Getting ready to go...

It's been awhile...I don't really feel like I have anything exciting to write about, since all I can think about is how excited I am to be going home! I know, I know...I already posted about this!

Exciting things that have happened lately:

- Hung out with our friend's Mike & Renelle last night for Renelle's 25th birthday! It was lots of fun...we went out to Keisho's, which is a Japanese restaraunt that grills all the food in front of you (like Beni-Hana's). Mmmm....very good!

Ummm...that's really it. Like I said, all I can think about is tomorrow!

I'm sure I'll have more exciting posts to come.

Until then...

Coming Home...

Another summer day
Is come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
I wanna go home

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine, baby, how are you?”
I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words are cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
But this was not your dream
But you always believe in me

Let me go home…
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

("Home" by Michael Buble, 2005)

Yes, I’m coming home…well, my old home...it’s still HOME to me.  
Good old Abbotsford will always be home in my heart.  

Shaun and I will be there from July 28th to August 9th and we
would LOVE to see our old friends.  If anyone is free for coffee,
hanging out, etc…we’d LOVE to see you.  

The song above is by Michael Buble who is an awesome jazz artist
that has recently become a favorite of ours.  I heard the lyrics and
they express well how I feel…

We are pumped and can’t wait to spend some quality time with
friends and family.  Can’t wait…only 10 more days (and counting)!!!

Our Weekend in San Fran

We had another FUN weekend! On Saturday afternoon we left up to San Francisco where we stayed for 2 nights at a great hotel downtown and then got to go on a one-night inaugural cruise for the Norwegian Pride of America. I’m posting a lot of pictures with explanations for all you at there that might be interested!

Our room at the Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco! Thank goodness I was able to get the Travel Agent Discount or there would be NO way we'd stay at a nice place like this. One stupid thing that we were not aware of beforehand--parking was $38 a day. Yes, a day. We almost died.

On Sunday night we went to the San Francisco Giants baseball game vs. the Saint Louis Cardinals. It was a blast!

The view from our seats which were the VERY last row of the stadium! Oh well, who can complain with a view like this???

Here we are at the end of the game. The Giants lost 4-3.

Here is a partial shot of the Norwegian Pride of America that we were able to go on! It's doing it's inaugural sailing right now and as a travel agent we were able to go on for one night (FREE!) and experience what it's like so that we will promote! promote! promote! to our clients. Worked for me!

Our bathroom onboard was very small (normal for all cruiselines). Oh, and the toilet flushed SO loud we had to warn each other before we flushed.

Our stateroom onboard -- we were given a midship (good) partially obstructed oceanview cabin. It was great!

At the Waikiki bar they had these fake lifeguards (like from Baywatch) and I just could not resist getting shots with them! Shaun said his Baywatch Babe was the 2nd hottest girl onboard. I told him that I think she's gotten some work done (plastic surgery)! She looks pretty fake to me!

The private balcony for one of the suites...Umm, I'll take this one!

View from the private balconies onboard.

One of the many restaurant’s onboard – the Skyline.

In order to get out of San Francisco bay we had to travel directly under the Golden Gate Bridge! Here we are before crossing under.

Because this was the inaugural sailing of the Pride of America from San Francisco, there were 2 helicopters circling us for the entire voyage out of the bay. I told Shaun that I felt like I was at a Celebrity Wedding with all the helicopter noise around us!

From the other side of the bay and Golden Gate Bridge...a very very cool (and windy) experience!

We had dinner in the Skyline Restaurant. The food was delicious--we started with Avocado Caesar Salad, for Appetizer we had Roasted Duck Pot-stickers (my first time ever having Duck), for the meal we both had lobster with risotto and veggies. Tasty!

We got to see a Broadway presentation onboard called "America’s Beat."

After the cruise (on Tuesday) we had the rest of the day to tour around Fisherman’s Wharf and the other piers. For those of you who don’t know this—Shaun is DEATHLY afraid of sharks! So much so, that I could not persuade him to stand any closer to this shark. I kept telling him it was FAKE, but I don’t think he believed me…Notice: The somber look on his face!

We were able to take a tour of Alcatraz on Tuesday afternoon before driving home.

