Meeting the Family

In almost 5 years of dating and engagement, Tad's and my families had not met (with the exception of my Aunt Diane who met Tad's paretns when we were in Seattle). We all thought this was an important fact to remedy prior to the wedding.

Tad's parents and sister made the three day drive down from Tri Cities, spent the weekend enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather we were blessed with, and left Sunday to make the drive home. They were able to see some of Tad's and my favorite SD spots, meet my family, and participate in the first of the wedding events: my Biola bridal shower.

The Tildens arrived Thursday afternoon. While I was working on a group project and then in class, Tad helped them check into their hotel and unload the "treasure" his mom had brought down for him. I got out of class early and was able to go with them out to dinner. Upon Tad's prompting and recommendation, they decided to try the fondue place in La Jolla called The Melting Pot. Tad's whole family loves fondue, and Tad has been dying to go there since he first heard of it. The food was absolutely delicious! We shared three pots of fondue (one classic Swiss, one cheddar, and one spicy Mexican style), two different entres with shrimp, chicken, steak, vegetables, and a wide variety of sauces, and two pots of dessert fondue (bananas foster and dark chocolate with amaretto). Tad had thought it might make a nice rehearsal dinner location, but we decided it was not the best option based on time.

Friday was our fun in the sun day. Mrs. Tilden had requested going to the beach, and it was perfect weather. So first stop was Ocean Beach. There were surprisingly few people there and it was beautiful. Valencia had the most fun I've ever seen her have jumping in the waves. We might actually get her into my parents' pool this summer. ;)

Tad's dad requested taking the driving tour of PLNU and since it was already lunchtime, we stopped by Point Loma Seafood. Great choice, they absolutely loved it, which was not too surprising. It's been a family favorite since LONG before I was born.

Our final destination on the San Diego in a Nutshell tour was Seaport Village. Tad and I split off from his family for some just us time and explored the hot sauce and pet stores. His family enjoyed the specialty shops and picked up quite a few items, especially at the hot sauce store, lol. From there we met my parents and Steve at Marie Calendar's for the initial family meeting. It went rather well, slightly awkward as things like that usually are, but not bad. Stephen was the life of the party and kept us entertained. I love that kid.

After a light snack there, my family and I zipped down to University to meet Steve's astronomy club at a Chinese place called Wong's Golden Palace. Steve got to mingle a bit with some of his classmates and we discovered the best potstickers any of us have ever had.

Thus ended day one of my busy, crazy, fun weekend. I got back to my parents' house, went to bed, and then came day 2.

Tad dropped his mom and Jeana off Saturday morning and then headed off with his dad to a job fair for General Atomics in Poway. Raelene arrived shortly after and the five of us (me, Mom, Raelene, Mrs. Tilden, and Jeana) piled in my mom's Highlander and set out for La Mirada. It was a bit squishy, but we had an enjoyable car ride discussing a lot of "favorites" of everyone. :o)

Becky and Krista threw a beautiful shower for me. It was so wonderful to see so many of my close Biola friends. They had prepared so very delicious treats: pineapple and double chocolate cupcakes, macadamia nut kisses, strawberries, and hazelnut chocolate espresso beans, plus several kinds of delicious punch and iced tea. They started out by having everyone say their name, how they had met me and a favorite memory. This was really fun for me. Amanda talked about our crazy experiences on Winds tour junior year, Diana talke dabout going out for Thai food, Jennifer talked about Biola graduation and Narnia in December, Raelene talked about going home for Christmas our first year away at college, Becky talked about our crazy train trip to Tri Cities, Mrs. Tilden talked about going to Newport for Thanksgiving, and Krista talked about my first trip to Berry Cool.

We played several fun games including a "how many of these items do you have in your purse?" game, guess the famous couple who's taped on your back game, and guess how many kisses are in the jar. Mom won the purse game, and I came in second. In the famous couples game, I had Tarzan and Jane. They were very cute and included Valencia who had Pongo and Perdie from 101 Dalmations. A few of the other couples were Cinderella and Prince Charming, Adam and Eve, and Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Tilden guessed hers first (after Mom) with Lucy and Ricky.

