Jake's Weekend

This past weekend - Jake a few of the guys went to an Angel's game & then headed out to Palm Springs for the weekend. Jake had a really good time - I'm so glad that he was able to get away & have some time with the boys. I had to post the golf picture...it's not very often that I see Jake with his shirt tucked in! So funny - he & Andy were trying to be over the top preppy - but Jake said that he just looked like everyone else on the course!

Saturday Morning Brunch

On Saturday morning I hosted a brunch at my house. It was so much fun to just have "girl time" for a couple of hours! Everyone brought a dish and all of the food was delicious!

I know I have more pictures of the place settings, then of us, but I was so excited to unpack these dishes! I bought them at a flea market in Maryland years ago. I totally forgot about them while we were in FL and just unpacked them this week. It was so fun to go through all of the dishes....it's like they were new again!

A Busy Week

Well I thought about posting all of our events from this past week separately, but decided that I would do one long post instead!

Although I didn't take any pictures - on Friday night we went to see Harry Potter with Andy & Allison & Jeff. It was a great evening! Blake wore a Gryffindor scarf (yes even though it was 90 degress out!) and of course Andy wore his Muggle shirt. Another great movie to add to our collection. The kids loved the movie (the grown-ups did too).

Saturday was a fun a busy day! First we went to the Orange County Fair with our friends Kevin & Jamie. We had such a great time! I think the kids (ok & maybe Jamie & I) enjoyed the petting zoo the most....they had piglets, goats, a couple deer & a kangaroo. Although I didn't really enjoy the animals when a deer decided to try to swallow my shirt and a goat thought that my green skirt looked like grass and also tried to ingest it! As always I could write an entire paragraph on the fair food....fried twinkies, fried oreos, fried snickers, fried hamburgers, 2 lb burgers and over 2 foot long hot dogs! YIKES! I stuck with the grilled corn and it was delicious - although as you can see from the picture below - we also thoroughly enjoyed a funnel cake!

We watched Weird Al's 3-D Brain Movie

Then after the fair we went a Dodger's game w/ Mark & Joanne. Once again another fun night - we had AMAZING seats - only 5 rows away from the field. The seats came with a free pass to the buffet....delicious. Thanks Mark & Joanne for taking us!

I think we went to the beach about 3 times this week! On Wednesday, the kids and I drove out to LA to visit my niece. It was so nice to see her!

Sometimes I feel like a live in a zoo - between all of the kids that are constantly running throughout our house and the animals....Whew!

Oh yes, and Griswald is now a "lion" - very ferocious

We watched our friends precious baby, Abbie, for an afternoon - she is absolutely ADORABLE!

I finally finished our vegetable garden....we now have lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, summer squash, onions, carrots, rosemary, basil, mint, thyme, sage, flat leaf parsley and cilantro. On Sunday morning - we made scrambled eggs w/ our home grown tomatoes and basil & parsley - delicious!

A great week! We are really enjoying our summer activities - although I must admit - we are already day dreaming about what we are going to do for Christmas! It's in the blood - we're Browns - we have to start our Christmas planning early!

Please Pray

I was glancing at several blogs today and I came across this story of a little girl named Kate who was recently diagnosed with a cancer. I don't know the family, but from reading their posts my heart aches for them. I know reading these types of stories can be very depressing, but I know if I was in their situation that I would want as much prayer as possible for my family. I can't even imagine what they are going through right now. Please pray for Kate and her family.

Here's a link to their story http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

"The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him"

Nahum 1:7

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". Philippians 4:6-7

Family Pics

A friend of ours took some great shots of our family in downtown Long Beach this past weekend. We wanted the pictures to be unique - not your typical photography studio shots - sitting down in front of a fake pine tree background - so she suggested an "urban" themed photo shoot. We loved it! she did such an amazing job! For anyone in the area - I would highly recommend Melissa!

Here's a link to her blog w/ some of the photos. She'll be adding more this week!

http://thelensflare.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Bible Study

I'm still reading "Your Girl - Raising a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World" and while reading one of the chapters on Bible validity and how important it is to help your children understand why they should believe in God. The author explains that many college age students stray from the Christian faith - most commonly because they are caught off guard when their beliefs are challenged. So I have come to the conclusion that if I want to properly equip my kids for life - I can't just teach them to believe in God only by my example - which is still VERY important - but they also need to understand WHY we believe what we do. I think for much of my life I was a "Christian" because of my family. We went to church, I went to a private school, and I believed in God. Period. Up until the last few years - I never had the desire to learn more about the history of the Bible and to dig deep into scriptures.