Here’s Shaun in a cell on Alcatraz. Poor guy, I almost left him there!

Shaun captured this shot...it's taken through a key hole into the kitchen area of the Jailhouse.

View of the city from Alcatraz.

It was SO windy on Alcatraz, I though we might just blow away. We took a audio tour of Alcatraz, which is why we have the headphones around our necks.

Weekend in Paradise

Some of Shaun’s cousins and us on Uncle Jeff's Deck: (from L to R) Jeremy, Sarah, Ryan, Shauner, and me.

Cool picture, huh?

The pool & slide area on the ridge-edge.

More fun times in the pool!

The buds.

Shaun with his cousins (Jason, Casey, and Adam) relaxing in the hot tub after a long day of fun in the sun!

Still here....

Yes, we are still alive...sorry it's been FOREVER. We have been busy and much has changed...

For one, we are no longer living in the Montana Townhome. At the end of June we moved out and into Shaun's parents (Paul & Kathy) house. This was not a spontaneous decision, but one we have been praying about for a few months (we just didn't want to discuss it until everything was set in stone). The reason, you may ask? God has been giving us direction for our future, and Shaun has decided to pursue one of his passions in that he is going to become a CHEF! Yup....I am SOOOOOO excited. This may be a shock to some of you (although by now some of you probably know!)...

It all started back in April, around the time that he got his tonsils removed. Shaun was home for 2 weeks straight, on his butt, healing. He had a lot of time to think, pray, and...watch TV (I'll explain the significance of this later). We both had been praying for God's direction specifically in the area of Shaun's employment. Shaun has been pursuing music as a career for the past 7 years, and since graduation (in May 2003) he has been doing that while working at his parents school which has offered a steady income and flexible hours. I love the fact that Shaun is musical however I can say that the pursuit and direction the band was making things difficult.. We both had been praying that if this is or was the path that God had for us then 1) the Lord would give me a peace about it, and 2) He would in-a-sense make something happen! Anyways, during Shaun's recovery time he had a chance to "rethink his priorities" as he says and realized that our marriage/future family is more important than anything else. Praise the LORD! I can't tell you how this has changed our marriage!

Anyways, so during this time Shaun watched a lot of the Food Network (our favorite channel) and Shaun made the decision he wanted to look into this passion of his. Within the week we were down in Pasadena at the California School of Culinary Arts (Cordon Bleu) and he was basically accepted on the spot. Financial Aid went through within a couple of weeks, and he is accepted to start August 22nd.

Wow....like I said, lots of changes.

Now for the moving part--we were in the middle of a one year lease which expired at the end of November 2005. We LOVED our townhome and our landlord, and we were very sad to say goodbye to it! Shaun's parents offered for us to move in with them after our lease ran out in order to save money while Shaun is in school, which we thought was a good idea. Just around the same time our landlord came over to fix our dishwasher, and he mentioned having to move back into the Valencia area. We both got the idea that maybe we should ask our landlord if he would want to move back into his townhome and end our lease early in order to benefit both parties. Turns out, he said yes...and here we are.

If you would have told me 4 months ago that this was all going to happen I would NOT have believed you. It is so cool because the last few months we have totally just let go and trusted the Lord and it is AMAZING how everything has just fallen into place--ALL of the little details.

I feel like I've done a pretty bad job of explaining everything so I'd love to tell you in person.

So...yeah...

I'm excited. Did I say that already???

Now on to other news. Fourth of July weekend was a blast! We went up to Shaun's Uncle's house up in Paradise (Northern California) for the weekend. They have awesome property on a ridge with a pool and hot tub. Needless to say, lots of fun! I'll post some pictures too.

Tomorrow we are leaving (again) but this time to go up to San Francisco! Because I'm a travel agent I got onto one of the inaugural sailings of the brand new Norwegian Cruise Line ship "Pride of America". This will be my first cruise (yes, my first, and I do sell cruises for a living) and we are very excited. It is only a one night cruise (Monday-Tuesday) so we're going up tomorrow to spend a couple of nights in San Fran before we go on the ship. I'll take lots of pictures, I promise.

I'd love to hear your comments regarding this life change....

Happy Summer!