I received some wonderful gifts from the girls, and opened all of them without breaking any ribbons. They have warned me to beware of their gifts at the San Diego shower, lol. The girls closed with a time of paryer for Tad and me. I cannot say enough how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.

Witht he guys waiting for us at home, we said our goodbyes and made a quick drive through Biola to show Mrs. Tilden. The menfolk plus my grandparents were waiting for us when we got home. We bbqed burgers and enjoyed a nice meal together. I accompanied the Tildens back down south so I could go to Mission with them on Sunday. Palm Sunday was the day that the licensed ministers served communion, so both Tad's family and I were able to be there for that. After church we went out for lunch at Anthony's in La Mesa before the Tildens hit the road for home.

It was a very crazy weekend, filled with a lot fo fun things. It's also a relief to have had our families meet. We ask for continued paryer for Tad's job search, for me to finish my semester strong, and for the wedding plans to continue falling into place.

Back to the Bubble

After two weeks of intense, public school classes, I needed some time away. Time away from the stress of school, and time away from the secular world I was sheltered from during the 4 years at Biola.

It has been so strange, I went to public school my whole life until Biola, but during those 4 years I re-sensitized to everything. The difference is, now I'm a lot more comfortable and sure about what I believe than when I left high school. Still, the adjusting is hard, being reminded over and over again on a daily basis that not everyone believes what I do.

All that to say, I needed a fun weekend with some Biola people. I rode up to Orange County Friday afternoon with Anja and her boyfriend James. They dropped me off at Krista's house where I met up with both Krista and Becky. Becky drove us to Biola, and we spent some time roaming the halls of the music building.

I had about 16 hours notice that I was actually going to be in the Biola area, so most people were very surprised to see me, which is always kind of a fun thing. I stopped 4 different conversations simply by walking past the bandroom :)

Justine joined our party, and we made a very important stop: Commons. Nothing more refreshing than a Common Grounds' raspberry, peach smoothie. Commons now carries cupcakes so Krista got one for us to share.

Becky had already had plans for Friday night, so after our snack, she departed and the rest of us went down to surprise more people in Hart. We dropped in on Krista's last roommate Raeleen and Raeleen's current roommate Tia, stopped by to say hi to Charlotte, and hung out for a while in Amanda's room.

After a while everyone left for a bro/sis floor event (oh HUOD/Heat events!). Since Krista and I no longer possess Biola mealplans (fancy that) the 3 of us (me, Justine, and Krista) had dinner at Panera (am I using enough parentheticals?). And, of course, what Biola Friday evening would be complete without Berry Cool. Especially cool, I had filled my stamp card during finals week, so I only paid 16 cents for my fabulously wonderful honeydew fro yo :)

Justine dropped me and Krista off at Becky's townhouse. Since it was a characteristically hot SoCal Labor Day weekend, Krista and I opted for a dip in the pool. Swimming pools are amazing for hot, sticky summer nights.

We took advantage of the dvd collection at Becky's place and watched The Wedding Planner. Becky got home pretty soon after and we unanimously decided it was time for bed.

Saturday morning Becky made grits for breakfast, yum! She had a rehearsal for most of the afternoon, so Krista and I were once more let loose on campus. We spent a bit of time just chilling in Tia's and Raeleen's room chatting while they "worked" on homework. We left them alone to their homework and talked with Amanda in the upper lobby for a while until we decided to get lunch at Eagles.

Amberly met us at Eagles and the four us talked while Krista and I ate lunch. Krista and I spent some time checking email in the library, and I got to spend time sitting outside the library thinking and just being. That's always been one of my favorite places on campus. I love the trees by the library, and on weekends it's so calm and quiet there. Great place to sit and pray.

Krista and I spent the last hour before Becky came back playing a house rules version of Outburst in the sub. We made a really yummy pasta and salad dinner at Becky's and followed it up at Starbucks with Christine. We took turns sharing about our summers and boys over pumpkin spice frappuccinos, which are amazing!