A few of my girlfriends and I have been doing a Bible Study for the past 1 1/2 years and have really enjoyed digging in deep into the Bible. We began our studies by reading Jen Hatmaker's "The Modern Girls Guide to Bible Study" which basically breaks down how to study the Bible. I was dumbfounded and extremely irritated that after 12 years in private school - that I still didn't know how to study the Bible - or was even aware of any of the evidence that supports the Christian faith.

When we first started the Bible study I purchased like 4 different Bibles in different translations so I could compare the text and maybe take something different out of each of the lessons because of the wording. Anyways....I just bought another Bible yesterday & I was so excited when it came in. It has all of the history, archeological finds and articles that I really enjoy learning about. I often struggle with the fact that I need to be telling more people about God, or that I at least need to be "ready" to explain the common questions that non-believers may ask. The Apologetics Study Bible has over 100 articles included that are written by professors, scholars, scientists, etc. I've only just begun to dig into the articles - but many are based on common questions that you may be asked - such as "Why does a loving & caring God allow suffering" as well as articles comparing the Christian faith with different religions. Obviously this isn't going to answer all questions that you may be confronted with - but I think the more educated we are - and the more we dig into God's Word and seek Him- the better prepared we will be. Anyways - I would highly reccommend this Bible to anyone who is looking for a little more in depth reading.

Link to it on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158640024X/ref=ox_ya_oh_product#

Here is a little more info on the Bible from Amazon:

Some of the authors of the articles:
- Ted Cabal
- Lee Strobel- Chuck Colson
- Paul Copan
- Norm Geisler
- Hank Hanegraaff
- Josh McDowell
- Albert Mohler
- J.P. Moreland
- Ravi Zacharias
- and many more

Features MORE THAN 100 FEATURED ARTICLES IN CATEGORIES SUCH AS
• Ethics
• Interpreting the Bible in Light of Science
• The Impact of Archaeology and History on Our Understanding the Bible
• The Bible in Light of Theology
• Christian Faith and Non-Christian Belief Systems
• Christian Faith and Philosophy
• Featured study notes that explain alleged “problem” passages in the Bible
• 50 sidebars (Twisted Scripture) focusing on Bible passages misused by cults
• Index of special articles for quick and easy access
• Book introductions with special emphasis on anything of an apologetics nature
• Profiles of key Christian apologists
- Anselm
- Athanasius
- Augustine
- Joseph Butler
- C.S. Lewis
- Irenaeus
- Justin Martyr
- Origen
- William Paley
- Blaise Pascal

Anyways as you can tell I'm really excited about this book! I'll probably be posting later on once I get through some of the articles.

Have a great week!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!! We had such a fun day! We started the day off early with a delicious breakfast with friends, then headed back home for Jake to get ready for his basketball tournament that he played in over the holiday weekend.

It was fun watching Jake play basketball again. Blake was so cute, he would go sit on his knees right by the court and cheer for Jake. Blake has now "changed his career again" and has decided to pursue basketball since he says "I'm really good at basketball". He cracks me up - always picking another sport to play or some other hobby that he would like to make his "career"- but I'm glad he enjoys a variety of things! Mackenzie was great -she spent the afternoon playing with Miss K - a 16 month old daughter of some friends of ours. Mackenzie and Blake are both great with kids and really have fun taking care of them. It's nice for all of us, the parents get a break & the kids are entertained!

After the basketball tournament we headed over to watch fireworks with a group of our friends. We had such a great time! This was our first time at this location - but we hope to make it a tradition! Good food, great times with friends and family - what more can you ask for?

The picture above was taken after about 10 shots of trying to get them both to smile - so I stuck with the candid shot of them laughing over my frustration w/ not being able to get a good pic :)

The Getty

For our "field trip" last week we went to the Getty in LA. The Getty is absolutely amazing! This was our first visit, and I'm not really sure what I expected, but it certainly exceeded every preconception of what I picture museums to be like. The grounds were gorgeous, the combination of modern buildings with beautiful gardens - plus the views surrounding the center - there were so many picture opportunities! The kids really enjoyed themselves as well. I think the painting exhibits were my favorite. We rushed through the photographs - since Blake isn't quite ready for the nudes on display :) There was so much to see that we didn't even make it to one of the buildings! We'll have to go back again soon.

sorry for the blurry picture - I discovered that I'm incapable of taking a picture w/out a flash - since I can't hold still long enough! But this is such a famous painting - that I still had to put it on the blog!