12.31.2007

Friday & Saturday

Another random blog...

Ian got the Nikon D40X for Christmas too!


Had to stop and take a picture of the beuaitful sunset as I drove home from work.

Scott bought an airsoft rifle and was excited about it. Even wanted me to shoot it. Not such a great idea. My shot ricocheted and busted a hole through two of our blinds. Oooops...

(Sorry, Scott's a musician, not a photographer. I'm still trying to teach him that usually photos are better in focus.)

Here's the hole I made with the rifle. This is exactly why I probably shouldn't use any kind of gun, airsoft gun, paintball gun, staple gun, you get the point.

Scott and I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets Saturday night. He's been really excited to see it, so I took him out on a date night. It was just nice to spend some fun time with my husband doing something he wanted to do.

Random Thursday

Thursday I went into work to take down the lovely shepherds tent I made our Christmas Eve service. And took some other random pictures while there.


The amazing pyramid of batteries in the tech booth.


The fun and festive lights Rob put up in the tech booth.

My little Christmas cheer on my desk. I'll be kind of sad to put this little guy away.

The neat view I had driving home from work.

We went to see Sweeney Tood (it was amazing!) with our double date friends Daniel & Alesia. They're so much fun to be around! We love them dearly!


And here's some cars and lights...

Lazy home photography day

The day after Christmas I sat around the house in my pajamas ALL DAY while Scott was at work. It was kind of nice to have a big, fat, lazy day to myself. I sat around and took entirely too many pictures of Vincent.

Wasn't teh sky beautiful that day? I want to make this one into a jigsaw puzzle for my grandma. She'd love it!





Christmas Day!

So I'm five six days late, but I finally have time to catch up on the blogging!
Christmas Eve, Scott and I exchanged presents with each other, went to Christmas Eve service (Scott wore a shepherd costume and played in a drum circle! Sorry no picture.) Then we went to my parents' house for dinner and presents. My mom's dinner was awesome! Calamari, steak, potatoes, chow mein and wonton soup! A little eclectic, but fantastic none the less! I was 98% sure my parents were getting us a Nintendo Wii, (after asking us what we wanted, then said, what about a Wii? Then calling Scott to ask him where to find one...98% sure) but I was completely wrong. My dad comes into the living room with a box, the size of a Wii. Scott and I unwrap it to reveal a lamp box. "Cool, we have this same one at home?" I'm so confused. So my dad or Scott (don't remember who) says, "Open it!" So I open it, see an old Sprite box, then a lemonade box (It hits me, this is the trash that Scott took out the other day!) Under the lemonade box, a beautiful yellow and black box that reads "Nikon D40X" I scream and bounce giddily on the couch! I've been wanted a digital SLR for so long, just haven't been able to save up for it. When Scott heard my dad wanted to get us a Wii, he called him up and asked if instead they could split the cost of the camera for me! My husband's the greatest! (And I'd say that even if I didn't get the camera, but it doesn't hurt!)

Christmas day we drove up to Running Springs for a day with Scott's family at the McIntyre's cabin. Sin-a-buns for breakfast, presents, Ellis brothers annual Christmas football game (not quite, it was too cold,) the Bourne Ultimatum and Hairspray (how great was John Travolta?) and a tasty steak dinner. A great day!


THE MOUNTAINS!

How could I not love this face?

Cuddly Brothers, Scott and Tyler

Mackenzie got his first cell phone for Christmas!

Riley brought sexy back while playing football.

Scott and his daddy

The football (the boys used the nerf ball. This one probably would have shattered if it hit the ground because of how cold it was outside.)

I love the painting on this lamp, it's so pretty!

Aren't these cute? Notice the moose has a shotgun.

Here's the terrible view we had as we headed down the mountain.

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and had a great time with your families

12.19.2007

New tenant















We got a kitty! My dad gave him to Riley as a birthday present and he kind of became more Scott's cat than Riley's. The original plan was to move him in with us when we got married, but we wanted to wait til we were a little bit more settled in. He's such a good cat and a lot of fun!

My family moved about two and a half years ago and we had to move four cats with us. Scott and I figured we could just wrap them up in blanket and toss 'em in the car. As we began to drive up the road to the new house my old lady cat, Tiff, starts making this terrible howling meowing noise. Then the other three join in so there's an awful chorus of disturbed kitties. At one point the youngest kitty, Taco, ran from the backseat along the side windows and curled up on the dashboard. Rather sad to see the kitties so distraught, but rather funny to look back on.

So last night as Scott and I were driving our kitty home, he starts the howl/meow noise and Scott joins in with him. He handled the drive pretty well, he even popped his head up quite often to look out the windows. When we got home, he went behind the couch and could pop his head out every ten minutes or so the crawl back behind it. After two hours he came out and crawled under his blanket that we put on the couch for him. He stayed there most of the night the came and jumped on our bed early this morning. He hung out on the window ledge for a while then crawled under the covers and sleep between my feet. He likes to sleep under the covers and if you open the covers to look at him he burrows further back into them.

Oh, and he doesn't really have a name. There's names they've called him, but nothing really permanent. There's Buddy, Friend, Mr. Pancakes, Senor Waffles and Kitty! (Like Boo from Monster's Inc.) It'd be kind of weird to name him now wouldn't it? I'd like to name him Vincent, if I did name him. Yes, I'm an artnerd. Anyway, we're just so excited to have him!

12.14.2007

Ear Swabbing...



