Joy overflowing

Joys past:

friend time with YMC friends, Dwain and Jaclyn

a few job apps out

time with Ali

nursing package arrival

successful dinner

Baker meets Frankie

jamba $1 oatmeal

Carly's birthday celebration 

blog-themed office decoration

a few episodes of house

apple picking

condo party

chocolate chip cookies and mud pie

Joys future:

YMC breakfast, friends, and encouragement

Shae's baby shower

 a bit of free time

picture uploading

coffee dates

October

our first camping trip

And these are just the big ones.

I'm so blessed!

Details/pictures to come on many of these joys :)

For now...

Welcome to the 20's, Sister!!

Today, my little sister turns 20!!!!!

In honor of a turn of a decade, 20 reasons I love her:
(although I must qualify this... I'd love you even if these things weren't true, sis!)

1. She's hilarious. Like, so funny. When she feels like it :)

2. She's thoughtful, encouraging, and considerate.
3. She blogs about me.
4. She takes a stand for what is right.
5. She's smart and works hard.
6. She has goals. At least, more goals than me :)
7. She sings - loudly - with me in the car.
8. She has perfect hair. She always has. Actually, mom and I get kinda jealous.

9. She teases me. Seriously, she's so good at it. I guess 20 years of experience gets you to that point.
10. She's the world's most loyal friend.
11. She loves my dogs (well, all dogs actually) and they love her.
12. She goes with the flow. And invites me to Padres games when she has an extra ticket.
13. She lets me take pictures of her. Lots of them.

14. She tries new things with me.
15. She's beautiful!!
16. She's world's strongest girl. Trust me. Don't get in a fight with her. You will lose.
17. She likes fun and unique things. She tries new things. And she helps me be brave.
18. She thinks I'm cool. Even though she doesn't always admit it. ;)

19. She never complains. Not that I would mind. But she just deals with the tough stuff. If Carly says her back kinda hurts, it's probably broken.
20. She loves Jesus.

My little sister is seriously the best.
I'd do anything for her.

She's my favorite girl, person named Carly, sister, and college student of all time.
She's my sister.
And it's her birthday.

Happy 20th birthday, Carly!!
I love you!

I like the sound of Nashville...

I'm a blog stalker. I admit it. I follow complete strangers' thoughts, photos, twitters, and lives. And I talk about them like we're friends.

Like Layla. Layla's mom started a foundation, I'm so proud of her.

And Daisy. Prayers are working for this little girl, let me tell you.

And Matt. It's his wife's birthday today. Happy birthday Sarah! They just had a little boy with a congenital heart problem, so they are spending a lot of time in the hospital.

And Calee and Kristina. I totally get them. Cutest sisters ever. (not including my sister and I of course).

And Stephanie. 80% of her body was burned in a bad plane crash two years ago. But she keeps going!

 And Carly. Oh wait... I actually DO know her. She's the sister mentioned above. :)

And Jasmine. She seriously is one of the funniest and inspiring people I 'know'.

And Jasmine's twin sister, Bianca. Who just got married. To Matt. Who I follow also.

And lots of others... but I think this is enough for now.

Anyways... Bianca's blog today resonated with me.

She talks about praying before meals. Which I love, and we do. And how sometimes people give her the 'funny' look here in LA (or in my case, San Diego... although I honestly don't think people pay any attention most of the time). But she's in Nashville right now, and apparently, everyone prays before they eat there!

I think I wanna make a visit to Nashville.
To see what that type of community is like.

Although I'd be lying if I didn't say a huge perk would be the singers.
I love me some country.
After all, the Keith Urban concert was my first date with John. [at least, officially] :)

Happy Thursday!

Happy birthday, Katie!!

Katie is the kind of person everyone wants to be.

The bottom line is, she loves Jesus.

And it shows. In every area of her life.

She loves her husband with her whole being.

She cares so deeply about her family.

She puts such effort into her friendships.

She faithfully leads us week after week as we encounter God.

She has an encouraging text or email just when it's needed.

She's the most dedicated nursing student and will make the best nurse!

She smiles and the rest of the room follows suit.

Katie is a special girl, and I'm so blessed to call her my friend.

Yesterday, we celebrated Katie's 29th birthday with coffee and cupcakes/cannolis. 

mmmmm!

Cheers!

The birthday girl :)

The gents

The ladies: Katie, me, Jenn, and Kristin

Katie and Mark

J and me

Present time!

Happy birthday K! Enjoy your last year of 20s!

Guess what I got...

It's official!

I'm a real, legal, California licensed RN!

Happy birthday Manny!

Today is our pastor, neighbor, and friend's birthday!

Manny is such a gifted speaker and encourager.

His honesty is refreshing and because of his faithfulness,

we have almost outgrown our room at church.

The Young Married's Cafe is such a special ministry to be a part of.

And Manny and his beautiful wife, Jen, have been instrumental in creating that.

With the Lord's blessing, of course.

To celebrate today in YMC, we had a candle-lighting cupcake celebration and balloons

and Jen put together the cutest Manny-trivia game. 

Did you know they fell in love over ping pong? :)

Happy birthday to our favorite neighbor!

Hope you had a great morning with all us crazies,

and fun with the Chargers and with Jen! :)

The week's many moments

Charger game with YMC friends

Earning the title of RN (!!!!!)

My my-sister-loves-me balloon still standing

Coffee with Mom and Grandma

Scrub shopping with Mom

Point Loma Brig delights with J

Homemade dinner (I forgot to take a picture of the rest of it :)

Spontaneous Home Depot trips  

Wedding reminiscing over coffee with Mahea

A new hair cut (I'm still convincing myself about this one!)

Sunset walks

Another encouraging Bible study with the girls

Lunch with a new friend and her beautiful baby girl

Minimal puppy destruction this week

Michaels and a little organizing

Staples and a little job prepping

Late night walks (which is actually just 7pm)

Bike ride on the bay with Mom

A few Target trips

San Di-eggo... SUper CHARgers!

We had the honor of sharing in the first Charger game of the season at Matt and Sondra's last week with our YMC friends!

Christina, Jaclyn, me, and Jennifer

Amanda, Leslie, Marghee, and Sondra

The game (Matt basically re-wired the house to get the tv outside :))

The gang!

We love our YMC friends, even when the Chargers lose.

I'm a fan even still. :)

And an even bigger fan of these people.

Load up the 'cycles!

A cloudy fall Friday morning in San Diego

Mom's day off

My day off (oh wait, I don't work... oh well)

 Two cute bikes

Two brave bikers

 And so began our jaunt around the bay.

[Sidenote A: too bad my helmet was on sideways.

Sidenote B: Even though our photo ops occurred in the parking lot and by the trashcan, 

know that we really did ride around the bay :)] 

Thanks for a great day, Mom.

I love that we can talk or just be together

and it's always fun.

Let's do it again!

Puppy mystery

Can you tell me why Emma is being sneaky

and Baker looks sad as can be?

This is why.

Emma had a toy and Baker didn't.

Except he did.

But he wants to be just like her.

Which means following her and her toy, and leaving his behind.

Because, of course, his toy is nowhere near as fun as her toy.

You see the dilemma.

Don't worry though.

They are still friends.