjian family came early to save a spot and set up the pop-up tent, tables and food, as well as the Fowlers who brought some decorations over. I'm so thankful for the last minute help I got to pull this party off. Anyways, Jose and I drove to Del Mar and while parking Jose saw Cody's work truck, confirming what was going on in his mind. So, we walked together down to the area where everyone was waiting. Jose wasn't really surprised, but it was fun to attempt. It was more of how long it could go without him figuring it out. At one point Jose said, "you know something is going on when Cody asks you on a date". I was so grateful for all the people who came to bless Jose! We ate together and fellowshipped with friends. It was cloudy and cool, yet the kids still got wet and sandy. The sky had beautiful streams of light as the sun started to set. I hope this time was special for my love! I want Jose to know how much I and others love him and to celebrate the 30 years of live God's given to him.

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Jose's dad and brother, Matt were able to be there too. They had just drove across the country the last few days. Now Jose and Matt are in San Francisco to see the All Star game. This is a childhood dream they both have had. Matt graciously bought them tickets to go and they've been looking forward to this time.

Yesterday, July 8th was Jose's actual birthday. He went a little early to church to serve on the hospitality team. I went and got us something from The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for breakfast to bring back to him at church. Recently we discovered how much better tasting the ice blended coffees are than Starbucks frappuccinos, plus they have so many more tea options, but they are a little more expensive. Anyways, after church we made some yummy hamburgers at home on the grill. Matt was able to join us. Later we went over to the Fowler's home where we ate this yummy cake from Cold Stone Creamery (picture copied from website). Jose has been wanting this cake pretty much since his last birthday. So I promised I'd get it for him a while ago. Yeah, that wasn't a surprise either. I will have to sharpen my surprise skills. Hopefully I'll have many years to practice. It's been fun thinking of ways to bless Jose. We spent the rest of his birthday at homegroup. Then he came home and got ready for his trip.