Let me just start with. I know you're not really supposed to use Q-tips to swab your ears, but I can't help it! I just feel the need too everyday when I get out of the shower. Anyways...Have you ever swabbed your ear too far in and it made you gag? Is there some weird connection between your ear canal and your gag reflex? Has this ever happened to anyone else or an I just a over-swabber?

12.12.2007

What are you?

Last night, Scott and I did a little grocery shopping at our local WinCo (ever been there? It's awesome!) As we're cruising down the aisles, I stop to look around, try to figure out where to go next when a little girl (probably 6 years old) walks up to me and I have yet to recovered from what she said.

Little Girl: What are you?
Christina: Excuse me?
Little Girl: What are you?
Christina: What do you mean?
Little Girl: Well, why are you wearing those clothes? (I was wearing jeans, my gray peacoat and a black and white plaid hat, I thought I looked pretty cute!)
Christina: Because it's cold outside.
Little Girl: But what are you?
Christina: Do you mean like a boy or a girl? (In case I was looking androgynous.)
Little Girl: No, what are you?
Christina: A person trying to shop for groceries... (Then I slowly turned and walked away.)

Man, I really don't relate well to kids sometimes. I got quite frustrated with the fact that she couldn't articulate what she wanted to ask. I don't know why. Perhaps it was the way she kept moving. Everytime she spoke she'd open her big thick jacket, showing the rather skimpy top she was wearing.

Quite a few of you out there have kids...any idea what she might have been trying to ask? It's still bothering me!

12.11.2007

Sandy Claus



Even though India's population is mostly Hindu and Muslim, Christmas is a national holiday. They even sculpt Santa in the sand!

12.09.2007

Show...

This weekend we presented our Christmas production, Imagine Christmas, at the Grove and it was great! We're just finishing the 10:45 service, the last show. It went so well!
This is my first time being involved in a production like this and it was so much fun! Everyone involved is so talented at their craft, the musicians, the dancers, the actors, the singers and the crew! The lights just add so much to the scene and the fog swirling around the actors and the dancers looks so neat! I even conquered my fear of heights a little bit. I can now walk all the way across the catwalk without being (too) scared!
This last performance was so beautiful! I got chills during certain parts, especially when the little dancing angel, Christina, does her amazing leg hold during "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." I thought of MamaSue's blog and almost started to cry.
I just hope that the audience loved it and got something from it. I hope that the people hearing this story for the first time get curious about Jesus and open the hearts and minds to Him. And I hope that He feels our love for Him and how much we appreciate everything He does for us.

12.07.2007

Acrophobia being conquered

ac·ro·pho·bi·a ak-ruh-foh-bee-uh
–noun
-a pathological fear of heights.

No one told me when I took this job that I'd have to crawl around on the catwalks several feet above the stage! It's very sturdy and secure, but whenever I'm up there, it's just a little scary. But I'm slowly getting over my fear of heights. Hooray!


Here's my view from up there...see Scott down in the pit playing percussion?

In other news, my best friend Angie is home from her 3 months of studying abroad in Italy! I'm so glad she's home! Here's a picture of us in front of the tree at the plaza, please excuse my no makeup face. Blech.

12.03.2007

Cooking with the internet

I am so grateful to have the internet, especially when it comes to cooking and looking up recipes. I LOVE to cook, but being young, I don't have a lot of experience cooking. Today, I had to look up how to properly thaw shrimp. I've cooked shrimp numerous times, but I've always bought it fresh the day I was using it. Thank you internet for helping me not give myself or my hubby food poisoning!

Today's dinner, pesto parmesan shrimp with rotini pasta! New idea, hope it's good!

Botanical Gardens

Scott and I went down to the UCR Botanical Gardens yesterday to take a picture for our first Christmas cards. Turned out pretty cute! Here's some other shots I snapped. I like the small depth of field on the red berry thingies. And I just liked the way the vines were curling around the chain. And of course, the lens flare from the sun coming through the trees is one of my favorite things.


Drummers...

I love how excited Scott got over five pairs of new drumsticks and a pair of dreadlocks. Isn't he cute! (The sticks are Vic Firth AS7A & AS8D if anyone cares.)

11.30.2007

Festival of Lights

So, I said earlier tonight two posts back, that with my new job Scott and I actually get time together at night. Last night we went downtown to hear my lovely mother-in-law sing at the Festival of Lights with the Empire Swing Orchestra. She was great! She always is! If you get a chance you should check out one of her many shows during the holiday season.


Notice the lens flare Scott got on the shot of me. He makes me so proud!

Quick Before Sinking's also playing at the Festival of Lights on December 17th. You should definitely come down for some fun Christmas songs and great music! The hot apple cider and the funnel cakes are good too!

When I'm alone...

I wish I could go on the show "Don't Forget the Lyrics." I think it's such a fun show, I know most of the songs, but I wouldn't want to embarass myself by being the crazy gal that can't sing.

You see, I LOVE to sing, (shower, car, while cooking using kitchen utinsils as microphones, karaoke, wherever.) Unfortunately, in my head I'm a great singer and performer, but in reality, singing isn't a talent God blessed me with. (You can't be good at everything, right?) I'll just stick with being the annoying person that sings too loud behind you at church. And keep a look out for me belting it out as I cruise down the road. :]

Play with your food, maybe make art

Have you eve been to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen?) I had lunch there Sunday afternoon with Scott, Tyler- my bro-in-law, and one of my BFFs Danny. I love that they have bread and oil/vinegar. I don't think I ever realized how fun the oil and vinegar can be!






If you look closely you can see Danny's reflection in the dark stuff, and the reflection of my glass to the left. I thought it was pretty neat!