Becky and I dropped Krista off at her house and made it back to La Mirada in time to see Up at the dollar theater.

Sunday Becky and I went to church at Redeemer, picked Krista up from Grace, and got lunch at In N Out. The girls dropped me off in Placentia where I met up again with Anja and James to come back down to SD I spent Sunday night at home so I could get a bit more time with my fam and a chance to hang out with Raelene.

It was so good to get to see my Biola friends again, and to just be on campus. It doesn't feel any different to me, which is great. It means I can just forget about everything else I have going on and enjoy my favorite place in LA. I came back very refreshed, which is good, because this will be a heck of a semester.

Also, apparently my internet browser just hates me, I still can't upload pictures with it, which greatly displeases me, but there isn't much else I can do, so oh well. For pictures of my life, see facebook, they're all there anyway

A Little Slice of Happiness

I was fortunate enough to get to spend the last almost-week with Tad. I didn't even actually know he was coming until a week before last Saturday. I quickly found a place for him to stay and a ride to get him from the airport. He took an early (as in take off at 6:30 am) flight in, and I got him from the airport around 1 pm. We got some food from Burger King on the way back to campus, Tad put his stuff in the room he was staying in, and then we cuddled in the lobby until my friend Diana came to hang out with us.

Tad had met Diana briefly the last time he was here (in November), and she had wanted to hang out while he was here. It took us a bit to think of what to do, but we finally decided a Berry Cool run was in order. Krista was around, so I asked her to come with us too. While she got ready Tad and I tought Diana how to play Go Fish. We hung out at Berry Cool for a while and then came back to campus in time for dinner. I'm pretty sure Krista and I created two new Berry Cool fans.

Having finished our frozen yogurt, we returned to campus in time for dinner. Yes, really...it was a light one. Tad and I spent the remainder of the evening hanging out and watching UHF, a very interesting movie :o)

My ride for church on Sunday rode her bike, but was nice enough to let Tad drive her car. After the service we stopped by Stater Bros for some groceries and then got lunch. We spent the afternoon watching Serenity and two discs worth of Tsubasa Chronicles. I love that anime; it has a really good story, good animation, good music, and a major theme is what people do for those they love.

We had a quick dinner in the caf and then met up with Christine to hang out. It would seem we are a rather indecisive bunch, and couldn't figure out what to do. We eventually went to downtown Brea and the Brea mall, but sadly both were mostly closed down by the time we got there. Christine suggested getting some dessert from a place called Mochilatto. It's gelatto in mochi (a Japanese rice cake type thing, it's really good, I recommend it) We hung out there and then walked around Barne's & Nobles for a bit.

I didn't have class Monday because of Martin Luther King Day (huzzah!) so Tad and I got another full day to do with as we pleased. We spent a couple hours after lunch sitting and talking in the new Olive Grove park on campus. It isn't a big area, but it's pretty and a good place to just enjoy each other's company. Valencia enjoyed getting to watch the ducks and squirrels.

Back in Hart, after a few more episodes of Tsubasa, we started making dinner. Hart over interterm does "family dinners" where people take turns making dinner for everybody. I signed Tad and myself up so we could do it together. We made stroganoff, and it was pretty tasty. After dinner, Amanda, Krista, Tad, and I wandered over to the Stewart lobby and found some games. We played a game of Disney trivia (which I won!)

I had class again Tuesday morning, so Tad met me for lunch at the caf. I was in need of a bank run so we made the trek to the Albertson's center. Once banking stuff was taken care of, we shared a carmel frap from Starbucks and walked back. I worked on homework in the lobby while Tad did stuff on his computer. We had dinner and then watched Bourne Identity. Wednesday followed the same pattern, with Bourne Supremacy replacing Identity. And we rounded out our week with Bourne Ultimatum and a final Berry Cool trip (requested by Tad) on our way to the airport.

It was a great visit, one of my favorites (if not *the* favorite) that we've had. I definitely miss him now, and have been feeling a bit lonely without his company, but I'll see him again in less than two months for Missions Conference :)

Now to finish studying for my stats final tomorrow...