AMAZING Quilt :)

The church I grew up in, Bethany Chapel, threw me a bridal shower last night. It was so much fun to see a lot of people that were such a big part of me growing up!



My sister in law Natalie, is an amazing quilter and she often makes quilts for wedding presents. She brought the quilt she is making Carter and me and it's amazing! I love the design and the color so much. And, she even personalized it (see the below picture) with my future last name! I am so excited about it! You can see more of her quilts if you click the link on her name!

cake!

Carter made a test run of a possible wedding cake... YUMMMY!

It had a strawberry filling between the layers and he held up the second cake with straws... This is his first attempt at decorating, and I think he has done a fantastic job!

I am so impressed with his talents in the kitchen! :)

Decor

Yesterday Carter and I went to CostCo and bought our first piece of decor together... Hurricane Lamps! We got the Sea Glass and Candles at Cost Plus World Market today. You can't tell from the picture, but the Sea Glass has some green pieces in it and has a little bit of a green tinge. yay for green! :)

My sister sent me this video and it just cracked me up! And no, this kid is not related to me!

Just to appease my audience...

Ok, it's been a while since I've updated... ok, almost five months. So I'll give you a brief synopsis of my life since then...

My sister Jamie visited here for a while in September

I taught my first class

I surprised my brother Dan by flying out to see him coach his first NCAA playoff game

I sold a house and moved into a new place two blocks away

I visited Carter's family in Salt Lake and then we went to visit with my family for Christmas eve and Christmas day

I announced some basketball games at Westmont

I made homemade pasta with Carter and Kirsten

I made homemade ravioli with Carter, Rob, Sarah and Kirsten

Oh wait, I got engaged too! :) haha, Don't worry, I didn't forget. I just wanted to save the best for last! Here is the story I sent to my team after the event...

Carter was recruiting in Hawaii and was supposed to be there through Sunday morning (my roommate got married on Sunday, so he was getting back in time for the wedding). He called me on Friday and midway through the conversation he asked if I would do him a big favor, if I could pick him up a day early from his recruiting trip. I was all excited that he was getting back a day early (he had been recruiting a lot in the past 4-5 weeks). I picked him up Saturday morning and then he went to his basketball practice. He picked me up after practice (around 3 pm) and was really tired from his red eye flight the night before. He said, "When we get back to my place, I need to sleep for a little bit." I brought a coaching magazine with me and told him he could sleep as long as he needed. He told me to wake him up in 15 minutes. I thought that was crazy. I told him to sleep longer than that, but he kept insisting that he ONLY wanted to sleep 15 minutes. We had a function for my roommates wedding at 8:00, so I figured he had plenty of time to sleep. Anyhow, we went back and forth and finally agreed on 20 minutes, although in my head I knew I was going to let him
sleep at least 30!

After about 25 minutes he came strolling out of his room... I gave him a sheepish grin and said, "I really was going to wake you up in five minutes!" Anyhow, he got cleaned up and made a comment about wanting coffee. I wanted food, real food. I was REALLY hungry. But he insisted that he needed to get some coffee before he ate (as a fellow coffee addict, I understood the need and agreed!) We stopped at SB roasting company by the beach and then drove to the beach. We walked out onto the sand and just stood there looking out at the sun setting. I was really pretty because a lot of the boats had Christmas lights and the clouds were pink and salmon colored in the background.

After about 20 minutes of talking on the beach I looked at Carter and said, "oh my goodness, what day is today?" he answered (the 15th) and I looked at him and said, "today is our sixth month anniversary from our first date!" he smiled and said, "oh really? that is awesome!" and we continued to talk about how it seems like we've been dating so long but those six months have gone so quickly at the same time. About ten minutes later he looked at me and said, "Rebecca, I actually have a confession to make... I knew that today is the day we've been dating for six months. I knew after our first date that I wanted to marry you...." and he continued on and then got on his knee and asked me to marry him! I was so cool and very exciting at the same time!

The above picture is the day after we got engaged at my old roommates (Jen) Wedding. Below are some homemade pasta making pictures

Crowded House

Although we are going to have quite a few visitors for April and Brent's wedding this week, the title is not referring to our house! Last night Carter and I went to the Santa Barbara Bowl to see Crowded House, a group that Dan, Rob and I have been pretty big fans of. We sat in the third row and it was AMAZING! I had a great time with Carter and enjoyed how much fun the band seemed to have up on stage... they were goof balls! :-) I had never sat so close in a concert and it was fun to be able to see the bands expressions so clearly... definitely worth the little bit of extra dinero to be so close!


Carter and me during the opening act, Liam Finn... Pete Yorn also opened for them.

The video here looks further away than our view really was... we were about 10 yards away.



This more accurately portrays our view!








