The Getty Villa in Malibu

Ken has wanted to go to the Getty Villa since we moved here in 2007 and a few days ago we finally got to go. It's an amazing museum of antiquities, mostly Greek and Roman but a few things that go back farther than that. They don'tbreally allow any photography in the galleries but we managed to take a few shots of the grounds outside.

It was great to get away without the kids. They would not have enjoyed this place and we wouldn't have been able to look around as well as we did (or for as long as we did). Ken's and my favorite artifacts were things related to the Trojan War.

We enjoyed a very Mediterranean lunch at the cafe: feta cheese, hummus, olives, tabouleh, etc. Yum!

The Getty Villa is connected with Getty gas in that oil tycoon Paul Getty (also founder of Getty gas) provided the funds for the holdings and the buildings, etc. It really is an amazing place and I'm so glad that we got to go and check it out.

A Season of JOY

We have so many reasons to be joyful this Christmas!

First and foremost, we are so incredibly grateful to the Lord for sending his perfect Son to our imperfect world in order to bring us the most amazing hope and joy that can be experienced.

We are also thankful for our health, a home to call our own, a wonderful job for Ken, 3 great kids, a loving, supportive extended family, friends who love us and treat us as family, and the chance to live life with a purpose. We don't count any of these things as small. And we give all of the credit to God. Just thought we'd share some of the many things that bring us joy. Merry Christmas!

A Really Fun Weekend

If you know me, you know that I love parties. This past Saturday I got to attend 3 parties! In the morning, my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group had a pancake breakfast with lots of fun activities for the kids. We had a blast there.
Then, I helped put together a surprise birthday tea party for my friend Lois. These pictures are from that party. It was held in a beautiful home of a woman who has hosted many tea parties.
That night we attended a surprise birthday party for my good friend Jolene. That was a really nice night because we had a babysitter for the kids so we all got to really chat without interruptions.

I put together this crazy-looking fruit thing. I saw an example of it in a magazine. In the magazine it looked like a Christmas tree. Mine looked more like a fruit explosion. But it still tasted good.

Some of the tea cups of the woman who hosted the party. Tea parties are a really big deal out here.

Lois (the birthday girl) is in the middle and the hosts are on either side.

What did I do today? I took a nap!

A Midwinter's Eve Frolic

On Saturday night we had a blast at a family-friendly event at Ken's school, A Midwinter's Eve. They had face painting and Brad looked awesome as Batman. Sky had already had her face painted from a birthday party earlier that day at which Snow White showed up and painted the kids' faces.

Lila found a pinecone that was almost as big as she is and she was determined to eat it.

They had a really cool canvas that the kids could paint anyway they liked. Sky really enjoyed that!

But my favorite part of the night was when Brad saw the "pin the lips on Mona Lisa" game. He declared, "I don't like that weird-looking lady". Hilarious!

This is not the best picture but it is the BIOLA Christmas tree which is actually really beautiful in person.

The Queen Mary

One of the things we did while my mom and Bill were here was to visit the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The Queen Mary has had a very interesting history and we enjoyed learning more about it through the free audio tour.

Bill decided to take the ship out for a spin.

Next to the Queen Mary is an old Russian submarine.

We enjoyed lunch on the Queen Mary at a restaurant called the Hollywood Deli. There were lots of movie posters of movies that were filmed (or partially filmed) on board the Queen Mary.

Gingerbread Houses

We have a tradition of making gingerbread houses. The kids basically get to eat ungodly amounts of candy and pretty much get covered in frosting. Then I put the houses on display which tortures them as they look at the candy and frosting everyday.

My mom and Bill's houses always come out so nicely.

At one point Brad decorated the roof of this house, ate all the toppings off, and then redecorated it.

And here you can see the effects of the sugar setting in.

Huntington Gardens

A few days ago we went to Huntington Gardens, 217 acres of botanical gardens. Above Bill is showing us a sensitive plant that closes up when it is touched. The kids thought that was really cool. Below is a picture taken in the Chinese garden.

Brad and Lila had a blast crawling around the gardens.

Ken and Bill in the bamboo forest.

Sky found a snail in the children's garden.

Lila preferred the leaves.

Unfortunately it was actually pretty cold while my mom and Bill were here. Below you can see ice in our bird bath! That's about as cold as it gets here!

Sweet Times With Grandma B and Uncle Bill

Ken is at the SBL conference in Atlanta right now so Grandma B and Uncle Bill are here helping me "hold down the fort" while he is gone.


Brad and Uncle Bill are really enjoying Tonka.com. You build your own truck and then drive it in different environments.

Lila is up to 6 teeth now (3 on the top and 3 on the bottom) and Sky is now missing both top teeth and both bottom teeth.

Here Lila is saying "cheese" for the camera. Sky is reading to her but she doesn't stay in one place for very long these days.

A New View

Last Monday our neighbor's tree was cut down. This was our view from our backyard before they started working.

The town takes care of these trees on our street. Here's what it looked like a couple hours into the project.

It's hard to see in the picture above but there was a digger that scooped up logs and placed them in this bin on the side of our house. The best part of the day was that we had 4 boys over that day and they really enjoyed watching all the action.

This is what our neighbor's yard looked like at the end of the day. The town will now plant a new baby tree to replace the one they took down.

What's Burning?

Day 1:
In the dining room-
What is that smell?
It smells like plastic or rubber.
Maybe it's the new table cloth?
Day 2:
Seriously, the smell in here is awful.
Maybe the outlet is shorting out. Let's unplug the computers...
Day 3:
The smell is still here and it really smells like burning rubber!
As Ken is lying on the floor wrestling with the kids, what's that blob in the ceiling fan light?
Hmmmmmm, it's a melting rubber dinosaur egg that Brad "lost" 3 days ago.

New Lila Pictures

At a recnt MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) meeting, I won a free photo shoot with a local photographer. Here are some of the pictures that were taken. The photographer had all kinds of outfits, hair accessories, etc. Lila was pretty crabby through the photo shoot since it was during her nap time but we still managed to get some pretty cute pictures!

Some Random Pictures

Tonight Ken and I went on the Talbot Wives date night. It was great. We drove a boat around the Newport Harbor and then had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was a great night. We saw these cool sea lions sleeping on the back of a boat in the harbor.

This is the type of boat we were on with 3 other couples.

Here's our sweet Lila sitting on a rocking chair that belonged to one of my ancestors. She's very flexible as you can see.

Peanut in the wagon.

Couch time with daddy.

Our crazy kids. Sky did Lila's hair with a ton of clips. Later when Lila was crying we saw that Sky had also put hair clips on her ears as earrings. Poor Lila. But she loves when Sky decorates her.