And I forgot to mention that the weather was PERFECT! I was never cold and was only hot when we had to walk up hill to get to the bowl! It was an amazing night all around :)

Dan's Birthday (a few months late)

So Brita and I had promised Dan we would take him out to dinner for his birthday, which was two months ago! So this past Wednesday we took him to Jade on upper State St. It was fun to get together, even if Dan and Brita talked electrical the whole time :) Just kidding, Dan just drew out some wiring pictures for Brita, but it seemed like they talked forever! :) Here are some pics from this fabulous event!

Dan drawing electrical designs for Brita.

His three way switch design matches his shirt! (Don't ask me what the design means!)

At the end of dinner (the chef took our pic!)

The required ice cream at McConnell's after dinner!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.... Yummy! :)

Harvest Festival

A few months back my parents came out for a visit and JP, my mom and I excavated some of our cement in the back yard in order to start a veggie garden. Well, JP and I went out for some plants and came back with six tomato plants. Little did we know that the harvest would be SO PLENTIFUL. Therefore, this past weekend we had our first annual "Harvest Festival." It was a great time had by all with three different types of salsa (regular, mango and corn and bean) and a TON of chips! (and let's not forget to mention the great fellowship!) I didn't get any pics of the actual event, but here is one of the salsa makers; Missy (JP's friend from college), JP, Kmac and Molly (Kmac's friend from AIA basketball). Thanks for all of your hard work! It was DELICIOSO!

The Los Angeles Angels (translation: "The The Angel's Angels")

Last Friday night I flew into LA and met up with my Brea friends to celebrate Rob's birthday at an Angel's game. We also went to BJ's afterwords to eat Pizzokie! YUMMY!


Happy Birthday to you! :)


Colleen, Emily and Kristin at BJ's.


Rob's a jerk! Where is that smile?!?!

Katie and Em with those fantastic thumbs! :)

Tim and Rob thinking it's funny every time they DON'T smile.

Kristin and me! :)

Mi Familia

I've spent the last week in Philly here with my entire family (all 18 of us!) and it's been a blast! We've been to the zoo, the park, the creek, the beach, and pretty much have had a really good time together. We also helped jamie and chad move into their new apt, 2 blocks from Dan's house and three blocks from Kristie's house! It's so cute and I even slept there last night. I have a ton of pics, but I'll just put a couple below!

Evie "washing" her shirt in the stream.

Maddie, Eleanor and me!

Ezra, or "E-fra" as Evie would call him!

Josiah at the zoo playground!

T-man running at me!

Da' Bulls (and a cozy saturday night...)

Tonight I was thankful to be watching my roommates Dog, Zak, because he was my only company! We've spent some quality time relaxing and reading :o) However, I just turned the TV on and the end of Bulls second championship (against the Trailblazers) was on ESPN Classic. MJ hit his free throws with 11 seconds left to put them up four. I couldn't believe how excited I got! I knew they won, and I remember that moment, but it must have been the nostalgia of it all that got me so stoked... oh the good old days when the Bulls DOMINATED! I can't believe this was 15 years ago... I shouldn't be able to remember 15 years back! I can't wait for them to come back and be good again :) Guess I'll have to settle for watching (and rooting for) King James... sorry Chad! Go Bulls (and Cavs for now) :)

PS BJ Armstrong just hit a three at the beginning of Game six versus the Suns in 1993. This was a good game too!

On a more serious note...

Two nights ago I got word that my roommate from college, Kristen, had just found out that her mom was diagnosed with kidney cancer. When I met Kristen, she was the oldest of two kids, and her parents had JUST adopted a 5 year old boy. Since then, her parents have adopted 4 more children!!!! Her parents have been an amazing testimony of God's love for me. They have set up a blog to keep friends and family updated so we (as friends and family) know how to pray... I invite you, as my friends, to pray for them as well! Their blog is

http://prayersforkaren.blogspot.com/

please pray!!!

My new love...

So today the athletics department traveled up to La Purisma to play golf in the Westmont Athletics Scholarship Challenge. I am NOT a golfer. I have never played golf. In fact, yesterday Kirsten and I went to the driving range to practice and I must have whiffed about 30 drives. Doh!

So this morning I stood at the ninth tee and took pictures of all of the participants. In between golfers, Dr. Glen Adams gave me some GREAT golf lessons. I couldn't believe the improvement! It was so much fun to be able to master part of the swing and move onto the "next step." Ok, master is not the best word, but I was definitely more comfortable swinging a golf club by the end of the day. Plus, I had a lot of fun! Have I found a new addiction?!?! :-)

My mom is awesome

Today we got "Mom-mom" to jump on the trampoline.... I will spare her by not putting the video up here, but really, she shouldn't be embarrassed b/c she was impressive... here is a pose

we visited apts for jamie and chad and found one they really liked (based on our description and pictures!) I also did a lot of jumping (notice a theme for the week? It is actually a really good workout... my abs are feeling great!), played some Uno and Candyland, drove the carpool, read bedtime stories.... and oh yeah, WON IN AGGRAVATION :-D This time it was TOTAL DOMINATION by the women :) maybe next time boys! he he he

once again...

Pretty much spent the entire day on the trampoline today (besides our trip to Barstucks). This pic pretty much sums up why the kiddos like me so much... I'm just a big kid! :) This pic was after about 2 hours (off and on) of jumping!

My feet are filthy :)

Today I spent about an hour and a half on the crew's new trampoline here in Philly (that is why my feet are dirty). For some reason the kiddos all think I need to jump with them in order for them to have fun! It has been said that 8-10 minutes on a trampoline is like running a mile... I guess I ran a lot :) Hopefully I'm not too sore for the bike ride we're taking the kiddos on tomorrow!

I was teaching the kids "popcorn" where they were trying to sit like a kernal, with their hands around their knees, and I was trying to "pop" them open. :) Maddie's face is hilarious in this pic.

Here I was trying to teach Brian (and the kiddos) how to steal a bounce.

Mom turned 34 today ;-)

Dan and Levi Emmett preparing for Levi's first game (and first loss!!) as a 3rd generation Aggravator. The women won... wah hoo!! :-D

Philly

So I got to Philly about two hours ago, but with the three hour time change I am WIDE awake, even though it's one thirty in the morning. So i decided to post these cute notes Maddie had waiting for me (aparantly she had them taped to the front door two days ago!)

What it says: aunt Rebecca can leey slip in my room on this sonday I rat your Name by Mysaf.

Translation: Aunt Rebecca, can you sleep in my room on this sunday? I wrote your name by myself.

What it says: Aunt I men come in My room in the maning or wen I gow up the stas or wen I am up in My room or wen you wot to bot I hevt to Bat in thar. (star star star) or you can wat for me.

Translation: Aunt Rebecca, I mean come in my room in the morning or when I go up stairs or in my room. Or you can come up when you want to or you can just wait for me (meaning downstairs).

There were two more notes, but they were pretty similar... SO CUTE! Hopefully she becomes a better speller than I currently am! :-)

LEVI EMMETT!!!

My little nephew, Levi Emmett, was born at 1:15 a.m. this morning! Hooray! Here is a pic of the peaceful little guy! He was 7 lbs and 4 ozs and both mom and baby are healthy! Click on their link to the right to see more pics!!

If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!

This past weekend, I made an impulse decision to travel with Kirsten to her sister's house in Hanford, CA. Her sister married into a family that raises Dutch Warmblood Horses trained in Dressage (I think I am getting all of these facts right!) Anyhow, it was a fantastic weekend gettaway on the farm. I made me realize that I would love living on a farm if I had my family surrounding me like that. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it is Dutch country up there, so I fit right in!

Top ten things about this past weekend (in no particular order):

1. Getting to know more of Kirsten's family. Her parents had come down for the weekend, so it was fun to see them. I didn't really know Jessica that well and I had never met Eddie (her husband) before. Plus, everyone was so hospitable, I felt like family! It was great!

2. The amazing food for EVERY meal! The first night everyone at the horse show was fed bacon wrapped filet mignon and delicious potatoes. For breakfast we had bacon, ham and onion scramble with milk from the dairy. Also, on saturday Eddie was in charge of making Carne Asada for over 300 people. We used EVERY knife making home-made Salsa... SO YUMMY!

3. The fact that there were very few distractions for doing my homework.

4. Metting people who know other people with my same last name!

5. Dancing the night away to some good old country music! (It reminded me of "Country Boys and Girls getting down on the farm!")

6. Seeing the cows go through the rollar coaster of getting milked. (It was like they were waiting in line for a ride!)

7. Felling the baby inside of Jessica move and hiccup!

8. Seeing the horses up close... they are AMAZING! And seeing the fox hounds and the friesian horses (Budwieser horses).

9. Watching the whole family associated with the horse show chip in to make things go so smoothly

10. Learning that horses can dance better than I can! (see below)

In the above video, notice the horse "grapevining" his feet! Towards the end, he switches his lead foot with every pair of steps... amazing! Below is a horse with more rhythm than I have!

FORTY GRAND!!!

hey everyone!
My roommate, April, and her fiance, Brent, are finalist in a contest to win a $40,000 wedding! WOAH! The voting MUST take place TODAY (thrusday), so please go vote for contestant number 2!!

http://www.krazfm.com/krazy1059_bigkrazyday.html

Thanks!